journaling prompts

The following prompts have appeared at various times in my online newsletter:

What does being loved unconditionally mean to you?

Have you ever been loved unconditionally? By whom?

What nourishes you?

In what way do you indulge yourself?

In what way do you wish you could indulge yourself?

List three ways in which you could make that indulgence happen (even if they seem far-fetched now).

Do you remember the phone number of the house you grew up in?

Do you remember the phone number of your first boyfriend or girlfriend?

What fragments of your past stay with you even though they seem insignificant?

Do you prefer to collect and save things or live sparsely?

Are you a night owl or a morning person or something in between? Do you know when this habit began in your life? Do you think people’s sleep patterns are really a part of who they are (like hair color) or can be changed with circumstances?

If you could share a deep soul kiss with someone today, who would it be?

Is your love life today what you thought it would be when you were younger? Is it better or worse? Why? What would you change? How could you bring about that change?

Who loves more – you or your partner? (If you don’t currently have a partner, address the question to your last serious relationship.

What is more important to success; intelligence or good manners?

What do you think about the concept of Royalty in the modern world. Do you think that there is still a place for that system of value by birth? Would you feel the same if you were born into Royalty? If you knew that most royalty around the world must work for a living, would you give the same answers?

Who makes you laugh? What about that person touches you and allows you to open yourself up to them in that way?

Have you ever felt true intimacy with another person? Who/When?

What, aside from sex, do you feel is encompassed in the definition of intimacy?

Name three adjectives that describe your mother.

Name three adjectives that describe your father.

Of the above six adjectives, which, if any, do you feel apply to you. Do you think they are related to your relationship with your parents, or something you developed separately from them.

How would you react if you found out that you had a sibling you did not know about? Would you want to meet them? How would it change your relationship with your parents? How would it change the way you thought of yourself?

I am afraid of

I wish I would have

I wish I would not have

I indulge myself by

My biggest vice is

My best characteristic is

I have a secret crush on

I have no qualms about

My nickname is

If my apartment were on fire, I would save

I've lied about

I'd lie again about

If I were sitting on Santa's lap, and stilled believed that he existed, I'd ask for

I wish I were more

I wish I was less

I hate having to

I love getting to

One way I could indulge myself over the holidays would be to

If my family would never find out, I would

I think sex is

I think men are

I think women are

The color ____ represents to me / reminds me of

The scent I most associate with the holidays is

I am am looking forward to 200__ because

I think the most beautiful color is

I think the mot beautiful sight in nature is

I wish I had spent more time ___

Next year I plan to

The 200__ holidays are going to be good because

The thing I dread about the 200__ holidays is

One way I'm going to avoid the chaos of the holidays is to

The one gift I plan to give myself this year is

How many houses have you lived in during your life?

Write a paragraph describing the style of each house physically.
Write a paragraph describing the mood of each house while you lived in it.
Write a paragraph about the next house you will live in.

Real Estate agents say "Location, Location, Location". How does your location affect your life? Are you happy where you are or would you like to move? How would a different location affect you?

How many pets have you had in your life? Did you choose them? What were they like? Do you remember their personalities and funny things they did or are they a blur to you?

If you had to move to a smaller place than you live in now, what would you absolutely find a way to keep from your belongings?

What will happen to your journals in the future? Do you want them to be destroyed or read by future generations? Do you find it helpful to read old journals or is it depressing? Why do you journal?

What is your favorite color? Is it different now than it was ten years ago? If so, why?

If you had to share a home or apartment with a friend, who would it be?

What is more important to you, photographs, scrapbooks, or journals?

What sound to you associate with spring?

What has to happen before you think, "spring is here"?

If you could have a designer come into a room of your house and redecorate it for you, which room would it be and what would you ask them for?

If you were to be declared "queen" or "king" of something, what would it be? Why?

What is it that you do that you know you do better than other people?

What would you like to be better at? Why?

"Spring Cleaning" time is here - will you be doing any cleaning (relationships, goals, etc.) other than just the house?

What is the best gift you were ever given for your birthday?

What gift do you wish you could give (if reality was not a factor) to the most important person in your life?

What famous person would you like to meet? Why?

What does being "famous" mean? Would you like to be famous? What does being famous do for you? What does being famous take away from you?

List five places you'd like to visit on vacation in the next twenty years? Why did you choose those? What could you do to make visiting one of them a reality in the next two years?

How many vacations have you been on in your life? What was the best?

If you could go on vacation with anyone, whom would you choose?

Have you ever been drunk? What was your first experience with alcohol?

If you could live one day without consequences, what would you do? Would you get a tattoo just to see what it was like? What other things would you try?

If you were going to have a baby, what would you name it? Why? What affect do you think our names have on us? What do you wish your name could be now?

What New Years Resolutions have you made and kept?

What do you want to be writing in your journal in December of 200__?

What are you looking forward to in 200__?

What is the best thing about Winter?

What is your earliest winter memory?

What is your favorite season? Why?

What was the best New Years Eve celebration you enjoyed? What made it so special?

Describe the perfect New Years Eve party. Who would be there? What would you serve? Where would it be held?

Is New Years just another day or is it special? Why?

What do you want to be writing in your journal in December of 2006?

What does "home for Christmas" mean to you?

After Thanksgiving, write about your family traditions. What people, recipes, dishes, and decorations always seem to turn up? What do you like best about those things? What would you like to replace with something new?

Do you find yourself looking at the holidays differently this year?

What people from your past would you like to see during the holidays?

When you were a kid, did you peek into the packages before Christmas to find out what you were getting? Did that enhance Christmas or ruin it on the day for you? Do you still do it?

What person will you be buying for at Christmas that you most want to surprise?

Is there a person that you don't know personally that you would like to send a gift of thanks this year? People we may never meet have touched us all over the last few months. Who would you choose? Why?

What food and candy most remind you of the holidays?

What does 200__ mean to you?

Do you remember "2001, a Space Odyssey"? In what ways was the movie on target for our lives? In what ways was it completely wrong?

Every year, near New Years, there is a list of all the people that died and all the major events from the year. Write your own list and then compare it with the lists put out by the news media in December.

Write about your first real "girlfriend" or "boyfriend". What drew you to that person? What do they have in common with the people you are involved with now?

Write about your favorite Halloween. What made it good? Did you wear a costume? Where did it come from? Who else was there?

What sound reminds you of Halloween? What smell?

Will you dress up for Halloween this year? If not, why not? Would you if you had a reason to? What would you be? How would you make your costume?

What is the best way to start a conversation? What is the most interesting conversation starter you have ever heard? (Andy Warhol used to go up to people and say, "I think toasters are really fabulous!")

Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving? How does the thought of the approaching holidays make you feel?

What will 200_ be, "the year of ___" for you?

List every tradition about the upcoming holidays that you don't like. Now list all the good stuff. Which list is longer? Why?

If you hate the holidays, what is something you could do - perhaps a new tradition you could adopt - that would give you something to look forward to?

Write about your first "gym" class in school. What grade were you in? How did it make you feel? Grown up? Scared? What memories do you have from gym? What smell comes back to you? How did gym make you feel about your body?

If you had to get rid of everything from your closet except for twenty items (not including undies, shoes, or accessories), what would you keep? Why?

What is your favorite photograph of yourself? When was it taken? What do you like about it? What does it represent?

If you could have an hour with the President of the United States now, what would your advice be to him? If you did this exercise last month, would it be different?

If you could see inside another person's head as to what there thoughts were for a five-minute period of time, whom would you choose - and what moment would you capture?

Write a three-sentence description of you covering your name, your passion, your location, your love, and your vision for the future.

What, if anything, would justify you taking the life of another human?

If you could have five minutes alone with the President to help him with his task, what advice would you give him?

What, to you, was the most touching image of the last few weeks? Why? (There may be a few.)

What does being truly alive mean to you?

If you were on an airplane that was hijacked, whom would you call first? What would you say?

Around the world people lit candles in memory of the tragedy. What do those candles mean? Why does it make people feel better to light them?

What kind of person becomes a firefighter, police or EMS worker? What qualities does that person have? Which of those qualities do you have? Which do you wish you had or wish you had more?

One of the most striking aspects of the television coverage the past couple of weeks for me has been that we have seen a lot of men cry openly. Although we have a fairly open society, that is still a rarity. What does that mean? Is it good or bad?

What was the first step of getting back to your life after the tragedies?

What is something that you have seen in your local neighborhood that you found heartening or encouraging?

Fall is almost here, and soon the leaves will be changing. What does that change signify for you?

What are the smells and tastes of fall?

When I was three years old I . . .

When I was thirty years old I . . .

What song reminds you of Church? Why?

What song reminds you of elementary school? High school? College?

Where was the first place you lived on your own? What was good about it? Were there things about it that you wonder how you coped with? What and why? What did your parents think of your first place?

When you were a teenager, what did you think the person you would marry would be like? What influenced that?

Make a list of lives you would like to live / would like to have lived (e.g. poet, astronaut, explorer of the amazon, debutante, etc.)

What is the most exciting profession you can think of? What makes it exciting? Would you want to do it? Why / Why not?

If you were going to move to another country, what country would you choose? How do you think living there would change you? What would you miss about your own country?

What food reminds you of the kitchen in the house where you grew up? What is your most vivid memory surrounding that food?

Imagine yourself 80 years old. Write a letter to yourself at your present age giving yourself advice on diet, appearance, family, friends, and work.

If you were given a book deal for any subject that you wanted to write about, what subject do you feel the most qualified to discuss? (cooking, cleaning, astronomy, painting, whining . . . what's your best skill?) What would you name the book?

What housekeeping chore do you mind the least (or do you actually like)? Why? Do you have memories of doing this, or watching someone else do this, from when you were a child? What are those memories?

Name every pet you've ever had. Describe them and write a memory of something that happened with them.

Fall is just around the corner. Do you like this season? What will be your favorite memory last Summer ? Do you look forward to Halloween and Thanksgiving? How will you prepare?

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