gratitude journal | how I'm using mine

Today is the last day of January. Already. Five weeks out of 52 have been lived and enjoyed and documented in my Gratitude Journal.

As always, I'm keeping it simple in my journal by recording just a short note each day. I realize that there are journal fans out there that think that this method would just not do for them. For me, though, it works. I tried using a bigger journal years ago and I felt the need to write and write and write each and every day just so I could fill a page and not feel like a failure for not having enough gratitude or thankfulness to fill a page. Which made me rebel and just not continue the project.

Find more library cards here.

Because I love mini books so well, I wondered what it would be to create a journal with found papers, cardstock, stickers and such and journal my thoughts in there. So I did just that and it worked! I used it and stayed pretty faithful.

 I missed journaling on days 15 - 18, but didn't let that stop me from continuing on with day 19.

Because I'm that kind of girl, I will admit that there have been days, even weeks, that I wrote not a thing in my Gratitude Journal. Nothing. Not that I wasn't grateful, but I let time or lack of time, get in my way. There were some days, not too many years ago, that my heart ached and was broken and I found it difficult to find goodness in my life. Who knew that a child could break your heart more than a man ever could. No worries, life is moving on and Zach is learning what he wants out of life. And he communicates with us more than he ever has. Life is good.

Week 4 had me getting a mammogram, so I included my ID bracelet.

I included some flair and a number sticker as well.

While watching TV one night, Gordon suggested that I add the journal to my Etsy shop, so I did and the rest is history. To say that the Gratitude Journal has been a success would be a major understatement. There's not a week that goes by that I don't mail out a Journal to somewhere in the world, to another soul that wishes to record their thoughts in a fun scrapbook type notebook.

And for that, I am grateful. Truly, truly grateful. 

We all have our own ways of recording our thankful thoughts and there is no wrong way or right way to do it. Just the act of thinking about some small thing in our day that we are grateful for has been proven to enhance our lives. If it feels better to not even write about your thoughts but to reflect inwardly on your many blessings, that is lovely as well, no one says we have to write down our grateful thoughts for them to be recorded. We can record them in our heart with just as much permanence as writing them down.

I replaced the string on my tag with some baker's twine.

Through the years, I've found that many people decide to begin their journey of documenting their gratitudes throughout the year and that is why each month, I continue to offer the Gratitude Journal in my shop, taking away one month at a time and thereby reducing the price of the journal as well. I will be honest to say that this was a contribution from Gordon, he's the one that suggested that I offer a partial year journal...and he was right!

BUY THE 

FEBRUARY - DECEMBER 
GRATITUDE JOURNAL 

HERE

...but don't worry, the January - December version is still available as well!