Why You Need a Good Things List.

Okay, the title is a little deceiving. You don’t just need one. You need lots. Like, hundreds. But that felt a little intimidating for a blog post title.

A few years ago, I started intentionally practicing gratitude. What I mean by intentionally is basically that I made myself do it every day, not just on days where I was happy and the things to be grateful for seemed to be flowing freely.

While the how has changed over the years – what I’ve used, etc – it’s been something that I know has benefited me immensely.

Right now, in this season of life, practicing gratitude looks like making a good things list.

Sometimes I write them in my phone. Sometimes I write them in my journal. I usually post at least one a week on instagram. But here’s what they are:

Literally just a list of good things in the world. 

And here’s why: There are days right now where I find it hard to feel gratitude. Does that feel incredibly privileged and selfish to type? Of course. But that doesn’t make it less true. It’s so easy to get in your head, to let all the doom and gloom around you seep in, and when that happens, gratitude just doesn’t come easy. It just doesn’t! And that’s okay. 

So here’s where I’ve landed: Even on the hardest day, there’s still good out there. And as long as I know there’s good, the possibility of gratitude exists. So I make lists of the good things.

Listen. There are no rules here. How you do it doesn’t matter, it just matters that you do it. 

Sometimes the things on my list are big and important and sacred, and sometimes it is “my coffee” for the 47th day in the row. As long as it’s something good, it counts.

I have to believe there is good ahead. I have to believe there is good now. There is so much bad that to bear it, I have to find the good.

My friend Steph left a comment on my last blog post and it’s really stuck with me:

Bogged down by the bad is easy. Living the length and width of it to all edges, taking all of it, is not. But we must!

We must.