Keeping a Gratitude Journal

So often in life we are great at identifying shortcomings, faults, missed opportunities, and other annoyances. The effect of dwelling on such things can be feelings of frustration, irritation, and sadness. Perhaps it's partly a by-product of our culture, but I think that in American society we often have difficulty being satisfied with what we do have because so much of our mental energy gets directed at what we don't have. This isn't a good thing to do...unless one desires to be frustrated and depressed.

Since the field of psychology began with Freud over 100 years ago, most of the attention has been on "mental illness" rather than "mental health." In recent years, there's been a movement in psychology known as "positive psychology," spearheaded primarily by Dr. Martin Seligman, that focuses on strengths, virtues, and what makes us happy. He and others in the field have identified numerous strategies that promote happiness and well-being. One of those simple strategies that has been found to be effective in increasing happiness is the gratitude journal.

In using a gratitude journal, a person writes down a few things for which they are grateful on a daily basis. This does not have to have a religious or spiritual connection at all, although one can give thanks to God if that is their inclination. This does not have to be a diary...even a short bullet-pointed list will do. Writing in the journal consistently is important though. Also, positive things listed can be small...a talk with a friend, a tasty lunch, AC in the car, a warm bed to sleep in, etc. If we give gratitude for "big things," then we miss out on the multitude of daily opportunities for which to be thankful.

The point starting a gratitude journal is that we take many things for granted in life. We don't appreciate what we have enough. By keeping a gratitude journal, it begins to train our minds to "tune in" to these things more often. Eventually, we can catch them as they occur and feel a sense of gratitude and appreciation in the moment. Even on our worst days, we can usually find some things for which to be thankful.

Consider giving a gratitude journal a try for a couple of weeks as an experiment. It won't hurt to try and maybe you'll be grateful that you did. :-)

Those New Year's Resolutions...

The start of the New Year can be a great time to make some changes in your life. Unfortunately, we often break those New Year's resolutions rather quickly. My plan to cut back on coffee has already been put to the test by the offerings at a New Year's Day party! So, I've put together a few tips on how to make & keep those resolutions. I hope that you find them helpful:

1. Use past successes as a model. Have your ever made New Year's resolutions before and kept them? How did you do it? Go back to that winning formula and use it again...there's no need to reinvent the wheel.
2. Continue with current progress. Do you already have goals in place that you are achieving? Some of your resolutions can be commitments to continue these current achievements throughout the new year.
3. Make a short list of resolutions that you'd like to keep. You might start with a longer list and reduce that list to 1-3. Too many resolutions is likely to be intimidating and unwieldy.
4. Make those resolutions concrete. In other words, don't just say "I'm going to eat better in 2007" or "I will exercise more in 2007." Those are too ambiguous. Say something like "I will eat no more than one sweet with processed sugar per day" or "I will eat fast food no more than one time per week" or "I will eat at least 3 servings of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables each day." If the goals are more defined, they are easier to follow, and it's easier to hold yourself accountable.
5. Make resolutions that are realistic. Going from not exercising at all to exercising an hour per day is a huge leap. Yes, it would be nice to achieve that but goals that are too lofty are often daunting. Try to set the bar for something that would represent an appreciable improvement but perhaps not the "ideal." With regard to the exercise example, setting the goal for exercising at least 3 times a week for 20 minutes still represents a significant improvement over not doing any. Start with the lower level goal. If you achieve over that, it's gravy.
6. Write your (concrete, realistic) resolutions down and keep the list somewhere that easily accessible (maybe a post it note on your computer).
7. Tell others of your commitment to these resolutions. Supportive friends and family members can help you achieve your goals.
8. Reward yourself at various junctures for maintaining your resolutions. For example, perhaps you can reward yourself for keeping your exercise program on a weekly basis by buying a new CD or with buying new clothes after following the exercise program for a month.
9. Keep track of your progress. Write down how you are doing on your resolutions. By doing this, you will know when you earn your reward for your progress.
10. Don't give up! It's likely that you will slip up, but don't throw out the baby with the bathwater! Just get back on that resolution horse again when you fall off and don't beat yourself up about it. If you need to, revise your resolution slightly to be more realistic & attainable.

In the spirit of holding myself accountable for my New Year's resolutions, I'm going to share mine. Here they are:

1. Only drink caffeinated coffee 4 days out of the week or less. No caffeinated beverages after 4 p.m.

2. Meditate 12 minutes per day by December 2007. There's a reason for the number of 12 minutes. Although I do meditate at times, I'm very inconsistent. My plan is start with a minute per day and add one more minute per month until I reach 12 minutes per day in December of 2007. Some day I'd like to average 20 minutes of mediation per day, but that's too lofty right now.

3. Get at least 7 hours of sleep per night.

Hopefully by making these resolutions on my website, I'm more likely to stick with them! I wish everyone a Happy New Year and the best of luck with your New Year's resolutions. :-)