If you’re new to journaling, all those big blank pages can seem intimidating, and even with a lot of practice, it can be challenging to distill thoughts and experiences into written entries. But using journal writing prompts can help you generate new lines of thought for your entries.
There are many approaches to journaling, from committing to disciplined succinct daily entries to occasional spontaneous outpourings of thoughts onto pages.
However you go about it, there are rich personal benefits to be gained from journaling. It can be a deeply satisfying process. Using prompts can facilitate higher outcomes of new insights into one's self, and others, and into experiences gained.
Whether you're well experienced or new to the practice, using the 247 journaling prompts such as those on the list below can be useful in helping recall events, forming ideas, and triggering new directions for your writing.
So let’s talk a little more about journaling and then dive into the prompts that can spark your journaling efforts.
What is Journaling?
A journal is your private writing space for recording your personal thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Journaling amounts to conducting an ongoing self-dialogue. As you continue recording your feelings, opinions, and new ideas, you'll naturally see the reflection of yourself over time.
There's no right or wrong way to write a journal. However you choose to do it, according to the Harvard Business Review, you can expect to find that your journal tends to serve you as a personal development tool.
The journal affords a clearer understanding of your experiences and your intellectual and emotional responses to them, to help you understand yourself better — the worthy goal of all introspective people.
It also provide a safe space to vent feelings, record special memories, work out your thoughts about difficult situations, and reflect on and keep yourself grounded in focus on the things for which you're grateful in your life — all exceptional means of preserving mental and emotional health.
You might prefer journaling every day or just when the mood strikes you, and you may write in the most unstructured way, just pouring out thoughts from a rushing stream of consciousness, or in the most formal mode of expression.
Whatever your journaling habits, writing style, or themes that emerge in your writing, the journal writing prompt provides excellent and convenient tools for the kind and depth of self-exploration that lends to some of the most rewarding journaling.
What is a Journal Writing Prompt?
Journaling prompts are introductory phrases, parts of sentences, or whole sentences that are designed to inspire ideas for journal entries.
A list of prompts like the one below is a resource that can be used, as needed or desired, to help spur meaningful thoughts or trigger significant memories.
Even for people who have a passion for writing and do it all the time, there are many instances when finding a thread of an idea is difficult and writers experience a sense of writer's block.
Journal writing prompts can also help many writers develop habits that enable them to channel ideas onto pages in ways that are more satisfying to them.
Benefits of Using Journaling Prompts
Journal writing prompts can help a writer see ways to reframe negative thoughts, phrasing them from their positive side.
They can help you focus on things you're grateful for and help in developing an attitude of deeper appreciation, and they can help you turn your attention to things you may want to change about yourself or your life.
The journaling prompts can also remind you about how special you actually are, how capable, and of all the potential you possess.
They can help you clarify your short- and long-term goals and the actions you need to take to realize them, and they can help you self-motivate, by enabling you to better visualize yourself achieving those goals.
The Harvard Business Review explains why journaling is important for people in higher leadership roles.
Overall, the journaling prompts serve to demonstrate that you are in control of your thoughts and feelings, and of your reactions to those. They help guide you down paths toward deciding what's most worth examining through journaling.
In other words, the prompts can help you set your bearings for the most thoughtful exploration of any subject matter you want to deal with in your journal writing.
If you prefer apps instead of pen and journal, watch teh video below to learn about the best gratitude apps that can help with a gratitude journaling practice or as a simple tool to remember journaling.
247 Journal Writing Prompts
Journaling prompts can help you pick a general area that you find most worthwhile for you to write about.
Using the prompts allows you to immediately delve into an area of self-exploration. Plus, the prompts queue you to ask yourself questions that help you examine your life in a positive way and reach greater depths of self-discovery.
Or, journaling prompts can simply provide the bit of direction you may sometimes want in order to make the most of your journaling. For example, a prompt can be a great way to capture a single specific point that may be especially meaningful to you and help you identify and express it.
Here is a list of journal writing prompts to help you get started. If you get stuck with a bit of writer's block, use one or more of the journal prompts below to help you get going on a gratifying route in your journaling.
- I'm grateful for…
- I remember when…
- Once, when I was…
- I've sometimes thought that…
- It seems as if…
- When I was a child…
- One of my happiest memories is…
- The thing I dread most is…
- I remember when we…
- My mother/father always…
- I have never…
- One day, I would like to go to…
- If I had more time, I would like to learn to…
- I recall a time when all I seemed to need was…
- At the top of my bucket list is…
- I wonder if…
- I hope that…
- One habit I would like to adopt is…
- A habit I want to break is…
- On rainy days…
- In my neighborhood…
- When my family gets together…
- I wish I could find out…
- During my downtime…
- Looking at nature all around me, I think…
- When I look out my window, I think…
- When I'm doing nothing, my mind sometimes drifts to…
- Looking at my face in the mirror…
- Looking at my hands, I think about…
- Watching people busily going by…
- My favorite time of day is…
- The coziest place for me is…
- A warm sunny day inspires me to…
- I'm unsure about…
- I worry that…
- I vividly remember…
- The most extreme spectacle I've seen was…
- Late at night, I sometimes…
- The most nerve-racking thing for me is…
- The people around me…
- Someone I know…
- I was astounded by…
- It's confusing to think about…
- It's overwhelming…
- It's intriguing…
- I dream of…
- I'm fond of…
- I'm always amused by…
- It's satisfying when…
- From my perspective, a life well lived means…
- I feel disappointed about…
- I’m deeply curious about…
- I admire…
- I'm ready to…
- It makes sense to…
- It doesn't make sense to…
- I feel content when…
- The unhappiest time for me was…
- A period of uncertainty for me was during…
- We were too busy to…
- My parents taught me to…
- One of the most profound experiences I remember was…
- An event that helped shape my life…
- I sometimes still feel bitterness about…
- I'm trying to stop…
- I’ve been considering…
- I'm struck by…
- It's so great to hear that…
- I wish I could be more…
- One thing I look forward to is…
- I don't' want…
- I can laugh about it now, but when…
- There's nothing else like…
- I need to stay away from…
- I want to stop…
- The most frightening…
- One time, I…
- My worst nightmare was about…
- I knew I was taking a serious risk when I…
- What concerns me right now is…
- It's thrilling to think about…
- I'm looking forward to…
- The freest feeling in the world is when…
- It's so refreshing to…
- It's calming for me to…
- It makes me feel cared for when…
- I'm most at peace when…
- I think it would be a bad idea to…
- I don't talk about…
- If I forgive…
- I'm proud of…
- I regret…
- Even if…
- As soon as possible, I plan to…
- I'm not sure I have the courage to…
- I don't know if I'm strong enough to…
- I want to improve…
- It's time for me to…
- With practice, I believe I could…
- I should strengthen…
- Maybe it would be best to…
- I don't think I spend enough time on…
- I did not consider…
- My priority needs to be…
- I may be too sensitive about…
- It was so funny when…
- I'm not afraid to…
- My plan for overcoming…
- Within the next year or so…
- Tomorrow, I will…
- One relationship I want to nurture more is…
- I think I was misunderstood when…
- I'm not sure about…
- I'm not interested in…
- It makes me feel frustrated that…
- I feel very angry that…
- It was an awkward situation when…
- It was embarrassing when…
- It hurts to think about…
- I prefer…
- I feel very fortunate to have…
- Too much pressure can cause me to…
- I know it's time for a break when…
- Reflecting on my relationships…
- Looking back at my choices…
- I'm inspired by…
- It's annoying when…
- One cliché that rings true is…
- I've lost my…
- I never want to let myself forget…
- I can imagine that…
- I will keep trying to…
- Looking at my options for…
- I feel stuck in the situation involving…
- I've always wanted to try…
- I see myself five years from now…
- Examining my closest relationship(s), I think…
- I'm probably not…
- One area of my life that needs work is…
- I need to speak up about…
- A serious issue for me is…
- I want to reach out to…
- I'm going to have to face…
- Maybe I can…
- I should help…
- I'm fed up with…
- I'm thinking about changing my…
- If I had three wishes, they would be…
- I feel like I need more…
- My favorite…
- My deepest thinking is usually about…
- If I could discover one hidden answer, it would be…
- Analyzing myself, I've discovered…
- Assessing the friendships I've built, I realize…
- Recently, I heard someone say…
- From my early years, I learned…
- My own losses have taught me…
- I learned I was stronger than I had thought I was when…
- I want to do more to…
- Even though I don't know what to say, I want to call…
- I should just choke down my anxieties about it, and go…
- One creative idea I have is…
- I should just say what I really think about…
- I want to know…
- I don't know if I'll ever get over…
- I have a feeling that…
- It's not enough to…
- It's more than enough to…
- I could…
- I just don't understand…
- It feels like too much to expect…
- I'm ready to raise my standards for…
- I love my…
- I don't like my…
- Googling can help me find insights, but it can't…
- It's true that…
- I love the idea of…
- There's nothing more…
- I wonder why…
- I will never again…
- I've made up my mind that…
- It's so intimidating to…
- It's so exhilarating to…
- My greatest thrill was…
- It meant so much to me when…
- I put all my energy into…
- There's so much to figure out about…
- I've finally learned my lesson about…
- It's not easy to accept…
- I could write a book about…
- I'm holding a grudge about…
- One of the most special moments of my life was…
- I don't know how to feel about…
- It's rough just thinking about…
- I am confident that…
- It's not easy for me to forget…
- It warmed my heart to know that…
- It makes me mad just thinking about…
- I find myself thinking a lot lately about…
- If I could turn back the clock…
- It's reassuring to know that…
- Of all the memories of my teen years…
- The most painful time of my life was…
- If I had gone down that road not taken…
- I need to decide…
- It's past time for me to just step up and say…
- Looking to the future, I wonder…
- I always assumed that by now I would…
- It's best for me to be forgiving, because…
- I'm excited about the possibility of…
- There's still time for me to…
- My feelings were hurt when…
- My best feature is…
- I think my worst flaw is…
- What am I going to do about…
- It was a weird week, because of…
- I believe…
- I don't know why…
- My biggest passion is for…
- I trust that…
- I’ve always found…
- I most fear…
- I was shocked when…
- I wish I knew…
- I've never talked to anyone about…
- One of my biggest regrets is…
- My biggest personal growth has been in the area of…
- A great source of happiness for me has been…
- What's most important to me is…
- Reflecting on my life up to now, I see…
- It feels too difficult for me to…
- I find it easy to…
- In the past, I never could have…
- I feel humbled by…
- I think people think that I am…
- It's taken me a long time to…
- I’ve never experienced…
- I've always felt too afraid to…
- One of my most precious memories is…
- I've let my life be guided by…
- I'd like to be remembered for…
- I think that the meaning of life is…
- The qualities I admire most in people are…
- I don't let people see the side of me that is…
- I want to help make the world a better place by…
- Staring at the night sky, I think about…
- I'm starting to understand…
The Value of Journaling
Naturally, many people discover, after they begin journaling, that it can be about so much more than just documenting daily activities. They find that it can be a very powerful means of personal development.
Business Insider reports on an expert's explanation of how journaling can help professionals achieve greater self-enlightenment, perspectival balance, more robust problem-solving processes, and a more fulfilling life overall. That's when the journal writing prompts become valuable.
Arguably, the highest value of journaling is that it helps you as the writer to recognize your full control over your internal and external life.
This often can translate into greater dexterity of your thoughts, emotions, reactions to external events, skill in finding once elusive-seeming solutions, and in managing your own happiness.
With the help of the journaling prompts, you choose what's significant enough to think and write about, and to occupy space in your journal.
That can be a very self-empowering exercise that can help you overcome obstacles and adopt new ways of processing your experience that can lead you to greater success in managing any life challenges that come your way.
Following journal writing prompts can help you learn about yourself at a deeper level than you may have thought possible. They can help you think about things you hadn't remembered or thought about in a long time, or had never even considered.
If you want to enhance your journaling and use the practice to obtain greater clarity and control of your life and your thoughts, feelings, and responses to the world around you, start with one of the helpful journaling prompts on the list above, to embark on your deeper self-exploration.
Final Thoughts on Journaling Prompts
If you find yourself wanting to go deeper with your journaling, the prompts can help lend direction to your writing and help you avoid the dreaded writers' block that causes writers to stare in frustration at the blank page, without a manageable resource for fresh direction.
Fortunately, there are vast numbers of journaling prompts available these days. Here are some more of our own roundups:
- 100 Journaling Questions and Prompts to Spark Your Creativity
- 35 Morning Journal Prompts to Inspire the Day Ahead of You
- 55 Growth Mindset Journal Prompts for Students and Adults
You can even enroll in a journaling course, which will expand much further on the topic. Or you can also read books on journaling, such as our very own, Effortless Journaling.
Another way to make journaling easier is through the use of “ready-made” journals, preloaded with journaling prompts. Here are some journal books to consider:
- The Mindfulness Journal: Daily Practices, Writing Prompts, and Reflections for Living in the Present Moment
- The 90-Day Mindfulness Journal: 10 Minutes a Day to Live in the Present Moment
- The 90-Day Gratitude Journal: A Mindful Practice for Lifetime of Happiness
But, of course, learning how to use journal writing prompts is easy. Just choose one or two of the prompts from the list above each time you want to embark on an adventure exploring your own mind through journaling, and finish the sentence that the prompt begins for you.
The direction provided by the prompts helps you identify feelings and thoughts you're having and pursue the most genuine and positive ways of thinking about them. Just skim through the list and find one that works well for you, to stimulate some ideas for satisfying writing.
You're on your way! You'll soon be creating your own prompts, as necessary for you to pursue your desired course toward the most satisfying journal writing experience and outcomes of greater personal knowledge from your writing.
Finally, if you don’t know the “right” way to journal, then check out this seven-step process for building a journaling habit that sticks.
