If you look in !NaNoWriMo2@feddit.online you will find a bunch of prompts that were posted for our Journaling January event. Feel free to use any / all if them.
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2026
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Five things you're grateful for.
I sometimes follow suggestions I remember from Cortex' Theme System Journal. Those were daily reflections on something I'm looking forward to, and something I'm grateful for. I think it was looking forward for the morning entry, and grateful for the evening entry - but I'm not positive which way around it was.
But most of the time what I write is 1-3 things I want to get done during the day.
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What was the most interesting (or confounding) thing you saw today?
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If you lived a picture-perfect life, what important value(s) do you hold that you would find it easier to express than you do now? What would expressing them look like?
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What embarrassing thing that happened 10 years ago are you ready to let go of today?
If I don't have anything specific I want to write about then I usually start with something mundane that I observed, or that I did. It often evolves into something profound. I have found that what I initially think is mundane is usually something that I have a programmed response to, or is an unchallenged preconception. And when it doesn't turn into something more, at least it's a record of my day-to-day.
Sometimes when I think I have nothing to write about I end up with 4-5 pages!
My journalling is part of me letting go or managing worries, among other things. So if you're specifically doing a practice like worry time, then you could prompt for
- what is making you feel anxious?
- when you felt anxious, how did you know?
- what are you thinking about when you're not busy?
- is there anything you know you have to do but aren't doing?
- do you know why you're not doing something?
- what do you think would wrap things up perfectly, if perfect could just happen?
- what do you wish for?
Makes a lot of sense! This reminds me of the "mood logging" idea that I think comes from cognitive behavioral therapy
I don't do prompts myself, but they have a list at DayOne
(disclaimer: I used to use this app but I've moved back to analog)
I am using journaling to help combat depression and I pick one (or more) of the following, depending on what I did that day:
- What are some things that I accomplished today? It does not have to be significant things, just things, no matter how small, even if it is just a step in a larger process.
- Was there a time today that I felt a social connection, like a good conversation or a shared activity?
- What is something I did that was fun?
- What am I looking forward to?
Overall, I only spend a couple minutes each day on it, but the process of thinking about what to write down lets me end each day feeling good about something.