Starting and maintaining a gratitude journal can be a difficult task to undertake at first because it is just something else that you have to remember to do every day. And trust me I know nobody else needs another task to do every day. However, this task won’t seem like a task because after a while you begin to realize the benefits of it and realize how you should have started a long time ago. The effort you put into showing your gratitude every day will be well worth it in the long run. The best time to start a gratitude journal is now. Here are three incredible benefits that you can gain when you start to keep a gratitude journal.

It Increases Positivity

When you write things down that you are grateful for in your life, you will naturally become more optimistic and confident. Focusing on the good in your life provides less power to the negative emotions and greater power to the positive ones. Although you may have positive thoughts come to mind throughout the day, taking the time to write them down makes them more concrete and helps your brain to reflect on them. I have also found I sleep better if I do this at night because I tend to highlight good things instead of perseverating on all the things that went wrong during the day. Spending just a few minutes right before you go to bed to write down the things that you are grateful for will help to quiet your mind and ease any anxieties that you might have about the day. A calm and grateful mind will allow you to fall asleep quicker. Gratitude has been shown to induce the relaxation response and has been proven to be a potent sleep aid.

Improves Self-Esteem

When you focus on the negative things in your life, it can become extremely easy to feel down. We tend to be more demanding on ourselves than others, but keeping a gratitude journal can help you stay focused on your achievements. Showing gratitude can help to reduce the natural tendencies we have to compare ourselves to those around us, which can be detrimental to our self-esteem. When you show gratitude for what you have, you will harbor less resentment and jealousy toward others and have a greater feeling of self-worth. This has definitely helped improve my confidence because I was not even paying attention to half of the things I had that I should have been grateful for

Better Health

Grateful people tend to live healthier lives and live longer than their ungrateful counterparts. This is because they have the motivation to take better care of themselves. Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and are more inclined to eat healthily and exercise. Researchers have also found that when you focus on feelings of satisfaction and contentment, it will naturally counteract stress. While you will still have to deal with challenges in your life, having an attitude of gratitude will help you better deal with those challengesI could go on and on about how starting a gratitude journal changed my life. These are only a few of the many benefits of keeping a gratitude journal. If you aren’t already keeping one, starting today will help you live a happier and healthier life.If you’re looking for a journal to get ya started order your own copy right here!!