One Habit to Supercharge Your Happiness

I’ve spent some time writing about the power of habits and the step-by-step process in going from an aspirational goal to behavior change that helps you reach your goals. Now I’d like to recommend one habit that will supercharge your happiness that only takes 5 minutes a day to do. That habit is Keep a Gratitude Journal.

By now you probably have heard of the concept of a gratitude journal. It is simply a record of the things that you’re thankful for, from people in your life, your health, clean water, soft sheets, and the like. It can be big things, like getting a promotion at work or the birth of a child, to tiny things, like your favorite mug. There are various methods on how to keep a gratitude journal, such as the idea to never repeat anything on your list so your mind is always searching for new things/people/experiences to be grateful for, or to always write down things that you’re grateful for that occurred in the past 24 hours.

For me, writing down at least 5 things every morning as I take my first sips of hot coffee, with 3 of those things having occurred in my life in the past 24 hours and the other 2 things that I write every day because they are so important to me and I never, ever want to take them for granted. I’ve even heard of some successful people write things down that haven’t occurred yet in their life, but they desire them deeply (like a big goal). Writing it down in their gratitude journal helps them believe they will come true.

However you come up with your list is up to you. The key is that it works for you and it is deeply meaningful.

Recent research on the effects of keeping a gratitude journal is powerful. Past research occurring over the last 10 years has studied the positive benefits of gratitude journals, finding that people tend to be happier and less depressed. A study just published by researchers from Berkley looked at 300 college students who were seeking counseling for mental health challenges. One group that sought counseling also was instructed to write weekly gratitude letters to someone, where another group was instructed to write about their negative emotions in addition to counseling, and a third was the control group doing nothing but counseling.

They found that compared to the group that wrote about their negative emotions and experiences and those that just did counseling without writing anything down, the group that wrote gratitude letters “reported significantly better mental health four weeks and 12 weeks after their writing exercise ended.” Researchers wrote that “it seems, practicing gratitude on top of receiving psychological counseling carries greater benefits than counseling alone, even when that gratitude practice is brief.”

So now that you realize the power of gratitude for your happiness and wellbeing, I encourage you to cultivate a daily gratitude habit by following the 3 step formula for creating a new habit, explained here. After you take the steps to identify your trigger, action, and celebration you’ll be well on your way to a happier self.

If you’re ready to learn more strategies to bring happiness into your life and reach your goals, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with questions about coaching one-to-one with me. You can reach me to set up your first coaching session by going here.

Liz Bapasola, Ed.D. is a Life Coach for Liz Bapasola & Associates, LLC. She writes often about the power of habits, mindset, and strategies for reaching your goals. She can be reached at liz@lizbapasola.com.