Gratitude Journal – An Underrated Health Tool

What is a gratitude journal doing in a health blog you may ask?

I recall a story told by renowned minister Norman Vincent Peale about an extremely dejected man who came to him that he’d lost everything in Life and didn’t know how he was going to go on.

“Everything?’ Mr. Peale asked.

‘Everything’ the man repeated.

Mr. Peale proceeded to ask him some questions:

How about your wife? oh, she’s amazing support, she could never leave me.

How about your children? They love me so much

How about your country, the United States? Oh, I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, it is the best country in the world, the man replied.

After a few such questions, the man finally got the point

‘Seems to me you haven’t lost everything’, Mr. Peale said to the man.

The mind is a great instrument that can destroy or build depending on the way we use it. Scientists have found direct relationships between our state of mind, emotions, and physical symptoms. Our state of mind at particular moments instantly affects some physiological processes like our rate of breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. This can cascade into a variety of diseases and health concerns among which include stress disorders, anxiety, depression, and high blood pressure.

To direct the mind away from negative thoughts, it is important to keep a gratitude journal.

What is a Gratitude Journal?

It is just a place where you record your wins in life. It can be a notebook, exercise book, journal, diary, note app whatever. Here you record whatever you are grateful for in your life. It could be little or big victories e.g. getting a job, marriage, passing an exam, having your parents alive, surviving an accident, etc.

You can update this journal daily, weekly, or monthly. The idea is to continue celebrating your wins no matter how small.

Doing just this little exercise can have a profound effect on your health.

Why don’t you try it and let me know the outcome?