If you’re like most of us who use our journals when we are feeling tense and upset to work out the feelings in our minds and hearts, let me suggest a “gratitude journal” to balance out your life. I have file cabinets of old journals that helped me survive life’s challenges and work through problems but little that I wrote when I was filled with happiness. So I bought a small journal that will fit in my purse and has lines on the pages to make writing legibly easier. I plan to write daily something brief that I’ve learned or felt that was positive and uplifting to share with others-maybe on my blog or just to have around to remind me to look at the world through rose colored glasses more often. (I do keep a journal on my computer but my latest computer crash has shown how quickly that can disappear if not backed up. Thus the need for a physical tangible journal to pass on to my family of my positive feelings about my life.)
The glass is “half full” if you perceive it as such or “half empty” if that is your frame of mind. I feel more serene and fulfilled at this point of my life that I have before. Maybe because I am trying to get rid of expectations of others’ behaviors toward me and just accept them unconditionally. We are all lacking as family members and friends in our relationships but when I see others through judgmental eyes it’s difficult to appreciate them fully. This is how I perceive God and His son looking at each of us with “love and appreciation” for our uniqueness. Just having gratitude for whatever comes our way and not being so greedy for more, gives us a certain peace and joy that is as my friend Caryn says…“delicious.”
Do you keep a gratitude journal?
You know what? I don't keep one. And I not only read Susan Breathnach's book about them, I learned from a very early age to be grateful for little things. My mom was always walking around the yard and the house saying thank you. She'd audibly say "Thanks be to You" every time she flipped a towel or a pair of pants to hang on the clothes line. She'd utter the same words when we'd find a good parkinig place, or whenever she'd pick out a perfect peach from the pile at the grocery store. She was just always, always in that "attitude of gratitude". And my dad used to call stop lights, "GO lights". He said they let you go as long as they make you stop, so why not focus on the upside. He also never locked a door. He used to say, "Locked doors only keep honest people out." They were both very positive people!
ReplyDeleteI'm rambling again, aren't I?
It's a marvelous idea, Lin. I have trouble writing by hand, as you may know. So, I'll probably get back to my morning pages (I call them "brain drain") or I may use my blog site (Now there's a thought for you... actually writing on my blog site regularly)and then I'll just run off a hard copy to keep in a loose leaf. My mind has a tendency to move much faster than my fingers so that may work better for me. It truly is wonderful, marvelous idea. We will be filled with "wonder" when we take the time to "marvel" at the delicious things that come to us each and every day. Thanks for suggesting it and keeping me on track. That's why I picked you for my BFF.
It is a good idea and I used to do something similar with students--having them write down things that they were grateful for or things that they had learned during the day. Having to stop, think, and put something into words is helpful for memory too.
ReplyDeleteA nice reminder. Thank you.
That's a wonderful idea..if you want you can take your blog and go to blurb.com and make it into a book
ReplyDeleteI just had the BEST laugh!!! I'm still laughing. I went back and read through your posts to see if there were any new comments on them. (I really like reading everybody's comments, so I do that quite often) I read where you said that you might just be 39 squared and told us to figure it out. I didn't take the time, but, I was thinking to myself, Okay, Lin, are you SURE you want to do that? Then when I read how old you'd be I couldn't help myself. I howled. 1,541 ... yup! I'd be fore sticking with 39, too. Or I'll continue to celebrate the
ReplyDelete28th anniversary of my 39th birthday. 1,541....that's a WHOLE lot of candles to blow out.
Hey Lin, great post! Thanks for the reminder. I started one but have not written in it in a while. I'm pulling it out tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that you wrote about that. I agree with you. When I was teaching, one of the very first things I did was to draw the glass on the chalkboard and do the half-full attitude.
ReplyDeleteAnd a weekend journal entry was to 'document your 3 G's'of the weekend.:good, glad, great!
Something that happened over the weekend that was
good[like supper tasted really good,glad[I'm glad that I got to sleep in on Sat.] and great--It was great to go the rollerskating b'day party on Sun.
I don't seem to be able to keep a journal going. I'm hoping to have my blog do it for me!
You know, I started one...but never really kept it up. I'll have to dig it out and try it again!
ReplyDelete