Journaling Prompts
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth
Adapted for the classroom from: Thought Catalogue
1. We get our thoughts outside of ourselves. This process separates who we are from what we think, providing us with a bit of space and perspective to process what’s really going on inside our heads and hearts.
2. We clarify as we force ourselves to form sentences and logical thoughts. Our writing brings flow and a sense of wholeness to the otherwise confusing mess in our minds. When everything is inside, it’s easy to get lost amidst the clutter. It’s easy to feel scattered or all over the place. However, when things are laid out cleanly on a page, we can easily see what fits and where.
3. We think differently. While some questions may seem silly or useless, the process of writing and responding will often take us somewhere unexpected, somewhere new we didn’t know we needed to be. It is precisely by considering different points of view that we are able to leave the confines of our normal life. We can experience new epiphanies and we can bravely see who we truly are. It’s hard to see the picture when we’re living in the frame and sometimes, a subtle nudge or a bit of prompting is all that’s needed to create lasting change (Goldberg).
4. We conquer the blank page. Journal writing, getting thoughts on paper, is an exercise that builds our writing muscles.
Are you ready to get the words down and let your thoughts out? Pick a random number from 1-50 and spend five minutes writing.
Date your writing.
Don't stop writing the entire 5 minutes. Change topics if needed.
Don't worry about spelling and grammar.
If you had a magic wand, and could wave away your problems, what would your life look like? What’s stopping you from being the wand?
What are you best at, and what do you love doing most, and how could you spend more time doing both?
If you were unapologetically and truly yourself, day in and day out, and if you fully accepted and loved yourself, what would change for you moving forward?
What makes your heart sing loudest? What makes your heart beat strongest?
What do you believe that no longer serves you? What do you believe that might be holding you back?
What does love mean to you?
How do you define success, and how will you know when you have it?
Where do you see yourself in 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months? Be specific.
What are the ten smallest, most minor, most insignificant things in your life that you are grateful for?
What have been the five best days of your life, and why?
How would your life be different if you stopped living so much in the past and/or worrying so much about the future?
What scares you the most, and why? How can you use that fear to improve or learn or grow?
What would you tell your five-year-old self?
What are three things that you are really looking forward to the most?
Who do you need to forgive, and why, and what’s stopping you from doing it today?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and what’s stopping you from taking action?
How would your life change if you were your own biggest fan and truly believed in yourself?
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
How do you deal with helplessness, with letting go, with release and surrender of expectations?
What do you love most about yourself?
Who do you admire most in this world, and why?
What are five things you absolutely, positively, totally want to do before you die, and how can you do one of them THIS YEAR?
Who do you care about most in the world, and what could you do today to make sure they know it?
What would you truly lose, deep down, if you lost what you are most scared of losing?
What are five things that you love most in the world?
What about your life makes you the most proud?
When did you hurt most, and how has it helped you or taught you or improved you?
What does it mean to be good enough, and how do you know that you are?
What did you really love doing as a kid but don’t really do anymore? What is stopping you from doing it now, and what would happen if you did?
If you could, what is the one thing you would change about your past?
What makes you feel happy to be alive, and how can you make more of that every day?
What truth have you been refusing to admit to yourself and how could you face it?
What three things could you give up that would give you more time, energy, and peace?
What does your ideal day look like? Be specific.
What does heroic mean to you, and who are your biggest heroes?
What advice would you give yourself five years ago?
What do you love most about your life?
If you found out that you were going to die tomorrow, what would be your three biggest regrets?
What are you the most scared of losing, and what would you truly lose if you lost it?
What one event in your life has changed you the most?
If you could be president for one day, what would you do, and why?
Assuming your life is a story and you are the author, what does your happy ending look like?
When are you at your best, and how do you get back there when you feel unbalanced or unwell?
How can you improve the way you treat yourself and talk to yourself?
When was the last time you cried, and what did it teach you?
What is your personal mantra for this year? What one word best describes your best life moving forward?
If you could invite five people, living or dead, to dinner at your house one night, who would you choose, and what would you cook them?
What are the five most important things in your life right now and how are you prioritizing them (or not)?
What makes you the most angry, the most frustrated, the most annoyed, and why?
What is something you have never done, but always wanted to do, and what is so important about this for you?
Works Cited
Goldberg, Jeremy. “Here Are the 50 Best Journaling Prompts You Will Ever Read or Need.” Thought Catalog, 4 Mar. 2018, thoughtcatalog.com/jeremy-goldberg/2018/02/here-are-the-50-best-journaling-prompts-you-will-ever-read-or-need.