Gratitude Journal

In today's session with Terri Cole, you will be introduced to the practice of keeping a gratitude journal. Did you know that our mind naturally remembers the negative things we experience 5x more than the positive? Spending time each day to consciously focus and acknowledge what is right in your life can improve your physical, mental and emotional well-being. Today, you will spend time giving thanks for the people, things, and experiences in your life that still bring you comfort and joy.

Transcript

Hello,

And welcome to day 14 of Insight Timer's Building Healthy Habits Challenge.

Let's take a moment to get settled.

Close your eyes.

Take a deep breath in and exhale out.

Let's dive into today's healthy habit.

Well,

Hello and welcome to the Building Healthy Habits Challenge here on Insight Timer.

My name is Terri Cole.

I'm a licensed psychotherapist,

Global relationship and empowerment expert,

And the author of Boundary Boss.

I am so incredibly excited that you are here spending this session with me on gratitude,

Because today I will be introducing you to a daily practice of gratitude that has changed my life.

So grab your notebook and a pen,

Because we will be diving into our gratitude practice journaling exercise after this.

So let's start with what is gratitude?

According to Harvard Health Publishing,

It's the thankful appreciation for what an individual receives,

Whether tangible or intangible.

Gratitude is the acknowledgement of what's good in our lives,

Both within ourselves and outside of ourselves.

I always ask my therapy clients,

What's right in your life right now?

Because there's something really important,

Even though we are problem solving in therapy,

Of course,

And obviously we're talking about things that are painful.

It's really,

Really powerful to acknowledge what is right in your life right now.

Gratitude can also be a great connector of people,

Especially in the times that we've all just lived through in the past couple of years,

Because it can be so easy to focus on what's wrong.

We have our negativity bias,

Which means that our mind naturally remembers the negative things that we experience five times more readily than the positive things,

Which really does mean that you need to work five times harder to remember the positive things.

And that is being grateful for the positive things.

It really is easy to focus on what's wrong.

And especially throughout the past couple of years,

The things that we've missed,

The losses that we've experienced,

But it's also so much healthier to consciously work towards a more holistic view.

That means acknowledging the things that we've gained as well.

And that's not to say we should bypass,

Right?

Emotionally bypass any of the hardships or the losses we've experienced,

But it's equally important to honor how you really feel talking about the good and the bad.

It's important to learn how to self soothe in a healthy way and take a moment to focus on the gratitude that you have for all the things that still bring you comfort,

That still bring you joy,

All the things that are right in your life right now.

As human beings,

We are fully capable of holding and experiencing different emotions simultaneously.

A regular gratitude practice can improve your physical,

Mental,

And emotional wellbeing.

People who regularly exercise gratitude are actually physically and mentally healthier than those who don't.

Personally,

I always considered my ability to be grateful for all the things big and small,

As a superpower that really did fuel my happiness.

So the aim of this session today is to help you normalize and institutionalize gratitude as a daily practice.

So right now I'm going to walk you through a gratitude journaling practice that you can do every morning or every evening.

So grab your pen and journal and let's do this together right now.

The first question you're going to be journaling about now is who or what inspired you today?

And you're writing from the vantage point of your gratitude for what inspired you today.

Now I'll keep my eye on the clock while you write.

I'll write your name,

Then I'll address your heart.

You you you you you you're going to journal about right now is who or what brought you comfort today?

Again Again,

Looking at who or what brought you comfort through the lens of being thankful for that experience.

You you you you and the third question is Who or what brought you joy?

You again,

You're going to be journaling right now from the perspective of giving thanks for For who or what brought you joy today?

You you you you Okay,

So this gratitude practice is something that you can do every night That's when I do mine.

And if you do it in the morning,

Then you would you would talk about yesterday You know who inspired me yesterday?

It's simple You can have the journal right next to your bed.

And what ends up happening is that we are creating new neural pathways by Making it regular in our life making it a daily thing the same way that you meditate the same way that you brush your teeth institutionalizing gratitude really flexing those muscles Will change the way you go through the world the way that you see the world.

I I have an additional a bonus Practice that I love doing so much that I just wanted to share it with you quickly.

I want you to think about right now Your life experiences and the folks that you feel particularly grateful for These are your biggest cheerleaders or people who were there at a pivotal moment in your life These are people who support or kindness or input or effort have made a difference in your life So quickly right now because you have your pen and you have your journal just write down your top three names of those people And then I will ask you to once a month or once a week if you're feeling motivated write an old-school snail mail letter or card of gratitude Actually giving thanks For the kindness that others have afforded us in our lives because we remember all of those people and There is something so loving and so beautiful and it creates such a positive ripple effect If you actually take the time out of your life to send a note or a card acknowledging The difference that they made in your life.

It just feels so good to spread positivity and good vibes out into the world All right.

So let's check in How are you feeling?

After doing the journaling gratitude practice What came up for you while you were doing it?

I want you to share that in the comment section.

I also have a guided meditation Gratitude for all the things on my insight timer profile So right now tell me what are you grateful for?

Share that in the comment section as well Let's build this page as a place where anyone can go to feel the gratitude flowing over them like a waterfall Personally,

I am super duper grateful for each and every one of you and for insight timer for creating this sacred space For us to come together.

I can't wait to witness your gratitudes and as always take care of you

Reviews

Thank you, Terri! What a wonderful meditation for Thanksgiving. I have a gratitude practice but am inspired to kick it up a notch with the mailing of cards and letters to those whom I love.

Wow! I am so glad I found you. I feel like I learned something new about expressing gratitude. After I completed your 3 questions in the journaling session, I relived gratitude on a deeper level for my biggest supporter, my sister. I am grateful that you provided the questions to address when writing about gratitude, and you explained the perspective to use in answering the gratitude questions. It helped me understand how it all fits together. Thank you!

Thank you for that powerful exercise. I often feel "stuck" with writing a gratitude journal, so the prompts were really helpful.

I had a beautiful and powerful appraisal at work yesterday, and it got me thinking about how acknowledging someone's efforts can make them feel amazing, and I would love to pay it forward by consciously looking for the efforts others put into things and acknowledging them for that. Positive reinforcement basically.
Thank you for this exercise. I have a good starting point with those practical prompts.

This is a wonderful guidance on the benefits of gratitude and gratitude journaling. The time given to write is just enough. I’ll definitely return to this.

I landed on this track when I searched for a journaling meditation. It was exactly what I needed to help me counterbalance my anxiety. Thank you!

Thank you for sharing I am feeling happy and grateful for this gift,this practice and all the teachers that support myself and others ☺️🙏✨💖❤️

I can't wait to do the snail mail idea thank you ☺️

Love those three questions to give some structure to reflecting on the day and what I am grateful for. Thank you

I‘m in a really hard situation at that moment: a hard attack of Corona is over, but backpain is still overwhelming me;
BUT the sun is shining, nature is beautiful and life even in hard times is beautiful (1)
that I could improve (only a little bit of) my mental health and I could eat with appetite again (2)
and that I‘m alive and could clear my doubts deep in my own (3)
Thank you so much, dear Terri, and yes indead, gratitude is such a powerful virtue, and for THIS reminder ❤️🙏

So helpful 😃 🙏 I am grateful to have learnt a new technique!

Thank you for this wonderful practice!
I am so grateful for everything in this present moment, the leaves falling from the trees allowing more light to shine through my window, my amazing husband and my precious fur baby Luna. What a gift it is to be here in this now moment. What an honor it is to be alive and flow through the Earth’s changing seasons. I am so grateful. 🍂🙏✨ Thank you for you, Terri and many thanks to Insight Timer for providing such a sacred container. 🤍Sat Nam.

Love the idea of a gratitude journal and appreciate Terri s prompts . Thank you for this!

Gentle and reflective. It's always good to practice gratitude every morning and having the prompts is very useful. Bless you 🙏

I am thankful that I am learning how to change my energy from negative to positive.

I just bought a notebook and a pen. answered your questions in my journal. Wow, this was really good and powerful. I tend to think too much bout the negative than the positive things in my life. This was kind of a wake up call for me. This made me feel such a joy for really how much joy and love that surrounds me, that i so much take for granted. Thank you soon much for this, that I will for shure take with me for days weeks months years to come. 🙂❤️🙏

Good questions asked in the session, easy to search answers, very helpful.

Revisiting after the initial challenge and glad I did. Timing was on point as I needed the reminder.

I love my gratitude journal, and I will add these questions to my nighttime journal at the end of each day. Thank you!!

Just what I needed this morning. I woke up feeling so confused and scared. I have never been 78. More things happen to make me feel old and helpless for my future. My husband got up because he has a yoga clas thus morning. She is a friend in person and also on Insight Timer. 😍. This is a special class for veterans.
My husband calmed me down. I am so grateful I have him in my life. He was a coach and that helps him give me advice. Sometimes I don’t like it but t
that’s another story 😉. I am watching dozens of burrs and squirrels eating on the deck. It’s my morning gratitude. They all know me. I am following you now.

Grateful for you. Felt a thawing of some emotional numbness that Ive felt lately. Thank you for offering a space to reflect on the good things.
(Or the things that are going right)🫶🏼