In one sentence
A few things you were grateful for today, written down in the evening, kept for you and scored by nothing.
Why it is here
Because the practice has evidence and costs nothing. In three randomized studies, people asked to list things they were grateful for, weekly in the first and daily in the second, reported higher well-being across several, though not all, of the measures taken than people asked to list hassles or neutral events, with the most robust effect on positive mood (Emmons 2003). The effect is modest and the studies are small by the standards of the rest of this Knowledge Base; VT includes the journal as part of the evening wind-down, not as a treatment for anything.
How to use it
Three things, specific rather than grand: a person, a moment, a meal. In the evening, before the phone goes down. Most days rather than every day; the studies that found an effect did not require perfection.
How Vitality Tracker uses it
The entries are stored with the day, along with how many you wrote and how long they were. Nothing reads them: no score, no engine, not Eir. They are yours.
How far to trust the number
There is no number; the count is a record of the habit, not a measure of anything.
Sources
- Emmons RA, McCullough ME. Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. J Pers Soc Psychol 2003;84:377–89. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.84.2.377
- Vitality Tracker, What VT measures (catalogue of 15 October 2026).