“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” - Robert Brault

We are often told that keeping a gratitude journal is an important self-care practice and can help boost your overall sense of happiness. While it seems like a pretty straightforward concept, you may find yourself getting bored with the exercise and may not get a lot of benefit from it or even quit altogether. In this post, we are giving you some of our favorite tips on how to keep your gratitude journaling from getting stale.

1. Divulge the Details

Being vague is boring. Don’t be afraid to dig into the details when making your gratitude list. You are grateful for sunny days and your dog? Shocker. Obviously, those things ARE great, but looking a little closer can be more meaningful. For example, “I am grateful for the feeling of the sun hitting my skin as I wake up and drink my morning coffee,” or “I am grateful for the way my dog gets excited to greet me when I walk through the door”. Looking at the specifics allows our minds to truly feel those moments and enhances the feeling of appreciation we have for them.

2. Plan your Gratitude

Another way to keep your gratitude journal fresh is to add a little structure to your practice. Similar to how people use the concept of “day theming” when time blocking, you can set themes for your gratitude journaling. Instead of listing everything you are grateful for each day, you can choose categories to help you focus on different aspects of your life.

Here’s an example of a week with daily categories:

• Monday: Relationships
• Tuesday: Family and Pets
• Wednesday: Skills I have
• Thursday: Home/Possessions
• Friday: Personality traits I possess
• Saturday: Nature
• Sunday: People/Humanity

The Self-Care Planner: Daily Edition has a designated space for you to write something you are grateful for. You can set a theme or category for each day. If you are a #coordinationqueen you could take it a step further and choose a goal that correlates to the same category for each day.

3. Pass it On

Step up your gratitude journaling by spreading the love and sharing your sentiments with the people who appear on your list. The act of sharing your gratitude with others turns a positive thought into a positive emotion and action, which has an even greater impact on your wellbeing and additionally the person you are sharing your gratitude with. They may have not even realized their actions had such a positive impact on you!

4. Get Creative

Instead of using written words, explore expressing your gratitude in other ways. Draw a picture of your favorite place, write a song about your niece who never fails to make you smile, choreograph a couple of eight counts to remind you to feel grateful for your body and how it moves.

Looking for More? Check out our Get More Done in Less Time with Time Blocking blog for more planning tips and tricks.