Gratitude Journal Prompts

A couple of weeks ago, I was chatting to a lady (I’ll call her Patty) who told me, ”Oh, how I wish I could write!”

There is nothing physically wrong with her that limits her ability to do so…. it’s just that it’s not a passion for her, and she says that she continuously stares at blank pages, not knowing where to start! So I queried the ‘blank pages’ part.

Her explanation made me smile, because I already had the answer, sort of 😉

Patty said that she had been battling depression for the past year. It started shortly after she lost her husband. Every day had just been so hard! She started seeing a professional about six months ago, and things had started improving for her. Then, about a month ago, her sister in law came for a visit. It was a good visit… but then Patty had to say goodbye. The departure stirred up some deep hurt…

Patty received a text message that evening from her sister in law : If you haven’t already found it, there’s a gift for you on my bed 😉

A tear fell down her cheek as she told me, ”She had written me the most beautiful note, and inside the prettily wrapped package was the most exquisite ‘Gratitude Journal’- my favourite colours, decorated with splashes of glitter! You know how much I love glitter! I opened up the journal, hoping there would be words already there, but the pages were all blank, except the To and From page where she had penned : Write something every day. It will help. But what do I even write? It’s not like I am not grateful, I just feel silly writing on a page that I’m grateful for the rain today, and nothing else.”

So here’s a little message for today :

On the hard days? The days when your heart is hurting and you feel a bit lost? It really IS okay to JUST be grateful for the rain ❤

On the other days, when the sun has broken through the clouds and you feel like you can focus a little more? Perhaps these little prompts (I found this picture a few months ago and had it saved on my phone 😉 ) will help you to write a bit more…

Remember that a ‘grateful heart is a magnet for miracles’ 😉

Here’s hoping you all have a miraculously beautiful weekend 😉 ❤

Advertisement

Fabulous Fun

Things have just been way too serious since this pandemic started! The stress of it all is affecting everyone, even those who will tell you that it’s not.
It IS possible to be ‘okay’ – have an inner peace and joy – but still feel the stress. No one is entirely immune.

But as with everything else in life, our attitudes play a big role in how okay we stay despite the circumstances.

I don’t know if you have ever experienced it, but I’ll share this anyway….
I had four days in a row (my son has just reminded me that they weren’t quite in a row, but spanned 7 days instead… it probably just felt like in a row 😛 ) where something went wrong on each day : my car needs repairs again, my microwave decided it was retiring, my vacuum cleaner finally gave up, and my daughter’s school bag decided to be like my bank account – broke 😛
Each day, I did a great job of dealing with these things. I took them in my stride, didn’t get too upset, had a great attitude towards them.

Last night they hit me all at once. It was like this sudden hard downpour that came out of nowhere, and I just felt so darn sorry for myself! Ha ha! It was short lived, and probably mostly from frustration and exhaustion because yesterday was a busy day, but it happened.

And I went with it. I had my ‘good cry’, and then blew my nose and washed my face. I grabbed myself a ‘comfort snack’ from the kitchen and climbed into bed. I forced myself to dwell on all I have to be grateful for – to not allow my brain to ‘go there’/ think about the minor ‘disasters’.

When my teenage daughter came through to put her phone on charge because it was time for her to go to bed, and sighed out loud, ”I’m so glad it’s Friday tomorrow”, I smiled.
In my head, I told myself this : ”You are going to make it not only a fabulous Friday, but a fun one too. No matter what, you have to laugh, silly girl!”

I’ve been up and about for three hours, and so far so good 😛 (And I’ve even left the house! 😛 )

So I thought I’d share two bits of Friday fun with you 😉

This was my Facebook post – not intended to offend anyone, but I think it’s pretty darn funny… (no idea who to credit for the image, as it was in my memories as a re-share from five years ago)

And then I saw another image on Facebook (again, no idea who to credit) that I will be sharing with my kids (and you) because….
Sometimes my children will ask me to do something for them – something they are quite capable of doing for themselves – and I’ll be busy with something else and usually tell them, ”I’m not your maid or your servant. I’m busy.” It’s never said in a malicious way though – my tone is always a little bit like ‘feigning shock’. The response is usually said in a teasing tone, ”Awww, but you’re my mom. It’s your job. The best job in the world, right?”
Most times, they end up doing it themselves because they know their request was ridiculous (Mommy, please bring me glass of water; Mommy, please pass me my phone, I’m too lazy to get up; Moooooom…. please come here….. now that you’re here can you please pass me xyz).
Sometimes I humour them, because it really isn’t inconvenient, and they do little things for me as well, that I am perfectly capable of doing for myself too! 😉
So I saw this image this morning, and it is SO applicable to one of the things that go with ‘my job’:

I’m off to see what other fabulous and fun things I can find to do on this Friday! And who else I can share it with! Because being kind to others and brightening their day has a very positive effect on us too!

Let’s get out there and be the light 😉 Happy Friday, and weekend, everyone! ❤