Gratitude Note (2014.12.31)

　I make it a HABIT to write down six things that I am thankful about on my note pad every day. I call it “Gratitude Note”. For example, I write about my gratitude for my mother, my friends, my colleagues, and our patients. The target of gratitude is not always people. I recently wrote gratitude for my down jacket, earphones, parking lot, the Internet, and destiny. Anything is OK, as long as I feel grateful about something.

　I started this writing habit about four years ago, in January 2011. One of my colleagues gave me the information that this habit makes people happier and healthier. It was originally “the habit of writing FIVE grateful things”, and I had been writing five things until this October. But I made it up to SIX, to raise my level.

　Yes, indeed. The “Gratitude Note” gives me great GIFTS. I bet you will understand what I mean if you try it, but let me explain here briefly.

　Continuing this habit, we can be very good at finding small happiness in our life, because it is like putting on an antenna for positive emotions. Once installed, the antenna in our brain starts searching for grateful things happening around us to complete the writing mission for the day. Believe me, the effect in our life is MESMERIZING.

　Another gift is re-experiencing. If we write down, we will be able to reread the past notes, and we can recall and enjoy the grateful feelings again. Grateful things are usually very trivial matters, so those positive emotions or memories tend to just vanish in our brain. But if we write down and reread the note, we can easily access the feeling again and sometimes we can even realize the new meaning of the experience in our lives.

　Why don’t you try this habit? I strongly recommend it. You don’t have to do it 100%. As a matter of fact, I don’t do it perfectly. Sometimes, I forget to do it. But it’s OK. We don’t have to feel depressed even if we fail to write down. The important thing is to keep doing it. We don’t do it to feel depressed. We do it to enrich our everyday lives.