Grateful for My Journal

Posted on November 2, 2019 by

16 Comments

A month of gratitude! Let’s focus on gratitude throughout the month of November. I challenge you to look around and be more aware of the blessings in your life. And each day write down at least five things you are thankful for.

One thing I am thankful for today is my journal. I always liked the idea of journaling. However, throughout the years I would start a journal, then give up on it before too long. Now for the first time in my life, I have been able to consistently keep a journal for a couple of years.

What is the difference between then and now? Gratitude!

In the past I would use a journal to complain about the things in my life that I wished were different. The result was that journaling became a negative experience. Why would I want to keep a journal which only brought me down? When we complain and focus on the things that are wrong in our lives, we become bitter and resentful. And studies show that complaining can have harmful effects on our health.

A couple of years ago, I started using a journal to write down things I was thankful for. And I continue to do that today. Often I will write down good things that happened during the day. The things I write down could be something big, like publishing a book. But more often they are small things that are part of daily life, such as a beautiful sunset or my husband surprising me with a cooked dinner when I get home. These moments make up our lives. They might seem small because they are things that happen often. But they are still beautiful and meaningful moments.

It can be all too easy to allow life to bring us down. But if you open your eyes to the beauty that surrounds you, your perspective will change. Over time you will see miracles that you wouldn’t have noticed before. You will see all the blessings that God showers you with each and every day. As a result, your mood will improve and your health will also reap the benefits.

I believe that writing these special moments on paper is also vital when you want to focus on gratitude. There is something significant about putting pen to paper. Studies show that writing things down helps us to remember them better. In the case of gratitude, writing down the things we are grateful for helps our brain to remember the blessings in our lives. If we merely look around and don’t actually write these things down, we will forget them quickly. As soon as something bad happens, all our gratitude will go out the window.

Let’s take this a step further. Writing down what we are thankful for also helps us to enforce this new habit of gratitude in our lives. If we don’t write down the things we are thankful for, we will forget to continue to look around at the blessings in our lives. We will get busy with our normal day-to-day life and gratitude will be long forgotten.

When I began walking in gratitude, I started out by writing down ten things I was thankful for every day. And I intentionally laid my journal in a place where I would see it every day, so I wouldn’t forget. So this helped me to make gratitude a routine in my life that I still follow today. As a result, it helped my attitude to be more optimistic as well. That is why I am grateful for my journal. It was a key tool I used when implementing gratitude in my life.

So let’s make a point of writing down all of the wonderful treasures in our lives. Our Father is a loving Father who enjoys being good to us. I pray we can all be better about opening our eyes to all the wonderful blessings He gives us every single day.

I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. – Psalm 9:1

And remember that every day is a gift from God!

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16 Comments on “Grateful for My Journal”

  2. I love writing things down. Ask my husband! Lol! I’m always off to write things down. 😁 There’s so much to be greatful for, but I’ve known a few people who can get very stuck on the negative. Last night my husband was being very critical of everything. I told him that it was bothering me, and that He needed to focus on the positive. A little while later he made another negative comment. I responded with a negative comment. Then he said, I’m tainting you. I said yes, lol…yes you are. Lol. It’s terrible when someone is being negative. It does rub off on you. I’m glad he realized it! It’s too easy to be negative, but being positive does become second nature if you focus on the things you have to be thankful for. Bad habits can definitely be turned into good habits. Great post, Bridget.

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    • Thank you! That is great that he recognized it! I also know some negative people. But some of them get mad when you point it out. We might not be able to change everyone, but at least we can change ourselves, and hopefully be a positive influence on the others. 💜

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      • Yes, I’ve known people who get mad when you point it out too. Thankfully, Andrew will listen when I point things out, and he does say he’s working on it. I especially like it when I hear him praying about it! 😊 It takes both putting things into practice and asking the Lord for help! We can’t do it on our own. 😊

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  3. Growing up, I wrote in a journal, every day. Sadly, I often wrote in humungous print to say I’d written a page. I also allowed my journal to become a dumping ground of all the garbage in my head. As an adult, I threw out all my journals. I lost some gold, but I couldn’t bear to deal with all the dross. After that, I wrote sporadically. I tried to remember to share significant moments or insights, but I often forgot. When you provided “The Redeemed” Challenge, I took the opportunity to start writing again. I wrote, every day, recording my thoughts and insights. The Kendrick’s Brothers book “Defined” arrived during that time, and I added it to my study time. I decided to re-read “The Battle Plan for Prayer” at the same time. We finished “Redeemed” and I continued on, recording my thoughts and insights in my reading. I added “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” I also found myself asking questions and recording the answers I found in my study. It’s November, I’m continuing the practice is studying and writing, every day. Thanks for being a significant encourager in my new Gospel study habits. God bless.

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    • I had to laugh at your “humongous print” comment! Sounds like something I would’ve done! My fourth grade teacher (who was mean) made us keep a journal. I never liked doing it because I never liked my handwriting. I have thrown out all my past journals as well (until I started with the gratitude journal). I agree, there were probably gold nuggets in there. But I too didn’t want to look back on the bad things… I loved hearing about your new routine! That is such a great idea. And it’s a wonderful way to reflect on and remember what you read. I would love to incorporate that into my routine as well! I bet it would be really special with Bible reading as well. I usually just read my Bible and then run out the door for work. I still plan to read “Defined” and “The Battle Plan for Prayer” thanks to you! I am honored to know that reading “You are Redeemed” help catapult your new routine. Thanks so much for telling me! And God Bless you too, my friend! 💜

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  4. I really love the gratitude journal idea! I had a journal for the same reason years ago – just to complain. That actually made me hate journaling and I stopped. I think I’ll do this instead. 🙂

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