View Full Version : gratitude journal, fail
I read something about a gratitude journal and for the first time ever I thought about it. So I gave it a try, one of mine was that I am probably not the worst gratitude person in the world (someone has got to be worse). I had gratitude that the Wal Mart check out only took 30 minutes and I fit everything in the car. Not sure how to do this, and realizing I am a pretty sour person in some ways. I see myself as witty and sarcastic, but I may need a boost of something positive.
Okay how to do a gratitude journal for people who are suspicious of positive thinking, hmmmm
Work on small things. They can feel more "honest". Today I am very grateful that I have working AC. I am also grateful that I did not commit to walking in the parade Sat. since it was over 95 degrees. I am grateful for the foster cat mother they found for the kitten we were going to try and foster.
Do I understand being grateful correctly?
Chicken lady
6-13-16, 6:13am
from what I remeber of my first encounter with the idea, the woman said "some days you write that you are grateful the say is over.
i don't think there is a wrong way to do this, I think it's more about awareness. I just had an amazing weekend with lots of huge things to be grateful for, but I could also be grateful that the piece of clear stuff I stepped on barefoot at my daughter's wedding reception was plastic and not glass. Because in that moment, I was. Very very grateful!
I don't keep a journal, but I do try to be grateful all day long. I find myself thanking many things through the day. (Trust me, Zoe Girl, I'm sure I'm one of the most negative people around). But there's just something about saying "thank you for helping me" all through the day that feels good. I thank my golf cart for getting me around the property. I thank the spigot and the water for helping me keep the garden watered, I thank my car for taking me places, I thank my garden plants for feeding me. It just feels like the right thing to do, and it feels good. It's not necessarily all the "good" things that happen to you.......it's being aware of everything that helps you get through the days, and makes life better. Many, many small things. And I know this might sound silly, but it helps me be aware that I'm being supported by so many things all the time, and my life is enriched because of them.
I don't keep a journal, but I do try to be grateful all day long. I find myself thanking many things through the day. (Trust me, Zoe Girl, I'm sure I'm one of the most negative people around). But there's just something about saying "thank you for helping me" all through the day that feels good. I thank my golf cart for getting me around the property. I thank the spigot and the water for helping me keep the garden watered, I thank my car for taking me places, I thank my garden plants for feeding me. It just feels like the right thing to do, and it feels good. It's not necessarily all the "good" things that happen to you.......it's being aware of everything that helps you get through the days, and makes life better. Many, many small things. And I know this might sound silly, but it helps me be aware that I'm being supported by so many things all the time, and my life is enriched because of them.
Nice post, Cathy. Pretty profound.
Maybe the idea of writing in a "gratitude journal" is feeling inauthentic to you somehow? Why not sit in meditation and just consciously be grateful for three specific things?
And actually, re-reading your post, I'm thinking that you've already uncovered something positive by writing in the journal... you've discovered that you are "a sour person in some ways." That's an important learning you can accept about yourself or change. Maybe continue writing in the journal and just meditate on your feelings. Gratitude is like a breath of fresh air.
All good ideas guys, thank you. I realized that when I sit and have my little background fantasy stuff going on that it is not positive. Also I realize that after a period of exhaustion like the annual overwork month, I need a re-set. I am studying for a retreat I am doing next weekend for a mindfulness organization, I have done plenty of this work but here is a glitch (kinda exciting when you find something you can work on). All my internal talk is really sh** talk. I can express gratitude towards people, I said some odd things but I am authentic. So this feels like it could be something out of Oprah magazine or it could be authentic. What is really part of my gratitude is that I have not been fired in the last year. Seems like a no-brainer but it has been a really crappy couple years at work.
Oh yeah, what I got from the studying I have been doing is an idea I really like. They had a string with 3 beads that you tied around your wrist, I am going to take 3 different colored cotton yarns and tie those around my wrist for 3 gratitudes a day. It really helps to have it tactile,
If it becomes work, it is not a gratitude journal, IMO.
I get up and love my house, see my dog on the floor at the foot of the bed lifting his head, the higher toilet seat, the layout leading to the kitchen, the convenience of the switches to turn on the lights each morning, my dog coming to visit me for his morning pat on the head, the ease of water for the kettle for my tea, the first taste, the morning sunshine streaming in, my favourite chair to sit and meditate with the tea looking out my window at the birds at the feeders or bathing in the birdbath....
It is a joy to meet each day with all its ups and downs. Some days have challenges like traffic rear-enders :( but that is followed by the support of service people, the courtesy of each person I encounter when walking the dog, the wonderful trails that a friend and I walk twice weekly. I walk into grocery stores and admire the layout of fruits and veggies with their colours and abundance.
Gratitude is an acknowledgment of what is around me. I can focus on the light or the shadow. I look for the light and see it most of the time.
If it becomes work, it is not a gratitude journal, IMO.
I get up and love my house, see my dog on the floor at the foot of the bed lifting his head, the higher toilet seat, the layout leading to the kitchen, the convenience of the switches to turn on the lights each morning, my dog coming to visit me for his morning pat on the head, the ease of water for the kettle for my tea, the first taste, the morning sunshine streaming in, my favourite chair to sit and meditate with the tea looking out my window at the birds at the feeders or bathing in the birdbath....
It is a joy to meet each day with all its ups and downs. Some days have challenges like traffic rear-enders :( but that is followed by the support of service people, the courtesy of each person I encounter when walking the dog, the wonderful trails that a friend and I walk twice weekly. I walk into grocery stores and admire the layout of fruits and veggies with their colours and abundance.
Gratitude is an acknowledgment of what is around me. I can focus on the light or the shadow. I look for the light and see it most of the time.
Very well said, razz!
I don't keep a gratitude journal, although like CathyA, I try to remind myself to be grateful for the good that I have in my life. However, like Zoe, I also tend to have a pretty dark and sarcastic sense of humor, so if I did keep a gratitude journal one of the things I'd have noted this morning was that I was grateful that the monthly SF Muni (transit) monthly customer service survey arrived in my email today. This after an insanely bad experience Friday evening with two "out of service" trains in a row passing us by, turning a 10 minute ride from our house to the restaurant into a 50 minute ordeal. Is it wrong to be grateful that Muni provided this opportunity to provide my feedback so soon after that experience?
I have a friend who has always struggled with depression and has rather negative biting humor etc. Last summer she attended a Bible Study where one of the things was to keep a gratitude journal. She did it begrudgingly and often made the comment, "Well I guess I could put that in my journal, I have a hard time coming up with three things, life just isn't that generous to me...." Well anyway after a couple of months I started see a real difference in her attitude. I don't know if she noticed, but several of our mutual friends commented. The study ended and she said she was glad she could stop doing it, and we have all commented that over the past 3-4 months she has drifted back to her dark self.
I have a friend who has always struggled with depression and has rather negative biting humor etc. Last summer she attended a Bible Study where one of the things was to keep a gratitude journal. She did it begrudgingly and often made the comment, "Well I guess I could put that in my journal, I have a hard time coming up with three things, life just isn't that generous to me...." Well anyway after a couple of months I started see a real difference in her attitude. I don't know if she noticed, but several of our mutual friends commented. The study ended and she said she was glad she could stop doing it, and we have all commented that over the past 3-4 months she has drifted back to her dark self.
For the record, let me say that a dark sense of humor is not necessarily a sign of depression. (not that you said that...) For me it's what keeps me sane in the face of all the stupidity that exists in the world. But more to your post, has anyone tried to suggest to your friend that they noticed the difference and the slide back? Obviously this would need to be handled delicately, but it's quite possible that she hasn't made the connection. Of course I suppose it's also possible that she doesn't want to be happy.
I have a friend who has always struggled with depression and has rather negative biting humor etc. Last summer she attended a Bible Study where one of the things was to keep a gratitude journal. She did it begrudgingly and often made the comment, "Well I guess I could put that in my journal, I have a hard time coming up with three things, life just isn't that generous to me...." Well anyway after a couple of months I started see a real difference in her attitude. I don't know if she noticed, but several of our mutual friends commented. The study ended and she said she was glad she could stop doing it, and we have all commented that over the past 3-4 months she has drifted back to her dark self.
I wonder if the Bible study was a distraction for her. I know, with me, I don't usually want to do social things. But when I'm "forced" to do them, they seem to have a good influence on my mood. They can sort of "reboot" my depressed/isolationist brain.
It's hard for me (and people like me), to force ourselves to do those things......even if they are good experiences.
Interesting about the biting sense of humor. I've noticed that many times, "rude" people....people who might tend to be depressed, DO seem to have that kind of humor. And it's an intelligent kind of humor. Interesting.
Aqua Blue
6-14-16, 12:31pm
CathyA, no, I don't think the Bible study was a distraction for her. She is VERY involved in her church and regularly participating in studies. Also, we joke that she is our activity coordinator as she is always planning things for us to do..
jp1, I have thought about that. I really don't know if she would take it well, but sometimes being a friend means doing something uncomfortable. I will have to see if the situation arises to talk. I often think being the victim/martyr is the role she is most comfortable in....it seems to be the one she always chooses.
I'm pretty good at being grateful for the good things in my life--and sometimes for the bad--but I doubt keeping a journal would be helpful for me. I kept one for awhile as prescribed by The Artist's Way, and found myself insufferably whiny. I am not May Sarton, apparently. :laff:
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