Gratitude Journal — Template
Use this daily, ideally at a fixed time (morning or evening). Research on gratitude journaling (Emmons & McCullough) found specificity drives the benefit — “grateful for my health” does far less than naming one specific moment and why it mattered.
- Date: [FILL: YYYY-MM-DD]
1. Three Specific Things
Be concrete — a specific moment, not a general category.
| # | What (specific, not general) | Why it mattered |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | [FILL] | [FILL] |
| 2 | [FILL] | [FILL] |
| 3 | [FILL] | [FILL] |
2. A Person to Thank
Naming a person and, ideally, telling them, amplifies the effect beyond private reflection.
- Person: [FILL]
- What they did: [FILL]
- Will I tell them? How? [FILL]
3. A Difficulty Reframed
Something hard today that, on reflection, also gave me something (a lesson, a connection, a strength surfaced).
[FILL]
Reference: Emmons & McCullough (2003) gratitude journaling research — specificity of entries, not just frequency, predicted the well-being benefit.
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