Thnx4 Gratitude Journal
Thnx4.org is a mobile-friendly online gratitude journal that makes it easier to give thanks, enjoy the benefits of thankfulness, and see what happens when you strengthen your own “attitude of gratitude.”
How does it work? Registering for Thnx4 launches a Gratitude Challenge, either 10-day or 21-day (your choice!), where you’ll receive a series of invitations to “Say Thnx.” Clicking “Say Thnx” leads you through a few brief steps towards creating a meaningful post for your online journal. Each invitation to “Say Thnx” is embedded with brief, inspirational insights from scientific research on gratitude, and each journal post can be shared, or kept private.
Why does it work? When we deliberately focus on feeling and expressing gratitude, we build our muscle for noticing the positive people and events in our lives that we might otherwise take for granted.
Robert Emmons, a leading scientific expert on gratitude, explains that gratitude carries powerful benefits to our mental, physical, and social health because “it’s an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received.” Gratitude strengthens our relationships, he says, “because it requires us to see how we’ve been supported and affirmed by other people.”
Why did we create Thnx4? The goals of Thnx4 are to promote the practice of gratitude and raise awareness about the research-based benefits of gratitude. In so doing, it aims to engage the public in a larger conversation about how to foster more gratitude in everyday life.
Thnx4 is based on three decades of research on gratitude, and the benefits of gratitude journaling in particular, which suggest that regularly reflecting upon and expressing thanks can have profound benefits on one’s social, emotional, and physical well-being. Thnx4 makes it easier to keep a gratitude journal and record moments of thankfulness right when they happen.
Would you like to host a Gratitude Challenge for your organization? If you would like to organize a Gratitude Challenge for your school, workplace, or other institution, please email us at thnx4@berkeley.edu. We can set up a start date and a special code for your organization that members can use when they register on Thnx4, enabling your group to see how its levels of gratitude, happiness, and more change over the course of a 10- or 21-day Gratitude Challenge.
We created Thnx4 as part of our Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude project, which is funded by the John Templeton Foundation and aims to deepen the scientific understanding of gratitude and promote evidence-based practices of gratitude in homes, schools, workplaces, and beyond.
