Create gratitude by writing a journal of your daily happiness.

Expressing Gratitude ~ Five Minute Gratitude Journal

I find this simple daily routine my most fulfilling way to boost my happiness; it starts my day in a positive mindset and gets the days momentum on a positive start.

Often we have good intentions to Journal but time is a factor that we feel inhibits this habit from developing, why not keep it a simple five minute daily routine?

By creating a daily Five Minute Gratitude Journal a part of your morning your day is on its way to a happier, brighter day!

How to write

Choose three to five things for which you feel grateful, how you write is not important but rather acknowledging what you are grateful for.

Don’t overthink what to write it can be simply one word or a small thing such as I enjoyed my yogurt and fruit this morning, or I just found out I am going to be a grandmother!

The idea is to remember a event that brought you joy, an experience that was happy, spending time with someone that was uplifting, or being able to get that new thing you have been wanting, just remember the feeling you had and the good emotions that you felt.

Nine tips to help you write ~

Be as specific as possible, this aids in fostering gratitude for example, when Susan brought me that coffee at my desk when I was overwhelmed I appreciated her act of kindness. Other than I am grateful I work with Susan.

• Find the emotions, by acknowledging your feelings and emotions you get a greater sense of what you are grateful for.
• Be personal, identify the person or the act of what your grateful for rather than a item or things.
• Flip the switch, imagine what you would feel without certain people, animals or things you may take for granted. Did you get good results from a health test? Did you avoid a bad job, accident or found a better way to live? Appreciate change and the wins you may have.
• Appreciate the gifts, we should never take what we have for granted but rather should find ways to enjoy, appreciate and savor the good in our lives.
• Surprises are joys best held dear, surprises are often memories that will illicit greater levels of gratitude. Unexpected surprises are a treasure.
• Go back and remember, yes you were grateful for that retreat you went on but try to recall different reasons why, how did it make you feel, pull it apart for more to be grateful for.
• Commit to this process of journaling, honor it and allow it to become a part of your routine of happiness.
• Stick to the Five minute rule, this is supposed to illicit joy and happiness a fresh way to get your day fired up so just keep it to things you are grateful now…daily affirmations, or just what would make today awesome!

So what are you waiting for give it a try and remember put this time aside intentionally, keep living in gratitude, keep present, savor and enjoy the little things, relax and have a happy day!