Starting a thankfulness journal is next in my “Inching Towards Healing” series. Dealing with chronic pain every day definitely begins to wear on you. It isn’t long and the lenses that you look through become tainted with negativity. Toss in a little bit of self-pity and things become a real wreck.
It is so easy to dwell on the negative and get stuck there. It takes intentionality to look around and find the things in your life for which you can be thankful. When you take this step to acknowledge your blessings, something inside begins to happen and your outlook on life is transformed. Even if that feeling of being positive only takes place for those few moments in which you are writing down your blessings, it is still slowly transforming you into a different person. (I can remember many a times writing down the things I was thankful for and as soon as I got up from my notebook the feelings of being overwhelmed would flood back over me. This practice is something we do that changes us over time…it is never instantaneous.)
A couple of years ago I attended a Bible study about thankfulness. We were challenged to daily write down things in which we were thankful. Since that study, each time I sit down to study God’s Word, I begin by writing three things for which I am thankful. Sometimes these things are blaringly obvious in my life and I can easily write things down. Other times, especially on the days when things are flaring up in my body, this is hard. It takes an effort to look past my momentary troubles to find the underlying good. There has never been a time, though, when I haven’t been able to come up with those three things. It felt so good the day I wrote down my 1000th blessing. After that I just kept going.
Here are some things I have come to realize as I have focused on being more grateful in my life.
1. My thoughts became refocused. Taking time to be thankful and write those thoughts on paper refocused my attention away from the pain that so easily consumed my thought-life. It helped me to focus on good things instead of what wasn’t going well.
2. It caused me to be more positive. Negativity began to rule my life and not just when it came to my health. Thankfulness helped me to turn that around little by little.
3. My hope was increased. Many days seemed so bleak and like things would never change. Being grateful and seeing the good things in my life gave me hope that my health could become good again as well.
4. I could see where God was working in my life. Becoming more gracious reminded me that more was happening in my life than just this illness. Through my journaling I was reminded that God was working even if my health felt like it was at a standstill.
5. It made me easier to be around. Now I will be the first to admit that I have not been the easiest person to be around since I have been dealing with this pain. Chronic pain has a way of bringing out the worst in us. Those days that I choose to be grateful helps me to be reminded of the person I want to be and that it isn’t one who is moody and rude.
6. It helped me to realize there were plenty of things I wasn’t going through. There were times I would think about other people’s lives and my own problems seemed minuscule in comparison. It was a great reminder of all the blessings I had in my life and it kept me from feeling sorry for myself.
7. I realized the things that were going right in my life. I began to realize that not everything in my life was bad. In fact, so much of it was good. Focusing on the things that were going right was uplifting and helped to change my whole attitude.
Having a thankfulness journal is just a small change that came with countless positive results. Taking time to notice and write down the things in our lives that make us smile, feel special, make our lives easier and more enjoyable can have a huge impact. Any time we can get out of our negative mindset, I believe we are helping our health to improve little by little. Stress wreaks havoc on our bodies and this is one way to combat it. I hope this encourages you to take a step towards healing and focus on being thankful every day. Whether you sit down with a pen and notebook or record your thoughts electronically, there is so much to be gained from this practice that I know you will see results in your life as well!
Gratitude is one of the sweet shortcuts to finding peace of mind and happiness inside. No matter what is going on outside of us, there’s always something we could be grateful for.
-Barry Neil Kaufman
