Gratitude Journal
Why would you practice gratitude in the first place? Other than creating a habit that brings to the forefront of your mind what you love in your life (which is very pleasant in itself), writing in a gratitude journal brings many other benefits as well:
• Gratitude journaling makes people feel better about their lives.
• Those who maintain a gratitude journal for 10 weeks or more are found to be more likely to engage in other healthy behaviors like exercise and healthy eating.
• Gratitude journaling increases optimism, which can lead to other gains in your life.
• Those who cultivate gratitude are found to have stronger and more positive relationships.
• Gratitude journaling can trigger an upward spiral of positivity, which can lead to greater happiness in all areas of your life as well as greater levels of goal achievement!
Simply put, maintaining a gratitude journal improves your life, makes you happier, and can make those around you happier as well. This is a sample from my Happiness and Productivity Planner and it can really make a difference if you use it.
You may already have a gratitude journaling practice, and if so, I would like to offer you a hearty high five and encourage you to keep up the great work! But if you don't write about what you are grateful for each day, even if you have done this in the past but have fallen out of the practice or do this sometimes but not every day, this resource can help you to get started and deepen your practice, knowing that many of us are practicing gratitude right along with you!
Daily Planner
This daily planner gives you a full week of fillable spaces that help you streamline and de-stress your day. It allows you to process your day and avoid the stress of not knowing what to focus on next, having too much planned and not enough time to complete it, and more of the common stressful feelings busy people experience and often just think of as part of life. Here are some of the features of using this planner:
• Prioritizer: Studies show that focusing on too many things in a day can bring stress and actually make you less productive. This planner helps you to narrow down your list to three main items that you can tackle in the day and feel successful in the end.
• To-Do List: Here is where you can list items that need to be done. They can fall under the umbrella of your "Big Three" (your top priorities of the day) or be small extra items you don't want to forget. Writing these things down instead of keeping them in your mind can make a big difference in how overwhelmed you feel and how you remember important tasks.
• Scheduler: There are lines included for each productive hour of your day. And important thing to keep in mind when you are planning your day is to be sure you know when you are going to do things, and filling out this scheduler helps you pin yourself down to a structure for the day. This keeps the guesswork out of when you'll get things done, but it also enables you to be sure you're not scheduling more to do than is possible given your free hours.
These activities may seem simple, but they can be transformative if you aren't already planning your days like this. They are a sample from my Wellbeing and Productivity Planner, and just using this tool for a week or two can create a real difference in your life if you're not already using a planer. Enjoy!
Self-Care Ideas Calendar
Benefits of positive psychology activities:
Positive psychology activities bring greater meaning to life
They bring greater resilience toward stress
We may know what will bring us greater happiness, but we don’t always make these activities part of our regular lives
It helps to have a plan to make these things happen
This resource will help you to identify activities that you will enjoy that can bring greater happiness and resilience toward your life
Some of the items in this resource may be things that you've tried or have been meaning to try. (Now is a great time!) Some may be brand new. But they're all proven to help you in some way: by lifting your mood, by connecting you with others, by sparking introspection, or by simply creating a nice self-care experience.