What is Gratitude Journaling?
Gratitude journaling is the simple process of writing what you love. Everyday, journalers write out the top 3-5 things they are grateful for.
I’ve seen it done two ways. Either you can get really deep and write an ode to the summer wind or winter snow. Otherwise, you write about things like Diet Dr. Pepper. Some do a mixture of both.
It really is that easy. Write out the things you are grateful for. If all you can come up with is modern medicine and the sky – fine! Your brain benefits from anything positive once and awhile.
Why is Everyone Talking About Gratitude Journaling?
Uh, because they work.
No, seriously. Gratitudes change the chemistry of your brain. The University of California, Berkely found that people who practiced gratitude had statistically distinct brains from those who didn’t. They gave more to others and were more sensitive to HOW they gave to others. The pre-frontal cortex was on FIRE. Isn’t that encouraging?
How does Gratitude Journaling Work?
A lot of researchers are theorizing that putting gratitude in gets gratitude out. Neural pathways and all that jazz. Your brain likes what it already knows.
If you practice being grateful, you will default to grateful. This doesn’t mean you will never, ever feel a hard emotion again. That isn’t even the goal. But when the hard emotions come, you’ll be able to see the lighter side of things. This gives your flexibility. What a gift that is!
Do I Need to do Gratitude Journaling?
At the end of the day, journaling is about you. If you don’t want the love and light of gratitudes, do not put them in your journal. Simple as that. However, you might miss out.
I know that pop culture may lead you to believe that gratitudes are for the modern-day hippie. This kept me from doing them at first too. I thought “my life is hard, no one recognizes that! I’m certainly not about to toxic positivity my way out of my problems”. But that isn’t the point.
The Difference Between Toxic Positivity and Gratitudes
Toxic positivity is when you invalidate your feelings by only saying positive things. It’s saying “I’m fine” when you really are NOT fine. It’s saying “no worries” when there really, really, are worries. This kind of denial makes you feel small and unimportant. I am not here telling you to be grateful for things that really, obviously suck.
Gratitude is different. Instead of invalidating the hard emotions, gratitudes validate the positive emotions. Even in your darkest hour, there are things that give light. You don’t have to ignore the darkness just to see the light.
It boils down to how aware you are. You can focus on the negatives or the positives. It is always your choice. And I don’t mean that in a “ignore the negatives” kinda way. I truly mean it is your choice.
You get to pick and choose what you pay attention to. Any journal writer will tell you to focus on your shadow. Do that. Just focus on the positives too.
