Lara Tupper: Swift Ink Stories

Gratitude Journaling: How to Begin

When Kripalu Center asked me to write about gratitude journaling, I was stuck. Gratitude can feel like a "should" and shoulds are to be avoided. In my experience, they lead to guilt and an overall lack of self-compassion. (The opposite of gratitude.) As I wrote, "A dear friend once gave me a notebook labeled Gratitude Journal but I ignored it for weeks. It was a gorgeous handmade book, threaded with red and gold, and I was scared to mar it with smudges and mistakes." 

Eventually, I gave myself permission to be messy. I expanded my definition of gratitude to include the challenges I faced. (I didn't have to be thankful for hard times. But I could recognize their existence.) 

To read more, please find my full article ("The Powerful Practice of Gratitude Journaling") here.

Writing exercise: What exists for you today? Perhaps you have gratitude. Describe that, if so, in as much detail as possible. (What are you grateful for?) Perhaps it's hard to be thankful…