themorninglark | Journalling prompts for mindful positivity/self-care

A friend asked me about journalling for mindfulness/positivity/self-care, or basically how to let yourself go on a page without letting all the negative shit in your brain take over, and I said I'd put together some prompts for them. Here they are!

These are largely adapted from Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way, and are geared towards gently reminding yourself of things that uplift and affirm you as a creative person. You should feel free to adapt to your own needs.

Some have actions attached to them, but even if you don't feel up to doing the action, I feel just the act of writing about it is pretty powerful. Hope you find it useful!

Allow yourself to write down a negative thought that you often have about yourself, and then write down a positive affirmation that’s the opposite of it. (Do this as many times as comes naturally to you. Let it feel like stream of consciousness brain dumping.)
List three old enemies of your creative self-worth (e.g. an English teacher that made you feel shitty about your writing). Be specific!
- Select and write out what happened with one of these old enemies in as much detail as you can. If you find it cathartic, feel free to draw a sketch of this old enemy (and yourself thrashing them with a large stick)
- Write a letter to the editor in your defense. Have fun with it (“Miss So-and-So was a big jerk and I can write well!!!”)
List three old champions of your creative self-worth: people who wish you and your creativity well. Be specific. Even if you don’t believe a compliment, record it.
List twenty things you enjoy doing (baking cookies, reading a poem, going for a swim etc). When was the last time you let yourself do these things? Place a date next to each.
- From this list, pick one or two favourite things and write down something small you can do that can be a goal for this week. It doesn’t have to be something big. Look for windows of time (e.g. 15 minutes at lunch break) and use them in creative ways.
List ten tiny changes you’d like to make for yourself (e.g. buy some fancy highlighters, put a sticker in your notebook)
- Select one small item and make it a goal for this week.
List five childhood accomplishments.
List five favourite childhood foods. Treat yourself with one of them this week.
Make a list of friends who nurture you and one trait you like about each of them.
Environment: describe your ideal environment. If you have magazines or Pinterest or some way of clipping images, find an image that conveys this. Or draw one.
Speed write ten random things you would love to do. They can be frivolous or totally impossible, it doesn’t matter. The idea is to allow yourself to listen and give free rein to your wildest desires. E.g. “I want to learn scuba diving.” “I want to build a snowman taller than me.”
List down ten ways in which you are mean to yourself. Making the negative explicit helps you to exorcise it.
Make a list of things you would try if you didn’t have to do them perfectly.
Make a list of “happiness touchstones” for yourself: anything from homemade chicken soup to a favourite artist’s music to your favourite fic.
List five ways you will nurture yourself in the coming:
- Month
- Week
- Day even, if you need it!
Write yourself an encouraging letter, as if you’re writing a letter to a friend.