Here’s a picture of my gratitude journal in all of her glory! Pretty ain’t she? And there’s a favorite pen that I used specifically for writing in this journal. I could write with a strong, graceful left hand using that pen. I started this endeavor on November 19th, 2017 & just finished my last page tonight, November 5th 2018. Why did I do this?

Well, after reading lots of stuff about starting such a journal “cause you’ll feel better about yourself or you’ll be more grateful about the things in your life” & so on, I ignored all that & didn’t start a journal. Until one particular day when I was feeling particularly crappy & quite possibly soft in the head, I read another sniveling article about a gratitude journal. Holy crap I thought! Maybe that’s what I need, to be more grateful & less self-centered. Stop sniveling & start writing!

So, recapping I was feeling crappy, read an article, it hit me at the right time, went to my closet & rooted around till I found that spiffy journal. Cracked it open & began my header – I am grateful for: 

Each page had that header & the date of entry. I kept the journal in my office.  I was & am grateful for many things, but my first entry was always consistent. Said in different ways, it was pretty much along the lines of: I am grateful for: my health & well-being or for being alive, etc. I am also grateful for my husband George, our dog Louie, our families, my best girlfriends, my friends, on & on.

So, how has this made me feel, any different? I do feel good that I stuck with the journal from the beginning until I ran out of entry pages. I do feel good that I honored the ones I love in my life on the pages of my journal. The journal made me think about what I’m grateful for, so this made me more deliberate about my entries. It made me sit quietly & really think about my gratefulness. Sometimes my gratefulness came rushing out of me, sometimes I had to really think once I got past my 3 or 4 common lines about myself, George, Louie & my family/friends. That thinking helped me to understand just how grateful I am for the largest & smallest of things in my life. It taught me that random & deliberate are great & fortunate. The cliche about living each second is not a cliche. It’s something to be grateful for.

Will I continue into 2019? Not sure yet. But I’m sure grateful I’ve made it this far into 2018.