Gratitude Journal

With Thanksgiving at the end of the month, November is a time when we often try to focus on being grateful for everything that we have. Whether it be in the form of a gratitude post every day of the month on Facebook, or a family activity where everyone writes down or says what they are thankful for, or whatever else you do to express gratitude throughout the month.

Sometimes I tend to get a little frustrated when life gets hard and things don't seem to work out the way that I plan and I have a harder time recognizing how much I have to be thankful for. A couple of months ago I was really feeling this way. It just seemed like nothing was going as smoothly as I would have liked and I wasn't feeling very positive. I realized that I was focusing so much on the negative things that were happening, that I wasn't stopping to recognize all of the many things that were good in my life and all of the blessings I had to be grateful for. I decided that I needed to make a better effort to recognize my blessings so I made myself a little gratitude journal. Something that can help me be grateful more than just throughout the month of November.

I picked up a set of small notebooks at Walmart. They came in a set of 2 and I think they were under $2. I cut out some vinyl to stick on the front of the notebook and then I started to fill it with things I had to be grateful for. I tried to think of specific things that happened that day rather than general things like "I am grateful for my family". I decided I would try to write down 3 things each day. I also  went through and every few pages I wrote down quotes about gratitude because I really like inspiring quotes. Some examples of quotes I wrote down are:

"It is not happy people who are thankful, it is thankful people who are happy"

"We can choose to be grateful no matter what." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"The Spirit of Gratitude brings true joy and great happiness." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude" -Thomas S. Monson

"Gratitude turns what we have into enough"

"A grateful person is rich in contentment"- David A. Bednar

There are tons of quotes, sayings, songs, etc. about being grateful, these are just a few of the ones that I wrote down. I thought the vinyl design added a fun, personalized touch to the journal but obviously you could use any notebook or journal you want. To make one like mine follow the instructions below.

How to Make a Gratitude Journal

You will need:

• a small notebook
• Cricut (I used an Explore Air 2 for this project)
• Design Space File
• adhesive vinyl (I used Cricut Holographic Vinyl in Opal)
• transfer tape (I like this kind from Expressions Vinyl)

Instructions:

Open the Design Space File. You may want to adjust the size so that it fits well on your notebook. Cut the design out of holographic vinyl. Use transfer tape to place the design on the front of the notebook. Add any quotes you would like and you are ready to go.