Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Gratitude Journaling and Changing Your Focus

28 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Thankful Thursdays

Tags

Focus on the Good, Grateful, Gratitude, Gratitude Journaling, Napoleon Hill, Positive Thinking, Thankfulness

“If you attain fame and fortune, and do not attain gratitude along with it, the chances are that you will not enjoy that fame or that fortune.”―Napoleon Hill, Success Habits: Proven Principles for Greater Wealth, Health, and Happiness

Do you practice gratitude daily? It is hard some days. You wake up; you feel like crap; you don’t feel enjoy going to work. How do you find that place where you are thankful for what you have?

I like to journal first thing in the morning. When I get to my gratitude journal, I write in it until I feel that all is right with the world. When I first began my gratitude journal, I was going through the motions. It takes time to develop feelings of gratitude. Over time, however, I achieved a state of peace and calm. It snuck up on me. You find gratitude by writing what you are thankful for and acting grateful. These feelings of gratefulness will come. Give it time.

Gratefulness is a way to express your thanks for what you have. You can be grateful for your life, your job, your skills, your situation, the good times you had yesterday with a friend, the quiet time you had with your cat or dog, drinking tea, and enjoying a good book. You could be grateful for a good meal, a nice outing with colleagues, or just for having a job. Each of us are unique. What you are grateful for may differ from what other people are grateful for.

How do you start a gratitude journal? Start small. My gratitude journal started when I found The 5-minute journal. You can Buy the 5-minute journal here. I am not affiliated with this journal; I am merely suggesting it to you if you do not understand how to start. In this journal, it will require you to write 3 things you are grateful for in the morning and 3 things you are grateful for in the evening. At first, you might have difficulty finding 3 things. Once you do, you’ll feel something you may not have felt in a long time. The best time to do your gratitude journaling is in the morning as soon as you get up and around. The best time in the evening is right before you nod off for a good night’s sleep. This is how I got started.

Now I use Microsoft’s OneNote for my gratitude journal. You can use a diary app, you can use a handwritten journal, you can use the 5-minute journal. Whatever works. Gratitude journaling is all about training your mind to focus on the good things in your life and ignore the bad things. Whatever you give life to will overwrite what you stop feeding. This is the premise of gratitude journaling. Thinking about what you are grateful for will help you avoid thinking about what you are unhappy about. It’s a psychological bait and switch.

Try this out. You have nothing to lose. If you are a person unhappy with your life, this will help turn that around. Once you focus on what is good in your life, you’ll think about other positive aspects of your existence. This thinking will bring you better results and re-write that part of your mind that has dominated you with negative, unresourceful thinking. Your mind is a powerful creator. It will create whatever you focus most of your time on. Thinking negatively will cause your mind to only filter the negative things around you. Your mind will create what you think. Turn this around and think about positive things—things you are grateful for. Your life will take on new meaning and you will feel terrific!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursdays – Gratitude Journals

31 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Thankful Thursdays

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Attitude, Contentment, Grateful, Gratitude Journaling, Gratitutde, Joy, Music, Thanks

“Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” – Doris Day

Read more at: Brainy Quotes

Thanks for all the new followers this week! I really appreciate it. I hope all of you new comers enjoy my daily quips of this and that. I strive to motivate, teach, inspire, and engage my audience daily. Am I always successful? No, but I do try my best.

When I first began my blog a few years ago, I had no idea how important this practice is. A blog to me is nothing more than a way to communicate my unique experience of this life. Some use their blogs to offer recipes, document their travels, discuss the news of the day, or even discuss the painful ailments they are suffering from. All these blogs become part of the tapestry that we all enjoy for one reason or another.

It is cold here in Michigan. It is not as cold in other states, like North Dakota or Minnesota but it is cold. We were asked yesterday to reduce our thermostats down to 65 degrees to conserve energy. I am grateful for my warm home and the warm cup of coffee I am enjoying right now. I hope those folks who are homeless have found a warm place to stay.

I purposely use a gratitude journal every morning. In it I express my thanks for all I have, my family, my friends, and whatever else comes to mind. When I began my gratitude journal a few years ago I did not realize how life-changing these few minutes in the morning have become. I think the primary benefit is the practice of focusing on what we are thankful for. It is the focus that counts. The more we are focused on what is right in our lives, the better our lives become. If you catch yourself complaining about things in your life, try to change this around by purposely focusing on what you are grateful for. It could be as simple as being grateful for your warm bed, a family member, or even the benefits you accrue from a job you have. There are so many things to be grateful for. Give gratitude journaling a try. It doesn’t take that long. Start out with writing down 2 or 3 things you are grateful for every morning. Over time you will begin to realize how important this practice is.

I normally accompany my journaling with calming music. I pay for a streaming service called Spotify. I really enjoy this service because it gives me access to so many musicians. Music is a great thing to have in your life. I use different types of music throughout the day. When I journal, I tend to stick with nature sounds and other pleasant instrumentals. When I am programming, I tend to gravitate toward trance or techno. When I read or study, I enjoy classical. When I exercise, heavy metal is my genre of choice. Each type of music feeds the activities I pursue. I tend to shy away from any vocal’s music, especially when I am reading or writing. This type of music tends to disrupt my thinking more than other types. If you have not tried to augment your daily routines with music, I highly recommend it. This is one life hack that has proven beneficial.

I am blessed. I had the ability to retire early and pursue the things I wanted to pursue. I have also been given the privilege of spending time with my folks in their senior years. My Dad has Dementia and at times, it is a sad time, particularly when you truly grasp that the Dad you knew is no longer the Dad you have now. Regardless, my circumstances have granted me the opportunity to enjoy my folks as they wind down their lives on this Earth. It is a great opportunity that I am grateful for every day.

I am also grateful for my Brother and Sister. They are both very different. My brother loves to travel and is my best friend. He and I have a lot of fun together and enjoy pretty much the same things. My sister is also my best friend. She has different interests from mine but brings a lot of things into my life that I would never have experienced had I not returned home. I am also grateful for my wife and stepdaughters. My wife is in Arizona teaching and my stepdaughters are pursuing their lives on their own (finally). My wife knew I had to come home to help my folks and she has been a great team player. Is it tough being away from your loved ones? Sure, but our relationship is strong, and we love each other very much.

Well, this is it for today. I appreciate you taking the time to read this and hope you can find all of those things in your life that you are grateful for. Looking at the world through grateful eyes is so much better than seeking out all the things that aren’t going so well. I send good thoughts to all my readers today and hope your life is the adventure mine is.

Until next time…

Dave