My word for this year is “intentional” & I have absolutely loved seeing how focusing on being more intentional has positively impacted my daily life. One of the items I’d included on my Yearly Bucket List for this year was to keep a happiness journal again. I’ve done this before & it’s been a really good way for me to focus on finding the good things in every day, even the tough ones.
I hadn’t started my journal yet, and realized that the beginning of 2018 was a great time to get going. Usually I’ve kept my happiness journals for about a month, but I’ve been keeping my journal every day for almost 6 months now!
I think that the two slight differences I made in how I journal has kept me going, and I have seen even more how this daily practice is positively impacting my life.
The first one is that I’ve made it part of my bedtime routine. Previously, I would jot down the things that made me happy or that I was thankful for throughout the day. This time, I’ve been consistently writing them out in a cute notebook (vs. in a note on my phone) each night as I climb into bed. I write out my journal items & then read my daily devotional. (I do think that doing the devotional in the morning would be nice, but I know I always end up rushing through it in the chaos of the morning, so nighttime works better for me right now!) This routine has kept me consistent & I think it also helps me fall asleep faster most nights. Win, win!
The second change I’ve made is my favorite. Instead of just writing something to be thankful for that day, or something that made me happy, that’s just one option for 2 of 3 things I’ll write out each day. The other two things are something new I learned or something good I did for another person.
Each day, I write out 2 of the 3 things, and it has made me be so much more intentional about how I can positively impact others & how I’m pushing myself to continually keep learning in addition to being actively mindful about recognizing the things that bring joy into my life.
I can’t encourage you enough to try starting a journal like this of your own! You can choose whatever categories you’d like based on your life & what you’d like to cultivate each day & over the coming weeks, months, or year.
For my favorite tools to be intentional with your time, click here!
