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I finally gave in and tried that whole 'gratitude journal' thing my therapist kept pushing. | Brutal Honesty - Talk Freely

uma409•6mo ago

I finally gave in and tried that whole 'gratitude journal' thing my therapist kept pushing.

For about two weeks, I wrote three things I was thankful for every morning, fully expecting it to feel silly. The weird part is, after a month, I caught myself feeling less annoyed by small stuff, like my coworker's loud typing. Did anyone else have a similar experience with something they were sure was just a fad?

3 comments

3 Comments

jakeb256mo ago

Started doing morning pages after reading about them online, where you just dump three pages of whatever's in your brain. Felt totally stupid scribbling about my weird dream and my grocery list. But after a few weeks, I stopped waking up with that low-grade dread about the day. My brain just felt less cluttered, like I'd taken out the mental trash.

mason.sam6mo ago

I read about morning pages in an old copy of The Artist's Way at a used bookstore. The idea seemed pointless, like writing down every dumb thought would just give them more power. But your point about the low-grade dread fading, @jakeb25, actually makes a lot of sense. It probably works because you're moving the noise from your head onto paper before it can spiral. I might have to get over feeling stupid and try it myself.

robinson.angela6mo ago

Oh man, I read this article about how just naming your feelings can take the edge off. Like, if you're mad about the dishes, actually saying "I'm feeling really annoyed about this" in your head makes it less intense. It sounded like total nonsense to me, like giving the feeling more attention. But I tried it when I got stuck in traffic last week, just a quiet "wow, I'm actually super frustrated right now," and it was weirdly like the frustration lost some of its power. Maybe it's the same idea as writing stuff down, just getting it out of your system so it doesn't boil over.