This Thanksgiving Tom and I spent some time Gratitude Journaling. I got the gratitude journal from Pink Monarch Prints on Etsy.com. The designer shows how to put the journal together in a video on youtube.com.
What is Gratitude Journaling?
Much like regular journaling, gratitude journaling can look different for everyone. In studies on thankfulness practices, researchers have used methods like written prompts about thankfulness, penning gratitude letters (sent or unsent) to others or writing down three things each day to be grateful for. According to a 2020 research review in The Journal of Positive Psychology, “gratitude journaling consists of writing on a regular basis about things, people, and events one feels explicitly grateful for.”
Of interest from the research review in The Journal of Positive Psychology is information about Gratitude interventions. A variety of gratitude interventions are used to induce or increase levels of gratitude, often with the aim to reduce ill-being and improve well-being.
Commonly used interventions to increase levels of gratitude are gratitude journaling, writing a gratitude letter, and the Three Good Things (TGT) exercise.
Gratitude journaling consists of writing on a regular basis about things, people, and events one feels explicitly grateful for.
The frequency of writing differs between studies, ranging from writing a single time to daily (DeWall, Lambert, Pond, Kashdan, & Fincham, 2012; Flinchbaugh, Moore, Chang, & May, 2012; Jackowska, Brown, Ronaldson, & Steptoe, 2016; Kerr, O’Donovan, & Pepping, 2015).
The gratitude letter is part of the gratitude visit as devised by Seligman, Rashid, and Parks (2006).
CONTACT Lilian Jans-Beken info@lilianjansbeken.nl THE JOURNAL OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2020, VOL. 15, NO. 6, 743–782 https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2019.1651888 © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Usually, the respondent addresses the letter to someone they are grateful for in life, but who they never properly thanked.
In 1996, Dr. Seligman was elected President of the American Psychological Association, by the largest vote in modern history. Martin Seligman is a pioneer of positive psychology, the study of human flourishing and well-being.
Martin Seligman & Positive Psychology: Theory and Practice (pursuit-of-happiness.org)
Read more about the benefits of Gratitude Journaling in the article linked here:
Gratitude Journaling: How to Unlock Happiness Through Self-Reflection (msn.com)
