This month I'm experimenting with gratitude. May is the last month of the school year in Colorado, so it can get busy with all the special events for end-of-year special events, final grades, etc. We're having a few visitors this month, and it's also Joel's birthday this week.
My hope is that having gratitude as part of my daily routine will help me to slow down and appreciate all the little moments this month that might be lost in the shuffle. So far, I've tried a few approaches to make this routine work. Originally I envisioned adding a section to my daily planner for gratitude, but I found I used my planner most heavily at work and wouldn't always remember to complete it in the morning or evening when it felt most natural to gratitude journal. I decided to add it to my morning journal routine. Stacking a new habit onto an existing habit that feels rock-solid made the whole thing feel a lot more effortless.
Since I've decided where and when to gratitude journal, I've noticed myself paying more attention to these small moments of joy: holding Avi up to look at fire trucks and planes around the neighborhood, finding moments were students' are completely immersed in creative tasks, moments of connection with Joel at the end of the day, and all the spring flowers. I'm curious to see how this experiment shifts with time. If you're interested in the subject of gratitude, you should check out one of my favorite blogs Grateful Kae, who often writes on the subject of gratitude.
In the past, I've done some gratitude journaling, but it sometimes shifted into something that felt like something I needed to check off or an obligation. If you have a gratitude journal or other gratitude routine, how do you make it feel meaningful on an ongoing basis? What helps you to keep the routine?
A few of the things I am feeling grateful for this month:
Aww, thanks for the mention!
ReplyDeleteI've been gratitude journaling every day for years now. I think you're spot on with the idea of tying it to another existing routine. When I first started, I tried just using a notebook but found I was very inconsistent also. I eventually switched to making a short gratitude list on the back on a daily tear-off page from a "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" calendar that sits on my desk. Every day I would sit down, see the calendar and want to change the date, then write my list on the back, and store the entries in the little calendar box in my desk drawer.
I did this for several years with basically a perfect track record! I just recently finally switched to incorporating it as part of my daily journaling habit. I now use the Wonderland notebook and have a Gratitude/Bummer section as part of my daily page tracking portion. I fill it out religiously, so I have been equally as consistent with this new system. I also tend to share one on my blog every day! I like focusing mostly on gratitude, but have been enjoying also having a little place to dump anything that bummed me out, too. Seeing the gratitude next to the bummer helps put the bummer in perspective, or balance it out I guess. :)
And, you are also right- the more you do it, the more you find yourself looking for things to be grateful for! It's like a lightbulb moment in the middle of the day- you suddenly pause just briefly and think, wow, this is great! I'm so GRATEFUL for this (whatever it is)...when maybe in the past you would have just breezed right past it without a thought. :)