The Ugly Truth About My Gratitude Journal

 The Ugly Truth About My Gratitude Journal                                          Is......

                            

That it's empty! Yep nuthin', niente, nada! Okay, I said it! It's out there! 

Wait! Before you sentence me to 1000 Hail Mary's or a month in an Ashram, let me plead my case!

I tried.......a little..........I did, but I just couldn't get into it. I first heard about the Gratitude Journal on Oprah many years ago. I loved the stories about how it transformed lives and made people beautiful and wealthy, so of course I was on board. I bought the prettiest journal I could find, okay a nice one, okay  a new note pad......... and I sat down to make my list. I added my family, who happened to be irritating me at the moment. I added my house, which needed work. I added my friends, who hadn't been there for me lately. I'm sure you're starting to see the pattern . I started to feel terrible! It just wasn't the transformational journey I was hoping for. I tried many times after that.... well about once a year, and then I would remember,I just don't like it. It didn't feel genuine. I felt like I was betraying the "Well Being" community, so for all of this time I have kept this truth as my own deep dark shame. Until today! 

Today I found myself being grateful for a "Good Eyebrow Day"! Similar to a good hair day, but you can't put eyebrows back in a ponytail if they are unruly. I have been at war with my eyebrows lately. It got so bad that my friends were buying me the newest and latest products, in hopes of quelling the constant whining. I tried them all, thinking I had  relatively good eyebrow skills, to no avail. I was beginning to think I would have to accept that I was living with bad brows. Then it happened! This morning I tried one of the myriad of products in yet another way and.....tada.......Fairly Normal Eyebrows! I found myself celebrating! And it hit me, this is gratitude! I am grateful for normal brows!

While it was a very small victory, I really took the time to feel grateful! I didn't need to write it down in a journal, I just needed to  be in the moment of , YES! I realized that I often take a minute to be in the YES. Little celebrations and occasionally victory dances when my garden blooms, when I get a bit of good news, when my pants are looser than yesterday........ 

In the end I'm not anti-gratitude! I just don't connect with putting it in a journal. What a relief! I can rejoin the ranks of the "Well Intentioned" with my head held high. 

My call to action-

If you've been hiding Gratitude Journal Shame, have heart! There is hope! I encourage you pay attention to the little ways you celebrate the YES with your private and public victory dances, your secret fist pumps, your under the breath Whooo Hooos.

Liz Larson
transformoneidea@gmail.com

Life Design Strategist
NLP Master Practitioner