Turn the ordinary into the extraordinary
Gratitude journaling is simply writing what you’re grateful or thankful for. It’s regular reminders of the blessings in your life.
I’m on a two-day streak with my gratitude journaling. (That counts, right?)
Last night I was tired but managed to write this in my journal after spinning my wheels for 10 minutes:
- I’m grateful for my job.
- I’m grateful for my house.
- I’m grateful for my wife.
Certainly big things to be grateful for. And I’m still grateful for them.
But there’s a temptation to repeat these the next night. And the next. And so on.
Then it becomes familiar, ordinary, and … not really effective at cementing a good start to the next day.
That, and they’re generic. I mean … of course I’m grateful for those things, but what kind of horrible person would I be if I weren’t?
The pivot toward the extraordinary
Tonight, I unearthed three new things I’m grateful for:
- I’m thankful for my food-tracking app that told me I was 1500 calories over today, and that I’d gain 10 pounds in 5 weeks if I continued.
- I’m thankful for a legit blog comment today from someone with whom I appear to share a lot of interests.
- I’m thankful I still remember the name of the lovely lady who works the McDonald’s drive-thru Sunday Morning.
Somehow better, right?
Here’s why I see them as better:
They’re little things
Not that there’s a thing wrong with being thankful for big things. But the little things are a lot more plentiful, and happen much more often.
Paying attention to the little blessings makes them more visible, more often.
They’re specific
“I’m thankful I got a blog comment today” is good, but if I were to go back in my journal later, would I remember why I was thankful for it?
Loading up on the specifics adds the context and spurs other possibilities, other things to watch for.
They’re ones I haven’t journaled about yet
There are times to use a pattern or a template in order to save time. Many times.
This isn’t one of those times. The longer process with extra thinking bears more luscious fruit.
I’d view repeating a gratitude as lazy. There’s gotta be more, right?
My mini-challenge for the next seven days
I’m going to do Substack notes with my three gratitudes for the next seven days.
Three rules:
- I’ll post them before I turn in for the night.
- I won’t repeat myself.
- They’ll be specific.
Here’s my first post. The others will follow!
Thanks for reading!
Hi, I’m John and I encourage people to work for themselves, and on themselves, every day to sleep better at night.
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Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash