To push yourself to dig deeper, Rubin recommends keeping a stack of journalling prompts on hand to refer to whenever you get stuck. Like anything you do every day, even gratitude journalling can start to feel repetitive over time it can be tempting to write about the same things over and over again. Just gently bring your awareness back to the practise and keep going.” Making a gratitude practise count “This isn’t Whole30, you don’t have to start over. And, if you fall off the wagon, don’t beat yourself up. “Write for four minutes, do it four times a week, and stick with it for four consecutive weeks,” she advises. But she also adds that nobody needs “journalling guilt”, so if every day seems overwhelming, the 4 x 4 x 4 method is a great way to start. By extension, she says that combining the power of journalling with the “superpower” practise of gratitude can benefit your mental health tenfold.Īs for how often to do it, Rubin says “daily is ideal”. She says that journalling can reduce anxiety and boost our mood because it allows us to take stock, reflect, and connect with ourselves it’s like a self-led therapy session and creative outlet all at the same time. Much like practising gratitude, journalling “has mental, emotional, and physiological benefits,” explains Laura Rubin, founder of Allswell, a creative wellness brand that educates people on the benefits of journalling. “A gratitude practise is one of the quickest ways to counteract our instinctual negativity bias,” Kupillas adds. It can remind us to slow down, stop stressing, and live in the here and now. “Practising gratitude counteracts the brain’s unconscious defensive scanning process – commonly referred to as the negativity bias – by consciously reorienting it to the present moment.” In other words, taking the time to be thankful for what’s going well can remind us that most of the stuff we worry about isn’t actually real. “The most primitive part of our brain, the amygdala, is wired to scan for potential danger, threats, and worst-case scenarios in order to keep us safe,” explains Kathryn Kupillas, a psychotherapist who specialises in mindfulness. Listen, we all have the potential to occasionally become little bundles of anxiety and fear, but it’s not entirely our fault – it’s just the way our brains evolved. And it can lead to greater long-term happiness and more general life satisfaction overall. Recent studies show that engaging in an intentional daily practise like gratitude journalling can lead to better sleep, ease anxiety, boost immunity, and even soothe physical pain. In fact, experts say that taking the time to practise gratitude regularly – even when things are going well – can improve more than just your mood. Of course, you don’t have to be in the throes of heartache to see how focussing on the positive might lead to a more sparkly outlook. Eventually it became an important part of my daily self-care ritual. I did it again the next day, then again and again. I began to see the break-up – and my whole life, in fact – through a different lens. When I was finished, I felt weirdly refreshed. My sunny apartment, my sweet little dog, my brilliant friends, my inspiring boss. The writing felt good, so I didn’t stop, and eventually it turned into a list of other things that I loved. How sweet I was, how patient and kind, how brave I’d been for risking my heart. But as soon as I started, other words came instead – a list of reasons that I was actually kind of the best. The plan was to write a long letter to my ex, something wrenching and sad that would fill him with regret. I was sad and bitter and not sleeping at all, and in that moment of turmoil, I picked up a pen. I’d just gone through a break-up, the kind that turns you into a chaotic mess. I started a gratitude journal by accident.
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