Positive Things Journal

Activity Summary

This activity requires students to reflect on the positive things that happen in their lives and to write about them in an organized way on a daily basis.

The activity supports students’ well-being by giving them the space to focus on the positive: it teaches them to notice, remember, and savor the better things in their daily-life.

Activity Plan

1

Before

Before proposing the activity in class, define which and how much space you want to reserve for this activity (e.g. twice a week for the whole semester, for the first 10 minutes of the lesson).

Ask the students to choose a small diary or notebook to dedicate to this activity.

2

5 min

Explain to the students the purpose of the activity and remind them how many appointments will be devoted to this practice.

3

10 min

Ask the students to write down three things that went well for them that day (or the day before, if you conduct the activity in the early morning), and to provide an explanation for why they went well.
Provide students with instructions on how to describe the three good things.

4

After

At the end of the activity (i.e. at the end of the semester) organize a collective-sharing moment. You can ask your students to go through their notebook/diary and share one or more significant moments they wrote with their peers.

Tips & Tricks

  • If you want to introduce a more dynamic activity, you can suggest that students take pictures or videos of the positive/joyful moments they encounter during the day.
  • If you see that the students are struggling, you can provide some food for thought: e.g. prompt them to think about things they are grateful for, things that bring them joy, their successes, etc… Explain that there are things that are within us (gratitude for what we can do) and things that are external to us (gratitude for other people), and positive things that happen that are out of our control (having joy in the little things).

Additional Resources

You can take a look at this page to get some ideas on how to write the “three good things”: https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/three-good-things

Individual

Setup and materials

Pens, notebook/journal

Intended Learning Outcomes

Writing skills
Self-reflection skills
Gratitude towards oneself and others
Taken ownership and agency over own mental wellbeing

Pillars insight

Well-being

Students can often get caught up in things that go wrong and this can create great anxiety and frustration in them. This activity helps them change the emotional tone of their days, helping them appreciate positive moments and feeling gratitude. It is an active mental wellbeing exercise.

Over time practicing this activity students might start to notice patterns in their own lives that can offer them reflections upon solving problems in their daily lives.

Print or download

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