Creating a Journaling Practice
You’re set on supplies and logistics for journaling. (Missed that entry? Click here.) But what are you going to write about? This entry is full of ideas on different topics and styles you can try in your journaling practice. Don’t be afraid to mix and match - your journal is for you, and you can fill it however you’d like!
Deciding What To Write About
Journaling doesn’t have to be complicated! You can use your journal to reflect on your day, set and review goals, track your habits and how they work for you, or whatever else you may be thinking about. Over time, you’ll naturally gravitate towards writing about the things that interest you.
One of the key things to avoid when you’re journaling is enabling more rumination. (Avoid the hamster wheel of feelings!) Some journaling styles lend themselves to this a bit more than others; stream-of-consciousness writing (just writing whatever comes to mind) or unguided writing are two styles that aren’t always helpful for people. If you find yourself writing in circles, feeling more stressed after writing, or feeling like you’re just reinforcing negative thoughts, shaking up your journaling style may be a good idea!
Keep reading for a few suggestions for more structured journaling! I also include journaling prompts specific to the season and its corresponding element in my seasonal wellness classes - check out the self-paced Winter Wellness course here.
Using Regular Reflection Questions
If you’re not sure where to begin, pick two or three questions to answer every day. If daily is too often, you can write at whatever cadence works well for you - maybe weekly is a better fit! For example, for several months, I journaled in the morning and asked myself two (and a half) questions:
What am I most looking forward to today?
What is something I am stuck on? (Is there a 5 minute action I can do to move it along?)
These prompts were quick and easy to answer, and I enjoyed starting my day with a little reflection. After a while, I realized my days are often a bit routine, so I didn’t always have a specific answer to the questions, so I don’t use them every day now. I also tend to write in my journal at the end of the day now, so the questions aren’t always a good fit.
If you’re writing at night, you could change the questions up a bit. For example, the first question could become “What am I most looking forward to tomorrow?” or “What is my favorite thing that happened today?” Other question examples are:
What are three things I am grateful for? (Describe them in detail.)
What is one thing I learned today?
How did my body feel today?
What is one kind thing I did for myself today?
By asking yourself the same questions regularly, you’ll start to train your brain to look for the answers throughout the day. This is the idea behind gratitude journaling, too! By teaching yourself to think about what you’re grateful for, you’ll start to look for things during your day.
Try Guided Reflection
Using journal prompts is another great way to start journaling! This gives you a direction on what to write about and helps you avoid staring at a blank page. If you already journal regularly, using prompts can be helpful if you’re drawing a blank on what to write about or if you’re stuck on a particular topic and want to change direction.
A list of journaling prompts for end-of-the-year reflection. These prompts are from DayOne, the journaling app I mentioned, but you can use these prompts with or without the app! (Or try their longer list, with over 550 prompts.)
This list of 100+ Good Quality Questions organized by topic is thought-provoking and easy to adapt to journaling.
Year Compass is a free booklet (self-print or digital) that is a great "year in review" process. It is designed to help you look back over the past year and plan for the coming year. While it's designed for the end of a year, you can complete this process anytime!
Wheel of Life activity - this is a handout I give to patients, and it’s a great way to evaluate how things are going in your life. You can complete it for whatever timeframe you'd like; I like to do it yearly or monthly, but sometimes weekly is a good fit for people. You can print out the wheels and include them in your current journal!
Write letters to people - alive or dead, real or even imaginary - that express how you’re feeling about a situation or something you’d like to share with them! You don’t need to send it - sometimes it’s better not to! You can even destroy the letter after you write it, if that is helpful.
Use seasonal journal prompts. “Seasonal” can mean different things to different people! It could mean the season in nature (spring, summer, fall, winter), the season according to Chinese medicine (there are 5!), your season in life, the moon cycles, etc. I include seasonal prompts in each of my seasonal wellness classes, and there are many others you can find online, too.
Trying New Styles
If just writing sounds boring, or if your current journaling style feels a bit stale, try adding characteristics from new-to-you journaling styles!
Interested in trying art journaling but not sure where to start?
You can try sketching, adding photos, doodling, gluing in memorable ephemera from your day, and other mixed-media journaling methods. Write about the memories that go along with your art!
If you like this style, you can try an online class from Domestika or Skillshare, or read some of the free resources on this page.
Nature journaling can be a great way to slow down and notice the world around you! Being more connected with nature, whether in our backyard or part of traveling, is a great way to feel more grounded and in touch with the seasons, and is central to Chinese medicine!
You don’t have to commit to only creating a “nature journal”! Instead, you can try adding observations to your daily journal, like noting the weather, interesting wildlife you saw, what plants are growing, and more.
This page is a great introduction, and John Muir Laws has several really good books about nature journaling, including Keeping a Nature Journal (affiliate link, but you can find it at the local library, too!). The Des Moines Art Center also regularly offers a nature journaling class!
Bullet Journaling is a quick way of capturing your to-do’s, activities, thoughts, and feelings throughout the day, which can help give you topics to journal more extensively on later. Though this is a specific “system” of writing, you can always adapt it in a way that works best for you! The creator of Bullet Journaling has a great YouTube channel that talks about the method, journaling in general, and more. This 9 minute video is a great summary of how to use your journal for personal growth:
When you’re journaling, you don’t need to get hung up on the “right way” to do it - there is no right way! Experiment and figure out what works best for you. You don’t need to show it to anyone, ever - you can even destroy what you’ve written when you’re done! Be flexible and find ways to make it enjoyable for you.