My Journal of Good Things
Goodnightjournal, a journal of good things! The first time I accessed the Goodnightjournal, an old idea that I had come up with, to write my “Diary of Good Things”. As I never seriously thought about “gratitude”, I thought I couldn’t use this word to define the 3 things that would be part of my diary. So, I decided to create my own version of the “Greedy Diary” and called it the “My Diary of Good Things”.
What is the Journal of Good Things?
Every day, before I go to bed, I write on my journal. It’s just a notebook where I record at least 3 good things that happened that day. Everything that is bad, all my frustrations, fears, or insecurities are put aside. I just focus on what’s good and makes me feel good. First, I write the date, then I think about what happened during that day, and I write about everything that was good or positive. Sometimes I find many more than 3 situations in a single day, other times it’s hard to find more than one thing to record, but I always end up discovering 3 good things.
What have I learned from my journal on Goodnight Journal
At first, it was just an experience, but it soon turned out to be more than that. First, it helps me to take away all the worries, which is great before I go to sleep as I don’t brood on bad things.
In addition to making me relive the best moments of the day, it also makes me reflect on what I should be doing more often, and for some reason, I don’t. Looking at my journal I notice that most of the things I write are originated by me and not by chance or by other people. I register countless times the email that I exchanged with a friend or blogger (email that I sent), the tango class where I saw the students happy and evolving (that I and my boyfriend provided), the enthusiasm for a new project (which I started), the things I learned that day (because I wanted to), the beach trip I did (which I decided to do), etc. If all these things make me happy, and if I provide them, it means that I can choose to do them more often.
With this record, I can more easily identify the things that depend on me and make me feel good, and so I can do them whenever I can. Indeed, I don’t always have time to take a walk on the beach, but some things just take a minute to make us smile: text a friend or boyfriend, call our parents, grab an ice cream or chocolate, stop in the sun for a while and feel the heat on your face, … little things that make us enjoy our day better. This diary helped me to realize that I wasn’t doing everything I could to make my day better. Now I have been much more attentive to every opportunity to do something I enjoy or that just makes me smile.
Is that you? What do you do daily to make your day better?
