Journal Prompts
This week we are going to talk about my favorite good habit of all time – journaling!
In Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies I wrote that the magic of journaling is that it allows you to DM with your soul, to hear the semi-secret messages stewing within you that you might not otherwise hear unless you paused, paid attention, and took note. But as my journaling practice has deepened over the past decade, I’ve found it has an even greater function in my life – it’s my place for safety.
I don’t know about you, but I almost never felt safe growing up. Aside from the fact I grew up in an open construction site, with a revolving door of weird adults coming in and out, my parents never comforted me when I was hurt or scared – and I mean that literally. It wasn’t until witnessing my best friend talk to her toddler about safety that I even realized what I lacked.
And now, as the world has become more and more chaotic (especially in the last two years), what I’ve realized is that journaling is a physically safe place just for me. It’s an almost free, quick, self-soothing ritual that builds reliability in an unreliable world. And! If I treat my journaling as a sacred pause, if I use a boldly floral journal with my favorite white and gold pen, light a candle, and sip an oat milk latte, I create a habit that is, in and of itself, TRANQUIL AF. Not only does journaling give me a window of time for myself, but that window can look out on a vista of the life I want.
So, if you are feeling unmoored these days, I highly recommend you pick up a journal and start giving your mind a safe and consistent place to rest. A place where you can’t be judged and that is 100% only for your benefit. To get started, here is a week of some of my favorite journaling prompts of all time. I hope you will do them with me starting tomorrow!
1. How do you feel today? Write all of the feels!
What are you thinking about? What are you feeling physically in your body? What are you feeling emotionally? If you don’t know how you’re feeling emotionally – look at this wheel of possible emotions! Now, do you know how you feel?
2. If there was any burden that could be lifted off your shoulders, what would it be and why?
Is there anything you can do to help life that burden today?
3. Complete the statement: “If there was nothing wrong with me, the number one thing I would want to do in my life would be…”
4. Is there anyone's life you most admire?
It could be an artist, an actor, a political figure, a friend, a parent, etc. Whom do you admire and what do you admire about them? Is there one characteristic about that person you can bring into your life today?
5. What do you most value in your current self?
What is shiny about you? Write a thank-you note to that shiny part.
6. In the future, what would you like to accomplish?
How would you like to feel? Write your ideal day if in the future life was exactly as you wanted it to be. Write not only what you do and what it looks like, write how it makes you feel. After you describe it, is there any element from that future day you can live now?
7. Looking back at this week, what is the most important thing you learned about yourself?
This week on Instagram I asked, “If there was one part of yourself you could get rid of, what would it be?” While many of the answers pulled at my heart strings, the beautiful thing was just how many of us suffer from the exact same feelings. I'm not saying that's good, I'm just saying it made me feel less alone. I hope it makes you feel less alone too. Here are a few answers that came up over and over. Do you relate to any of these? And let me know how the week of journaling goes for you. I'd love to know if any prompt resonates with you in particular.
"The part of myself that thinks I have to suffer first to experience something good.”
“The fear of doing something new even though it will help me grow.”
“Being impatient instead of living in the moment.”
“The part of me that’s always telling me all the things I should do/could do & feeling super guilty that I don’t.”
“The part that plays mind reader and “predicts” what people will say even though it’s not true.”
Kinda cray how similar we all are, right?