The Daily Gratitude Journal for Men

My new book/journal, The Daily Gratitude Journal for Men is officially available at booksellers everywhere. In celebration of its release, I’m sharing a few excerpts from the book. In this piece, you’ll find some excerpts about the power of gratitude journaling and some of the exercises included in the actual journal. And of course, I’m also including a few of my favorite journaling prompts as well. Enjoy the excerpts—and remember to pick up a copy for yourself (or for someone you care about).

Also: In a recent podcast episode on the power of journaling, I talk about the transformative impact that journaling has had on my life over the last 10+ years, and how it led to the creation of this journal. You can listen by pushing Play below.

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Excerpts from The Daily Gratitude Journal for Men by Dean Bokhari

Daily Gratitude Journal Prompt

(Excerpted from page 2 in the Daily Gratitude Journal for Men by Dean Bokhari)

AM Prompts

1. It’s biologically impossible to feel stressed and grateful simultaneously. Today, if you feel stress, stop and think of the following three things to feel grateful for:

2. What’s one thing you can do to make today great?

PM Prompts

1. What’s one thing you enjoyed doing today?

2. What’s the best thing that happened today?

Daily Gratitude Journal Prompt

(Excerpted from page 3 in the Daily Gratitude Journal for Men by Dean Bokhari)

AM Prompts

1. Gratitude is not an attitude—it’s a practice. Today, work on cultivating your gratitude practice, starting by feeling intensely grateful for the following three things:

2. What’s one thing you can do to make today great?

PM Prompts

1. What could you have done to make today even better?

2. What’s the best thing that happened today?

Breath-Work Exercise: Be Like Water

(Excerpted from page 27 in the Daily Gratitude Journal for Men by Dean Bokhari)

Step 1: Find a quiet place. Take a seat. Set a timer for five minutes.

Step 2: Close your eyes.

Step 3: Begin by breathing in fully through the nose, and out through the mouth. Become more fully present with your body by focusing on every part of your body, one part at a time, as if it is slowly becoming covered with water. Repeat this pattern until your timer goes off.

Step 4: When you hear the timer, gently open your eyes and exit with gratitude.

Daily Gratitude Journal Prompt

(Excerpted from page 30 in the Daily Gratitude Journal for Men by Dean Bokhari)

AM Prompts

1. The first thing you do when you’re born is breathe. The last thing you do before you die is breathe. So, if breathing is the first thing you do, and the last thing you do, wouldn’t it make sense to pay attention to it a bit more? Today, I’m grateful for the oxygen that fills my lungs because:
2. What’s one thing you can do to make today great?

PM Prompts

1. What made you feel powerful today?

2. What’s the best thing that happened today?

F-E-E-L-I-N-G-S

(Excerpted from page 37 in the Daily Gratitude Journal for Men by Dean Bokhari)

Most men bury their emotions. But pretending like they don’t exist doesn’t make them go away. It’s like living next to an active volcano, long overdue for an eruption—it’s going to erupt eventually. The longer you wait, the more damage it’ll cause.

As a man, you need to understand and embrace a very simple truth: It’s okay to feel your feelings. Being sad is healthy. Feeling joy is healthy. Crying (gasp) is healthy.

It’s even healthy to feel angry. That’s right, it can be useful to allow yourself to feel anger or other negative emotions. But it’s not useful to be reactive about it. Why? Because reactions can lead to blow-ups or behaviors you may regret in retrospect.

Replace reactions with responses.

• Responsiveness = Thoughtful action.
• Reactiveness = Immediate and emotional (Think: knee-jerk reactions.)

Responsiveness is where you want to be. To practice, give yourself a blink of a pause to think about what you’re about to do or say prior to expressing your emotions—anger or otherwise. That brief pause gives you a moment to decide whether what you’re about to do is going to help you or hurt you.

Bottom line: Embrace the full range of human emotion, responsibly—you’ll be a better man (or woman) because of it.

Intention

(Excerpt from the introduction to Section II: “Intention”. Excerpted from page 40 in the Daily Gratitude Journal for Men by Dean Bokhari)

Welcome to the second phase of gratitude journaling.

First and foremost, I believe some congratulations are in order.

You’ve successfully cranked out your first 30 days of journaling!

The first 30 days was all about becoming aware with yourself as a man, exploring your emotions, and learning about the importance of practicing gratitude.

Here’s how it works:

Your unconscious mind cannot tell the difference between dreams and reality. So, the faster you can convince your mind to begin feeling grateful for something—even if you don’t have it yet—the faster it’ll look for ways to help you make it real.

You’ll be encouraged to write down something you want—but don’t yet have—as if you were already grateful for having it.

For example:

• I’m grateful for being in a healthy relationship.
• I’m grateful for having my dream career.
• I’m grateful for being in the best shape of my life.

Don’t worry if you can’t always think of something new – the point is to put energy towards thinking about and manifesting the things that really matter to you.

My goal for you in this section is to start feeling a deep and genuine sense of gratitude—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

You Aren’t Your Thoughts

(Excerpted from page 75 in the Daily Gratitude Journal for Men by Dean Bokhari)

Negative thinking is a powerful, painful and penetrating state of mind. It’s also easier to slip into than thinking positive. Negative thoughts and experiences also tend to outweigh their positive counterparts.

Let’s say you’re having a really phenomenal day. But then your wife/partner says something that gets under your skin. All of a sudden, your positive day has gone to crap.

You’re pissed. You’re angry. You’re feeling all sorts of negative emotions.

Stop and remember this: What you focus on is what you feel.

To break yourself from this cycle of negativity:

1. Take a deep breath. This brings you into the present moment.
2. Ask yourself, “What can I feel grateful about right now?” This shifts your focus, bringing positive thoughts and emotions back to the forefront of your brain.
3. Remind yourself of all the positive experiences you had throughout your day. This shifts your perspective and helps you realize you’ve got more to be grateful for than you may realize.
4. Choose to be positive. Positive thinking is a habit. But so is negative thinking. Here’s the secret: You can choose positivity. This doesn’t mean to deny reality. It means to choose positivity over negativity.

There’s Power in Gratitude

(Excerpted from page 114 in the Daily Gratitude Journal for Men by Dean Bokhari)

There’s real power in gratitude. In a series of studies on Gratitude, Robert Emmons, the world’s leading scientific expert on the subject, shares the powerful benefits you can gain through the simple practice of gratitude journaling.

After studying over a thousand participants between the ages of eight to 80, Emmons reports that people who regularly practice gratitude experience a wide range of benefits by maintaining the habit, including:

• Physical health: People who practice gratitude regularly have strong immune systems, lower blood pressure, and get better sleep. They exercise more, too!
• Psychological wellness: People who practice gratitude regularly experience more positive emotions, are more optimistic, and higher levels of focus and alertness.
• Social benefits: People who practice gratitude regularly are more compassionate, forgiving, and outgoing.

The points above are just a few of the benefits people gain from practicing gratitude.

I’m sure by now, you’ve enjoyed many of these benefits within your own life as well. If you like what you’ve experienced—continue to cultivate and nurture this habit of gratitude journaling. So don’t stop—because gratitude journaling is a habit you can keep up with for the rest of your life.

About | The Daily Gratitude Journal for Men by Dean Bokhari

Find gratitude with this motivational journal for men

Learn how incorporating gratitude into your life can make you the best version of yourself. This gratitude journal for men is a straightforward, thought-provoking collection of prompts designed to help men explore the core components of gratitude―awareness, intention, and action―through short, simple, and insightful prompts.