Gratitude isn't just for Thanksgiving

Reaching one thousand in my gratitude journal!

Hi Everyone, Danica Favorite here, and I wanted to share about a subject very important to me. I love Thanksgiving, because it makes us stop and think about all the things we're grateful for. But it bothers me that many of us only take one day a year to sit down and express all the things we're truly thankful for.

Almost two years ago, I started a journaling practice that really changed my life. I keep a gratitude journal. Every day I write down ten things I'm grateful for. When I first started, the rule was I couldn't be grateful for the same thing twice, but now that I have over a thousand things on my list, I've given myself a little more room to double up, as long as I don't do it too often!

Sometimes I skip a day or two, but I find that if I go more than a couple of days without writing in my journal, I don't feel as good or have as good of a day. It's easy to focus on the hard things in life, but when I take time to remember the good, and to count my many blessings, it's amazing to see how much better my life looks. In fact, the easiest way for me to turn any bad day around is to look at that journal, and see how, despite whatever bump I've hit, I have a pretty amazing life.

I'm always skeptical of claims of things that supposedly change people's lives, but can I let you in on a little secret about my life? Ever since I started keeping my gratitude journal, everything in my life has gotten better. It didn't happen overnight, and I can't point to a specific link between the two, but despite having the same ups and downs of life, some higher ups, and some lower downs, I have to say that overall, I am a much happier person. My life is a thousand times better.

It's not that everything bad in my life magically disappeared. I've had some really bad days. Crushing disappointments. But I think I handle them better. And sometimes, in the midst of those bad things, when I can still find things to be grateful for, I can't see the bad anymore. As for the good, I find so many small things to celebrate, from the snow glistening on the trees, to enjoying a peaceful moment with my tea, to hugs from my daughter, and a thousand (literally!) other things in between, I know that I have an incredible life. Even when I'm not writing things down, I often stop and pause in gratitude throughout my day because I know that I have so much to be grateful for!

How about you? Have you ever kept a gratitude journal? How can you add a little gratitude to your day?