I was reading an article earlier today and it has been on my mind all day. Unfortunately, I can’t find the article again so I can’t share the author or link. (If you know who it was, feel free to share in the comments below.) Even though I can’t share the article link/author, I can share the “new” concept that I got from this article. I say “new” (in quotes) because I have heard of doing this before, just not in this way.

How many of you keep a journal? Let’s take this a step further… How many of you keep a gratitude journal? Even though I don’t keep a separate gratitude journal, part of my journaling has included listing 3-5 things that I am grateful for. Since it is Thanksgiving this week, pretty much every blog that I have subscribed to is sharing information about gratitude and being thankful this week. This particular blog that I read this morning talked about the FOUR steps of practicing gratitude. In my mind, I was doing at least one step (writing down what I am grateful for in my journal), so I was curious to find out what the other three steps were.

It turns out that the first step was to start a journal. Ok, I have my journal so that step is done. The second step was to write down everything that you are thankful for. Yup, that’s done too although I just list 3-5 things. Step three was to stretch yourself and think ahead. Huh… I’ve heard of this before but I’ll share more on that after I give you the last step, which is to go back and read your journal every day. I do that too but not every day.

So, what is this “stretch yourself and think ahead” all about? It is about thinking about your goals and where you want to be in the next month or six months or year and being thankful for reaching that goal… and writing it down in your journal like you have already reached it!

I have heard of this before from several different coaches. Jack Canfield talks about “Act As If” in the 12th principle from his book “The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be“. Others simply tell you to write down your daily affirmations starting with “I am so grateful that I am…” and then ending it with whatever your goal might be. It could go something like this: “I am so grateful that I have reached my goal weight of ___ and have so much more energy to play games with my kids.” or “I am so grateful that I am now living debt free and am able to travel to fun, exotic locations around the world several times a year.” You get the idea.

This author took the same concept but added it to the gratitude journaling part of your day. I think that makes so much sense! Think about it. You are already in a thankful state. Writing about your goals as if you have already achieved them when you are already in a thankful state makes them so much more powerful. And it keeps it as a daily habit, like affirmations, but the fact that you are already in a grateful state makes it so much easier to BELIEVE. Honestly, I had problems believing some of my “As If” affirmations because I wasn’t already in a grateful state.

So this is something that I am going to start today. I am going to write what I am thankful for in my journal at night and then read them in the morning so that I start my day off on a note of gratitude. And you know what they say… your thoughts create your actions! This can only make my goals a reality that much faster!

Who is with me? Feel free to make a comment below or go to my FB group and share what you are grateful for! (Monica Hirman)