Are you looking for a gratitude journal prompts, specifically for mothers, to become a less resentful, and less negative thinker?
With all the stress of hearing the news, trying to keep your kids safe and healthy, trying to work from home with young kids, marriage issues, etc., for now, we just want the bare minimum – to feel genuinely happy and content with our lives.
It’s hard to feel carefree and joyful when you’re feeling all sorts of sad, frustrated, afraid, and even resentful. There are shitty times but we don’t need to keep feeling shitty every single day.
We can start turning things around by slowly practicing the virtue of gratitude and looking and taking note of the things that are still good and true in our lives.
List of Contents
The True Meaning Of Gratitude
It’s easy to say our thanks when things are going well but once problems are piling up and stressing us out, it’s hard to see the good amid all the negative issues and bad news.
And that’s where the true meaning of gratitude comes in – noticing, highlighting, and giving thanks to the good things that are still there in our life, despite of all the hardships and challenges.
Why is it hard to practice gratitude?
Because of our negativity bias.
Negative events are a lot more impactful and memorable compared to the good things that are happening in our lives.
They said it’s likely the result of evolution. We’re hardwired to pay attention to the bad and negative things around us for our survival.
Unfortunately, that gene has been handed down from generation to generation and at these modern times, the tendency to dwell on negative things becomes more of a hindrance.
What are the benefits of practicing gratitude?
One is overcoming the seemingly never-ending wheel of negativity bias.
By practicing gratitude, we are exercising that mental muscle of looking and focusing on the good and happy things in our life, instead of the bad and negative experiences.
Not only does practicing gratitude changes our mindset, but it’s also extremely beneficial for our physical and mental health.
Practicing gratitude can lower your risk for heart attacks, helps you sleep better and longer at night, blocks out negative emotions, and helps improve our friendships and romantic relationships.
Children who are introduced to it at an early age tend to do well in school, copes well with stress, and are likely to engage in risky activities.
Simple Ways On How To Practice Gratitude
Start with staying present
It’s hard to be reminded of the things that we’re grateful for when we’re thinking of past issues or potential future problems.
So start with something small, start with observing what’s right in front of you. Stay in the present.
Think of what happened today that made you smile or gave you a positive feeling.
You don’t need to go back in time and think long and hard about an event or a person or an experience that made you happy. Just focus on what happened recently that made you say your thanks.
Be mindful of your thoughts
We can overcome our negative bias by starting to take notice of when we’re feeling a negative emotion.
When we’re feeling anxious or worried, take a breath, and examine your thoughts.
What is really the issue? Is there a pragmatic way of looking at it? Are you thinking about it rationally?
Stay with that and don’t just let the train of negative thinking bulldoze you into producing and thinking more bad thoughts.
Keep a gratitude journal
You can find numerous blogs and websites that talk about the countless benefits of keeping a gratitude journal but ultimately, it gives you a new perspective on the things that truly matter.
It practically makes you write a list of reminders of how lucky and fortunate you are.
Just the process of writing in your gratitude journal triggers already a positive emotion of remembering the good things in life.
Reflecting on what you wrote and rereading the multitude of things that you’re grateful for can help you change your mindset, turning you into a more positive person.
Keep doing long enough and you’re practicing that mental muscle of looking at the positive side of things, instead of giving in to our unfortunate, hardwired negative bias.
What do you write in a gratitude journal?
You write in your gratitude lists. It’s a simple list of things that you’re grateful for.
If you’re new to a gratitude journal, you can start with daily gratitude pages and just list down one event/ experience/ person/ object/ that you’re grateful for each day.
There’s also a daily gratitude page with more spaces, letting you write longer thoughts of thanks.
You can also write in the weekly gratitude pages and keep track of the things that you’re grateful for, for the week.
If you want to kick things up a notch, start and end your day by writing in your daily morning and evening pages. Through this way, you are starting your days right with a positive intention and a grateful heart and ending it by reflecting on what happened and how you felt within the day.
Use gratitude journal prompts
If you need some guidance on what to write in your gratitude journal, that’s where gratitude journal prompts comes along. And it’s extra helpful if they come with a gratitude journal.
Sometimes it’s hard to think of the good things in life when we’re in the thick of things – when we’re dealing with postpartum depression or stay at home mom depression.
Or when we’re mentally and physically exhausted but we still need to deal with a messy house, unruly children and cooking dinner, a husband that doesn’t help with chores, and so on.
The gratitude journal prompts below will help you focus and see the calm and good and happiness amid all the chaos.
It will help you turn a stressful and negative situation into something positive or at the very least, less overwhelming.
It’s like a gratitude list, a gratitude exercise worksheet, except that it’s not complete and you have to fill in the blanks.
Think of my gratitude journal prompts as gratitude worksheets in pdf form – you can print it, put it where you can easily see it, or keep it in your gratitude journal.
Make being grateful a habit
Having a daily tracker can help you keep track of the days when you practice being grateful.
It’s important to use it and take note of it to establish that feeling of accomplishment, making you feel more confident to do it more and more.
Over time, you won’t even realize you’re doing it. And you’ll only be conscious of it and feel proud and happy about it when you see that you’ve filled up your monthly gratitude tracker page.
Place your gratitude journal and gratitude journal prompts in an area where you can easily see it, so it will be easier to write on it and practice the habit of being thankful.
Gratitude Journal Prompts (Printable) for Mothers
I wrote this for mothers who have young children because one, I can relate as I have a toddler myself, and two, to remind us, moms, to slow down and take notice of these years with our children as time tends to play tricks on our minds.
One minute you’re cuddling with your baby, making silly sounds and googly eyes, and the next thing you know, they are greeting you in the morning with a gentle kick on the face, yelling at you to wake up, because they want to go to the playground.
At 6 am. But I digress.
If you want some examples on how to fill up the gratitude journal prompts below, you can go and read my very own gratitude lists here.
It’s not the same with the gratitude journal prompts but you can get an idea of what to write. I focus more on experience and people, instead of material things.
If you haven’t downloaded it yet, you can get your free gratitude journal prompts below.
Or you can also check it out below:
Mom Identity
- I’m a good mom because..
- I’m a good wife because..
- What I love being a mom..
- I’m a bad-ass mom because..
- Becoming a mom has made me..
- I love being a stay-at-home mom because..
- As a working mom, I feel lucky because..
- I’m proud of the fact that I..
- 5 things that I like about how I look is..
- One mistake that happened and that I’m grateful for is..
- For next year, I am looking forward to..
- For today, I am looking forward to..
- The top 3 skills I’m proud of..
- The 3 most important lessons I’ve learned as a mom..
- 3 persons who inspires me (and why)
- I’m glad I’ve changed into a person who’s..
- One time when my wish/es came true..
- The best compliment I’ve ever received..
- The places/countries I’m glad I was able to visit before becoming a mom
- I finally realized I love becoming a mom was when..
Mom Favourites
- My favourite birthday memory with my family was when..
- My favourite part of our house is..
- My favourite family tradition/s..
- My favourite childhood memory..
- One unforgettable memory I’ve had as a mother is..
- One lesson I learned from my dad is..
- One lesson I learned from my mom is..
- My absolutely favourite thing to do in the evening is..
- I love it when I’m alone and it’s quiet and I can..
- My absolutely favourite thing about running errands..
- I love my day offs (no children, no chores) where I can..
- My favourite food (and why)
- My favourite movie (and why)
- My favourite book (and why)
- My favorite drink (and why)
- My top favourite 5 things that I have today that I didn’t have 10 years ago was..
- The one quote that I will never forget (and why)
- The one friend who I will never forget (and why)
- The best vacation I’ve ever had was..
- The best gift I’ve ever received was..
Children
- My favourite trait of my child/children is..
- I love it when my child/children..
- The best part of having children is..
- My kid/s make/s me laugh when..
- Funniest thing that my kid/s said
- I’m grateful that my child/ children knows..
- My favourite part of the day with my child/children is when..
- I’m proud of my child/children because..
- I can make my kid/s laugh or smile by..
- My favourite holiday memory with my child/children..
- When my kid’s go off to college, get married, lives in another country, I will miss..
- The 3 most important lessons I learned from my kid/s..
- The most recent, nicest thing my kid/s has done for me was..
- My favourite activity with my kid/s..
- When my kid was a baby, I loved it when..
- I feel like my kid/s will grow up to become..
- My kid/s has this cute mannerism..
- I love looking at my kid/s and thinking..
- The food that both me and my kid/s love (and why)
- The one book I love reading to my kid/s (and why)
Spouse
- The 3 best things about my husband..
- I love it when my husband..
- My favourite memory with my husband..
- I’m lucky to have my husband because..
- My husband is bad-ass when..
- One thing about my husband that makes me laugh..
- One unforgettable date I’ve had with my husband..
- I’m proud of my husband’s..
- I’m thankful that my husband knows..
- I love making my husband laugh/smile by..
- My husband and I love..
- The one place that I would love to keep revisiting with my husband is..
- I’m grateful that my husband helps me out..
- When times are getting tough, I know I can count on my husband to..
- One quirky trait about my husband that I like..
- 3 things I learned from my husband
- When we’re old and gray, my husband and I will look forward to..
- One thing that I’m excited to do with my husband..
- My husband has gotten better with..
- One sexy thing about my husband is..
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it on Facebook or Twitter or pin it on your Pinterest, thank you!
