The practice I chose for this assignment was keeping a mindfulness gratitude journal. When I think of a gratitude journal, I think of writing about each person/thing in a book that has meaning to me or affects me in a positive way. So for this assignment, I wrote down in a journal what I am grateful for in the space of 15 minutes each day for about 15 days. Thinking about this mission, one thing I did beforehand was put my phone on Do Not Disturb so I wouldn't get tempted or distracted. I also really wanted the meditation process to benefit me in the end. On this mission, I really didn't have a schedule, which is why all my schedules are inconsistent in my daily log. I just felt like when I was stressed and needed time to relax, I would write in my gratitude journal. At first, I found this mission useless and a waste of time, but as the days went by I felt more positive in my daily life and my general well-being! There are just a few days where the meditation process hasn't worked for me and I'm starting to realize that it's okay that not every day is perfect and that my thoughts sometimes don't disappear within a few minutes, so I You have to be patient and relax. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essayOne positive outcome I encountered after a long and hectic day was when I started writing a diary about a person specific in my life, like my boyfriend, all my negative thoughts would just disappear and my mind would focus only on him and how happy and grateful I am for him in my life. It affected my thoughts in a positive way and also helped me stay grounded in the space around me. Another positive outcome that I encountered would be that after 15 days, I realized that I am more grateful for the things that I own and the people that I have in my life. I often see greed and things I take for granted when I pass them on. for me, but after writing in the gratitude journal, I can never thank God enough for the things I have or even for my life on this planet, I took the little things for granted. One positive issue that I have realized is that I will always have the people who mean the most to me in my life, no matter how life goes, life could be negative and they would always support me, life can become positive and they would eventually stay in my life, this was a wake up call to see who is really important in my life and how they have changed me in a positive way. While reading the benefits of a gratitude journal by Laura Jessen, an important point she made during the meditation process was "a gratitude journal is a safe zone for your eyes only, so you can write down whatever you feel without judgment.” I think this point she made is true for me with my gratitude journal because I felt like as I was writing I could write about whatever came to mind and not wonder if there was a right or wrong answer without judgment and that I would be the only person who read my journal, so it felt good to write down how I felt that day and let my eyes review it day after day day. When talking about mindfulness approaches, one phrase that stood out to me is: “many studies show that practicing mindfulness reduces stress, whichleads to many health and mental health benefits.” I think this sentence stuck with me because at first I thought this mindfulness approach mission was useless and I didn't think it would affect me in a positive way, the more I kept a journal, the more my stress level and my high anxiety would disappear, I feel as the days go by my reduced anxiety and stress and I also believe that gratitude journal helps me manage my unwanted emotions and feelings. One of the main challenges I had with this assignment was trying to find time to write in my gratitude journal simply because I had so many thoughts running through my mind that I had difficulty to sit down and focus on one thing in the space of 15 minutes every day for about 15 days, I felt like that was a long time to be involved in a mission, but how I overcame that, is that I didn't think about the 15 days because if I did, I know I would have been even more stressed by relaxing before getting into the meditation process and putting my phone on Do Not Disturb to not be tempted to look at my phone even though I'm a phone addict and I love my phone, I was so tempted throughout the 15 days. As I read through the mindfulness meditation troubleshooting guide, one point that struck me was about unhelpful thoughts: “Everyone has limiting beliefs that prevent us from taking action or getting what we want. Ex: I can’t stop my thoughts.” Some days during my meditation, when I had a lot on my mind, I would just continue to focus on the negative thoughts and space out the positive thoughts that were having a negative impact on me and my journaling experience, regardless of the duration of my journaling. If I was really stressed, I would just act out my stress all the time, which would make me even more stressed and anxious. The way I solved this problem was that even if one day of meditation wasn't positive, I hoped the next one would be better and I thought it would be better, so the next day I prepared by listening to the nature sounds and putting on a mask. and relax my nerves before I started journaling and it actually helped me stay grounded and eliminate my negative thoughts. The last and final negative was running out of people to write about in my gratitude journal, because currently the only people I have in my life are my boyfriend, my mom, and my grandparents, which doesn't amount to much. not many people these days. past, I couldn't find anything to write about, my mind was going blank, that's why some days I spent more than 15 minutes writing in my gratitude journal but I felt like the more I thought about someone , this is where my negative thoughts would appear. The way I tried to overcome this on other days was that I would write a list of people the night before, then when I started my gratitude journal the next day, I wouldn't have to think, the thoughts would come to me. would come easily and I would just write. In the social worker field we suffer a lot from burnout and I don't really think we have enough time to take care of ourselves when we are always on the go, we usually put everyone else and their problems before ourselves. One thing I took away from this assignment is that it's never too late to journal. If I'm having a tough day and I can't keep my feet on the ground, I'll write it down in my gratitude journal because it seems to have a positive effect. has an impact on me and helps me stay close and grounded to the people I care about.