Gratitude Journal

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It is very difficult to be grateful and unhappy: Intuitively, we know this. Gratitude is one of the strongest emotions that sweep through you and is relatively straightforward to induce. It has been researched for many years by prominent psychologists like Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough who, together, have even gone so far as to develop a gratitude scale. Increasing gratitude has been proven to significantly improve the quality of one's life. Unfortunately, however, in many cultures, there is no mainstream vehicle for expressing gratitude to loved ones.

Gratitude Journal

December 12, 2022

Gratitude Journal

It is very difficult to be grateful and unhappy: Intuitively, we know this. Gratitude is one of the strongest emotions that sweep through you and is relatively straightforward to induce. It has been researched for many years by prominent psychologists like Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough who, together, have even gone so far as to develop a gratitude scale. Increasing gratitude has been proven to significantly improve the quality of one's life. Unfortunately, however, in many cultures, there is no mainstream vehicle for expressing gratitude to loved ones.

Grab a piece of paper

At the end of your day, preferably before your Ritual Shutdown, grab a piece of paper or a physical notebook. Noting this down the old-fashioned way is most effective precisely because it is slower than typing it.

Spent the next 6 minutes writing down what you regard as the most fun part of your day. What did you do exactly and was there someone present to share that moment with you?

Note the three things that you are currently most grateful for.

Try subtraction, not just addition

One effective way of stimulating gratitude is to reflect on what your life would be like without certain blessings, rather than just tallying up all the good things.

Extensive longitude research has indicated that consistency with this habit will eventually lead to not only this activity being more satisfying but, moreover, even an increase in general happiness.

Don’t overdo it

Writing occasionally (once or twice per week) is more beneficial than daily journaling. In fact, one study found that people who wrote in their gratitude journals once a week for six weeks reported boosts in happiness afterward, whereas people who wrote three times per week did not

Full Text

It is very difficult to be grateful and unhappy: Intuitively, we know this. Gratitude is one of the strongest emotions that sweep through you and is relatively straightforward to induce. It has been researched for many years by prominent psychologists like Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough who, together, have even gone so far as to develop a gratitude scale. Increasing gratitude has been proven to significantly improve the quality of one's life. Unfortunately, however, in many cultures, there is no mainstream vehicle for expressing gratitude to loved ones.

Experimenting with gratitude can be done both solitarily or socially, as long as the participants are consciously honing in on whatever authentically gives rise to the feeling of gratitude. A profoundly underappreciated shared activity is the Gratitude Night Challenge. For this exercise, you can find it as a stand-alone challenge in this app. This challenge continues with the solitary form, called the Gratitude Journal.

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