If you're looking for guidance to kick-start your journaling sessions, these are some ideas that I use both in workshops and in my own writing practice. They’re light hearted and quick, although they have potential to bring up some really interesting deeper insights if you want them to. You can use them at the beginning of your journaling session or as stand-alones when you’re short on time.
Self Check-Ins
Lots of wellbeing practices tend to start with some kind of check-in. A one-to-one talking session might begin with the question ‘how are you today?’ Many yoga classes will take a minute at the beginning to sit, breathe, and notice what’s going on in your body.
These are important grounding moments that root us into a present and connected starting point. From that space, any exploration or practice is usually more impactful than if we had rushed straight in.
Here are some ideas for creative and playful ways that you can do a self ‘check-in’ when writing:
Prompt #7: If you were a weather, what weather would you be today?
Prompt #8: If you were a colour right now, what colour would you be?
Prompt #9: If your current mindset was an animal, what would it be?
I often use the weather prompt, and it’s so interesting to see how often it’s similar to the actual weather outside! Try not to think too carefully about this; you might feel self-conscious if this kind of writing is unfamiliar, but try it anyway.
Mine for today is:
I feel like a calm day with gentle sunshine, but there’s a bit of a mist that the sun is having to work through - a tiredness which isn’t making my mood low, but is there at the same time as sunny contentment, meaning it’s not as bright and exuberant as sometimes. First thing when I woke up I was a denser cloud, or like a swirl of wind caught in a courtyard that needed to get out. After the morning dog walk I feel more settled but still tired, like a slightly weaker early-season sun.
You can take the same approach for colours and animals, blending the literal and metaphorical as you like.
Gratitude Practice
Another really popular mini-journaling session, or a perfect starting point, is a quick gratitude practice. There has been so much research in recent years about the benefits of cultivating a mindset of gratitude. It’s a way of orienting our thoughts towards the good things that we do have, despite any challenges that exist alongside them.
Aim to include little treats like your morning cup of tea as well as bigger things like loved ones, your home, or a new opportunity. The same warmth of feeling can apply to them all, and brain chemistry is altered in the same way whether you are appreciating a small thing or something exceptional.
I just want to add that practising gratitude is very different from forcing toxic positivity. If things aren’t going well, then your gratitude list is not there to say ‘well at least you have this and this and this, what are you complaining about?’
That kind of self-talk isn’t supportive or kind to anyone, least of all yourself. I once did a daily gratitude challenge when I was having a horrible time, and there is a beautiful balance to be found in both accepting the things that you don’t like, and appreciating the things that you do. It can be a real lift. For me, it was also a simple way back into journaling at a time when I had almost stopped.It could also be an amazing way to get started:
Prompt #10: Write down 3, 5 or 10 things that you’re grateful for.
(You can choose how many and how much detail you go into - it might be a sentence or two for each, or just one word.)
Doing a daily gratitude prompt is also a lovely thing to do with younger children or other loved ones, involving them in a tiny part of your journaling practice. It could be in a notebook, but you could also use a whiteboard, post-it notes, or little pieces of paper that go in a jar. Have some fun with it - I always love hearing when people have come up with creative new ideas! It’s so heartwarming to not only express your gratitude, but to hear other people’s and share that too.
‘Could Do’ and ‘Have Done’ Lists
These are a refreshing take on the arduous ‘to-do’ list. In the morning, or at the beginning of the week, try making a Could Do list, which is filled with the things that you’d like to do if you can. This list is a space for aspiration and opportunity rather than pressure or guilt.
If there are things that you keep meaning to do which are proving particularly elusive, you could add a suggested time next to them, or link them with another thing that you know will definitely happen.
My Could Do List This Week:
Go for a sea swim
Finish tidying up patio
Make a card for L (In evening, maybe Thursday?)
Bake cheese scones
Coffee at Castle Beach (after I’ve been to Post Office)
Finish writing magazine article
Do next blog post
This makes me feel good when I look at it because it doesn’t include any of the difficult stuff (that can go somewhere different). It’s a list of lightness and opportunity for filling in some of the things that are important to me.
The other version is to write a Have Done list which celebrates all the little (or big) things you have achieved. This gives me the same lightness feeling I get after doing a gratitude list, showing me that even if I’m not feeling super productive or high-achieving, things are actually still going quite well.
My Have Done List For Today (It’s only 11.14!)
Walked Ted
Written my beach pages
Hoovered upstairs
Two hours of manuscript writing
Messaged M
Messaged S
Social Media Post
Seen F and T for chat and walk
Time sat enjoying the sun
Making this list is really quick, but reminds you that you’ve probably done more than you think you have. I also make a point of including positive leisure time, to break the habit of measuring my value by my productivity. Time in the sun and sending social messages is an important part of building a good day.
Sometimes your Have Done List might acknowledge ‘easy’ things like getting out of bed and going outside, whereas other times it will be filled with with tangible achievements and visible end results. It can change as you do, and in the same way that a gratitude list finds even the smallest thing to be grateful for, your Have Done is a practice of finding the smallest things that you can be proud of yourself for. And that, as a mindset tool, can be very important.
So here are the prompts:
Prompt #11: Write a Could Do List
Prompt #12: Write a Have Done List
You now have some go-to ideas for the days when the biggest thing is just getting started. In the next chapter we’ll look at how your actual word choices can have a big effect on how you think and feel.
Enjoy!
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