Gratitude Journal Ideas

One of the top recommendations for learning how to be more grateful is to keep a gratitude journal, however, it can be hard to keep coming up with gratitude journal ideas.

Especially if you are new to gratitude and just learned about how to be grateful in your relationships.

Why Practicing Gratitude is Worth Learning

Practicing gratitude can lead to many benefits, so it is worth learning. Even if it is only baby steps at first. Gratitude has been proven to:

• Improve Physical Health. People who practice gratitude experience fewer aches and pains a study from Forbes found. People who practice gratitude are also more likely to keep themselves in shape and exercise regularly.
• Improve Psychological Health. Gratitude reduces many negative emotions including envy, frustration, rumination, and regret studies from Dr. Robert Emmons have found.
• Better sleep: Keeping a gratitude journal improves sleep. According to a study by Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, if you spend 15 minutes before bed reflecting on what you are grateful for, you will sleep better and longer.

Why Keep a Gratitude Journal?

Keeping a gratitude journal trains the muscle of being grateful because it forces you to pay attention to the good things that are happening to you every single day. Writing 3-5 different things every day can become a challenge. which is why coming up with ideas for a gratitude journal can sometimes be a temporary pain. However, by training yourself to see different areas of your life to be grateful for, you soon realize how much good there is in your life.

What you Shouldn’t Do

In the beginning, it can be a challenge to think of ideas of what to be grateful for every day. Especially since you need to look for different things to be grateful for every day. Writing “I am thankful for my family, job, and health” every day is nice, but it isn’t training you to actually be more grateful.

What You Should Do

In the journal, write out 3 to 5 bullet point sentences of what you are grateful for. Try to vary it by being grateful for different areas of your life every day. If you feel stuck, look below to see gratitude journal ideas.

Daily Gratitude Journal Ideas

Work

• Did a project or presentation go well?
• Have you been assigned more responsibility?
• Are you working on anything new or interesting?
• Did your boss give you a compliment?
• Did you have a great conversation with a co-worker?
• Was lunch great at work today?
• Was food catered in today or was there a fun team outing?
• Did you get a promotion, bonus, or some type of merit pay increase?
• Was your team recognized for something?
• Did a mentor or mentee achieve something great?

Family

• Did you have a great conversation with a family member?
• Did something great happen in a family member’s life?
• Was there a fun family gathering?
• Did the pets do something cute today?
• Did someone do something nice for you today?

Friends

• Did a close friend reach-out? Or did you reach out to a close friend?
• Did something great happen in a friend’s life?
• Did someone do something nice for you today?

Physical Health

• Did you get a good work-out today?
• Did you get a good night’s sleep?
• Maybe you hit your step goal?
• Did a little more physical activity than yesterday?
• Is your new diet working great for you?

Mental Health

• Did you do something nice for yourself today?
• Did you practice self-compassion today?
• How did you positively handle your emotions today?
• Did you stand-up for yourself today?
• Did you smile more today than normal?

Hobbies

• Did you get time to work on a hobby today?
• Maybe you further developed a skill?
• Did you create something today?
• Did you get good feedback on your hobby or project?

Material Items

• Maybe someone got you a little gift today?
• Did an old item make you happy today?
• Perhaps you gave a meaningful gift?

Big Events

• Birthday?
• Anniversary?
• Promotion?
• Marriage?
• Friends birthday?
• Friend’s wedding?
• Family gets together?

Goal Attainment

• Did you achieve a long-term goal today?
• A short term goal?
• Did you make progress towards a goal today?

Food

• Did you eat anything particularly comforting or enjoyable today?
• Maybe you tried something new that was better than expected?
• Did you get inspiration for something you can make?

Small Things

• Did you have a nice warm cup of coffee or tea?
• Did someone hold the door for you?
• Was a waiter nice today?
• Did the cold glass of water taste great?
• Did someone give you a compliment?

Nature

• How was the weather today?
• Did you see any cute animals?
• Did you get a particularly cool breeze while walking today?

Time Affluence

• Did you have time to relax today?
• Did you have time to work on your hobbies?
• Could you chill with family or friends?

Main Take-Aways

• To be more grateful, we need to practice every day!
• There are so many ways we can be grateful. We need to look at every area of our lives to find places to be grateful and little things to be grateful for.

Action Item

These are just a starting point. What other three areas in your life specifically you can be grateful for? Add them to your list of gratitude journal ideas.