My Thankfulness Journal

 

The word 'thankfulness' is not something that comes to mind when you suffer from depression. The word 'thankfulness' is not something that comes to mind when you suffer from anything!

Recently I had a conversation with three friends. All of them had horrendous heartbreaking stories of suffering, mostly at the hands of their own families. That made me extra thankful for my life. 

Yes, I have known heartache, but none that matches theirs. I felt overwhelmingly thankful.

Yes, I live with depression. But I manage it. I do have a life. A good life. I have never had to be hospitalized. I am able to take part in activities which bring me joy. I have so much to be thankful for.

So I decided then and there that this is going to be a YEAR OF THANKFULNESS. 

I looked up 'thankfulness' in my favourite book, my bible, and it equates thankfulness with praise. Therefore I can only assume that when I praise God I am automatically being thankful.

I have written about 'thankfulness' many times here and decided to look over my own research to see if there are any gold nuggets to dig up once again. Maybe you would like to do that same.

Here is one quote that stood out:

So what is the opposite of thankfulness? Ingratitude.
Ingratitude has a root in bitterness.

Ouch! Bitterness? I don't need that.

Being thankful can be an antidote for bitterness. 
Being thankful can be an armour against negativity and evil.
Being thankful can be empowering.

If you are battling mental illness, you need all the power you can find to fight this debilitating disease full of delusions and lies. You need some truth to fight those lies and keep them at bay.

Thankfulness can be that truth. Thankfulness can be that power.

I love scrapbooks. So I am creating my little thankfulness journal like a little scrapbook. I did the front myself just to make it personal.

Oh and one more thing, your thankfulness journal has even more benefits than you can even imagine. All journals have benefits and you may want to remind yourself about that too. 

If you want some ideas to get you started you might want to check out my '99 Reasons to be thankful' that I did awhile back. Part One, or Part Two, or Part Three. 

Don't give up!
There is hope for depression. 





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