Brave, Kind, & Grateful

Confession: I’m a terrible journaler. I’m sure many of you are very good at journaling and have experimented with every form of it. I’ve “experimented” with it, in that I’ve started and abandoned many, many journals over the years. 

It always starts as a fun activity—a new book! A fancy new pen maybe! Endless possibilities! But the task quickly becomes joyless as I struggle to keep up with my high expectations of what journaling is or needs to be. But this is the magic of gratitude journaling! It only takes a few minutes per day, and there are useful prompts to help you put pen to paper. By setting aside a few minutes each day to write down and reflect on what I’m grateful for, I feel energized and renewed. It keeps me centered, it allows me to be hopeful, and it reinforces the love that I am surrounded by every day.  

Above all, gratitude journaling is a tool, and I love making tools to help others. Every time I pick up a new skill or discover a better way to navigate whatever life throws at me, I’m inspired to pass on that knowledge through writing, design, or art. For Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave and Tomorrow I’ll Be Kind, my first two kids books, I was inspired to share life skills to little ones. Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave teaches the importance of forgiving yourself if you don’t achieve your goals—that there’s always tomorrow to try again. Tomorrow I’ll Be Kind talks about how even super small acts of kindness can have a huge impact on people’s lives. 

These two books work together—Brave’s missions of courage and forgiveness fuels our ability to help those around us . . . something you learn all about in Kind. My hope is that this journal helps people of all ages further explore this simple, necessary act of self discovery.