More Journaling Prompts

More Journaling Prompts

Your Heart’s Words

Write as your heart would say it. Write without worrying what it sounds like, without worrying what someone else would think reading this. Write as if just your feelings were talking and not your ego. Write without worrying if it sounds like a pity party, petty, righteous, boring, dumb, or any other concern that’s censoring you from being free with yourself. Right now, let’s just hear what your innermost and sensitive part has to say.


Write Letters You Don’t Send

Write everything you want to say, without pulling any punches. Say it all. Say it mean, or say it as kindly as possible, or say it in your native tongue, or contradict yourself. Write it. Then hold it. Don’t send it and reread it to yourself later. See how it feels. Write a new letter if you need to. 

Consider writing a letter from the other’s person’s point of view to you. Empathize as much as you possible can with what they’ve told you they see from their viewpoint and their prior experiences and their temperament and their truths. Then hold it. Reread it to yourself later. See how it feels. 


Freedom

Describe the life you want today- that is within your control- that is the highest ideal of your mind & heart.

Describe the life you want for your future- that is within your control- that is the highest ideal of your mind & heart.


Accountability + Mercy

Is there anything you are holding onto from your childhood, past, or present that you want to:

  • Forgive of yourself?
  • To be forgiven for?
  • To hold another accountable?
  • To forgive another?

Food for Thought

  • Some positive things that I made happen are….
  • Some positive things that happened to me (without my doing) were….
  • Some positive self-talk I noticed was……
  • Some things I did that got in the way of my progress were….
  • Some difficult/confusing things that happened to mewere….
  • Some negative self-talk I noticed was…..

Journaling Your Dreams

What’s most important is not deciphering the symbolic language (although it can be fun to Google) as much as tuning into how you feel relative to what’s going on in each dream scenario. Keeping a notebook by your bed and jotting down whatever comes to mind as the first thing you do when you wake can be helpful. Noting whether your subconscious is struggling or in alignment may help guide you in your waking life.


Worry Notebook

Carry a Worry Notebook to create a sense of containment for your worry. Also, try scheduling “worry times” (e.g. once a day or once a week) so that you are practicing some control around ruminating as well as carving out specific times to honor what your anxiety is trying to teach you with your full attention. 


Failing Better

Jot down all the lessons you’ve learned through disappointments and how you’re more resilient as a result. Really think through ways you grew emotionally, how paradigms shifted, how veils were lifted, and skills were honed. 


Internal Family Systems

[developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz]

Identify the different personalities or archetypes within you, just like if you had your own internal family of selves. Next, create a listening space for each self to be fully heard and respected. Then, have your different parts dialogue with one another to flesh out their competing concerns and discover new ways of relating to one another. The goal is to help them integrate their needs and gifts into one unified Self. 

For instance, IFS theory identifies the following internal parts:

  • The unified Self- is calm and wise; organized of all your other parts and working together in harmony
  • The Exiled self/selves- is the hurt or traumatized part of yourself
  • The Protector self/selves- is the part of yourself that tries to prevent any unwanted feelings from surfacing from the Exiled part
  • The Firefighter self/selves- is the part of yourself that reacts once unwanted feelings have surfaced from the Exiled part

From Julia Cameron’s: The Artist’s Way

From Julia Cameron: The Artist’s Way

Morning Pages

Set aside time to write, without thinking or judging what you’re writing- whatever comes to mind. Write quickly so you’re not censoring yourself. It’s suggested to do by hand, but whatever gets you writing. You can also use voice notes. 


Artist Dates

Take yourself out on weekly dates to delight and inspire yourself. Going out provides you with new sensory input and experiences to help refill your creative tank. You don’t have to spend money and you don’t need to make elaborate plans. 


My Life Story

Take time to retell your life’s story- with your particular feeling landscape, your interpretations, your truth. Your story may be very different from someone else who was with you- that’s perfect. It’s yours. Remember and rewrite the actual story of your days as you lived it, not as you were told it was. Start from your earliest memories and build from there. Recall vivid memories and important moments, events and people. 

Gratitude + Cheer + Kindness

Gratitude + Cheer + Kindness

Gratitude

List what you are grateful for in your life- that Life has brought to you.

This exercise will only work if you write in exquisite detail. The more specific you are, the more you can identify what exactly it is about this thing/person/situation that delights you. The more specific you are, the more poignant and fresh the awareness will arise in you as well as the positive feeling.

Some examples are: a heartbreaking lesson that grew you, a buttery and flakey croissant for breakfast, a trusted and unconditionally loving friend checking in on you, a rebellion in the news keeping hope alive, etc .

Cheer

List what you are proud of about yourself – that you have brought to your Life.

Some examples are: courageous or disciplined choices you’ve made in the past that you feel today, taking a shower that was hard to start, making time to read in your hammock, responding to a text from a place of compassion instead of reaction, etc.

Kindness

Do something kind for someone else today. For example: let someone know they made it on your gratitude list, compliment a stranger, offer grace for a small annoyance, etc.

Do something kind for yourself today. For example: set up a lovely placemat and your favorite dishware for your next meal, think of all the reasons you find yourself pretty rad, give yourself permission to not think about or feel guilty for something that isn’t your fault even though it makes you sad, etc.

From Byron Katie: The Work

From Bryon Katie: The Work

Below are some prompts developed by author Byron Katie. Using what she calls “self-inquiry,” you can unearth the seemingly solid nature of thoughts- thereby illuminating the elusive stories we actually create and so powerfully drive our feelings.

See Byron Katie’s website for more information and free worksheets for download. 

  • Question 1: Is it true?
  • Question 2: Can you absolutely know it’s true?
  • Question 3: How do you react—what happens—when you believe that thought?
  • Question 4: Who would you be without the thought?
  • Turn the thought around (in as many variations as you can find, checking to see what other deeper truths may stem from your initial thought).

Compassionate Dialogue

Compassionate Dialogue

This exercise is the work of truly befriending and taking care of yourself. Working with a therapist is helpful, but no therapist (partner, friend, family member) can talk and shepherd your innermost self as closely as you can. We all need constant and gentle mirrors from trusted others reflecting our worth back to us. But ultimately, your healing has to come from you, to you.

Start with two different colored pens. You will be talking to two voices within you- the Kind Voice and the Upset Voice.

Identify the most unconditionally loving and kind voice or energy you can imagine. It might be from a beloved who is or who is not here, a mentor, a God, a hero, an animal, a place in nature, or even a hope-filled composite. This is your Kind Voice.

Now, identify the upset part of you that’s anxious or angry or sad. This is your Upset Voice.

Have the two voices talk to each other:

The Kind Voice sits patiently with you, hearing deeply and affirming the pain you are sharing. It doesn’t necessarily give answers and it definitely doesn’t give pat platitudes or rose-colored affirmations. Sometimes it’s simply a powerful witness to allow you to see yourself clearly and encourage your upset voice to continue sharing: I know, I see, that is very difficult, I am so sorry, etc. Or, it may ask questions challenging your thoughts. Or, it may remind you of your basic and unconditional worth. Each time you begin a thought from the Kind Voice, consider addressing yourself by a pet name or term of endearment.

The Upset Voice leaves nothing unsaid, especially things it doesn’t want to hear itself say. It can ask questions, demand answers, be petty, rage, release all its hurts, explain and repeat itself, want things to be different, etc.

Back and forth, the two talk much like in a therapy session- patiently exploring the upset voice with a tremendous amount of curiosity, steady connection, compassion and calm from the Kind Voice. The Kind Voice is always available to you and will never abandon you, no matter what.

Also, check out Letters From Love- a gorgeous project by Elizabeth Gilbert on Substack that isn’t so much a dialogue but a simple love letter from unconditional Love to you. Click the link (you don’t need to subscribe) to see videos of Elizabeth reading her own Letters From Love.