Mindfulness journaling is about reflecting on your mindfulness journey, helping you use writing as a way to grow your awareness. When you sit down to journal, the blank page can be intimidating. That’s where mindfulness journaling prompts come in handy.
Typical journals are about daily events, and whatever else comes to mind.
Mindfulness journaling is about reflecting on your mindfulness journey. Writing is used as a way to grow your awareness. Mindfulness journaling can help you to notice how far you’ve come, and what areas you still want to develop.
Get dozens of one-page exercises to help practice mindfulness, meditation, gratitude, and self love. Perfect for printable handouts when teaching mindfulness to groups, students, or in the workplace.
To see examples, plus a full list of the 61 exercises included, click below.
Common topics include gratitude, being present, noticing how you feel, paying attention to your senses, visioning, self-compassion, awareness, and mental and physical tension.
To get started, simply grab a notebook or open a new document on your computer, and reflect on or more of the following journal prompts for mindfulness.
59 mindfulness journal prompts
- What made me smile today?
- What are some challenges that stretch my limits and help me grow?
- What comes easily to me these days?
- In what ways (small or big) do I impact the world around me?
- What habits am I working to change?
- What’s something I’m procrastinating on right now? Why am I avoiding it?
- In what ways do I feel loved right now?
- What are three things I noticed this morning?
- What obstacles to internal peace am I facing?
- Where am I holding tension in my body right now?
- Are there any relationship conflicts in my life that feel unresolved?
- What things do I look forward to in the day to come?
- What’s making me feel anxious or stressed right now?
- Is there anything that I’d like to do differently in my life?
- How can I feel more aligned in life, between my thoughts and actions?
- Is there any part of myself that I’m holding back in the way I show up in the world?
- How am I feeling about myself in this moment?
- What makes me feel alive?
- Am I content? If not, what are my biggest obstacles to feeling content?
- What steps can I take to grow into the person I want to be?
- What are 3 things I’m grateful for today?
- Noticing the thoughts going through my head, here are 3 things that pop up.
- What do I appreciate the most about the life I live?
- What past failures actually helped me to grow, or to learn what I want (and don’t want)?
- What are the three qualities I love most about myself?
- Are there things I’m holding against the people in my life?
- What can I let go that would make my life freer and less tense?
- What are some situations in recent days where I wasn’t present when interacting with people I care about?
- What things in my life bring me joy? How can I do them more often?
- If this was my last day on Earth, how would I approach the day?
- In what ways can I be more compassionate towards myself?
- In what ways can I forgive myself?
- As a young child, what activities did you have fun with and get completely lost in?
- What topics are you endlessly curious about?
- What story am I telling myself right now, about the day to come or about my life? Can I replace this story with one that’s more useful and accurate?
- What is a habit I’m proud I’ve developed over the last year?
- What’s a time I’ve been able to pause before responding more mindfully?
- Am I more aware of my emotions today than one year ago?
- When is patience most needed in my life?
- When do I feel most authentically “me”?
- Is there anything in my life that I’m struggling to accept?
- When do I most often notice falling into negative thought patterns? Are there certain times of the day, energy levels, or activities that those patterns are linked to?
- When do I notice myself trying to be something, or someone, who I’m not? How can I live more comfortably in my own body in those moments?
- When do I feel most capable?
- In what moments in the last week have I felt joyful?
- What inspires me?
- In what moments have I been thankful for trusting my intuition?
- Something I’m excited about that’s coming up in my life is…
- What in my life makes me smile?
- As you journal, what can I hear? What can I smell? Going through my five senses, what do I notice?
- What vision am I holding for the future? Do I feel like I’m dreaming big with this vision, or holding back based on what I think is possible?
- How much time do I spend in the present, versus the past or the future?
- Who in my life embodies a spirit and energy that I want to cultivate? How can I transform myself in that direction?
- Am I allowing myself the rest I need to recharge?
- When in the last week have I projected my negative energy onto others? Are there ways I can avoid this in the future?
- How does journaling feel right now? What emotions are coming up about the act of writing?
- In what ways do I feel myself changing as a person?
- Sit quietly for two minutes, then write. After letting my mind rest for a moment, what thoughts come up?
- When have I missed out on fully experiencing something because I wasn’t mentally present?
Mindfulness Journal Prompts PDF
You can also download our Mindful Journaling PDF, available below:
Frequently asked questions
What is mindfulness journaling?
Mindfulness journaling is a way to write about, and develop, awareness in your life. Writing can help you to notice how far you’ve come, and what areas you still want to develop.
Whereas “regular” journaling doesn’t necessarily have a flow or set of expectations, mindfulness journaling focuses on topics like awareness, gratitude, being present, noticing how you feel, paying attention to your senses, visioning, self-compassion, and mental and physical tension.
Mindfulness prompts are also different from meditation journal prompts, which focus more on the experience during and immediately after meditation.
Why is mindful journaling important?
Mindfulness journaling adds another dimension to your mindfulness practice.
Whereas thinking can be circular and repetitive, putting thoughts down on the pages pushes you into a more linear and constructive mode. Daily mindfulness journal prompts can help you to make ideas more concrete. It may be that with journaling, you’re able to more fully flesh out your thoughts, and get to the core of what you believe.
Where can I download a Mindfulness Journal Prompts PDF?
You can download our list of printable journal prompts here as a PDF!
My mindfulness practice kicked off in 2016 with a ten-day silent retreat. Since then, I’ve read dozens of books about mindfulness and completed hundreds of hours of meditation. Thinking about what makes humans happy, calm, and peaceful is endlessly fascinating to me.