75 Journaling Prompts

Even the most experienced journalers can sometimes find themselves stuck, uninspired, and without ideas on what to write in their journals. Although this is usually only temporary, many people find it annoying when they’re unable to think of something to write about in their journals.

The good news is that there’s a way to get your journaling creativity going again. How? By consulting some suggested journaling prompts. Regardless of whether you’re keeping a thorough reflective journal, a bullet journal, or a gratitude journal, journaling prompts are one of the best ways to stimulate your self-awareness journey.

Before we dive into various journaling prompts that we’ve prepared for you, let’s talk about journaling itself a bit.

Why Keep a Journal?

Here at Intelligent Change, we talk a lot about self-care, happiness, purpose, and all the things you can do to improve the quality of your life. We’re all about living a balanced life, building healthy routines and setting up morning and evening rituals, being proactive, instilling a positive mindset, and also keeping a journal as a way of maintaining mental hygiene.

Some time ago we wrote an article about the numerous benefits of journaling, and we still stand by them today. Journaling offers a plethora of benefits, from making us more resilient to stress––and thus physically and mentally healthier––to expanding our worldviews and improving our relationships with other people.

Journaling is a way of self-recognition and self-discovery, but also a useful tool for coping with stress and deepening your understanding of life. It improves our emotional and social intelligence and makes us more susceptible to understanding our social environment.

If you want to reap the finest benefits of journaling, it’s important that you make it a daily habit. It’s like any other practice: it requires commitment, repetition, and patience to produce visible results.

Here are some of the journaling prompts that we’ve prepared for you to try.

Journaling Prompts

Self-Discovery Prompts

What are my 5 most important values? Is my life, mindset, and daily actions aligned with them?
I am happy because…

How do I like to spend my day? What’s my favorite way of spending a day off? What is my

perfect

day? Do I live up to this vision?

What are 5 things I like the most about myself? Why are these my strengths?
5 things I like the least about myself? What can I do to work and grow through them, and unleash my full potential?
What words have impacted my life and changed the way I think about something?
What’s the one thing I couldn’t imagine my life without?
What does unconditional love mean to me? Can I love myself and others unconditionally and what would that look like?
How did I get where I am today? What shaped me? What made me me?
What do I love about my life?
Self-description in 10 words.
What’s my biggest mistake? What did I learn from it?
What gives me the most energy and inspiration?
5 things that would make my life more fulfilled right now. How can I attract them into my life?
What’s my deepest desire?
What kind of an adult did I want to become as a child? Am I that person now?
What’s my first memory?
What’s something I will regret not doing?
What kind of impression do I tend to leave on people? Is this the mark I want to leave?
Imagine a world where I could do everything I like without being judged. Would anything change in my life?
What scares me?
In what situations do I undervalue myself?

Reflection on an Experience Prompts

What's something I wish I had known 5/10/15 years ago? If I could give myself the advice I needed at that time, how would my life change? How can I apply this advice now?
When do I feel the happiest in my skin?
If my body could talk, what would it say?
What are my biggest regrets?
What am I proud of the most?
What is the best day in my life so far? Why?
This week’s one worthy memory.
What’s the most outrageous thing I’ve ever done? How did it make me feel?
If I could travel back in time, what moment would I go back to experience again right away?
If I could travel back in time, what’s the first thing I would change? Why is it so important? What can I do to let go of it?
What’s the most recent change I’ve been through? How did I cope with it?
1 thing I learned from today/this week/month/year…
What am I doing today that will benefit me tomorrow?

Daily Gratitude Prompts

Why am I grateful for the things I appreciate?
1 positive word that can describe my day…
What is my intention for tomorrow?
What or who made me the happiest today?
3 people who have inspired me today…
1 thing I can do to brighten someone else’s day…
Today I found bliss in…
How did I give and receive appreciation today?
How did my positive affirmation impact me today?
How will I embody one of my core values today?
What am I going to do tomorrow to make it great?
What 1 thing can I do today to take care of myself?
What is a big win from today?
Who is someone I want to wish well?
What are the aspects of my life that I sometimes take for granted?
Write a gratitude letter to someone who I haven’t thanked properly, but should have.
List of 20 things that always make me smile and feel at peace.

Emotion Management Prompts

How am I feeling? Why do I feel that way? Who do I want to tell how I’m feeling?
What worries me the most in life and why? How can I fix it?
What do I need to feel safe? What makes me feel strong and in control of any situation?
Is there something or someone I can’t forgive? Why? How does it impact my life? How can I let go of those feelings and emotions?
How do I handle conflicts and disagreements? Is there room for improvement?
How do I cope with uncertainty?
How do I respond to a crisis? What can help me stay grounded and sane? What and who helps me overcome challenges?
What do I need to be in balance?
Do I get enough sleep? Do I usually wake up well-rested?
When I am in a bad mood, what can I do to turn my day around?
How do I express kindness, gratitude, love, and support? What is my love and support language? How can I share more joy?
Am I judging and criticizing? How can I stop doing this?

Relationships Prompts

5 important life lessons from my parents/caretakers/close relatives/mentors/role models…
What do I value the most in a friend? Who is my closest friend? How have they changed me?
What do I appreciate the most about my family/partner/teammate?
What are the 3 things I look for in every relationship? What do I bring to every relationship?
Who are the 5 people I spend most of my time with? How do they make me feel?
Who fully understands me and knows me better than myself?
Am I happy about my current romantic relationship? How can I deepen our bond?
What are my weak sides as a partner/friend/sibling/colleague I should work on?
Which relationships in my life could use some improvements? What went wrong and what can I do to fix it?
How am I different from my parents? How did it impact my relationship with them? What parent do I want to be?
Write a letter to someone I’ve lost. What do I have left to tell them?

We’ve come to the end of the 75-item journaling prompts we’ve composed to help you rekindle your journaling inspiration. We’re absolutely positive that these prompts will inspire you to come up with your own new ones, spike inspiration, and make journaling great again.

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