Keeping a Gratitude Journal and reminding yourself of all the positivity, luck and joy in your life can be extremely beneficial to your mood and mental wellbeing. However, there’s no need to change your existing journaling drastically in order to accommodate adopting this healthy new habit. If you already keep a weekly planner diary, simply use the space you have already to document your accomplishments and life events as well as planning ahead for future ones. The following tips will help you effectively manage your Gratitude Journal without having to invest too much time, effort or money into it. 1. Set yourself a target A particularly helpful tip for times where you’re feeling under stress or as though you don’t have a lot to be grateful for, having a loose target in mind for journaling can promote a focus on positivity. Don’t be too rigid or hard on yourself with targeting, but aim to jot down at least one thing for which you feel gratitude for daily, or five weekly, or another amount that works out realistically for you. You should draw a balance between journaling enough that you feel a benefit, but not feeling forced to write things down that you don’t truly believe it. 2. Re-visit previous entries If your journal is chronological, get into the habit of flicking back to pages past once in a while to reminisce on old memories and smile again at prior appreciations. It can be fascinating to see how your life, priorities and the people within it have changed, even in a relatively small amount of time. If you haven’t yet started on your gratitude journaling journey, you can factor this in for your 2019 planner. Never throw your old books away – they’ll make you smile and laugh in years to come! 3. Keep it simple The age of social media encourages us all to lead aspirational lifestyles and to compare ourselves continually to others – but this isn’t a positive behaviour and will never be. Contrary to how the internet may make you feel, you don’t need to just feel gratitude for luxury goods, long-haul vacations or celebrity good looks. Everyone has days where it’s really the tiny things that make all the difference. Your thankfulness may be for something large and life-defining, but it can equally be for something small and routine and every-day: don’t underestimate the power of the little! 4. Don’t overdo it Everyone has periods of life that feel just wonderful, and during these good days, it can be very easy to get carried away. There’s no need to be frivolous, however; you can feel a huge sense of gratefulness and not write them all down! Noting down too many items on good days may make you feel worse on bad days and may give you a false sense of everything being perfect; when we all know that life need not be perfect to be wonderful. Of course, you should appreciate the good days but do so humbly and with grace. 5. Focus on people, not things Material wealth shall never be as important as the moments and people we cherish, and it’s important to keep this in mind when you note down your grateful thoughts. Focusing on people and loved ones rather than items and goods will allow you to better appreciate the true goodness and to look back and be reminded of happy memories rather than wealth and items long gone. Taking time to focus on life’s positives can be extremely uplifting and can help to humble, reminisce and appreciate. The Ponderlily planners are perfect for including such a spotlight on happiness. If you haven’t already, order yours online in our shop today; and if you don't already have one, visit the online printables to have a go at one of our planning plages here! Let us know how you get on via social media, too. We love hearing from you!