15 Journaling Prompts

As I read my past journal entries, I felt an enduring sense of gratitude for God’s grace towards me over the years. May you have the same blessing as you journal.

A friend and I recently discussed stories of what journaling means to us and that’s what prompted this post. Journaling is one of my most prized tools for prayer and self-reflection. Coupled with silence and solitude, it’s been integral to my journey of spiritual and professional growth. 

I've been journaling regularly since the end of high school. I took a 4-5 year break when we had young children and I was working at IBM/Hitachi while also taking seminary classes. It was a painful season of life and marriage. I used to write in physical journals but they became unwieldy (storage!) and my writing became increasingly illegible. Now I use Evernote. People sometimes ask me about how to get started and it really is like adopting an exercise regimen - it matters less about the particular movement and more about the habit. The easier you make it, the more likely you'll be able to sustain it. 

The purpose of this post is to give someone starting the journaling process some prompts to choose from. It’s best to stick to each one for at least a month and write around 10-15 entries. This post can also offer fresh ideas for those who have lapsed from journaling. I tried to list these prompts chronologically in terms of when I started using them until present day.

1. Random thoughts and musings: All the stream of consciousness stuff. Sometimes it just feels good to dump your thoughts and feelings out without any prompt, theme, or structure. This is a good starting point when you feel overwhelmed by thoughts and feelings that are fighting to get out. Here’s an excerpt from an entry during college when I was on a summer ministry trip with my future wife:

“I don’t feel completely comfortable talking to Judy because I keep reminding myself that she has a boyfriend.”  - June 6th, 1994

2. Conversation reflections: I have been shaped by my conversations. Good conversation are an unforgettable experience and recording reflections help me recall their impact on me. It’s also a tool for understanding people better. During my childhood and adolescence, my parents had a set of friends who also had kids around the age of my brother and me. We vacationed together and gathered regularly for dinner. On the drive home, my parents would make observations about their friends, their interactions with spouses and kids, and then speculate about what was going on behind the scenes. 

“Judy and I have never fought and I don’t know if that’s necessarily a good or bad thing. I think we will have fights when we’re married but I think we both tend to avoid raising our voices.” - May 9th, 1998 

3. Confession: Confession is a way to pray and there so many ways to prayer journal. One thing I’ve realized going through my journals is how often my entries center around pain, hurt, disappointment, guilt, anger, and shame. Confession in particular, helps me address guilt and shame. I became a Christian as a teenager and had a positive experience with purity culture. However, going through my old journals, there are SO MANY confessions of lust. From these entries alone, I appear to be obsessed with sex and incredibly guilt and shame ridden. It’s boring and repetitive. Here’s one related to marriage: 

“LORD, I confess that I have been selfish, lazy, and fearful in regards to premarital counseling. I don’t think I’ve really been hit by the importance of what we’re doing.” - June 27th, 1998

4. Prayer requests: Out of confessing guilt and shame comes supplication for personal change. Some people read their old prayers and marvel at how far they’ve come. I read my old prayers and repeat them because I still want God to answer.

“Teach me, LORD, how to be gentle with others, to consider them before my mood, and how I can bless someone.” - September 26th, 1999

5. Trip/event recap: I hate forgetting details from trips I’ve taken. I’ve never had a great memory especially for logistics. So years ago, I wrote down stuff so I could remember it. This is probably the most common and easiest way to start journaling.

“Wow. So we found a place and we’re moving. 2/2 duplex - 736 Dailey Ave, nice bkyd, garage, nr park was the description. $1475 is the monthly rent which is pretty high especially considering Judy’s not working, we’ll need more furniture and appliances, we’re taking more seminary classes, and the baby is coming.” - August 7th, 2001

6. Slave and slay: The prompt starts like this:" I am a slave of Christ alone. I will serve no other master." And then I write about slaying a metaphorical dragon that threatens me. The dragon is always an internal enemy, usually an aspect of my reactivity. This prompt helps identify my weaknesses and take ownership of my emotional life.

“I am a slave to Christ alone. I will serve no other master. LORD, I will slay the dragon of hot-temperedness today and tomorrow. I lost it with a tough Vietnamese kid tonight. He was pushing me around on the basketball court at Gunderson open gym and I rammed into him.” - October 14th, 2012

7. Book reviews: I love reading books but hate forgetting what I read. Writing a book review and summary not only helps me remember what the books was about but helps me talk about the book concisely with others, compare it’s ideas with others I’ve read, and for self-help and growth books, decide the specific take-away I want to put into action. Here are some thoughts on Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother:

“Here is an intelligent, incredibly well-educated, strong, headstrong, stubborn, courageous, ridiculously articulate and intense woman who makes me proud to be Chinese. She helped me appreciate being Chinese in a way only a Chinese-American – someone who straddles both cultures could do it.  And in the end, she is just as dysfunctional as the rest of us and she’s willing to admit it.” - sometime in 2012

8. Lessons learned: I started seeing therapist Dr. Dean Smith in 2006 when I was dealing with compulsive behavior, marriage struggles, and lots of internalized shame and condemnation. He was a former Christian college professor and a referral from my seminary, which has a counseling training program (MFT). Therapy is like reading a book or taking a class that is uniquely customized for you. Why would I not take notes for an activity that is explicitly designed to help me grow? Here is an example of gold he’s shared with me:

“What are some signs of wisdom? 1) evaluative: it can evaluate the pros and cons of an idea 2) thoughtful: it is not impulsive or reactive, pauses before action 3) welcomes feedback and other perspectives that are different from one’s own, even if they disagree with the position 4) seeks insight: looks to learn and is humble, emotion-driven discourse thinks one person has everything they need to know and the other person knows nothing 5) self-reflective: ability to look at one’s own thinking whereas emotion is fixated on what’s wrong with another person’s perspective.” - December 18th, 2012

9. Poetry and Daily Purpose: In the brilliant and hilarious movie, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, the young protagonist, Ricky Baker, writes haikus as a way to process his feelings. Through my writing group and several key mentors and friends, I’ve learned the value of writing poetry in order to express deep sentiment and different ways of viewing the world. Poetry is an extremely broad genre. Sometimes, I write short one-sentence poems centering on an image that express my focus for a given day.

“Today my purpose is to swim in grace.” - July 4th, 2013

10. Grace and gratitude: "How did you receive and/or give grace today?" This is another prompt from Dr. Dean and a great one to pray through if you don't get a chance to write it down. It's a great way to overcome condemnation and self-criticism. I have practiced this one often over the years and use it alongside gratitude. Here’s anther entry on receiving grace during a pickup basketball game:

“You know the best part of today is that Mel and Mike stood up for me. They defended my hard foul as not being a dirty play and I appreciate it. It was much more effective than me standing up for myself and I realized that's what Jesus does for us.” - October 13th, 2013

11. Blogging: When I feel strongly about something and want to share it, I’ll write a blogpost. I have many posts in various stages of completion that will never be published. I’m fine with that. The purpose of blogging is learning to articulate one’s voice and make cogent arguments. Writing is thinking. Here’s a title of a blogpost I’m working on:

How Investing and Dating are Similar: Tales of Fear, Greed, and Lust

12. Memorable quotes: Kids say the darndest things. I love writing down my kids' quotes. Some people take pictures to preserve memories but I'm a words guy and I love writing down the things my kids say. I used to save them for the 10-year letters that I write.

"’What is f**k? I haven't heard of f**k.’ Elliot responded, obviously irritated at being uninformed about this recent addition to the bad word list.” - September 16th 2014

13. Goals: At the beginning of the school year, our family sets annual goals. We try to make them specific and measurable. Write them for accountability.

“Get 20,000 on the PSAT” - Elliot’s goal for the 2019-2020. He was 10 years old. - September 16, 2019

14. Dialogue with the Holy Spirit: This prompt I learned from SoulCare, a 9-month spiritual formation cohort I finished in May of this year. It means imagining a conversation with the Holy Spirit. There is a power in imagination and giving space for divine inspiration It might start like this: 

"Holy Spirit, I want to hear your voice today." 

HS: "I don't operate on your timeframe and yet I am speaking and seeking your attention all the time. If you slow down a little, quiet the noise in your heart, you will hear my voice."

“Holy Spirit, OK got it. Help me be attentive to your voice - at any volume.”

15. Homework for Life: This is my current go-to journaling prompt. It’s from the book Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks, which changed my life, my preaching, and ministry philosophy. Life is composed of five-second moments. Take a few minutes at the end of each day to write a sentence about a memorable five-second moment. I started in December 2020 and now have 850+ daily entries and counting. I try not to write more than 2-3 sentences. This has not only become a rich source of sermon illustrations but has changed the way I live life. I’m increasingly aware of the power of a moment and place great delight in living for present moments, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant.

“Today, while walking to pizza with the Petkoffs, Judy noticed some apricots had fallen from a tree onto the sidewalk. She picked one up, dusted it off, and popped half into her mouth. She gave me the other half and it was delicious. I remember during her college graduation, I placed a cookie I found on the ground in her bouquet and she ate it. I love this woman.” - June 27th, 2023

In conclusion, to solidify this habit, make it easy for you to write. Pick a time of day and location when and where you’re most reflective and least distracted. For me, it’s mornings in a cafe. I like the ambient noise of a cafe; it’s less distracting than being at home. My son, Micah, now 19 years old, hand writes in his journal both first thing in the morning and becore he goes to bed. I’m less disciplined. A couple of days will pass and I’ll feel a wave of unreleased tension building. Then I’ll go somewhere and gush a thousand words about recent events and how I’m feeling about them.

Start small. Perhaps you’ll build a habit for a lifetime. I had a full range of emotions go through me as I read my old entries. In some cases, I felt relieved that I have changed for the better. In other cases, I felt relieved that I hadn’t. In some cases, I felt despair that I’ve changed for the worse. In other cases, I felt despair that I haven’t changed at all. But as I read my past journal entries, I felt an enduring sense of gratitude for God’s grace towards me over the years. May you have the same blessing as you journal.