Welcome to Day 5 of our journal challenge and it's all about a cup of self reflection. If you missed Day 4 you can read it here:
Do you love to enjoy a hot drink? I find I do especially as the weather starts to turn a little colder. So what is it about a hot drink that lends itself so readily to self reflection and self realization?
Let's take a look at how showing gratitude in the form of self reflection and self realization can help. As you wrap your hands around a warm mug of spiced cider, or a herbal tea, that you take time to sip slowly, while sitting on a rocker on the front porch.
Okay so you don't have a front porch or rocker? Why not imagine that you do? Or take a walk to your favorite downtown coffee house, and sit and sip on a bench outside the shop. Take some time for self reflection as the beautiful leaves cascade to the ground in shimmering shades of crimson and gold.
Feeling like being with a friend? Make a date to meet for tea or coffee, cocoa or tea Relax and let the conversation drift where it may. Give each other the gift of comfortable silence if that's your momentary pleasure.
Pour a cup of warm cocoa for the kids after school. Electronics off; senses on. Have everyone sit together, maybe at the breakfast nook of your cozy kitchen.
Exercise 5: A Cup of Self Reflection
Journal Tip – Use this exercise to help you be grateful for yourself and all of your excellent qualities. This is an exercise that you can do on your own, or with the aforementioned special people with whom you plan to enjoy that hot drink. Just remember to write down all of your thoughts in your journal. If you are out make notes and then expand on them when you get home.
Some questions to ask of yourself…
- What makes you special, likeable, and different?
- What would you say are your most redeeming qualities?
- Imagine if someone were tasked with the job of writing your euology – the qualities and gestures you'll be remembered for during the course of your life.
- What do you think people would say about you? What would you want them to say?
- If the you who you are today isn't meeting up with the expectations that you have in your own head of who and how you want to be… what changes can you make to move closer to your own personal goals?
When writing in your journal you don't have to write out paragraph after paragraph. Try making a list of what you are grateful for. Make notes about people that you honour in your childhood, during your teen years and now into your adulthood. As well as writing about the good things, write down all those twists and turns that you encountered on your journey.
Remember to be grateful for who you are today. Look at how far you've come, and the ways you've changed from your younger, less experienced self.
Celebrate the wiser and more mature “you” of the future. Imagine all that you'll be tomorrow.
We really hope that you have been enjoying this days of gratitude challenge. Once you have completed today’s journal exercise feel free to leave a comment below, or come and join in the conversation on our Facebook Page.