Journaling questions: 60 prompts to write and get to know yourself better

What is journaling?

Journaling is a form of personal writing: you write for yourself, with no reader in mind and no need to craft beautiful sentences. It can take the form of a personal diary, a gratitude journal, lists, or answers to prompts. It’s the guided version of journalYou can also keep a prompt in a question journal without an immediate answerwithout needing to reach a conclusion in every session. For a short prompt, the inner weather journal connects a personal image with a concrete observation and a possible need.

Psychologist James Pennebaker was one of the first to study its effects in the 1980s. In his research on expressive writing, people who wrote for a few days about their deepest thoughts and emotions went on to visit the health center less often than others. Writing helps you organize what you feel and gain perspective.

How to use these prompts

Choose just one prompt per session, the one that speaks to you most today. Write for ten minutes, by hand if possible, without stopping or rereading. If you run out of things to write, copy the prompt and keep going. The goal isn’t to find the right answer, but to let whatever is there come out.

You can write in the morning to bring clarity to your day, or in the evening to set it down. Some people like to pick a prompt at random; others follow one topic for a week.

60 journaling prompts

Taking stock

• How do I really feel right now?
• What took up the most energy for me this week?
• What gave me energy?
• What do I need right now that I’m not giving myself?
• What have I been putting off for too long, and why?
• What has been my best surprise lately?
• What would I do differently if I could relive this week?
• What am I spending time on that I don’t actually want to do?
• What’s worrying me, and how much of it is within my control?
• What have I learned about myself this month?

To clarify what you want

• What would an ideal ordinary day look like for me?
• What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail?
• What made me happy as a child that I’ve let go of?
• What are the three values that matter most to me?
• What do I envy in others, and what does that say about what I want?
• What do I want to experience in the next twelve months?
• What do I no longer want to accept in my life?
• If I had an hour of free time each day, what would I do with it?
• What would I like to be proud of five years from now?
• What small step could I take this week toward what matters to me?

If these questions inspire you, the scripting invites you to go further by writing about the life you want as if it were already here.

To soothe your emotions

• Which emotion is most present today, and where do I feel it in my body?
• What is this emotion trying to tell me?
• What would I say to a friend going through the same thing?
• What would feel good right now, in this moment?
• What thought keeps going around in my head, and is it completely true?
• In this situation, what is within my control, and what isn’t?
• What do I need to forgive myself for?
• What exactly am I afraid of?
• What would the worst-case scenario be, and how would I handle it?
• What has helped me get through a difficult time before?

For your self-confidence

• What are the five things I’m most proud of?
• What qualities do the people close to me see in me?
• When have I felt like I truly belonged?
• What challenge have I overcome, and what did it teach me?
• What do I find easy that seems difficult to others?
• What inner criticism comes up most often, and where does it come from?
• How would I talk to myself if I were my own best friend?
• What have I dared to do lately, even in a small way?
• What would I let myself do if I trusted myself more?
• Which version of myself do I want to encourage?

Some of these questions can help you spot limiting beliefs : take the time to explore them.

For your relationships

• With whom do I feel most like myself?
• Which relationship nourishes me, and how can I care for it?
• Which relationship weighs on me, and why?
• Whom would I like to thank?
• What do I need to say but don’t dare to?
• What boundaries would I like to set, and with whom?
• How do I show affection?
• What do I expect from others that I could give myself?
• Who inspires me, and why?
• How do I want people to feel when they’re around me?

For fresh starts

• What do I want to leave behind?
• What word could guide me in the months ahead?
• What has the period coming to an end taught me?
• What would I like to do more often?
• What would I like to do less often?
• What habit would I like to build, and what would be the smallest first step?
• What matters most to me in this new cycle?
• How will I know I’m moving in the right direction?
• What realistic promise can I make to myself?
• What would I like to tell myself a year from now as I reread this page?

These questions are ideal for a new moon ritual, a birthday, or the start of a new year. A full moon ritual is also a good fit.

Making your journal a habit

Once a month, reread your pages and highlight what comes up often: a need, a desire, a fear, a name. These repetitions are valuable: they show you what really matters or what needs your attention. Then, on a separate page, write down one or two concrete decisions that follow from them. For a longer exercise, try the letter to yourself 10 years from now.

Keep your journal somewhere safe so you can write freely. And remember, there’s no wrong way to keep a journal: a few lines now and then are better than a perfect journal you never open.

Sources

• Pennebaker J. W., Beall S. K. (1986). Confronting a traumatic event: toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95(3), 274-281.