Resource Roundup: 34 Websites With Powerful Journaling Prompts

A few years ago, when I started on my journey of figuring out why on earth my body was falling apart, I had people offering many suggestions. They said I should go to doctors, see a therapist, get a CT scan, and change my diet. There was one friend, however, who said she had heard about the power of journaling to help heal the body.

I felt like I had tried it all. So, naturally, I figured maybe my friend was on to something. I added journaling to my new routine of self-care practices I was hoping would help me to feel better. And, along with some other changes that I made, I felt it did help.

Now, I’m not suggesting that journaling will cure illnesses or should be used in place of consulting with a physician or therapist. But, I do think that journaling can help you to figure out the root of what is going on in your mind.

I have also come to find that writing things down helps me to plan out and bring to life some of the goals and aspirations that I have. As I noted in this prior post, the more we describe and write out the life that we want for ourselves, the more we can manifest our desires.

Writing is also a great creative outlet, and the more we write, the easier it becomes. So, journaling has also been a fun way to try out some creative writing.

I started a regular practice of journaling by keeping a habit tracker in my PowerSheets Goal Planner until it became a daily habit. I have also developed a habit of gratitude journaling, morning journaling, and writing out my intentions everyday. Finally, I’ve been using my Recovery-themed Happy Planner to write about my mental health each night.

That said, it can sometimes be a challenge to come up with something to write each day. When that happens, I will turn to journaling prompts to help me put pen to paper.

Journaling prompts are simply single-sentence phrases or questions that are specially designed to inspire you to write. Most of them encourage writing about yourself in some way.

They are helpful because they often require you to consider some aspect of yourself or your situation that you haven’t really thought about before. And, the act of exploring that topic can help lead to self-discovery, which is the whole point of journaling.

I came up with journaling prompts for our time in quarantine that I wrote about last year. But, I thought it would be helpful to list some of the best journaling prompts from websites that know what they’re talking about when it comes to coming up with these helpful topics.

I have listed them according to categories that are common in journaling, and I hope this will be a helpful resource to anyone who wants to make a habit of journaling.

34 Sites with Amazing Journaling Prompts

Mental Health

This is a pretty broad category, so I thought it was worth listing several sub-topic with sites that have related prompts. Here are some sites, depending on the type of mental health issues you want to explore in your journal.

(As always, if your situation is the result of a more serious condition like depression, please seek professional help. Here is a link to a list of hotlines where you can find help.).

Anxiety

Urban Wellness Counseling has 30 journaling prompts to address anxiety. This article also includes a description of why journaling can be helpful for anxiety and tips for how to easily keep a journal for writing about anxiety.

HappierHuman.com has 29 journaling prompts for anxiety, which it features on a handy infographic.

JournalBuddies.com not only has 31 journal prompts for anxiety. The site also offers a free printable to go with these ideas.

Depression

Danxiety.com has 51 journaling prompts for those dealing with depression. The article also includes a little information about journaling generally and the benefits of journaling for depression.

Self Love Circle has a great article on the difficulties of depression and how journaling can help. It lists 30 journaling prompts and has an infographic with 15 prompts listed as well.

SeekingSerotonin.com also has a list of prompts to deal with depression. The 62 (!) prompts in this article are laid out before listing tips for keeping a mental health journal.

Trauma

AdventuringWithPoseidon.com has a list of journaling prompts that are grouped according to questions and sub-questions designed to get you thinking about past trauma and how to move beyond it.

Surviving Childhood Trauma provides journaling prompts that can help anyone with a past trauma. There are 7 prompts that correspond with a week-long journaling challenge.

Mental Health Generally

NerdKnowsLife.com has 50 journaling prompts geared toward promoting positive mental health.

The How To Social Worker includes 50 journaling prompts it claims comes from therapists. They are broken down according to categories: depression, anxiety, personal growth, confidence, and focus.

Self-Discovery

Journaling is pretty much an exercise in self-discovery since the writing process involves our delving deep into our the dusty corners of our minds and helps us to figure out what we think and why we think the way we do. Here are some sites that help that process along:

The Morning Buzz Blog has 50 prompts to help you “pursue this journey of self-discovery so you can become a better you.” The post also challenges the ready to write on one of these a day for 30 days.

FillingTheJars.com has a free printable with 32 self-discovery journaling prompts along with tips for the best way to use the prompts and get the most out them.

BecomingWhoYouAre.net has a list of 20 simple journaling prompts to help explore your interests and desires.

Journaling for Fun and Creativity

Sometimes journaling can just be a relaxing pastime. Or, they can be a great exercise to promote creativity in your writing, especially if you are hoping to hone your craft. If you are looking for fun ideas for your journaling time, here are some great sites:

Grammarly.com has a list of 20 journaling prompts that will help get you into a daily writing routine.

JournalBuddies.com- Prompts for Kids has 53 writing prompts that it claims are fun for elementary kids. Although they are geared toward younger writers, there are some fun questions on this list and would be great to try along with your kids.

JournalBuddies.com- Prompts for All Ages is a list for writers of any age who just want to practice writing and have fun doing it. This page has 38 funny writing prompts that are sure to keep you smiling as you write.

Relationships

Whether you are in a relationship or would like to be in one, journaling can help you sort your feelings. The following are sites that have great prompts to explore this aspect of our lives.

BecomingWhoYouAre.net has another great set of journaling prompts. This list includes 20 prompts aimed at improving relationships in your life and exploring what you would like your relationships to look like.

Jill Conyers Yoga has an article listing 30 journaling prompts meant to help “strengthen positive relationships.”

InspiringLifeDreams.com has a post on journaling for relationships that includes 50 journaling prompts and some information about journaling generally.

Parenting

Kids grow up in the blink of an eye. Keeping a record of what goes on during these quickly-passing years can help create memories we look back on with nostalgia. Journaling may also help us keep our sanity during what can feel like very long days. Here are some great sites to help capture those precious (and sometimes frustrating) moments in words:

TextMyJournal.com. Although this webpage is technically archived, it has some of the best journaling prompts for parents- 31 to be exact.

CreativeChild.com lists 12 journaling prompts to help you explore your relationship with your child and how to grow as a parent.

RobynLeichti.com has a blog post that encourages 30 days of journaling for parents.

Finances and Money

If we are struggling with issues of money or how best to grow wealth, it might be helpful to first explore our thoughts and feelings about financial issues. There are some sites with journaling prompts to help delve into this area and promote more positive financial outcomes:

Sarah Jenson’s blog has 10 Journaling Prompts for Financial Freedom that help get the writer thinking about money in terms of desired future outcomes.

BecomingWhoYouAre.net has yet another set of journaling prompts, this time geared toward improving your relationship with money. Their 20 prompts will have you carefully exploring your relationship with money.

The Financial Diet Blog has 40 journaling prompts that help you explore your thoughts on money according to categories such as understanding how money affects you emotionally, encouraging small steps, seeking more income, etc.

Mindfulness

Another way to promote self-care is to focus on being mindful (remaining focused and in the moment instead of allowing our mind to wander into past regrets or future worries). Journaling prompts can help put you in a more mindful state and encourage you to practice this beyond the time of your journaling. Here are some helpful sites:

PositivePsychology.com has an article exploring the practice of “journaling in mindfulness” and has 38 prompts and exercises to help you develop this practice.

YourBodyTheTemple.com encourages practicing “mindful journaling,” which includes 12 tips for creating a focused space and mindset before trying one of the 50 journaling prompts they offer.

Live Bold & Bloom notes that journaling might be a “thoughtful goal” for your year. To promote “present moment awareness,” the article has 25 mindfulness journaling prompts.

Chronic Illness

As I said earlier, I do not know that you can count on journaling to be the cure for a chronic disease, although some claim that getting out our emotions on paper can help to relieve a person of emotion-related pain. However, if your are dealing with illness, it can be emotionally draining, which means journaling can bring you some relief in that area. Here are some sites with helpful prompts:

CreakyJoints.org notes that “writing can help us admit to our feelings, accept our fear, manage our anxiety, and move through serious trauma.” To use writing as a positive coping skill, this article provides 20 writing prompts for patients suffering from chronic illnesses.

Luna Luna Magazine encourages those living with chronic illness to explore their feelings about the condition and what it means to live with it. There are about 32 journaling prompts in this article.

TheHealthSessions.com encourages writing as a therapeutic way to deal with chronic health issues. This article provides 40 journal prompts, 10 of which specifically focus on health.

Grief and Loss

Grief and loss are natural parts of life. While that is a true statement, it can be difficult to process a loss on our own. Journaling can provide a means for working through the feelings of grief after we have suffered a loss . Here are some sites with prompts that can help us find comfort during these times:

Hope-Wellness.com lists 20 journaling prompts that can help us find meaning and a way to move forward after experiencing a loss.

HealingBrave.com notes that journaling about grief can be part of the healing process. The site has 21 prompts that are geared toward exploring the feelings of grief as you feel able to write about them.

The Mindfulness and Grief Institute posted an article on grief journaling as a way to honestly process your life after experiencing loss. It includes 5 journal prompts and tips on how to keep a grief journal.

Bonus Journaling Prompt Resources: Books

Journaling prompts have become so popular, books have been published about them. Although they usually have space in which to write out your journal entries, you may want to have extra paper on hand to work through the many questions they contain. Here are some available for purchase from Amazon.

Note that these links have affiliate links. See below regarding my disclaimer on Amazon associate links (#Ad).

Journal Sparks: Fire Up Your Creativity with Spontaneous Art, Wild Writing, and Inventive Thinking (#Ad)

True You: A Self-Discovery Journal of Prompts and Exercises to Inspire Reflection and Growth (#Ad)

The Writing Prompts Journal: 365 Prompts for 365 Days (#Ad)

Writing Prompts For Depression And Anxiety: A 100 Day Journal To Ease Depression And Anxiety (#Ad)

101+ Creative Journaling Prompts: Inspiration for Journaling and an Introduction to Art Journaling (#Ad)

Journaling is such a great way to get to know yourself. Whether you are trying to figure out why you cannot hold on to money, looking for ways to expand your creativity, or explore your feelings, there are journaling prompts that can help you in your journey.

Have you found journaling to be a beneficial way to process your life’s events? Are there any journaling prompts you have found to be particularly helpful? Leave a comment below.

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** Image of notepad in the graphics was found on Pixabay; images of journals embedded in the article were found on Unsplash.

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