Today, I would like you to start something that could make you feel better about your life. You can try it for week or two and then stop if it does nothing for you, but doing SOMETHING is better than nothing.

Starting Today:
Whenever you feel a sense of gratitude or have a sense you feel thankful, I'd like you to write down something really quick. Here are some examples:

• Friend - She sent me a nice note.
• Sister or Brother - Invited me to dinner.
• Son or Daughter - Said something nice.

Keep track of these RANDOM thoughts of gratitude for 3 days and see how many times you feel a sense of gratitude each day. These will act as the control for this gratitude experiment.

After 3 days:
I would like you to sit down once per day and write down 5 things you are grateful for. They can be people, circumstances, health situations, job, family, blessings, acts of kindness, etc. 

Keep writing down the random thoughts of gratitude you have throughout the day that you did for the first three days.

After 1 week (or two weeks if desired):
I would like you to compare the list of RANDOM thoughts of gratitude from the first 3 days compared to the rest of the week or two (when you wrote down 5 things you are grateful for) and see how the activity of writing down those 5 things has impacted how often you have random thoughts of gratitude.

Let me know in the comments below how this activity worked for you. Enjoy!

It is well document that practicing gratitude rewires the brain in several ways. One is that gratitude creates more instances of positive feeling throughout the day, which raises dopamine and other natural feel-good chemicals in the brain. It also has side-effects like increasing the likelihood of producing more positive interactions with others as well as increased feelings of forgiveness. Gratitude also helps you become more cognizant of the blessings you've received. That is why I ascribe to regularly writing down what I feel grateful for in a gratitude journal.

Activity: Create a notebook or document to use as your Gratitude Journal. Write the following prompts on the first page. Use these prompts to help you think of a theme for each day:

Monday - List 3 things you are grateful for and why you appreciate them.

Tuesday - Identify 3 people you appreciate and the reason why.

Wednesday - Name 3 things you normally take for granted, but actually appreciate and the reasons why.

Thursday - Name 3 people at work or school you appreciate and the reasons why.

Friday - Pick a person and think about 3 things that you appreciate about them and why. Write down on paper as a “thank you.” Send it to them if you wish.

Saturday - Name 3 things you appreciate about your health and the reasons why today.

Sunday - Send a “thank you” prayer up to Heaven about something that recently happened for you and why you appreciate it.

If you find you are having a hard time feeling God's presence or feelings of depression, documenting gratitude can set off a positive chain reaction to help you out of that state and get you back into an attitude of gratitude! I urge you to try this for a couple weeks and see how it affects your mood throughout the day. If you stop journaling, likewise, see how stopping affects your mood as well.

Have you ever kept a gratitude journal? How did it work for you?