If you’re going to journal one thing this month, make it this. Reasons to be cheerful.
It’s not always easy to spot these reasons, to grab at the little moments. It can be hard to pull yourself out of the day to day and look for them.
It matters. Being happy each day matters.
“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty to be happy.” Robert Louis Stevenson
What are you thinking of now, are there ideas popping into your mind? They’ll often be little things, things that brighten your moments.
Start thinking about them now, and then grab your journal or a notebook if you’ve not got a journal on the go right now, and jot a few down.
In fact, if you’ve not yet got a journal started, this strikes me as a great place to begin, so go get that notebook you’ve yet to find a purpose for and get started.
Journaling is a good hobby to have, maybe this is the time to try it? You needn’t commit to daily scribblings, just commit to writing down your reasons to be cheerful.
See how that makes you feel. Does it make you stop and think? Does it make you find a few things you hadn’t recognised before? Or perhaps you’ve written things down and then wondered why you’d forgotten these things, why you hadn’t been including them in your life lately?
Writing down your own personal reasons to be cheerful gives you time to think about what they are and how many there are.
Of course holidays, upcoming trips, outings, weekends and such are likely to make you cheerful, but this is more about the every day things you can grab hold of when you need them.
Perhaps it’s a mid afternoon cup of tea in your favourite mug, perhaps it’s lighting a scented candle, perhaps it’s a walk in the park.
Try to find things that you can pop into your life regularly so that you can sprinkle your reasons to be cheerful throughout your week.
Once you’ve written these down, you could choose to add to it regularly, you could choose to commit to doing more of these things or maybe you’ll start looking for them and make a note of them each day or week.
Actively seeking reasons to be cheerful out, little and often, does make a difference, it will lift your January spirits and carry you through the year.
Give it a try, go grab that notebook now!
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” Marcus Aurelius
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