Sometimes our emotions can feel like unbearable whirlwinds, even on a standard Tuesday afternoon. A lot of this feeling of instability can come from the idea that we don’t have much control over the way a day, week, month or year can go. Bullet journals and daily planners are all well and good, but feeling like we haven’t reached our targets can send us on a downward spiral.
This is where practicing gratitude comes in. Feelings of self-doubt and like you’re not quite on the right track can be tempered with a whole lot of self-love. In fact, in a 2003 psychological study by the University of California, Berkley, it was found that those who wrote in gratitude journals every week for 10 weeks, or daily for just two weeks, were recorded to have experienced more gratitude, positive moods, optimism about the future and even better sleep patterns.
It’s easy to think that this kind of ‘modern’, perhaps even spiritual practice doesn’t have any roots in actual scientific evidence. Yet time and time again, many of us have witnessed the benefits of speaking positively about ourselves, engaging in the present moment and being thankful for even the smallest of things. Gratitude can be felt for anything from the fact that your coffee tasted extra good today, your train was surprisingly on time this morning, or that you finally finished that book you’ve been attacking for months.
Being thankful can also be as simple as looking at yourself in the mirror every morning and telling yourself that everything is going to work out - because you’re here, the world is still turning, and life is ticking on. Rather than focusing on the negatives of your day, gratitude journaling is all about searching for the smallest of positives and letting them overtake any setbacks. Finding even a little bit sunshine in the stormiest of days can truly do wonders for our mental health.
If you’re searching for a means to peak out from all that doom and gloom, gratitude journaling might be a place to start. From simple bullet points and mindfulness prompts to paragraphs and essays, we’ve rounded up a selection of the best gratitude journals to get you started.
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Joy Gratitude Journal
For a vast array of pretty colourways and some fantastic prompt-based gratitude journaling, look no further than Papier. Featuring daily prompts and monthly check-ins, as well as a series of uplifting quotes and mottos scattered throughout – this journal feels like paper-bound sunshine. We particularly love the fact that each daily check-in is paired with a different self-love mantra to take with you on your daily journeys.
This journal contains five months of entries for you to fill at your own pace, on 96 leaves of 85gsm paper. You can also personalise it, making it the perfect gift for a friend or loved one.
Buy now £26.00, Papier
DesignWorks Ink Pause Gratitude Journal, Peach
To pause is to breathe, relax and take a moment to ground yourself in the present. We love that the concept of taking a ‘pause’ is the central feature of this peach-coloured gratitude journal. This pretty design comes with a matching gold pen and an attached fabric page-saver.
For those who can’t quite put bullet journaling on the backburner, it also contains a healthy daily goal tracker, followed by prompts regarding the highlight of your day, and something that made you smile. Once you’ve reached the end of your first gratitude journal, there’s also a ‘reflections’ page, which encourages you to think about how the practice has altered your perspective.
Buy now £15.00, John Lewis
Personalised Gratitude Journal
Once again, we love the message which adorns the front cover of this gorgeous, linen-bound gratitude journal. With the option to include personalised initials on the embossed cover, as well as a choice between two calming pastel-toned colourways – we were already hooked on this design before we even got a glimpse at what was inside.
Designed to take just three minutes of your day to fill out, this gratitude journal is the perfect starting point for those who are just getting into the practice. It includes gratitude prompts, double-page daily and weekly reflection spreads. There are also blank pages for your own personal notes, ideas and manifestations.
It even includes a yearly tracker to see your journaling progress – rather than tracking personal goals and achievements. We therefore think this is a fantastic option for those looking to take a big step back from looking at progress in a traditional, linear and material manner.
Buy now £29.99, NOTHS
Day of Gratitude Journal
Geared towards the minimalists among us, this simple and effective gratitude journal comes highly rated from within the Etsy community. The cotton hardback cover houses a whopping 274 pages of daily gratitude and affirmation tasks to complete, which are designed to last up to six months. Printed on 100gsm paper, this high-quality journal will make a fantastic addition to your practice.
Buy now £24.00, Etsy
Gratitude (Inner World Series): A Day and Night Reflection Journal
This journal focuses on both day and night-time reflections, so that you can practice gratitude during the two most important times of the day – from the moment you wake up, to before you turn off the lights. We’re particularly big fans of the mood tracker, which allows you to identify specific feelings and emotions that have been brought up throughout the day.
Identifying feelings such as hopefulness and positivity is just as important as noting strong emotions such as anger and disappointment. Recognising our feelings, writing them down and feeling a sense of gratitude for our overall emotions is the first step to moving beyond them to achieve inner peace.
Buy now £10.74, Amazon
The Positive Wellness Journal
This gratitude journal is split into three dedicated sections: mind, body and soul. Alongside your classic, daily gratitude prompts – we’re big fans of the fact that this journal encourages you to look inwards a little bit deeper in order to ensure that you’re feeling your absolute best.
Buy now £23.00, Amazon
Kintsugi Shape Your Habits Bullet Journal
Kintsugi is the Japanese practice of repairing physical objects by highlighting the damage in order to celebrate imperfection. The practice is traditionally associated with the mending of fine wares and pottery, but the company Kintsugi have taken on the moniker in order to inspire the same kind of care, focus and love within ourselves.
This hefty gratitude journal features in-depth habit tracking, gratitude templates to last you up to a year and motivational quotes throughout. It even includes 177 blank, bullet journal-style dotted pages which are undated, so you can get going with your practice in a way that suits you, in your own time.
The charcoal grey and gold embossed cover also hints at the practice from which this journal was inspired, as Kintsugi literally means ‘to join with gold’ - the traditional wabi-sabi technqiue utilises liquid gold to mend broken objects.
Buy now £25.00, Kintsugi
