Day Twenty Five - Wildcard
The individual impact of any one piece of gratitude is small, but the cumulative effect is huge.
Today’s challenge is to write down things that make you feel grateful. Gratitude diaries help people to focus their attention on the positive things in their life and overcome our hardwired negative bias. The concept is simple, write down three things you are grateful for, they can be high level, like being thankful for the country you live in or general good health, or they can be specific, like crystal clear water for swimming at the beach or coffee date with your partner. Once you have written down your thoughts, take the time to re-read them. Make gratitude a habit by doing it daily and keep a notepad in a visible area, i.e. bedside table or breakfast bench, and decide the best time of day to record your thoughts.
Why is it important? There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that gratitude is strongly related to psychological wellbeing2. It turns out that keeping a gratitude diary3 for as little as two weeks significantly reduces clinical scores of depression, hopelessness, negative thoughts, and increased gratitude measures. This makes sense to me as even transferring your thoughts to paper (via a worry diary) appears to free up mental resources so you can focus on other things.
So, do you currently have a reflective practice to focus on the many things you should be grateful for? If not starting with a diary may help.
Reference
James Clear
Psychological wellbeing citeseerx.ist.psu.edu
Gratitude diaries to increase gratitude www.researchgate.net
Further reading
Read: If you feel grateful write it down www.npr.org/health-shots
Watch: Nature beauty & gratitude www.ted.com/louie_schwartzberg
Listen: Reasons to be grateful www.happinesslab.fm
** Disclaimer – Part of the Build Your Ideal Day Program – 30 Day challenge by Duncan Young. All content and media on the Build Your Ideal Day Website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.
