January 19, 2007
by Diane Eble
I would like to share something that has made a HUGE difference to me over the past few years.
When I’ve taken 5-7 minutes to do this simple little thing every night, my eyes are opened to amazing things, day by day. Miracles seem to happen. I am happy, focused on and open to wonderful things. And they come into my life!
When I neglect this practice, my problems seem to grow, my world constricts, and bad rather than wonderful things happen.
What is this simple practice?
It’s keeping a journal.
But not any old journal. What I call a “gifts journal.”
Keeping a gifts journal means taking a few minutes every evening (or in the morning, if you prefer), to look over the past day and jot down at least three things that felt like a gift.
It could be something very simple. “The sun was shining today and it gave me energy.” “My daughter had several friends over and their laughter filled the house and lifted my spirits.” “My teenage son actually opened up about his day over the supper table.” (Oops, that goes in the “miracles” category.)
Often, the “gifts” come from someone’s kindness. “A neighbor offered to watch the children and I got to take a nap.” “A friend whom I haven’t heard from for a long time called and we had a wonderful time catching up.”
Sometimes the gift feels tailor-made to us. “Just when we got socked with an unexpected repair bill, out of the blue I got a call from an editor about a freelance writing job that will pay just what I need for the bill.”
Once you start looking for these gifts, you will see them more often. Some people say, focusing on them actually attracts more of these good things into your life.
I see such things as good gifts from a loving God, who generously strews them along our path every day. Sadly, often we walk by and don’t even notice them.
At least, I know I have often neglected to look, therefore find, the good gifts. When I do take a few moments to look, inevitably I do find.
So my challenge to you is: Take 5-7 minutes each night, before bed, to review your day. Or, do it first thing in the morning, as you begin your day—look back on yesterday.
Find the gifts. Jot them down. See if you find yourself noticing them more and more.
And come back and post what you’re finding!
On my web site, www.abundant-gifts.com, I offer two free tools that will help you with this practice of keeping a gifts journal.
One is a nifty Digital Web Journal, that you can download and use on your computer. It opens like a book, right on your computer screen, and you can write in its pages.
Or, if you prefer something you can print out and write on, you can download the Abundant Gifts eBook Journal, which is in a pdf format and has some of my favorite quotes from my book, Abundant Gifts. (The book, by the way, gives you 260 examples of gifts from real life—true stories of God’s goodness and grace, arranged so you can read one story each day of the week all year.)
Use either of these tools, or a blank book of your own, or even a spiral notebook, to jot down the gifts of each day.
I promise you, it will change 2007 for you.
Diane Eble is an author (11 books, hundreds of articles)and book publishing coach. She is also the author of Abundant Gifts, which features 260 stories of God’s goodness and grace. To read 5 inspiring, true stories in a Digital Web book with 3D turning pages for free, visit http://www.abundant-gifts.com. There you can also download the journaling tools mentioned in the article.
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