#31DayReset Day 8: Keep a Gratitude Journal

This post is Day 8 of the 31 Days to Reset Your Life Challenge for 2011. Learn more and sign up for the program here.

“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle or you can live as if everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein

Over the course of this month, you will be manifesting new habits and wonderful outcomes for your life. Sometimes though, we have to learn how to be grateful for what we have before the universe will give us more.

Today, you will keep a gratitude journal. Studies have shown that cultivating a sense of thankfulness in your everyday life is good for your mental health and emotional well-being. In fat, UC Davis psychologist Robert Emmons has demonstrated such in his research:

The evidence that cultivating gratefulness is good for you is overwhelming. Gratitude is a quality that we should aspire to as a part and parcel of personal growth…Specifically, we have shown that gratitude is positively related to such critical outcomes as life satisfaction, vitality, happiness, self-esteem, optimism, hope, empathy, and willingness to provide emotional and tangible support for other people, whereas being ungrateful is related to anxiety, depression, envy, materialism, and loneliness.

Indeed, in times like these, we need more gratitude. More optimism. Not more stuff to be happy about, just simply more expressions of being grateful for what we already have or experiences we’ve had in the past.

Estimated Time to Complete: 30 minutes

Today’s exercise requires you to be very conscious and mindful of the blessings – big and small – that surround you. Throughout the day, write down everything that you’re grateful for. Your list should contain at least FIVE items. It may be helpful to ask yourself the following questions over the course of your day as “gratitude prompts”:

  • What am I thankful for in this moment?
  • What’s working for my good right now?
  • Today, I’m grateful for . . .

You may answer with things, people, emotions, circumstances, et. It’s up to you to take stock of whatever the universe is providing for you.

Take Action and Reflect: When you’re done, please share your gratitude journal with us in the comments! What were the five things you were most thankful for today? Start your comment off with “Today, I am grateful for . . .” If you blogged about today’s assignment, please post the link in the comments so we can read it!
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35 comments

  1. I Am Thankful for:

    * supportive family, friends, and virtual family that continue to encourage me.

    * a wonderful boyfriend, who is a man of God, that not only takes me out of my comfort zone but has been telling me I’m beautiful for the last 6 yrs.

    * the ability to be able to go after all of my goals and dreams despite the feeling of thinking they are not possible, but all things are possible through planning and action.

    * to have a spiritual relationship with God that allows me to truly embrace what true love is.

    * the ability to change my Today, because Yesterday is gone and Tomorrow is not always promised

  3. Lately I started to be grateful for the smallest which I think are the most beautiful things but yet the ones I take for granted almost too often.
    Here goes my list:

    Grateful for LIFE (the grace of waking up every morning knowing that it is not given for everyone of us…)

    Grateful for LOVE (from my mother and loved ones)

    Grateful for PEACE (Although I may not be at peace with myself all the time. I cherish every little moment of Peace – It sure is a great feeling)

    Grateful for GOD’s patience over me (This one should have been first but since He is the one granting me with the gift of life, the grace of Love and my inner peace I am sure He will be okay with that.) I use to refer as myself as one confused Child of God and honestly I could have not have been more grateful for his patience and unconditional love over me.

    Grateful for finally finding myself: I have been struggling for the longest time with finding my career path and my “WOW” as I call it. Now that I finally decided to switch into the Nonprofit and International development sector I feel grateful because this has been a long time battle between my confused self and I.

    A little one for the road, I am grateful for this Challenge.

  4. I LOVED this one! My entire blog is here: http://wp.me/p1rrQZ-2M

    Here are my five items:

    Security: I have food, water, shelter, clothes, and a job that provides the money I need to sustain these things. There are so many people who aren’t blessed to be born into the situation I have been. This has given me the foundation I needed to understand what I want in life and the motivation to go for it.

    People: My family and friends. They support me in so many ways (emotionally, financially, mentally) and they even challenge me when I need it. I have a great network of people whom I know I can turn to whenever I need, and I love that! They really are my sustenance.

    Boyfriend: Notice I didn’t put my boyfriend in People? That’s because he deserves his own line. I can’t begin to describe how grateful I am of him. He supports me through everything (he moved 500 miles with me because I wanted to, he was next to me when I got an important diagnosis and learned how to administer treatment with me, the list goes on and on). He encourages me while I explore my interests and work on personal development – in the eight days I’ve worked on the 31 Day Reset, he has done the dishes twice. And that’s a big deal because he does all the cooking so I’m supposed to do all the cleaning!

    Job: Although it can be stressful at times, I do have a pretty great set up at work. I have very supportive supervisors who are mindful of my professional development and personal sanity. They encourage me to work hard and tell me I’m doing a great job. I have great colleagues in general, and the pay is very reasonable. It’s a supportive environment for me while I go to school, and I am so grateful for that.

    USF MNA Program: Speaking of school, I’m grateful for the program I’m participating in, the Master of Nonprofit Administration program at University of San Francisco. The program is great because it’s giving me the tools to be the master of my future. Without the background of knowledge and best practices I’m getting from the program, I don’t believe I would be able to go in any direction as easily.
    Read my latest blog post…31 Day Reset: Day 8 – The Reset Exercise Made for Nonprofit Chapin

  6. Today I am grateful for God waking me up this morning with the activities of my limbs and breathe in my body. I am grateful for God waking up my children with the activities of their limbs and breathe in their bodies and for all of us being in our right minds on today. This assignment is right on time today. I have had a horrible day today and anything that I thought could go wrong has gone wrong HOWEVER, I’m grateful that I made it through and I ‘m grateful for being in the mind frame to understand that THIS TOO SHALL PASS!!! I’m grateful that I know and understand that the trials I am walking through right now are because GOD has his hands on me and molding me into the WOMAN that HE has called me to be. I’m grateful because I understand that each breathe I take is a gift because there is someone that didn’t have it today!  As you see my heart is full of joy and I am grateful for my life and the lives of my children no matter how bad my day has seemed it could’ve been worse ;) and I’m grateful that it was just as it has been.

  8. I am grateful for my relationship with God. I know that although I may not know exactly what my future holds, everything is working together for good. I am grateful for my husband who is super supportive and speaks life into me everyday. He certainly keeps me grounded and less stressed! In this moment I am thankful for peace. I have come to learn how important it is to take care of oneself and I do that by making sure I get enough rest, doing yoga, personal development, prayer, good eating habits.

    • I live by Romans 8:28 and that is the first thing that popped in my mind when I read this.

  9. This is a little different than the exercise. I did a flow of feelings like I learned in Emotional Brain Training. So, I started with what I felt grateful for and then wrote whatever other feelings came up. I then ended with reasonable and unreasonable expectations.

    “““
    Right now I am grateful to be inside on such a WINDY WINDY day. I am grateful my house didn’t burn down. I’m grateful that the fire is in _____ and not here. I am afraid someone in _____ might get hurt. I feel sad that their houses burnt down. I feel guilty for feeling happy that mine didn’t burn down.

    I feel proud that I did some of these exercises. I feel guilt for not doing them “perfectly”

    Unreasonable expectation: If I would just do everything perfectly I could live a perfect life and save the world for everyone else.

    Reasonable expectation: I’m not going to do everything perfectly. Life is not going to be perfect. I’m not going to save everyone.

    Essential Pain: That is just horrible! Life can never be perfect!

    Earned Reward: But it CAN be interesting and fun! I can’t make it perfect, I can’t change the laws of reality, but I CAN PLAY with what IS! I can’t save everyone, but I can offer love and humor. I can’t do everything perfectly, but I can try my best and enjoy myself.

    What’s working for my good right now? It seems like I have a whole bunch of people supporting me. S. recommended me for a job. S, C, and P and R and B and G said I’m doing a good job in the play. G and A want me to come for Thanksgiving. D and B are helping me out a lot financially. T wants me to come to her Christmas party and is willing to pay for half of the ticket. I feel a little grateful and proud, but I also feel a lot of guilt and shame when I think about the people helping me out financially and the money I am NOT earning. I feel afraid when I think of traveling and not having enough money for gas or food.

    Unreasonable expectation: I have to do it perfectly or it doesn’t count. I can’t talk to these people until I get it all figured out and am making more money.

    Reasonable expectation: I can enjoy my imperfect life now. It doesn’t mean I’m a bad person just because I don’t have more money. I can enjoy my life now. I can be grateful for all the good people in my life now. And I can do it ALL imperfectly. I can do it all imperfectly.

    Today I’m grateful for… the wind outside, a cozy house inside, having time to do these exercises, having some money to buy food with, and people supporting me in my life. This 31 day reset program giving me the opportunity to do some good inner and outer work.
    Read my latest blog post…There’s hope.

    • Love this exercise! For the last few months I have ended all of my personal daily journal entries by reflecting on what I’m grateful for on that particular day or just in general. It is so helpful to do this daily… especially after a challenging day or when you are working on working through something.

      Today I am grateful for…

      -Having a wonderful grocery store within walking distance that provides produce local produce.

      -The ability to walk

      -Beautiful inspiring music

      -Finding this website

      -Being employed in my feild

      -My health

      -Feeling good in my skin

      -Family

      -Laughter

      -Possibilities

      -This wonderful feeling of hope I’ve been having for the last few weeks

      :)

  10. I am greatful that my favorite 11 year old called me and talk to me on the phone 3x today about his favorite topic which is truckes.
    I am greatful for my time alone for reading and writing enjoying my company.
    I am greatful for my independence.
    I am greatful for the job I have and the job I will have now that I am focused on moving forward.
    I am greatful for my immediate family relationships.

  11. I am grateful for the opportunity to see another because some didn’t get that chance. I love the fact that I was able to talk to some of my family members today and just talk about light- hearted things going in life. Even though I don’t have any money nor a job, I still have food on my table (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and I am happy. I always felt that if I had money in my pocket I would always be happy but, I’ve never been so at peace with everything going on in my life, that would usually cause angst. God has tremendously blessed me and I am extremely grateful for everything.

  15. I’m grateful for the following:

    -The beautiful weather. I spent a lot of time outside just soaking up the sun.
    -Finding a great suit and heels for a job interview.
    -The fact that I have a job interview on Monday!
    -Having food, clothing and shelter.
    -My friends. They keep me on point and inspired.
    -Dried pineapples. And Brooklyn Pale Ale. (and just good food in general!)
    -Realizing that I’ll always have someone in my life who cares that I make it home safely.

  16. I am grateful for…..
    ~God’s favor
    ~my home
    ~people who genuinely love and care for me
    ~new opportunities
    ~my right state of mind
    ~my health
    ~peace within me
    ~a new lease on life

  17. Today I am thankful for…

    Another day God has allowed me to have
    That I am healthy and not in a hospital bed
    That my immediate family is all healthy and alive
    That my needs somehow continue to be met
    That I am not walking, but can drive places that I need to go
    That I am there to help my family where I can
    That I have food to eat
    That I have friends who think of me and check on me on daily basis
    That God chose me as one of His own

  18. This is what I wrote in my gratitude journal:

    I am grateful for . . .

    youtube.com
    my friend Lisa
    the 5 minutes that my cat spent purring at my side
    the 31 day reset program
    my personality type (I’m basically a happy person by temperment)
    that my mother is live

    I will be doing this exercise every day. It helps to add perspective to otherwise very unhappy days.

  20. I am thankful for …

    -waking up this morning
    -my health
    -healthy food to eat
    -the ability to exercise
    -being able to “work from home”
    -my motivation mix that helped me complete today’s assignment and all of the other tasks I need to complete today
    -being a woman
    -my best friends’ support
    -the breeze coming through my window

    • when you posted your Day 8, you mentioned how you had just had a verbal confrontation. Forward 3 months later and the same thing happened to me just yesterday. I got into a heated argument with one of my supervisors. I wanted answers and she wasn’t providing them and I guess she felt like I was challenging her. I stood up for myself and when I saw that she was just getting angrier, I decided to walk away from the situation. I’m grateful for my colleagues who were around when it happened and who checked up on me afterwards to see if I was ok.

  22. I actually purchased a gratitude journal in May. I was listening to The Secret audio book and one of the chapters is about gratitude. I found The Secret gratitude journal marked down 75% at Waldenbooks. I wrote in it a few times but slacked off. I really do need to focus on being grateful for what I have more; I get way too caught up in what is missing and letting things irritate me.

    What am I thankful for in this moment? – I am thankful that God blessed me with another day to try again, I am in good health, I have a sound mind, shelter, food in my refrigerator, my mom is healthy and we are very close. I’m also thankful that mom treated me to some groceries and put a little money in my hand when she came to visit on Sunday =)

    What’s working for my good right now? – Hmmm… I really think I have a guardian
    angel because my attitude at work has been truly surly and I have mouthed off and voiced my annoyance loudly. The fact that I didn’t get called into a closed door meeting is nothing short of a miracle.

    Today, I’m grateful for the doors that are opening for me, the person (people) reading my resume right now who will contact me for an interview, and the time I set aside for myself to work on my business idea & new blog. I’m grateful that I am alive and well, my family is healthy and still here, my friends are all doing well, I have a steady income, and that even when I fall, God still blesses me.
    Read my latest blog post…The Dyson Technology Experience: Keep Cool In Style!

  23. Today I am grateful for (July 8, 2011)

    Waking up this morning
    Waking up and realizing that I had some place safe to wake up in
    That I have a job that I could make it to safely
    That I didn’t have to walk
    For my Mommie
    For great friends
    For making a great decision for lunch
    For being able to make my own decisions
    For knowing that I may not have all that I want, but all of my needs are met
    For a lovable doggie who loves his Mommy!!! :-)
    For being able to lay down and rest when my back is hurting
    For having someone check on me to make sure I am okay
    For being able to call my auntie and ask her how to make a Strawberry pie (yummy!)
    For being able to know that I needed to thank God for His many blessings at the end of my day.
    Read my latest blog post…31 day challenge: Day 6 – My Personal Mission Statement

  24. Today I’m grateful for My Family. Health. Boyfriend. Apartment. Food. Limbs. Hair. Freedom.Intellgience. God. Some people do not have these important aspects in their life. I acknowledge I do and am truely grateful.

  25. Today, I am grateful for:

    *Unexpected income: My father called me to asked if he could deposit money into my checking account. I’m pushing 30, but I never say no to money from parents!

    *Exercise: I woke up at 6am this morning to exercise for 1 hour.

    *Mindfulness: Throughout the day, I consciously focused on being in the present moment rather than living on auto-pilot.

    *Healthy Foods: With the exception of a few lollipops, I focused on eating healthier than I did last week.

    *Farmer’s Market’s: I’m so grateful that I have access to fresh foods and that I can create great meals on a budget.
    Read my latest blog post…In Case You Missed It: The Week of August 1st, 2011

  29. Today I am grateful for waking up another day, my beautiful healthy children, the strength to get up and go although I am going through difficult times right now. I am grateful for my job and wonderful coworkers/friends. I am grateful for my sight and all my other senses, my working limbs, my health, and the ability to provide for my children. I am grateful for this website and this challenge which is helping me grow and giving me the motivation needed right now and for my best friend who pointed me in this direction.

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