When was the last time you took a pause from what you were doing and counted the blessings in your life? Our wants and desires are limitless, and our hurry of chasing after them might leave us losing sight of the good things that we already have in our life. This is why it’s believed and recommended to keep a gratitude journal, that gives you the space to search through your life and recognize the positive things that are there to enlighten it. The effects of gratitude listing regularly are far-reaching, some of which are as follows:
1. It Gives You More Emotional Stability
We spend so much of our time envying what others have and expressing disappointment over things we don’t have. These feelings consume our emotional well-being, deterring us to experience the good that’s present in our life. Gratitude journaling can help you decrease the negative feelings of envy, anger, aggression and discontentment, and encourage the positive feelings of empathy, sensitivity, compassion and fulfillment.
2. It Improves the Quality of Your Relationships
Exalted and unmet expectations are the cause of ruin for many relationships. Wouldn’t it be great if you stopped complaining about the expectations that the person didn’t meet and started appreciating the role, no matter how small, the person indeed plays in your life? You’ll find that your relationship feels much more valuable than before.
3. It Promotes Spiritualism and Reduces Materialism
It’s okay to want the nice pretty-looking things, as long as it doesn’t make you so competitive that you’re never at peace. Gratitude journal can help you strike a balance between spiritualism and materialism. It will teach you that it’s okay to let go of certain materialistic things if they come at a cost of your inner peace.
4. It Keeps You Physically Healthy Too
Your psyche and physical body form a close connection. So much so, that by enhancing the psyche with a gratitude journaling habit, you can feel physically more empowered. People with gratitude are likely to have better energy levels, pay more attention to their fitness by exercising and be more motivated to take care of their personal health.
5. It Enables You to Survive and Thrive
Life isn’t always sunshine and butterflies. There will be difficult times sneaking into your life every now and then. Grateful people are likely to be more resilient in coping with these stressful times and coming out on the other side as a winner. The gratitude journal helps in renewing attitude and instilling hope.
Gratitude journaling is an important exercise in the AOYL Program. The focus of the program is to help one sort through and dovetail the different threads of life. Gratitude expression is one of these important threads and the program offers plenty of opportunities to nurture it. AOYL program serves as a guide on the internally transforming journey that one undertakes on their way to becoming ever so grateful.
This article was in part inspired by the following article:
Check out this video of how gratitude journaling helped the famous American singer LeAnn Rimes change her life:
https://www.inc.com/video/leann-rimes/5-minute-nightly-routine-changed-life.html
