As I have recounted here and there, almost one month ago I started to keep a gratitude list. After one week of doing this mindfulness exercise every night, I felt that it wasn’t working very well for me and I did some changes:
- I started to write my daily list in the morning, because I am a morning person.
- I abandoned the old paper diary and started to post my gratitude list on Facebook.
After a week of this new strategy, I went to Italy to visit relatives and friends during the Easter Holidays. I did the exercise on my first day there and then forget it completely. I promised myself to get back at it once in England and I did it, but I had no motivation.
It was nice to have some response from my friends with their likes and comments, but that didn’t help me to feel more grateful during the day and also didn’t give me more insights about what I was living. Moreover, posting the list on Facebook was also adding something I already had and didn’t need: distraction. Since to me there are only three ways to handle a problem:
- ignore it
- solve it
- change perspective
I bought a brand new diary and started again to write my gratitude list on paper, in the mornings. I wrote my list of the 8 things to do before 08.00 am on a nice paper block as well and set all the social media notifications off. Today is the fourth day that I use the phone on my nightstand for only two things:
- wake me up
- use the meditation app
When I get at my desk I force myself to not check my mailbox until 11.00 am and Facebook not before 05.00 pm. Almost every morning I take a picture and post it on Instagram, but then I don’t check the likes until the evening. Wanna know? I am starting to feel really calm. I don’t feel the urge to answer, to interact.
Sometimes a notification slips through and I find myself wondering: “That person might get offended if I not answer immediately!” But then I take a deep breath and remind myself of all the times that I didn’t get a quick answer and say to myself: “I have survived, they will survive. Also, by the evening my answer will be more calm and pondered” And that’s true.
My handwriting is improving and I really like to look back at the previous pages of my diary. I even started to take notes by hand. In the digital era I discovered my personal paper world and I like it. And you? Do you write on paper? Are you planning to do it or to refresh Facebook a little less often? I’d like to know. Meanwhile, thank you for your time.
Nina Trema 