Discover the Power of a Morning Journal with Journal Prompts

The way we start our day has a great impact on how the rest of it goes. Think about the time when you had a great walk and feel invigorated. How was your energy throughout the day? How did you feel?

In contrast, think about a day when you had a fight with someone or were worried about something. It’s highly probable that that feeling stayed with you for the whole day.

Even if you did routine stuff that you would generally enjoy, it didn’t feel enjoyable because there was heaviness inside you.

It’s really helpful to have a good start to the day, and one of the ways that you can create that for yourself is by morning journaling. Yes, very simple, isn’t it? But, don’t underestimate it because it’s not a novel idea.

Journaling, any time of the day, has a lot of benefits. Here is a list of all of them:

It can help you manage anxiety, reduce stress and cope with depression^
It provides you with the opportunity for positive self-talk and to identify negative thoughts and behaviors^
It improves our awareness and perception related to life events
Expressive journaling helps in lowering blood pressure and improving mood^
Journaling also helps us think clearly and be more creative with our ideas
Journaling helps us understand ourselves and therefore become capable of helping ourselves

Now, think if we were to focus on the beginning of our day, of our mornings, and take the help of journaling to experience these benefits.

By morning journaling, you will help yourself start your day on the right foot and consciously choose how you want to approach it. You will be in control of your day instead of the other way around.

The purpose of morning journaling is to clear your mind, set intentions for the day, and focus on what's important to you. This helps you feel more grounded and centered throughout the day.

How do I start journaling in the morning?

Now, let’s talk about how we can do morning journaling. You will need tools, time, and a template to follow so it becomes very for you to do this regularly.

1. Tools

The simplest part. All you need is a journal and something to write with. You can choose whether you want to use a physical or a digital journal.

Another important part would be to have a place where you can sit and write freely. You should be free of disturbance and be really sure that your words are for your eyes only. Here a digital journal comes in handy.

Another tip to block the outside world is to listen to white noise while you write. I’m listening to this track as I am writing.

How this helps me is that firstly, as I live in a busy neighborhood with a lot of vehicles passing on our street, white noise reduces that. And another amazing benefit is that because I’m now used to writing with white noise playing, whenever I listen to it, I naturally get into the mode of writing.

2. Time:

This is an obvious point but something we all struggle with. See, if we want to do something good for ourselves, we have to commit to it and do what’s necessary to make it through.

So, you’ve got to decide the amount of time you can make for journaling in the morning and then figure out how you can do it.

Start with something easy. Say, you will write for 5 minutes. Now, can you take out 5 minutes after you brush your teeth or while you drink your coffee? Set a reminder on your phone for this then.

Don’t overpromise yourself about how your whole morning journal practice will be. Just begin. And keep showing up. You can add the frills later.

3. Template

Coming to the question of what to actually write about, I suggest a mix of Morning Pages and Gratitude Journaling.

Morning Pages

Morning Pages is a concept from the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. It’s basically about writing three pages of all your thoughts and feelings in the morning.

There’s no structure, no expectations. You just have to write your thoughts. It can be incohesive, no expectation of perfectionism here at all.

Think about it like you are unloading all of the buzzy thoughts in your head so that you can have a somewhat lighter and clearer mind throughout the day.

And once you do this, I suggest ending your exercise with gratitude. Write about one positive thing from yesterday. Anything that you remember to have made you smile or feel good. Just one thing.

These practices together give you the space to be expressive and also to switch your thoughts toward the good parts of your life. Ending your journal entry with gratitude will help you keep the thought of being blessed despite everything else.

How to practice:

To begin, you can write one page, or if that’s too much, just one paragraph of your uninhibited thoughts and feelings and a sentence describing the positive part of the last day.

If you want to do more, you can do it. Increase it gradually. Maybe you can write more pages, more things you are grateful for, but start small, especially if you are new to this.

I’ll now share some prompts that can help you with your morning journaling:

Morning Journal Prompts

Prompts are a useful tool to help you get ideas on what to write about. I’ll divide these prompts into two: Morning pages prompts and gratitude prompts.

Morning pages prompts

These prompts are to help you get into the flow of expressing yourself and help you keep writing if you get stuck.

How am I feeling in this moment?
How did you feel when you woke up this morning?
What are the most prominent thoughts in your head this morning?
What are you looking forward to today?
What are some of the things on your mind from yesterday?
Is there something that you’re worried about?
Is there something that you’re excited about?
What are some of your dreams for the future?
Is there something that’s bugging you? Why do you think it’s on your mind?
How are you feeling about today?
What do you think about a lot these days?
How are you feeling about your life these days?
Describe yourself in 5 adjectives and express why you chose them.
What is something that has been weighing on your mind lately?
What is something you would like to improve about your life, and what steps can you take to make that happen?
What is a positive change you have made in your life recently, and how has it helped you?
What are some things on your mind for today?

More: 70+ Journal Prompts for Self-Reflection

Morning gratitude prompts

Here are a few gratitude prompts that will help you think of things you can be grateful for:

Look around and list 5 things that help you in your day-to-day life.
List 5 ways that having a mobile phone makes your life easier.
Express gratitude for 5 things that you use daily.
Write about an electronic device that you feel grateful to have.
What is one thing about the Internet that you admire?
What is something that you can do today that people 30 years ago couldn't?
Think about the people you don't know who help make your life easier.
List 5 things in your bedroom that you are grateful for.
Express gratitude for 5 tools that help you save time.
Write about a privilege you enjoy that others might not?.
Write about a song that you can't help but sing along to these days.
What is your favorite thing to do in your free time?
What is your favorite part of your life?
Which recent experience in life taught you a big lesson?
What is your most prized possession?
Write about a day when you felt really happy.
What is your favorite part about nature?
Write about a song that always comforts you.
What are your favorite things to eat?
Where do you feel most happy and relaxed?

More: 101 Gratitude Journal Prompts

And, that’s it, my friend! This is all I wanted to share with you about morning journaling. I hope you found this post helpful and inspiring to start journaling in the morning.

The most important step you can take is to start so don’t worry about being perfect at all, just begin. I hope this practice really helps you clear your mind and have better days!

Also, share this post with your friends if you think it’ll help them. I wish you well. Take care!

Continue Reading: The 4 Journaling Ideas You Must Try