Mind and Body…Journal of Gratitude
I’ve always believed in having a journal as I figured that one day if I can’t remember my life then I can always look back and read about it instead. As I started to read my old journals I began to destroy them since I felt embarrassed about my feelings of anger. I saw that during my youth I didn’t know how to express myself properly so my writings were out of frustration. However, I no longer rip the pages out in fear that someone will find out about all the issues that I once had.
I now appreciate how those writings help me understand and reflect on how confusing life can be, especially for teenagers transitioning into young adulthood. My young adulthood journals taught me about relationships and how they shift. I saw myself as young, dumb, and in love and out of love. I could tell how I viewed my family at the time and how much emphasis I put on friendships. Once again, I found myself sad and depressed. To try to aid this, my solution was to read books. I loved to read to escape my reality but also used it as a tool for self-help, to relax, and most importantly to educate myself. I found myself reading instead of writing but that nagging feeling of forgetting so many memories soon came back to haunt me.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you what has changed my life –the Gratitude Journal. Each and every morning when I wake up and before I go to sleep I take some time to write down what I’m grateful for. It calms my nerves at night and brings me joy in the morning. It also reminds me to appreciate whatever I have experienced and to look forward to what I will experience in the future. Having a positive journal teaches me lessons of how I overcame challenges and celebrated my accomplishments.
Starting this journal was perfectly aligned with practicing the tools that are taught in the book “The Power of Being Rich, 10+ Essential Principles to Manifest What You Already Have” by Roger L. Brooks. Chapter 6 is literally called ‘Gratitude’ which sums up exactly how I feel right now. Looking back at my life, I’ve had so many things to be grateful for but instead I tended to put too much energy into focusing on the negative aspects of life, such as how wrong someone did me. I was guided by my emotions. When I was happy I completely embraced it and when I was sad I was engulfed by that feeling because I felt as if I had to dive back into it in order to get past it. When I was angry, I was enraged. When I felt betrayed, it was to my core. Everything that I felt kept attracting that feeling into my life even more which is why it’s a lifelong journey of mine to seek joy and humility. Everyday I’m reminded that my cup runneth over.