Guided Exercise: Write Your First Gratitude Journal Entry with Me
But before that, we'll do an easy grounding exercise to clear your mind.
You know the drill. My life was crap.
I was working 9-hour days, sometimes more, with barely any breaks in between. My pay was so low, I had to rely on the GST vouchers that the government gave out to subsidise the rise in taxes just to get by. I could barely save (that’s another entry for another day).
I needed a way out.
The first thing that crossed my mind was to change the way I perceived my life.
If you focus on the negative, then your life will be filled with negatives. But if you focus on the positive, then you will have more things to be joyful about.
But I didn’t start there. I needed something that I could do right away with the least resistance.
The easiest thing to do?
The 54321 grounding method.
Counting down from 5 to 1, you name things in your present moment to help bring your mind back to the current reality instead of letting your mind unravel uncontrollably into the abyss of anxiety and depression.
Let’s try it now.
Try the 54321 method:
5. Name 5 things you can see.
It can be anything in your immediate surroundings. Your bedsheets, work desk lamp, toothbrush, the blue sky, the motorcycle parked by the side of the road… The aim here is to really notice what they look like. Think about colours, materials, size, contents.
4. Name 4 things you can hear.
Close your eyes and listen intently. It can be anything from soft to loud. The car driving by, the thonk of your keyboard, the chirping of birds or the background music playing overhead.
Listen to the outside world instead of the worries your brain is trying to get you to hear.
3. Name 3 things you can feel.
These can be anything to do with touch. Your hair, the way your socks feel on y our feet, your loungewear.
These things are real, they are here in the now. Not some made up imaginary world your brain wants you to think exists.
2. Name 2 things you can smell.
Your empty coffee cup, the cleaning solution drying on the floor, your fart, or the fresh flowers you’ve placed at the entryway.
1. Name 1 thing you can taste.
Garlic bits from lunch stuck in between your teeth, your matcha latte, or just nothing much at all because you haven’t drunk anything in the last hour (in which case, you should drink up).
Once you’ve done this exercise, you should already feel calmer and more grounded as you’re more in tune with your environment. The present. The whatever is true and happening right now, and not the story your mind is attempting to scare you with.
Gratitude journaling is similar in practice, but it calls you to be more emotive in order to acknowledge your appreciation for whatever is going right. It’s not about toxic positivity, it’s about finding small anchors when everything feels overwhelming.
Remember: not everything is a crisis!
If you’re ready to take it one step deeper, we’ll move on to create your first gratitude journal entry together, in the space below for all paid subscribers.
