I never claimed to be normal

One of my daily practices I have been doing for almost 4 years now is listing at least 5 things a day I am grateful for. I started doing this after learning from a psychologist how doing this practice consistently over 6 months can help reduce symptoms of depression. It was never a miracle cure, but it helped to train my brain to focus more on the good. Now, I find myself being grateful sometimes even for things that went wrong, for example telling myself “well, that was bad, but I’m grateful that now it is over”, or “that was awful but I’m grateful it wasn’t worse”.

I keep a log of this on an app on my phone so it’s easy to do even when I’m out and about or don’t have access to a paper and pen. I’m going to list a few things I listed day to day this past week of things I was/am grateful for.

-Had fun playing pokopia
-Comfy outfit
-Met a new nice person
-Slept okay
-Got a nice gift from someone
-Had a good time visiting my mom
-Made some watercolor bunnies I was satisfied with

As you can see some of this stuff seems small but it’s stuff I genuinely am grateful for and it’s nice to keep my mind focused on these things.

There are also some things I’m looking forward to coming up in the next few months, here is a list of some of them:

-Adding accessories to my handmade bunnies
-Easter sale
-Weekly cooking class
-Learning how to make stickers from watercolor paintings
-Game time with family
-Tabletop games with local gaming group
-Learning more about sewing from my mom

Gratitude helps me notice the good things happening right now, and having things to look forward to helps me stay hopeful about what’s ahead. For me, combining the two is a good way to help regulate my mood and feel happier in general.