Six Prompts For Your Morning Journal
I have been journaling for quite a while. I’ve been pretty consistent with journaling throughout my life writing about what I did and what I felt and what I thought about. But recently, I decided to take my journaling habit to the next level and tried a few things that I have never tried before.
That is, I have been using a set of prompts to guide what I write in my journal.
In this article, I want to go through my personal prompts for journaling. If you’ve been journaling before and you want to improve your journaling game, you might want to come up with your own prompts too. And I hope these journal prompts of mine might be helpful.
Prompt #1 Physical Check Up
How are you? How was your sleep? Do you feel well physically?
The first thing I try to write is about how I’m feeling physically at the moment of writing. It’s just a couple of words or sentences about my current bodily state of condition. I quickly scan through head to toe and write about how my whole body feels in the morning. This helps me to be aware of what I’m doing in the present moment.
Prompt #2 Emotional Check Up
How is your emotional state? Do you feel well emotionally? Write about your feelings at the moment.
This is another quick check up. I spend a few words or sentences on how I’m doing emotionally. If there’s any negative emotion hovering over my mind, I write them down as candidly as possible. When I write down clearly what I’m feeling, I tend to cope with the negativity much better.
Prompt #3 Reflect on the Past
What happened yesterday? What was great about yesterday? In light of yesterday, what are you grateful for?
In this prompt, I spend a few minutes thinking about the day before and write down what happened. This doesn’t have to be an extensive report. Just write a few major things happened that day. What were the peak moments? What was great or not so great about it? How could I have made it better? Did I learn anything that’s valuable? And most importantly, what are you thankful for about yesterday?
Prompt #4 Think about the Present
What are you doing today? What’s happening today? What do you think is going to make today great? What do you hope to accomplish? What are the three goals you want to achieve by the end of the day?
Now that I reflected on yesterday, I should write a few things about today too. I write about the day’s plan and what I want to accomplish in terms of goals and tasks.
Prompt #5 Imagine the Future
What is your plan for this week? This month? Where do you want to be in six months? What is one thing you would like to see happening to you in one year? What are the three major goals you want to accomplish in three years?
Write down the exact date. This is important. Although I’m only imagining what might happen in the future, or what I hope will happen, I want to write as if it’s happening without a doubt. Be bold and write in the present tense. For example, one of my goals this year is to write and publish a book. So I wrote, “I write and publish a book by December 2021.” Be as clear as possible. A good rule of thumb is that you write your future goals so understandably that a six-year old can understand them right away.
Prompt #6 Daily Affirmations
Who are you? Where are you going? How are you showing up as you begin your day?
If the previous prompts are task-oriented, this one is more like attitude-oriented. I have written a pre-developed paragraph for this prompt and I write the same thing every day. The idea is that I am who God says I am. Here’s the gist of what I write as my daily affirmation.
I am loved, forgiven, accepted, and valued despite all my flaws and shortcomings. I can live for Jesus and die to sin because He lived and died for me. I am empowered by the Holy Spirit who dwells in me who bears in my life the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And as I begin my day, I promise to show up consistently with integrity and confidence. I choose to serve others so they can become empowered.
After writing down my manifesto, I feel truly inspired to live the day. I know who I am and where I’m supposed to go. I’m ready for the day.
Conclusion
These are the prompts I use for my morning journal. Sometimes I deviate from them but more or less it’s consistently the same. Morning journal sets my day in the right trajectory. It is one keystone habit that changed my life and it will also change yours.
