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How to Start a Meditation Journal (With Links)
A meditation journal is a powerful tool to cultivate mindfulness, get in touch with your inner self, and track your meditations. Discover how to start your own meditation journal today, plus get links and recommendations to some of my favorite meditation and mindfulness journals. And don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of this post for your free meditation journal printable template!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product using my link, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
Pin this! How to Start a Meditation Journal (With Links) What is a Meditation Journal?
The answer, unfortunately, isn’t as straightforward as you’d think.
You see, a meditation journal is essentially anything you want it to be.
I know.
Least helpful answer ever.
But hear me out.
Depending on your personal goals and needs, a meditation journal can be any of the following:
- If you have an established meditation practice, or are looking to start one, then a meditation journal can be a way for you to reflect upon your daily practice. After each meditation, you can use your journal to write about what thoughts and sensations came up for you during your meditation. I’ll go into more detail on this below!
- You might view a meditation journal kind of like a mindfulness journal. This kind of journal can be a complement to a meditation practice, providing prompts that allow you to better understand your own mind and cultivate more mindfulness throughout your day.
- And you might also view a meditation journal simply as a way to record your meditations. You can write when you meditated, how long, and what kind of meditation you did.
In this post, I’m going to cover how to start a meditation journal from scratch. For the purpose of this blog post, I’m mostly going to cover the first bulletpoint above: creating a meditation journal that allows you to reflect upon your daily practice. This type of journal will require you to have some kind of notebook, whether it be a plain notebook, a hardcover journal, a notebook with inspirational quotes at the top of the pages, or something else that strikes your fancy. I’ve linked to some of my favorite lined journals and notebooks below!
However, if you don’t want to start from scratch, there are some awesome guided meditation journals out there. These journals give you everything you need to create a meditation journal today. Some allow you to reflect on your daily meditation practice while others help you to embrace mindfulness in your life, so choose what best fits your needs! I’ve also linked to some of these below, so you have plenty to choose from!
Now let’s get started on how you can create your own meditation journal today! P.S. Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the post to download your free printable meditation journal templates!
How to Create a Meditation Journal
Getting Started
Before you begin creating your journal, it’s important to step back and gain clarity on your intentions. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- What do I want to get out of this meditation journal?
- How can this meditation journal support my growth?
- Do I want to track progress through time, or do I simply want a space to record my reflections? (Or both?)
- What do I need to ensure I continue to keep up with both my meditation and meditation journaling practice? How can I ensure I get what I need?
Now, let’s break down these questions a little deeper:
What do I want to get out of this meditation journal?
This question is meant to clarify your purpose or intention for creating a meditation journal. Do you want to have a space to record and reflect upon the images and emotions that arise during your meditations? Why? Will this allow you to become more aligned with your true self? Keep asking yourself “why” until you get to the root of your reason. If you’re having trouble, you might rephrase the question like this: “After six months of meditation journaling, where do I want to be? How do I see myself? How am I different?” If you see yourself being more peaceful, self-assured, confident, compassionate, and/or loving, that may be your why.
How can this meditation journal support my growth?
This question spins off the above question. Do you feel like you allow stress and anxiety to take up too much space in your life? Then maybe this meditation journal will support your growth by helping you to cultivate more inner peace and tranquility. Do you feel like your brain all too often replays events of the past or worries about the future? Then this meditation journal could be a way for you to cultivate more mindfulness. There’s no right or wrong answer here. The ways in which this journal can support your growth will be personal to your own journey.
Do I want to track progress through time, or do I simply want a space to record my reflections? (Or both?)
If you love data, then you might enjoy keeping track of different elements of your meditation. Here’s a few things you can track:
- Length of meditation
- Time of day
- Type of meditation
- Emotions before/emotions after
- Guided/unguided
Again, this one’s entirely up to you. If you want to track it, go for it! If not, skip it. Do what you feel best supports your needs.
What do I need to ensure I continue to keep up with both my meditation and meditation journaling practice? How can I ensure I get what I need?
Keeping a meditation practice and adding an element of journaling to it requires dedicated time and space. So how can you make sure you get the time and space you need? This question is meant to set you up for success. Let’s remove any barriers and obstacles in the way now so you can continue to have a successful meditation and journaling practice moving forward.
Related: How to Create a Meditation Table (A Complete Guide)
Unstructured vs. Structured Meditation Journal
In this section, I’m going to first outline how to create a free-flowing, stream-of-consciousness meditation journal. This is for those of you who thrive on finding your creative flow and don’t want anything too structured. Afterwards, I discuss how to set up your own structured meditation journal, for those who crave a little organized structure in their routine. There’s no right or wrong way to approach your meditation journal; it’s all just personal preference!
Unstructured Meditation Journal
This is quite possibly the simplest and most straightforward way to start a meditation journal as it doesn’t require a lot of pre-planning from you. In fact, if you have a notebook and a writing utensil, you can start writing today!
The goal here is to reflect upon your meditation, and if you choose, you can go a little deeper and explore the emotions, thoughts, and images that arose for you.
So what do you need to do? Keep your meditation journal and a writing utensil next to you during your meditation. Once you’re finished meditating, turn to the next blank page and begin writing. (If it isn’t convenient to keep your journal next to you, it’s okay to move to a more comfortable writing spot.)
Here are a few things you might write about in your journal:
- What emotions arose during your meditation?
- What images did you see?
- What thought patterns did you notice?
- What challenges did you encounter?
- Did anything unexpected arise for you?
- What benefits did this meditation offer?
- How did you feel immediately after? Five minutes after? Ten minutes after?
If you want to track specific details about your meditation, you can also write down time, place, and length of the meditation. You might also want to track details like whether it was guided or unguided and what particular type of meditation it was.
Another option is to make your journaling a type of continuation of your meditation. For instance, let’s say you did a meditation with affirmations for self-love. When you pull out your journal, you could write down the affirmations that resonated with you and continue to write more positive self-love affirmations.
Or maybe you did a visualization meditation and you want to keep the visualization going. You can write about all the images that came up and are continuing to arise for you. I like to do this in first-person, like everything in my visualization is happening right now. So if I’m walking in a beautiful meadow in my visualization, I’d write something like, “I’m walking in a gorgeous meadow with a sprawling sea of pinks and oranges and yellows spread out as far as my eyes can see.“
What I like about this method is that the possibilities are endless. I also like the flexibility. One day, you might want to reflect upon a particular image that came up for you during your meditation, and the next day, you might want to solely write about the thought patterns you noticed as you were meditating. This practice gives you the freedom and versatility to spend your time writing about anything you want.
Structured Meditation Journal
While the above method of keeping a meditation journal gives you the freedom and flexibility to write about anything, there’s actually something kind of calming about having an organized, structured element to your journaling practice.
And luckily, it’s super easy to create a structured meditation journal from a blank notebook!
To start, let’s look back at the questions you answered in the “Getting Started” section above. Did you note anything you wanted to track? How can this journal support your growth? What’s your why? You want to make sure all of these elements are incorporated into your journal in some capacity.
Now let’s set up the first page of your journal. I like to keep this pretty simple so that I can simply write in my headings the day of instead of creating a bunch of pages in advance. But if you want to get creative, go for it! I encourage you to do what makes your soul happy. If you want to add in some stickers, washi tape, or pretty illustrations, you can do absolutely anything. At the bottom of this post, I’ve linked to some fun items you can incorporate into your practice.
Here are some of the different elements you might want to incoporate into your journal:
- Date
- Time
- Length of Meditation
- Mood/Emotions Prior to Meditation
- Mood/Emotions After Meditation
- Type of Meditation
- What was your intention for this meditation?
- Reflection: How did your meditation go?
- What thought patterns did you notice come up during your meditation?
- What emotions did you feel during the meditation?
- What images arose for you during the meditation?
- What benefits did the meditation offer?
- Final Thoughts
Make sure you leave the bulk of your notebook space for the questions that will require longer answers. If you like to create your pages in advance, I’d encourage you to only make a few to start. You might find that you want to change some of the questions or leave more or less space for some of your answers.
For help getting started, be to scroll to the bottom of the post to download your free printable meditation journal templates!
Monthly Reflections
This is optional, but I also like to include some space for a monthly reflection as I find it helps me to get re-centered when I check in with myself every once in a while. You can do this after meditating or choose a different time of day when you have some quiet time to reflect.
Here are some questions to ask yourself during a monthly reflection:
- Is my meditation practice supporting my highest good? Why or why not?
- Have any unexpected problems or issues arose in the past month?
- Is my meditation practice supporting my growth in the way I hoped? Why or why not?
- What internal changes have I experienced in the past month?
- Is there anything I want to change about my meditation practice?
- What profound lesson have I learned in the past month due to my meditation and journaling practice?
- Have there been any unexpected positive benefits?
- Is this practice worthwhile?
It’s important to check in with yourself to make sure that this practice is always supporting your highest good. If not, why? Do you feel like meditation has become something you “have” to do rather than “want” to do? Then maybe it’d be helpful to stop tracking your meditations and release the pressure to have a perfect meditation streak. Or maybe you’ve only been doing one type of meditation, and it’d be helpful for you to incorporate other types into your practice.
Whatever your answers are, hold love and compassion for yourself. None of us are perfect. Remember that each day is a beautiful opportunity to start anew.
Guided Meditation & Mindfulness Journals
Below, I’ve linked to some of the best meditation journals available today. Note that these are all a little different, so choose what works best for you. Some are designed to reflect upon your daily meditation practice, while others are geared toward helping you to cultivate more mindfulness in your life. And if you’re looking for blank journals, I’ve linked to some of my favorites in the next section!
Meditation: A Day and Night Reflection Journal
This beautiful Meditation: A Day and Night Reflection Journal is a unique meditation journal that allows you to both record and reflect. Record your mantra, intentions, and any aids (cushions, candles, music, etc.) you use in your meditation, and reflect on the benefits, inner dialogue, emotions, and thought patterns that came up for you during your meditation. Perfect for beginners and experienced meditators alike! Click here for current Amazon price.
Inner Peace: A Guided Meditation Journal for Beginners
Inner Peace: A Guided Meditation Journal for Beginners is a gorgeous meditation journal filled with easy-to-follow meditation prompts, powerful reflection questions, and inspiring quotes and mantras that will resonate at the very center of who you are. This is the perfect meditation journal for beginners to help you find your inner serenity and spread your inner peace into your outer world. Click here for current Amazon price.
A Year of Zen: A 52-Week Guided Journal
This one’s an absolute game-changer. The first time I discovered A Year of Zen: A 52-Week Guided Journal, I was blown away. This journal contains 52 weeks of journal prompts, designed to bring your attention to seven areas: meditation, liturgy, work, body, study, art, and the world. The powerful reflection questions in this journal are unlike any I’ve found in any other, encouraging you to explore the metaphors of your life, embrace your creativity (some of the prompts include drawing), and bringing more mindfulness into your daily life. Click here for current Amazon price.
The 5-Minute Mindfulness Journal
The 5-Minute Mindfulness Journal is a perfect complement to your meditation practice as it’s filled with thought-provoking journal prompts designed to help you embrace mindfulness while cultivating deep inner peace. It’s filled with quick yet profound prompts that will help you better understand your thoughts, and as a bonus, there are inspiring mindfulness quotes throughout the journal. Click here for current Amazon price.
Mindfulness & Meditation Guided Journal
This Mindfulness & Meditation Guided Journal is specifically designed for beginners and is the perfect companion to anyone just starting their meditation practice. It lovingly guides you through 30 days of lessons, teaching you both the basics of meditation as well as how to use meditation to build a deeper relationship with yourself. Each lesson comes with a journal prompt that will solidify the lesson and help you to apply what you’ve learned to your daily life. Click here for current Amazon price.
Present, Not Perfect
Present, Not Perfect is another mindfulness journal that acts as a complement to your meditation practice. The subtitle says all you need to know about this one: A Journal for Slowing Down, Letting Go, and Loving Who You Are. This gorgeous journal is filled with inspirational quotes, beautiful designs, and incredible prompts that encourage you to pay attention to your inner and outer worlds, embrace mindfulness, and love yourself fully. Click here for current Amazon price.
A Mindfulness for Beginners Journal
A Mindfulness for Beginners Journal is another perfect complement to your meditation practice and the ultimate guide for beginners. It’s filled with simple exercises (like focusing on your breathing), powerful prompts, and inspirational quotes and affirmations. If you want to learn more about how mindfulness can benefit your life, and how you can cultivate more mindfulness during your day, this is the perfect journal for you. Click here for current Amazon price.
For more mindfulness tips and self-care ideas, plus lots of gentle nudges and loving words, be sure to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!
Are you ready for your freebies? Enter your name and email address below for your free printable meditation journal template! (Note that it may take an hour or two for the email to come through.) Plus, receive a weekly newsletter with resources, affirmations, and new blog post updates straight to your inbox. (Don’t worry, I hate spam, too! I only send one email a week, never share your personal info, and you can unsubscribe anytime.)
Pin this! How to Start a Meditation Journal (With Links) 
Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.
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30 Journal Prompts to Open and Heal the Heart Chakra
Healing your heart chakra is one of the most important steps you can take in your self-love journey. Discover 30 powerful heart chakra journal prompts to help you open and heal your body’s energy center for love, compassion, trust, understanding, peace, and kindness. For more healing tools, be sure to check out 40 Heart Chakra Affirmations for Unconditional Love. Plus, don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of this post for your free printable heart chakra affirmations and journal prompts!
Pin this for later! 30 Journal Prompts to Open and Heal the Heart Chakra Healing the Heart Chakra
Have you ever felt depressed, lonely, unloved, or even unlovable? Maybe loved ones have tried reaching out, but you’ve chosen to excessively self-isolate, even though you crave human connection. You may even feel fearful of physical and emotional intimacy with others.
Or maybe it’s the opposite: maybe your fear of being alone is so strong, you’ve been dependent, clingy, and possibly even smothering. You may even experience feelings of possessiveness, jealousy, and sometimes selfishness.
If any of these feelings or experiences resonate with you, the first thing I want to say is this: release any self-criticism or self-judgment. You are not wrong for any of it. None of the feelings, emotions, or experiences I’ve listed above make you less worthy or less deserving of love.
The very best thing you can do for yourself in this moment (and always) is to choose self-compassion over self-criticism.
Choosing to love yourself and to have compassion for yourself is the most powerful step you can take toward healing your heart chakra, which is your body’s energy center for love, compassion, peace, trust, empathy, kindness, and acceptance.
And that means loving yourself even when you’re imperfect. Even when you feel like your perceived flaws are on full display. Even when you make mistakes.
Because you are always, always, always deserving of unconditional love.
Opening and healing the heart chakra is a powerful and profound step in your self-love journey. And it isn’t always easy to take that first step, so I hope you can see how strong you are, and I gently and lovingly implore you to show yourself some extra love and gratitude for showing up and doing the work that will carry you forward in your journey.
Discover more about chakras using the links below, plus get journal prompts and affirmations for each of your body’s main energy centers! And for deeper insight into chakras as well as guidance on profound chakra healing, check out my Ultimate Chakra Healing Bundle, which includes a Chakra Healing eBook, Chakra Healing Workbook, and 8-Week Chakra Healing Guide. You can also discover more in my online shop.
How to Use These Journal Prompts
Journaling is a powerful practice for healing imbalances in any of your body’s energy centers. It’s also a way to increase mindfulness, get in touch with your inner self, and embrace wholehearted self-love.
The 30 journal prompts below are designed to help you heal your heart chakra. Do you have to complete all 30? Absolutely not. As you read through these, you may find some that resonate deeply with you. Find the ones that resonate most, and start with those. You may decide to skip around or complete some prompts multiple times.
But if you’re feeling especially lost and unsure where to start? Then I’d encourage you to start at the top and work your way down. You might decide to keep completing them in order, or maybe after a few prompts, you’ll want to skip around.
I prefer to journal first thing after I wake up in the morning, but everyone’s schedule and responsibilities are different. I don’t think time of day matters so much; rather, what’s important is that you have some quiet time to yourself, whether that’s 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, or more.
As you start reflecting upon the questions below, I’d encourage you to have an open heart and an open mind. And more than anything, don’t judge yourself for your answers. If the inner bully comes out, gently ask them to leave, and let yourself be wrapped in the unconditional love that this expansive universe holds for you.
Heart Chakra Journal Prompts
- What does unconditional love mean to me?
- How can I show myself unconditional love in my daily life?
- What positive practices can I incorporate into my life to show myself more compassion, empathy, and self-acceptance?
- What does it mean to me to be a compassionate being? Why is it important to me to be compassionate?
- What are ten things I love most about myself?
- What self-care practices can I incorporate into my daily life to show myself more love?
- How can I cultivate the feeling of peace in my every day life?
- What thoughts, words, images, memories, and/or sounds convey the feeling of peace to me?
- Do I excessively self-isolate from others, or am I overly dependent on others to feed my happiness? How can I find a harmonious balance between the two?
- Have I ever felt an undeniable connection to another person, animal, or something else outside of me? How did this feel?
- What does it mean to me to be deeply connected to all beings in this universe? In what ways do I feel connected to all, and in what ways do I feel separate? How can I nurture that feeling of connection?
- What self-care practice can I do in just five minutes a day to cultivate feelings of unconditional self-love?
- What powerful affirmations can I incorporate into my life that will foster more feelings of love, compassion, peace, and serenity? In what ways can I incorporate these affirmations as part of my daily routine?
- Who are ten people in my life who have profoundly and positively affected my life? What do I love most about each person? What makes me feel grateful for each person?
- What does kindness mean to me?
- How can I show myself and others more kindness?
- How do I balance showing others kindness and generosity while still prioritizing my own self-care? What can I do to ensure I don’t try to metaphorically “give from an empty cup”?
- Do I possess any fears or limiting beliefs preventing me from accepting unconditional love? How can I begin to release these fears and limiting beliefs?
- Reflect on this statement: “I am loved, loving, and lovable.” What does this mean to me?
- Do I naturally trust others? Am I ever too trusting, or do I hold back trust from others? What does a healthy balance look like to me?
- What does it mean to me to have an open heart? How can I practice openheartedness in my daily life?
- Are there ever any situations in which I become possessive or jealous? What is the root of these emotions? How can I release these feelings to make space for emotions that support my highest good?
- Who is one person who represents unconditional love to me? Describe their qualities and how they inhabit the feeling of love.
- What are three moments in my life when I felt deeply loved? Describe these moments.
- What are three moments in my life when I felt deep love for another being? Describe these moments.
- In what ways is love a superpower? How can I utilize this superpower to help others?
- How do I express love to others? What are my favorite ways to express love to the people in my life? Am I able to easily express love to others?
- How do I express love to myself? What are my favorite ways to show myself love? Am I able to easily express love to myself?
- Why is having an open and balanced heart chakra important to me?
- What does an ordinary day as my most loving and compassionate self look like? How do I carry myself through the day? How do I treat others and myself? Write about this day in detail.
For more more chakra resources, plus uplifting affirmations and self-love encouragement, be sure to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!
Are you ready for your freebies? Enter your name and email address below for your free printables! (Note that it may take an hour or two for the email to come through.) Plus, receive a weekly newsletter with resources, affirmations, and new blog post updates straight to your inbox. (Don’t worry, I hate spam, too! I only send one email a week, never share your personal info, and you can unsubscribe anytime.)
Pin this! 30 Journal Prompts to Open and Heal the Heart Chakra Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.
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53 Gratitude Journal Prompts to Cultivate Joy Within
Below, check out 53 inspiring gratitude journal prompts designed to raise your vibrations, bring positivity to every situation, and cultivate true joy within! To make these journal prompts easily accessible, I’ve created a free printable with all 53 journal prompts in one easy-to-find spot. Scroll to the bottom of this post to get yours today!
Pin this! 53 Inspiring Gratitude Journal Prompts to Uplift, Encourage, and Cultivate Joy Within Gratitude
Gratitude is one of the most powerful forces in this world.
I know that might seem like a bit of an overstatement, but from personal experience, adding a true gratitude practice to my daily routine has 100% changed my life for the better. Not only has it made me generally just a happier person, but it’s allowed me to become better at finding the good within seemingly bad situations.
This, in turn, has made me become more resilient and less susceptible to negative emotions.
And not only that, but I truly believe that the more I feel grateful for what I have, the more wonderful things flow into my life to feel grateful for.
Gratitude can be practiced in an infinite amount of ways. One of my favorite gratitude practices is to simply think about three things I’m grateful for when I wake up in the morning and when I go to bed at night. I also find it helpful to write down three things I’m grateful for each day in a notebook or journal along with a reason why I’m grateful for each item on my list.
I know a few people who like to write down one to three things they’re grateful for every day on a slip of paper. Then, they put that slip of paper in some kind of container or box. And at the end of the year, they empty out all of the slips and read through them all. This is a powerful practice to not only cultivate daily gratitude but also to end the past year and start the new one with authentic joy and a positive perspective.
Gratitude journals are a profound gratitude practice because it allows you to truly sit and be present with your gratitude for an extended amount of time.
Below are 53 gratitude journal prompts you can use to cultivate a true sense of gratitude in your daily life. These prompts center around nurturing joyful feelings as well as recognizing the positive people, moments, memories, and things in your life.
Take as much or as little time you need each day as you work through these prompts. What I love about gratitude journal prompts is that it isn’t a one-and-done kind of thing. For most of these, you can use the same prompts over and over to continue your gratitude practice for months (and years) to come.
Gratitude Quotes
Before we get started on the prompts, here are a few of my favorite gratitude quotes that show how powerful a gratitude practice can truly be.
- “Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.” – Rumi
- “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” – Eckhart Tolle
- “When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.” – Tony Robbins
- “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie
- “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” – Epictetus
- “It’s a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.” – Germany Kent
- “The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now.” – Oprah Winfrey
You May Also Like: 40 Gratitude Affirmations to Love This Moment Right Now
Gratitude Journal Prompts
- Describe a person you’re grateful to have in your life. List the reasons why you’re especially grateful for this person.
- List all the awesome things your body is capable of and why you’re grateful for the body you have right now, exactly as it is.
- What are the three best things that happened yesterday? (Or, if you’re journaling in the evening, what are the three best things that happened today?)
- What are three reasons you’re excited about tomorrow?
- What are some obstacles and challenges you’ve experienced that you now feel grateful for, even if it was hard to appreciate it at the time?
- What aspects of your current job do you appreciate the most?
- What positive qualities do you possess that you especially love about yourself?
- Describe one of your favorite memories and what you appreciate most about that moment in time.
- What aspects of your childhood are you most grateful for?
- What do you love most about your home? What about this space makes you feel happy, grateful, and content?
- What profound life lessons did a parent or important adult in your life teach you growing up that you still hold in your heart today?
- What about this time of year makes you feel most grateful?
- What are ten positive things that fill your heart with gratitude every morning when you wake up?
- Describe a scent that you associate with warm and happy memories. Describe one or more of the positive memories that you associate with this scent and how it makes you feel.
- Describe a moment in your life when you pushed past your fear and succeeded in something you weren’t sure you could do. How did it make you feel?
- Describe an accomplishment that you feel really proud of. What qualities do you possess that helped you to reach that achievement?
- What risks have you taken that you feel really grateful you took?
- What are some of your favorite self-care activities? What does self-care mean to you? What positive feelings do you associate with self-care?
- How have you changed in the past ten years? What positive changes are you most grateful for?
- Think about someone you may not see eye-to-eye with or get along with (either in your past or present). What lessons has this person taught you, and why are you grateful to have them in your life?
- What’s your favorite way to spread cheer to others? What talents and qualities do you have that make you an awesome friend and cheerleader to others?
- What’s a funny story from your past that makes you laugh every time you think about it? What other positive emotions do you feel when you think of this memory?
- Describe a time when somebody gave you a sincere compliment that made you feel really good. What makes that compliment stand out the most to you?
- Who were your best high school friends? Even if you don’t keep in touch anymore, what makes you most grateful for having them during that period of your life?
- Who are your best friends now? Why are you grateful for these friendships?
- List 20 things you’re grateful for in your life right now, and give a one-word sentence on why you’re grateful for each of these things.
- List all the things you love most about your partner. If you don’t have a partner, choose someone who has a substantial positive impact on your current life.
- What talents do you have that you feel especially grateful for?
- What’s a luxury in your life that you’re grateful to have?
- Describe your favorite time of day (morning, afternoon, night) and what you love most about it.
- Look around the room you’re in right now. Describe all the things in this room that you feel grateful for.
- What’s a really small thing that’s happened recently that you feel thankful for?
- What’s one (or more) negative habits you’ve quit that you’re grateful for?
- What’s one (or more) positive habits you’ve started that you’re grateful for?
- Write about a difficult life lesson you had to learn the hard way and why you’re grateful to have had that experience.
- List all the people in your life who make you feel loved. What types of things do they do and say that make you feel loved and appreciated?
- Write about the hardest day you’ve had recently and why you’re grateful to have had such a day.
- Name one person you don’t know personally who inspires you. Why do they inspire you? Why are you grateful for this person’s presence?
- Name one person you do know personally who inspires you. Why do they inspire you? Why are you grateful for this person’s presence?
- What people, experiences, or things in your life do you sometimes take for granted? Take this time now to write down your appreciation for these things.
- List everything that makes you feel happy right now.
- What awesome superpower do you possess that you feel extra grateful to have?
- What challenges are you currently experiencing? How can you bring more gratitude to the situation when approaching these challenges?
- What seemingly boring household items do you possess that you feel grateful for? What would your life be like without these items?
- What’s your least favorite household chore to do? In what ways are you grateful to get to do this chore? Bonus: Are there any ways you can bring more fun to doing this chore?
- Write about your favorite place that brings you peace and tranquility within. What about this place makes you feel most grateful?
- Write about a time when exactly what you needed came to you at exactly the right time.
- Think of someone in your life whose personality traits are the complete opposite of yours (maybe even frustratingly so). What has this person taught you, and why are you grateful they’re in your life?
- What’s one thing you have today that you didn’t have a year ago? This can be a person, a physical object, or an awesome opportunity like a new job. Why are you grateful to have this person or thing in your life today?
- Describe a positive internal shift that you’ve experienced in the past year. What led you to experiencing this shift within? Why are you grateful for this shift?
- Describe a movie or book that altered your perception or changed your life in a positive way. In what ways did this movie or book change you for the better? Why are you glad to have had watched this movie or read this book?
- What does gratitude mean to you?
- How does practicing gratitude make you feel? How can you bring more gratitude into your daily life?
For more inspiration, be sure to follow me on Pinterest, where I have boards for Journal Prompts, Daily Affirmations, Gratitude, Manifestation, Mindfulness, and more!
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Pin this! 53 Inspiring Gratitude Journal Prompts to Uplift, Encourage, and Cultivate Joy Within Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.
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10 Journal Prompts for Manifestation
Below are ten powerful journal prompts for manifestation, designed to aid you in creating your dream life. These prompts are filled with visualization, affirmations, gratitude practices, and lots of self-love. Keep an open mind and an open heart as you start each journaling entry, and remember that you are worthy and deserving of living the joyful and abundant life of your dreams.
Pin this for later! 10 Journal Prompts for Manifestation Getting Started With Journaling
Journaling is one of the most powerful and underrated tools we have in our toolkit to create the lives of our dreams.
While it’s not a requirement for manifesting, it’s a profound tool for setting intentions, visualizing your dream life, and aligning your energy your highest and most authentic self. Using journal prompts can be especially helpful for sparking new ideas and helping you to explore your inner world in a deeper and more profound way than you ever have before.
Manifestation journal prompts can be rooted in visualization, affirmations, gratitude, and anything that helps you to align with the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of your highest, most authentic self. You’ll find a bit of each in the journal prompts below.
But journal prompts are really just the start when it comes to manifestation journaling. I have a ton of journaling resources across this site, so if you want to try out some other types of journaling practices, here are some resources to help you get started:
- For beginners, you can start with my in-depth guide on how to manifest in a journal. You can also download a free manifestation journal template and check out these manifestation journal examples for inspiration.
- For more specific practices, you can try out the 369 Method and 55×5 Manifestation Method.
- I also have lots of resources for scripting, which is a method that combines journaling with visualization to experience what it’s like to live your dream life in the present moment. You can get a free Law of Attraction scripting template and scripting examples to help you get started.
- Finally, I go deeper into how to manifest on paper in five easy steps, with bonus tips to help you get started.
That’s really just the beginning of all the manifestation guides you can find on this site, so I definitely encourage you to check out the rest of my manifestation blog posts and resources to help you on your journey.
Download 30 Perfect Days: A 30-Day Manifestation Journal Today!
Are you looking for a manifestation journal you can start using today? Check out 30 Perfect Days, a digital manifestation journal available in my online shop! This 30-day manifestation journal is designed to help you align with the emotions of having your dreams and desires in the present moment. Each day, you’ll receive a unique scripting prompt that will help you to live as if you already have your dreams and desires right now. Additionally, you’ll find space for daily gratitude, acknowledging the miracles that appear in your everyday world, uplifting affirmations, and more. Comes with editable text fields so you can choose to either type directly into the journal or print and hand write! Click here to learn more!
Manifestation Journal Prompts
Below are 10 powerful journal prompts for manifestation, designed to help you create the beautiful, joyful, and abundant life of your dreams. These journal prompts for manifestation can be completed in any order you want, and you can even choose the ones you like best to do multiple times.
Journal Prompt: Visualization of Your Dream Life
Write the details of a full day in your dream life. Use the present tense. (“I am . . . “; “I wear . . .”; “As I walk through my home, I notice . . .”) Where do you wake up? Who are you with? What does your morning routine look like? Describe the details of your home. Where is it located? What do you do during your day? What do you wear? Where do you go during the day? If you work, what kind of job do you have? What are the predominant emotions you feel throughout the day?
Use all your senses; describe what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. How do you feel when you go to sleep? What are your last thoughts before falling into a peaceful slumber?
Be as detailed as possible, and remember to keep an open mind to any and all possibilities. This is your dream life. You’re the creator. Let your inner knowing guide you through your vision.
Why It Works: The first step of manifesting is to set an intention. In order to create the life of your dreams, you first have to get clear about what you want. In manifestation, you don’t need to know how you’re going to achieve your dream. Rather, you just need to know what it is that you want. This practice will help you to gain a clearer vision of exactly what your dream life looks like. It will also help you to feel all of the positive vibrations of having your dreams in the present moment, allowing you to become a magnet for your desires.
Journal Prompt: Gratitude
Write down everything you’re grateful for today. There is nothing too small or too offbeat to write about. If it helps, you can use the prompt, “I am grateful for ___ because _____” to discuss each item in detail. If you get stuck, consider writing about different people in your life. You can also discuss various objects in your home or moments of your life that you’re grateful for. Nothing’s off limits here. You can even discuss adversity and hardships that brought you growth.
Why It Works: Gratitude is the foundation for all abundance. When I began consciously cultivating a daily gratitude practice and shifted my default perspective from one of lack to one of appreciation for all that I have, my life completely transformed. All of the things I’d written on my vision board that once seemed so far away were suddenly in my grasp. The quickest and easiest (and most joyful) way to receive abundance is to just love and appreciate all that you already have.
As Rumi wrote, “Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.”
Journal Prompt: Body Appreciation
Write down a list of everything you’re grateful for about your body. Consider each body part: each muscle, limb, organ, and system that keeps you going throughout your life. If you’d like, you can choose a few body parts to write several sentences on (such as the mouth that shows your radiant smile and allows you to taste yummy food). Here are some examples:
- “I am grateful for my eyes because they allow me to _________.”
- “I am grateful for my heart because it is __________.”
- “Today, I really appreciate my legs because they __________.”
Why It Works: Same as #2, but this time, we’re focusing solely on your body. Why? Because your body is your home. It’s where you live every single day. It’s an incredible gift to have these bodies. To have working lungs and a beating heart. Yet, so many of us tear our bodies apart. Whether or not your intended manifestation relates to your body, cultivating a deep love and appreciation for your body (and treating it like an ally, not an enemy) will only serve to open up space for your manifestations to happen faster. Here are 42 body-positive affirmations to help you get started.
Journal Prompt: Speak to Your Younger Self
Imagine that the five-year-old you is standing in front of you, and in your mind’s eye, envision looking into the eyes of your younger self. Now write positive affirmations to this younger version of you as if you’re speaking directly to them. Tell them how worthy, deserving, and loved they are. Deliver them positive and supportive messages. Speak with wholehearted love, kindness, and compassion. This entire journal entry is dedicated to affirming your worthiness.
Why It Works: In order to manifest your desires, you have to truly believe in yourself. And most importantly, you must believe that you are worthy and deserving of your dreams. Speaking to your younger self helps you to let down your guard. Sometimes, we have a hard time telling ourselves that we deserve joy, but when you look into the eyes of your childhood self, it becomes easier. (But if you’d rather look into your own eyes as an adult, or choose a different age, definitely do whatever feels best for you.)
Journal Prompt: Passion and Purpose
What drives you? What lights up your heart? Where are you happiest? What activities make you feel most joyful and alive? Write about the things that you feel passionate about. These can be dreams, causes, groups of people, or important messages you want the whole world to know. Write with passion and conviction. What’s important to you? Only you know what makes your soul feel alive. There’s no right or wrong answer. As you write about your passions and dreams, consider ways you might be able to combine these different passions into a career or pastime that will make your heart soar.
Why It Works: You have a unique set of skills and passions that make you you. Do you love to write? Are you passionate about fitness? Does it light up your soul to help others? When you write about your passions, you open yourself up to inspired ideas. Allow the words to flow without self-judgment. See where it takes you.
Journal Prompt: New Perspectives
Write in detail about your day yesterday (or a recent day that you can remember vividly). Who did you see and speak to? What did you eat? Did you drive anywhere? What movies, TV shows, or sports events did you watch? What moments brought you joy? Discuss any obstacles or hardships you encountered throughout the day. How can you reframe these negative experiences positively? What did you learn from these moments? How did you grow?
Even if yesterday felt like a crummy day, write about it as if it was actually a really great day. This isn’t asking you to suppress the bad. Rather, consider choosing a different perspective when possible. For instance, maybe standing in line at the grocery store for what felt like an eternity or hitting all those red lights were really opportunities to pause and breathe.
What happened during this day that you’re grateful for?
Why It Works: This ties back to gratitude. Our lives are the sums of stories that we tell ourselves. And in manifestation, you attract what you put out in the world. So if you believe that you’ve had bad day after bad day after bad day, you know what you’ll attract? More bad days. But if you shift your perspective and choose to view these days as positive opportunities and experiences that you feel grateful for, you know what’ll happen then? You’ll receive more positive opportunities and wonderful experiences to feel grateful for. You don’t have to suppress the bad stuff. Rather, consider all the ways these “bad” things helped you to grow.
Journal Prompt: Your Highest and Most Authentic Self
Envision your highest and most authentic self. This is the real you—the truest, most authentic version of you. What is your highest and most authentic self like? How do you make other people feel? How do you move about your day? Are you energetic or calm? How do you speak? How do you walk? What’s your aura like when you walk into a room? What kinds of activities do you do? Do you move fast or slow? What types of clothes do you wear that make you feel good? If you’d like, you may envision a typical day in your life, and imagine how your highest self would react to the various ups and downs of your day.
Why It Works: This helps you get clear on what you want and who you want to be. Aligning with your highest self will serve you in your daily life as you make important decisions and choose how to spend your day. Whenever you’re unsure about something, you can ask, “What would my highest and most authentic self do in this situation?”
Your highest self is the person living your dream life, so by making the same decisions that this version of you would make, you’re choosing the path that leads directly to your dreams (and becoming the person you dream of being).
Journal Prompt: Celebrate You
What are your favorite things about yourself? What are your talents? In what ways are you an awesome friend? What makes you a good employee and/or manager? What makes you a good partner? List some of your superpowers. This is the day to celebrate you. Compliment yourself. Write about the compliments other people give you. And accept those compliments! If you get stuck, write down some positive affirmations. Affirm your worthiness completely.
Why It Works: When you believe in yourself, the rest of the world will have no choice but to believe in you, too. You deserve to be loved, and you deserve to be celebrated. One of the biggest obstacles to manifestation is simply not believing in yourself. After all, most of us are our own biggest critics. Starting self-love practices like saying positive affirmations and affirming your worthiness will help you begin your manifestation journey with a foundation of love, compassion, and an open heart.
Journal Prompt: Envision Your Success
What would you do today if you knew you wouldn’t fail? List out all of the things you would do today if you knew undoubtedly that you would succeed. As you write, visualize your success. Imagine how this will feel and write out these feelings. Don’t limit yourself, and don’t hold back.
Why It Works: More visualization, but this time, it’s a little closer, as these are all the things that you would do today if you knew you couldn’t fail. As I said earlier, you don’t need to figure out the how when it comes to manifesting. The universe will always guide you to the next step when the time is right, and you’ll always know that it’s right by the way it feels. Notice how you feel as you write. Do any of these fearless steps feel really good? One of my all-time favorite quotes is by Jack Canfield: “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” Our fears sometimes prevent us from taking the next step, but if you knew you couldn’t fail, what would you do?
Journal Prompt: Letting Go
In what areas of your life are there things you can let go of in order to make room for new opportunities and exciting possibilities? What things are you justifying keeping, and why? When you let go of a job, person, belief, or another aspect of your life that may be holding you back, it’s easy to see what you’ll lose but hard to see what you might gain. Focus on the possibilities and experiences you might gain by letting go of the things that are holding you back.
Why It Works: In order to allow new people, experiences, opportunities, and resources into our lives, we need to make space for them. Sometimes, there are people, experiences, or things that once served our growth, but now they no longer contribute to our total well-being. Identifying these things is the first step. Letting go is the next, often more difficult step. I’ve let go of friendships, jobs, and even entire cities during my journey, and while it was never easy, it opened up space for new incredible people and experiences to enter my life. It isn’t always easy, but when you know in your heart that it’s the right choice, it’s always worth it.
Pin this! 10 Journal Prompts for Manifestation Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.
