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Attitude of Gratitude: Journaling

I am a total nerd when it comes to the Holiday Season. One of my favorite days of the year is the day after Halloween, November 1st! Even as a kid I remember being so excited that Halloween ended because it meant that Thanksgiving and Christmas were just around the corner. There is seriously an awesome feeling that fills the air on November 1st. I also start listening to Christmas music right away because it puts me into that special holiday mood. The end of Halloween also has a new exciting feeling because my baby's birthday is during the first week of November and we just celebrated her first birthday!! My heart is so full of love for that girl.

I love celebrating gratitude during November. It is such a great reminder to have a grateful heart. I believe that if I could always have gratitude in my heart then I  would always be a happy person. An attitude of gratitude can change the way you look at everything in life. I feel like it's such a simple thing that it can be hard to do at times.  I know that I have had moments where I feel stuck in a negative mindset and forget to recognize all of the blessings I have surrounding me. So this month I am on a search to find little tricks I can do to keep my mind and heart full of gratitude. My goal is to continue to create a pattern for myself so that I am practicing my attitude of gratitude every day, even after November.

First, I want to mention declarations again. I feel like when I'm trying to work on a new attribute, I forget that I'm working on it. So I love declarations because when I say them morning and evening, I remember that those are the things that I'm working on becoming. I can also call on those throughout the day. When I feel my mood turning negative or want to complain, I can repeat that declaration in my mind. I'm just telling myself the kid of person I want to be. Declarations are the first step I take in changing my mindset and working on a characteristic trait that I want because I have found them to be incredibly effective in my life.  If declarations aren't your thing then you can also "ponderize" a scripture or quote that you like about gratitude. Just read or say it out loud often. Here are some ideas of declarations you could use for gratitude.

"I live a full, rich and abundant life"
"I am grateful in every situation I find myself in"
"I am a great giver and an excellent receiver"
"I am surrounded by blessings and tender mercies from my Heavenly Father"


This is a picture of my current journal which leads me to my second trick, keeping a gratitude journal.  My goal is to do this every night but I have missed a couple of nights here and there. When I do write in my gratitude journal, I can feel the power of doing this! Every night write down at least three things you are grateful for that day. Sometimes what happens is I end up making my list longer than just three things! As I start to recognize what happy things happened during my day, the flow gets going and I'm able to list a lot of things I'm grateful for that day. When I'm in the moment of my day I don't realize how special each day is. Then at night when I reflect upon my day, I realize it has been full of blessings. Here are some things I wrote last night in my journal just to give an example.
  • Oaklee and I went for a walk. I'm so grateful for outside and beautiful trees with fall leaves.
  •  I'm grateful for children's books. Oaklee was laughing at her pop up book today. So cute
  • Chad and I are such good friends
It's very simple, but makes a huge difference. I go to bed happy and thankful for that day. I like to try to not repeat things I have already said I'm grateful for. This helps me to recognize how many different blessings I have and that each day is full of new blessings that I might not have recognized before.   

Go try it! For the next week write down at least 3 things you are grateful for every day. If you try it I would love to hear about how it has helped you in your life! I would love to hear how you keep an attitude of gratitude! If you have any tricks you like to do, feel free to leave me a comment below.

Be you-tiful,

Cheryl 

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