One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2022 was to take up journaling. This was prompted by a fantastic journal that my brother and sister-in-law gifted me for Christmas; it’s called Moon Lists: Questions and Rituals for Self-Reflection by Leigh Patterson. I started journaling in that book as soon as I got back to Hawai’i from visiting home for the holidays. This journal is only a once-a-week journal, so you only write one entry a week, but I was looking for something more involved. Luckily, I was challenged by a few people in my life to start a gratitude journal, so I started that this week. Here are a few things that I’ve learned since beginning a daily gratitude journaling practice.
1. Starting your day off with positivity leads to a more positive day.
I noticed that by beginning my day with the intention to find the things in life I am grateful for, I am more likely to find more positive things throughout my day.
2. I have a lot more in life to be grateful for besides the obvious things.
Part of the challenge in my gratitude journal was to find at least three things to be grateful about every day. Sometimes I was grateful for a convenience in my life, like Spotify, and sometimes I was grateful for some random little thing in the world, like lemon sharks.
3. I actually really enjoy journaling.
I’ve known for a long time that I really enjoy writing, and journaling is something I have started and stopped many times over the years, but never something that stuck around. Having a more structured way to journal has definitely made me really enjoy it.
4. Structured and guided journaling helps me think more introspectively.
Some of the questions in Moon Lists are really great to actually track a mental inventory about what you’ve been thinking about recently, and it is going to be nice to look back on down the road because I’ll get to see what’s really been on my mind. Since this journal is structured around weekly entries instead of daily entries, I am able to really reflect on some of the more important things from my week, rather than the more mundane things that I may write about in my daily journal entries. It is nice to reflect on what was important to me at the time of writing it all down.
During this week, I have found journaling to be a very positive way to begin my day as well as a great way to take inventory of all of the things that are important to me and on my mind during the week. I hope that this inspires you to also take up a journaling practice!