Celebrate Life
founder
Susan Stucki
Celebration Gratitude Journal
CELEBRATION GRATITUDE JOURNAL
Creating and keeping a Celebration Gratitude Journal is delightful when you follow these easy steps.
Step #1. Define your rules. Make them easy and fun.
Customize your Celebration Gratitude Journal to reflect your personality. Writing in this life enhancing journal should spark joy for you.
This activity is intended to be fun, invigorating and burden free. It is not intended to add additional stress or guilt.
Although you do not have to write every day, you should be consistent in when you make entries so that you form a habit. It would be beneficial to write a minimum of once a week to make it effective.
Below are the rules I set for myself. You can adopt them or create your own guidelines.
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I write the first 5 things that come to my mind for which I am grateful that day.
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I do not require myself to write every day. There is no guilt if I don’t post daily.
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Complete sentences are not mandatory. A word or a phrase serves my purpose.
Every opportunity I have, I share the concept of keeping a Celebration Gratitude Journal and gift an empty journal with those I meet. Because writing and reading in my journal has made a significant difference in my life, I would hope it would also be life enhancing for those in my circle of influence.
Sharing this concept with teens excites me. The younger one begins, the more entrenched counting blessings becomes in their life. Imagine how richly blessed lives will become for those who take this ritual serious while in their youth and carry it on through the years. Imagine them passing this habit down with their posterity.
But it is never too late to begin. Imagine how different your life will be in a few years after you have shared your thoughts in your Celebration Gratitude Journal and have shared the concept with others. Imagine passing this legacy down to your posterity and along to your friends.
Sometimes when I need strength, a lift or even a chuckle, I open my Celebration Gratitude Journal and read former entries. Sometimes I can tell exactly the circumstances of that day. Other times I wonder that I even experienced those emotions. I was surprised to find a much repeated entry that I did not realize was even on my list of the top 5 things to be grateful for. Time and time again I wrote “a warm home”. Yes, I am grateful on a cold winter night to have a cozy shelter. Nevertheless, I was still amazed at how frequently that was listed in my journal.
Sometimes in our darkest hours, it might seem there is nothing to write. Those are the nights I might enter that I am grateful that the day is over. My entry might read: “the promise of a new day”. Digging deep for something of substance has happened to me before as I am guessing is the case with most humans on occasion. Have you ever found yourself wondering what there was to be grateful for when it seems the world has turned against you?
On other days, gratefully most days, my entries read more like:
• My life
• My husband, my best friend
• The sunrise
• Walking toward the sunset
• Lots of great water to drink
Step #2. Select your journal.
Although the most important part is posting entries, I encourage you to make writing in your journal an experience you look forward to. One way to do this is to choose the most beautiful design for your journal that you can find. It doesn’t need to be expensive, but it should be a joy sparker for you. I would suggest you spend a little time, handle it, and make sure you like the color and feel of it. I have discovered some wonderful choices at local dollar stores. In fact, I stock up on them so I can share them when I have the opportunity. I have a favorite brand of pen I prefer. When the ink flows just right for you, the writing experience becomes even more enjoyable. My regular journal is typed on my computer, but the Celebration Gratitude Journal is in my own handwriting. I keep this journal near my bed so I can write before retiring for the night.
Step #3. Begin!
Begin writing tonight!
I like to gift friends and those in my circle of influence who may be going through challenges an empty notebook with instructions on beginning their own Celebration Gratitude Journal. When life gets hard, there is something therapeutic about counting our blessings and naming them one by one. And when life is great, it is great to record the joy.
Now I must go enter in my post that I am grateful I can share such a life changing experience with you, my friends.
You are ready to begin. It is as easy as 1, 2, and 3. Begin immediately for a joy sparking, life enhancing experience. To Download a pdf copy of these instructions of the Gratitude Journal click here.