How To Prioritize Gratitude for a Happier Mindset
There's no denying the mental health benefits that come from gratitude journaling. A daily gratitude practice has long been praised by mental health professionals as one of the most influential and accessible ways to boost your mood and overall well-being. When introducing new routines and habits into your life, the challenge often comes from finding something that easily syncs with your lifestyle, allowing you to remain consistent and committed. These are often the limiting factors that determine whether or not that new practice can be adopted as a regular part of your daily or weekly routine.
Prioritizing Consistency in Your Gratitude Practice
The Happy Notes gratitude journal was designed to help you prioritize consistency in your daily gratitude practice. The concept was to marry the convenience of a pretty lined notebook that you can utilize for all your regular notebook needs, with a simple notes-form gratitude practice. That is why half of the Happy Notes Book is filled with lined pages for free-form writing, list making, doodling and whathaveyou's, and half is filled with simplified happy notes prompts that include "Moments of Joy", "Excited For", and "To Accomplish".
The prompts continue throughout the second half of the notebook-- with the same three prompts- "Moments of Joy", "Excited For", and "To Accomplish" on each page-- which help you create a consistent thought process of reflecting, looking ahead, and setting intentions. The idea is that this digestible and easy to follow format, quickly becomes second nature where your mind continues to prioritize all the happy stuff happening in your life-- no matter how grand or simple the moments may seem.
Establishing a Convenient Gratitude Practice You Can Commit To
By designing the Happy Notes Book with these two components conveniently in the same binding -- regular day-to-day notebook needs in the front half, and simplified gratitude prompts in the back half -- you are able to establish a regular gratitude practice that you can commit to. While we are certainly fans of all gratitude journals and support all the ways that people choose to prioritize their mental well being, we found that the overly prompted journals find themselves tucked in a nightstand after the first few entries.
When establishing new habits, it's not uncommon that people start off strong, committed, and with the best intentions to stick with it. However, as creatures of habit, we are quick to fall into our old ways, and new habits become more of a chore than an active choice, at which point they are often forgotten. However, when that choice is a matter of your mental health and happiness, it should be one you can stick with and reap the mind boosting benefits from. Happy notes is designed to be an easy-to-follow gratitude practice that seamlessly syncs with our regular daily and weekly habits.
The Happy Notes Gratitude Practice
The concept of happy notes was designed to simplify gratitude journaling into a quick, digestible habit that is easy to stick with. The simplified prompts focus on three core areas. Moments of joy is a space to fill with happy memories from the days or week that passed. This can range from special milestones to simple daily occurrences that left you with a smile on your face. Sometimes it's the silliest little things-- a favorite song that synced with your ride to work, an impromptu run-in at the supermarket, a chance to indulge in an snooze in the morning. There are no prerequisites for what determines a moment of joy-- just a fun list of life happenings that left you with a smile.
The second prompt is "excited for". This is a place for you to focus on the joyous moments ahead and a beautiful way to train your brain to continue focusing on the happy stuff that continues to fill your life. You'll often find that while many of the "excited for" moments tend to translate into "moments of joy", there are also SO many unexpected "moments of joy" that surface during the day or week too. While this is certainly the space we love to fill with special visitors, big travel plans, and beyond, its also the area we get psyched for the little weekly occurrences we don't usually take a moment to appreciate-- an after dinner family walk, a chance to power through your to do lists, and a fresh start at the week ahead.
The third prompt is "to accomplish" and while it's certainly the perfect place to jot down any to-dos', I try to reserve this area for less work-related tasks and more life tasks. I try to fill this space with for-me to-do's that include everything from try a new recipe, to call my grandma, to send a note to a friend who needs a boost. While the days and weeks can feel routine and boring at times, this area is a place I like challenge myself to try something new and spice up life. It's a beautiful motivator to enjoy an activity for yourself or with someone you love, the next time you're tempted to curl up on the couch and scroll through social media. I love to use this space to find new ways to be present for myself and those around me, even in the midst of a busy week.
How to Train Your Brain To Think Happy
There truly is incredible power that rests in the ability to think positively. The trick comes from finding a regular practice and established behavior that trains your mind to do this naturally. Similar to physical fitness, which requires a regular commitment to an active lifestyle, mental fitness is rooted in consistency in order to reap the benefits. In great news, committing to a mental health practice for yourself doesn't require an expensive gym membership or hours of time each week. Thinking happy is something you can train your brain to do in just minutes a day.
The Happy Notes Book is focused on delivering a range of ways for you to commit to and prioritize your mental fitness. Whether its diving into your notebook for daily or weekly journaling, jotting a happy note on a new Happy Notes notepad, or sharing a Happy Notes notecard with a friend, the Happy Notes product lineup provides various ways to train your brain to think happy. The practice is simple and it's impact on your mental well being is profound. Treat yourself to the benefits of a lighter, brighter mindset by committing to happy, and know that Happy Notes is here to help!
Think happy. I dare you.
xo Lindsay