I recently restarted writing in my gratitude book most every day. Yes, I already had one but my last entry was in 2012! I found it, blew off the dust, and moved it to my bedside table.
What I’ve found since I’ve again started writing in my gratitude book is that as I go through my day I’m noticing things I’m grateful for all the time. For example, as I walk down to the mailbox I’ll think, “I’m grateful for the fragrance of that jasmine. I have to write that in my gratitude book.”
Of course, I forget what all those thoughts were the next time I get my gratitude book out, but one of the things this gratitude exercise has done is change my thinking completely.
Where in the past as I walked to the mailbox I might be thinking something stupid, or worrying, I’m now actively noticing things to be grateful for, ostensibly so I can write them down later.
It’s a huge shift in my thinking all through the day, not just those few moments I’m writing in my book.
Every thought of gratitude is one less thought of negativity or worry.
The little exercise of writing down things to be grateful for spills over into my entire day!
“Gratitude is riches, complaint is poverty.” — Doris Day