Thoughtful Thursday: Recording Expressions of Gratitude

Does anyone remember way back when Oprah Winfrey brought forth the idea of a gratitude journal?  I cannot remember when it was, nor does the time matter, but the idea has always stuck with me.  For a time, I did keep one and I still have it. 

Several months ago I read through it.  I must have been struggling to be thankful, because some days I wrote that I was thankful for getting out of bed, and that's it.  That's not a bad thing to be thankful for, but if that was all I could come up with my heart probably wasn't open to seeing all I had.

Photo courtesy of nuttakit; freedigitalphotos.net

When we go through difficult things it is easy to slip into despair and hopelessness.  It is easy to think, "Why me?" and wallow in self pitying misery.  In my younger days I would be looking around for someone to rescue me.  I continued to look until God put a mirror in front of my face and opened my eyes so that I could see past my self.

I am convinced that the difference in my life now has been a slight shift in attitude and recording the journey of those shifts.  Making it through difficulties can be hard without being miserable.  You have the choice to let things knock you out or use them to learn and grow. 

Maybe I'm nuts.  Neonatal Nurse Nancy tells me I am a glass half-full person, so maybe it is easier for me, who knows. 

Here are my tips:

1. Assume the proverbial light is at the end of the tunnel.  Assume it every day and take steps toward it.
2. Journal your experiences and review your journal regularly.  Seeing change and growth will keep you on track.
3. Adopt gratitude as your attitude of choice.  Remind yourself often, "attitude of gratitude, attitude of gratitude."
4. Be thankful for simple things.  Home. Food. Car. Bike. Kids. Computer. (if you're reading this, I know you at least have that!)  Write it down.  Use a journal, a blog, a notecard, a post-it. 
5. Get out of your own head and help someone else.  Participating in any act of service will exponentially reduce your misery over your own situation.
6. Write down your actions of service and the immediate effect they had on you each time you complete them.  This will become your own inspirational story that you can come back to when you need to be uplifted.

Sometimes these things are forced, especially as you begin to do them, but they will become natural and regular for you over time.

My personal gratitude journal is in my prayer journal, in it I am thankful to God for all things.  This really works for me because I can go back and see what I was giving thanks for and at the same time, see what I was praying for.  I can then see how the things I was thankful for have changed and evolved and see how the things I was asking for were resolved.

Journal/pencil photo; nuttakit; freedigitalphotos.net