Practical Exercise: The Three Good Things Journal

This is one of the simplest and most effective exercises to begin integrating gratitude into your daily life: the "Three Good Things" journal.

It doesn't require a lot of time or special equipment, just a few minutes of reflection and a place to write.

It's the practical application of the science we've just seen, a concrete way to train your brain to focus on the positive and increase your overall level of happiness.

The beauty of this exercise lies in its simplicity and accessibility, making it an easy habit to adopt but with enormous transformative potential.

By doing it on a regular basis, you will not only end your day on a positive note, but you will begin to notice more good things during the day, as your brain will be predisposed to look for them.

How To Do It: A Step-by-Step Guide

The practice is very simple. Just before you go to sleep, or any other quiet time at the end of the day, take 5 to 10 minutes to do the following:

Open a notebook or note app. Dedicate this space solely to your gratitude practice.

Think about your day and find three things that went well or that you are grateful for.Write these three things down.

The act of writing them down is important, as it helps to solidify the thought.

Reflect briefly on why that good thing happened.

What role did you play? What role did another person or circumstance play?

This last step is important because it helps us recognize our own agency and the goodness of others, deepening the feeling of gratitude.

In the end, you will have a tangible record of positivity in your life.

The Key is Specificity: It Doesn't Have to Be Monumental Things

A common mistake when starting out is to think that the things we should be grateful for have to be big and monumental.

In reality, the exercise is most powerful when we focus on the small positive details of day-to-day life.

Instead of writing something generic like "I'm thankful for my family," try being more specific: "I'm thankful that my partner made me coffee this morning knowing I was tired."

The examples in the sources are perfect to illustrate this: being thankful for being able to take a walk before it started raining, or for a phone call with a family member.

Specificity makes the emotion more vivid and real. There is nothing too small to be included: the taste of your food, a song you heard on the radio, the kindness of a stranger.

These are the true components of a happy life.

Making it a Sustainable Habit

Consistency is more important than intensity. It is better to do this exercise regularly than to do it perfectly once and then forget about it.

To help you establish the habit, you can set a reminder on your phone each night.

Leave the notebook and a pen on your nightstand as a visual cue.

You can also do this with your part