12/12/2025
A few weeks ago, a client asked my view on gratitude journalling.
Gratitude journalling is a practice of regularly (daily or weekly) writing down between 1-10 things that you are grateful for. The purpose is to help the individual feel more positive.
I’d last done some research on this a few years ago and discovered that findings were split; some studies found it to be an amazing way to improve mental health by focussing on the positives, some found it less so – sometimes even detrimental if the individual was in a dark place of black and white thinking and struggled to find things to write because it might highlight that thought that ‘everything is bad’.
Research changes though, so I did some more. Views seemed to have remained the same, but I did find a newer study that felt there was an additional benefit to sharing the things you were grateful for with friends or family, or publicly.
As I’ve said before, I never suggest a technique or activity to clients that I’ve not tried myself, so that’s what I did. I write a personal blog with a Facebook and Instagram page and decided to use those pages to publicly share my (you can see them here: https://www.facebook.com/profile/100064107900696/search/?q=%23thingsthatmakemesmile )
What I found:
✅ For me, it was easy to snap a photo rather than spending time describe things; simple is good
✅ It started to build a ‘this is a lovely thing worth sharing with others’ mindset
✅ Looking back on the previous days photos made me smile again
✅ Some days it was hard to choose just one thing and that was lovely
✅ It felt good when people acknowledged what I posted (I’m aware that’s the Social Media Machines goal, but this felt different to ‘how many likes did it get?’ and more like a shared appreciation.)
BUT:
❌ Some days it was harder to find a thing
❌ When I had a couple of chaotic days with a few unanticipated curveballs I totally forgot I was doing it, and stopped. And then I felt a bit rubbish about that.
So my view on gratitude journalling?
💬 If you do it, make it your own; it doesn’t have to be a notebook that you write in as you go to bed each night – use photos, drawings, send voice notes to a friend, – whatever is your easiest way of doing things.
💬 Ultimately, like most things, it will be a great tool for some and not useful for others
You might want to try it, you might not. Even if you just begin to think about it, you’re starting the process of training your mind to look for your day to day positives. And that can never be a bad thing, can it?
