Searching for Yellow: What a Year of Gratitude Journaling Taught Me
Look around the room you’re in right now and find something blue.
Did you find something?
Now, without looking again, try to remember something yellow you saw.
It’s possible that you didn’t notice anything yellow. Not because it wasn’t there, but because you weren’t looking for it. The same logic applies to gratitude. If you’re not actively looking for things to be grateful for, you’re unlikely to notice them. On the other hand, if you’re scanning your life for what’s wrong, what’s missing or what’s frustrating, you’ll always find plenty of evidence to support that too.
Building a daily gratitude habit has been one of the best decisions I’ve made for myself. It doesn’t just affect the five minutes you spend writing; over time, it reshapes how you think, what you notice, and how you see your life.
Why I started a gratitude habit
At the end of last year, I bought The Five Minute Journal. I loved the idea of taking five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening to pause and reflect on my day. A few years ago, I was forced to confront how little I was actually participating in my own life. I realised that I was living every day to satisfy my to-do list, and so I thought journaling could be a way to slow down and notice where my time and attention were actually going.
Keeping up with the practice wasn’t always easy. Some days, my entries felt thoughtful and detailed. Whereas on other days, they were dry, repetitive and clearly written out of obligation. Initially, you start with the obvious things: family, friends, health, etc. Then there are the things you write down because you know you should appreciate them - even if you don’t fully feel it yet.
What really surprised me, though, was how the practice changed the way I moved through my day.
A deeper level of presence
After a few weeks of entries, naturally, you try to avoid writing the same things over and over again (even though that’s perfectly fine!) - but that desire forces you to look more closely at the small moments in your day that were unique and might have otherwise passed unnoticed. When you begin your day looking for potential moments of joy, you enter it with a different mindset. And when you end your day by reflecting on what made it stand out from yesterday, you start to find novelty.
Once the habit is established, you start moving through your day instinctively, looking for things to write down later. There were so many occasions when something would happen, and I’d think this is what I’ll write in my journal later. Being able to recognise gratitude in the moment it’s happening - rather than only in hindsight -brings in a whole other level of presence.
The yellow moment I almost missed
For example, the other morning I went for a walk in the park, and I heard a bird song that didn’t sound familiar. I looked around to try and find where it was coming from, and then I noticed a robin in one of the trees. It was December in İzmir, and I was hard pushed to find many things that felt ‘Christmassy’ to me, so finding this robin made me feel so happy and nostalgic for the Christmas that I knew. I immediately felt grateful not just for the bird itself, but for having gone on the walk, for being present enough to notice the sound, for feeling curious enough to investigate, and for finding the robin in the end. Once I realised this was a moment I’d later look back on with gratitude, I didn’t want to rush past it. So I stayed a little longer, appreciating the robin’s movements and colours.
The whole encounter lasted maybe two minutes, and yet here I am almost a month later, and I still find joy in remembering it. I even took a few photos and videos later and shared them with others, who messaged me saying how much they enjoyed seeing the little robin, too.
Just a notebook and some consistency
This is how the gratitude practice has changed my life. Not just by making me ‘more positive’, but by changing how I think and how I approach my days, and the intention with which I live them.
So if there’s one habit I’d encourage you to begin in 2026, it’s a gratitude habit. You don’t need a special planner - just a notebook and some consistency. In the morning, write three things you’re grateful for and three things that could bring you joy that day. In the evening, write three highlights and one thing that you learned.
It really is that simple, and yet the impact (at least for me!) has been huge.
Laura xx
