How to Keep a Gratitude Journal

All sectors of society have researched the science of creating new habits. Medicine, business, parenting—we all want to know how habitual behavior affects our lives. Keeping a gratitude journal to help you feel happier over the long term has to be part of a habitual self-care routine.

Here are three tips for creating a daily gratitude journal routine:

1. ‌Timing.‌ Select a time to write in your journal, such as first thing in the morning or at bedtime. You could make it part of your morning wellness routine by writing in your gratitude journal while sipping your morning cup of coffee.
2. ‌Reminders.‌ Plant cues to remind yourself, such as keeping a pretty journal on your nightstand. You may want to add it to your to-do list in the beginning until it becomes a habit.
3. ‌Consistency.‌ Write in your journal often enough to create habit-forming behavior but not so often that you become immune to the impact and benefits of gratitude. The day-to-day implementation of a gratitude journaling practice can improve your sense of well-being and overall happiness.

Writing a gratitude journal should not be another thing to cross off your list. If you're approaching it this way, you're cutting yourself short. Be present and conscious of the notations you're making, creating an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude lists are great and easy but also remain at surface level.

Journal in detail, deeply, about the one thing that has recently affected you. Remember, you aren't being graded here. There are no gold stars or brownie points. In theory, this practice was researched to improve happiness and gratitude levels, and who doesn't want to feel happier in their daily life? The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley has more researched tips on how to approach writing a gratitude journal.

Hard times happen in life. We fight with our spouses. Our kids break bones. Any number of troubling obstacles can hurdle us from feeling grateful. However, if we rush through the struggles or fight to find gratitude constantly, we fuel emotions of anxiety and defeat.

Authored by the chair of the psychology department at Wellesley College, "The Positive Power of Negative Thinking" advocates the benefits of balanced thinking and harnessing the power of "defensive pessimism" to achieve goals— and feel grateful, too. So, in those moments of struggle, allow yourself to feel the negative, and don't stifle your anxiety with unrelenting responsibility of gratitude.

The purpose of keeping a gratitude journal is to help us savor the fruits of life— our families, our environments, our blessings—but beyond that, do we have more gratitude to uncover?

Challenge yourself to find gracious qualities in life's difficult moments.

• Did your boss or co-workers underestimate your skills? Thank them for the motivation to prove them wrong.
• Did you wake up to find that your car has a flat tire? The moment when you see the tire is stressful, but later on, look for the positive things about the situation. For example, be grateful that you weren't driving when the tire gave out.

There's a difference between ‌feeling‌ grateful and ‌being‌ grateful, and it's OK to be one without the other.

To show gratitude for a big house and a new car seem like obvious entries in your gratitude journal, but according to research by Michael McCullough, a leading gratitude researcher at the University of Miami, the connection between materialism and gratitude would surprise you. In the paper "Is Gratitude an Alternative to Materialism?" written for the Journal of Happiness Studies, McCullough contends that people who are consumed with the accumulation of wealth and material acquisitions are less likely to be happy than those who are grateful for what they currently have.

He states, "In contrast, grateful people—people who readily recognize the many ways that their lives are enriched by the benevolent actions of others— tend to be extraordinarily happy. They experience high levels of positive emotions, low levels of negative emotion, [and] are generally satisfied with their lives." Appreciating others and verbalizing it to them can make them feel good, and you will feel positive emotions as well.