Do you find that you dwell a lot more on the negative things that happen to you compared to the positive ones? You’re not alone!

Gratitude journaling can be one of the most easily accessible and effective practices for overcoming our ‘negativity bias’ – a well-documented human tendency to pay disproportionate attention to negative things.

The trouble with gratitude journaling is that despite its proven benefits, it can get a bit ‘boring’ and repetitive after a while. So we give it up.

A quote to keep in mind

“Constantly scanning the world for the negative comes with a great cost. It undercuts our creativity, raises our stress levels, and lowers our motivation and ability to accomplish goals.”

– Shawn Achor, ‘The Happiness Advantage’

How to make gratitude journaling work for you

Here are a few tips on how to make it consistently exciting:

💡 Focus on the past 24 hours – what good things happened that you’d like to celebrate? It may be something you did, something you experienced or something that someone else did e.g. I handled that discussion very calmly

💡 Be as descriptive as possible – reflect on why you’re grateful, how you contributed to it, and what it would be like not to have experienced it

💡 Less is more – despite most practices recommending that we list out 3 things a day, one thing a day is usually enough!

Over the next week, try starting or ending your day with gratitude journaling. At the end of the week, check in with yourself – what changed 😉?