Journaling is one of my favorite acts of self care. There’s few things more comforting than dumping all of my thoughts onto a page and figuratively clearing out my head. It’s as if once something is down on a page, it’s not taking up space in my mind and I don’t have to stress about it anymore. Of course, I know some things will never completely dissipate from my thought process, but journaling it out is a good start.

A while back my mom got me a Women’s Gratitude Journal with “200 writing prompts and inspirational quotes for everyday happiness”. I wrote in it a few times before it got pushed aside with my books and other journals.

It wasn’t until I was chatting with a mentor about how gratitude directly sparks joy that I decided to find the journal and give the prompts another go.

Now, every morning when I make my coffee, I pull out my gratitude journal and find a prompt that interests me. It’s a small act of self care, but it’s really improved my mental state.

You should keep a gratitude journal because…

We all have so much to be grateful for

Some of the prompts are really simple. For example, I just finished a prompt that asked what are some smells that make me feel joyful?

I wrote about coffee, freshly mowed grass in the heat of the summer, new soaps and candles, and my grandmothers’ cooking. It had been a long time since I thought about feeling joy from scents. It’s something overlooked that we take fore-granted, but something that has also brought me immense joy before.

It will remind you that everything you need is already within you

It’s easy to get frustrated when we’re not achieving things at the pace we think we should be, but really the main thing that stands between a lot of people and their goals is consistency – the ability to show up every single day and make just a little bit of progress. By setting the routine of journaling every day, you’re showing yourself that you can in fact stick to something. And if you can stick to gratitude journaling then why not include working on your goals in that routine as well?

You attract what you put out into the world

Manifestations are real. Our thoughts become our reality. If you’re striving to maintain a healthy mindset and putting in effort to make yourself the best version of you then you’re going to put out bright, vibrant energy and that’s going to attract other individuals with bright, vibrant energy. Being grateful for this life is one of the best ways to appreciate who you are and how much you’ve grown. We only get one shot at this chaotic, beautiful life so we might as well make it worthwhile.

Here is the gratitude journal I use, I highly recommend, but there are many different resources online for journaling prompts and you should find some that you enjoy so you’ll be more likely to include it into a daily routine.

Onward, friends, always onward.