Trust me on this, having gratitude and journaling legit works!
I want to talk about the intense benefits of journaling and feeling gratitude. My husband jokes around with me all the time and asks if journaling is the key to coaching! Of course there isn’t one key to coaching, but there is something to be said for wiring your brain for positivity. When I started the Jay Shetty life coaching certification course, part of the requirements included handing in a certain amount of self -study hours, and journaling/reflection hours. I fell in love with the self- study right away and probably banged out more than triple what was required of me, because that involved reading (one of my favorite things to do), watching webinars and interacting with the team on weekly zoom calls. But the journaling, well, that was another story. I was reluctant because I never sit down and just write my feelings. Ewww, right? Too much nonsense for my monkey brain! But it was required so I figured I mine as well embrace the situation. I started to reflect after each lesson and hand- to -heart, the minute I started writing down what I learned and how it impacted me and my life, I became invested. This is not soul searching, new-age searching for my enlightenment and how I can change the world. This is as simple as taking 3 things that I’m incredibly grateful for in my life, and writing it down. Putting pen to paper and feeling the emotion that goes along with your words can go a long way. I’m learning that emotions are fleeting, they will come and go. But the ability to look at our day, even if it was a really crappy day, and find things to be grateful for, will absolutely change your lens.
Example: I wish I was making this up. We thought we were sending our son to college in August because we signed him up for an early start class. Turns out we were wrong – shocking! We changed all the flights/hotels/cars and even the Bed Bath and Beyond curbside delivery date for a month later…Classic – this was only to learn that we couldn’t even move in ONE day early. You guessed it – For a third time we had to change all of our plans and my husband came home the other day in the worst mood I’ve ever witnessed! He’s very chill!! After all the calls with the airlines, etc. before he went to bed, I made him tell me three good things that happened that day -and begrudgingly, he named them rapidly. He wasn’t playing along and didn’t want to do it, but he quickly found 3 things to be grateful for. He went to bed and wouldn’t you know he woke up the next day like it was any other day. There was no negativity about the day before – in fact he still had more calls to make to fix surreal situation, and we laughed about it. My point isn’t that journaling or feeling gratitude is magic – but it kind of is! If we live in the negative emotion, what do you think we are going to get back? If we live (as the guru’s say), in abundance, what do you think we are going to get back? I realize that we aren’t all in the same space, and that’s totally cool. But trust me on this, when you are ready to start getting those positive vibes flowing, they will come! Just remember to start, or end each day with 3 things that you are grateful for, and you will start to notice a shift in your perspective!
