INTRODUCTION
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – Anonymous
I love this quote because it highlights the importance of gratitude journaling. The holiday season is an excellent time to reflect, reset, be thankful and plan for the future. Gratitude journaling during the holiday is a perfect way to do this.
You already know you love the holidays! I mean, who doesn’t? Spending time with your friends and family, the smell of freshly baked cookies, playing in the fresh snow, and sipping hot chocolate afterward.. just thinking about these things makes us happy.
But how often do we actually think about them?
That’s where gratitude journaling comes in. It’s easy to take simple pleasures for granted, but thinking about them and being grateful for the simple things in life can increase your happiness. Journaling has many benefits, but gratitude journaling in particular is great for you and easy to maintain.
Keep reading this post to get ideas for gratitude journaling prompts for the holiday season.
BENEFITS OF GRATITUDE JOURNALING
Gratitude journaling has been shown to have many benefits:
- Makes you happier
- Increases your self-esteem
- Improves your mental health
- Makes you more adaptable to life’s challenges
- Increases your psychological wellbeing
- Makes you more likable
- Improves your sleep
- Enhances your empathy
And the great thing about gratitude journaling is that you’ll experience these benefits immediately after you journal. But like with anything, these positive benefits compound over time, so you should have a routine and practice it daily to feel the maximum benefits.
In fact, a study showed that individuals in the gratitude group reported better mental health than others four weeks after the writing activities. This difference in mental health became even larger 12 weeks after the writing activities.
But if you’re new to this or only want to do it for the holiday season, that’s totally fine as well! You can try it and, based on your experience, decide if you want to continue practicing it.
why you need a gratitude journal
A gratitude journal helps you focus your attention on the good things in your life. It’s easy to take many things for granted, especially when you’re having a difficult time.
It doesn’t help that society constantly forces us to seek more and achieve more. More money, more success, better car, bigger house. While it is great to have high goals and ambitions, how often do we stop to appreciate what we actually do have?
This is where gratitude journaling helps us. It’s necessary for us to pause, take a step back and appreciate all the good things in our life.
If you’re interested in how to set up a bullet journal, check out this post.
THINGS YOU NEED FOR GRATITUDE JOURNALING
You don’t need anything specific to write your gratitude thoughts. Of course, it helps if you have a separate place for noting this, as it’ll help with habit formation. You can use any new book or bullet journal.
If you’re looking to buy something from Amazon, you can check out some awesome gratitude logs below:
GRATITUDE JOURNALING PROMPTS FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON 2O22
As you can see, writing gratitude can have profound benefits, but many people can struggle to get started. What do you actually write? This is where the gratitude journaling prompts can help you.
Gratitude journaling prompts are questions or sentences that encourage you to reflect on various aspects of the good things in your life.
Here are some fantastic gratitude journaling prompts for the holiday season
- What is your favorite thing about the holidays?
- What gifts are you excited to give this holiday season? How do you hope to make others feel by giving them these gifts?
- What holiday movies do you like to watch, and what do I like the most about them?
- How can you give back this holiday season?
- How are you celebrating the holidays this year? What parts of it do you like the most?
- What do you like to do the most during the holidays?
- What is your favorite holiday memory?
- Whom are you spending the holidays with? How does that make you feel?
- What holiday traditions do you enjoy the most?
- What is the best gift you have received for Christmas? Think about how that made you feel.
Christmas and holidays are a great time to reflect on your year and prepare yourself for the following year. Here are some gratitude journaling prompts around this theme:
- What did you learn this year?
- How did you grow as a person this year?
- How have your friends helped you in the past year? It can be anything big or small.
- What are you looking forward to the most this year?
- It’s easy to take many things for granted. What is something quite common in your life that you can be thankful for?
- What did you learn from your mistakes in the last year?
- What is the best book you read in the past year, and how did it affect you positively?
- What do you have this year that you didn’t have last year?
- What are you looking forward to the most in the new year?
It’s also important to pay attention to the little things around you. These gratitude journaling prompts can help you appreciate the positive things in your life.
- What are you grateful for today?
- What made you smile today?
- What is one act of kindness that you witnessed recently?
- What can you do selflessly without expecting anything in return?
- Who are the people that were there for you when you needed them? How can you express your thanks?
- What is something you have that others might not have?
FINAL THOUGHTS
Gratitude journaling is the practice of writing down the list of things you are grateful for each day, and it has many benefits. Gratitude journaling prompts can help you with gratitude journaling, with the holiday season being a great time to reflect, express gratitude, and move forward. Just try it out for the next 45 days, and you’ll feel the difference.
I hope you found the post useful. Have you ever tried gratitude journaling? Will you use the journaling prompts for the holiday season?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
