Yet another great idea I got from Christine Kane’s blog: A gratitude journal. I first heard about writing down gratitudes from Rhonda Britten and Iyanla Vanzant on the TV show Starting Over, a show here in the US where women lived together in a house to work through their issues with life coaches. It sounded like a cool idea, but I never did it.

I love Christine’s post so much. It makes it so easy! I don’t know why I always thought it would be hard, but this makes it simple. Every night, write 5 things you are grateful for. And the best part is that it’s okay to repeat things! Christine says, “they don’t always have to be new and different.” It makes sense, but I always thought that if I was making lists of things I’m grateful for, I should always think of new things. Which is ridiculous! I’m not thankful for my husband just once, I’m thankful for him every day. So why not list him lots of times, on lots of days?

I decided that since the lists will only be five things, unless I feel like doing more (I don’t want to set the bar high and then not reach it and get upset), I should use a small notebook. So I am using this adorable one I got at Borders a few years ago. I know it was when the last Traveling Pants book was out, because we put the notebooks by the books to try to sell more. Anyway, the pocket on the front is an actual pocket, which I love.

And here is my first gratitude list. Since I haven’t written my second yet. First is actually a couple pages about what a gratitude journal is, from Christine’ blog post and another blog post I found about the same idea. And then is this (you might be able to click it to see it bigger, not sure).

So it’s almost bedtime, and after I bring the garbage downstairs I will be working on my next list. I am hoping that writing these lists every night will help me to remain present in my life by encouraging me to really pay attention to the good things in each day.

(Posted 1/8 but did this 1/7…)