Journaling is a simple, intentional activity that helps organize and understand our thoughts and feelings more clearly. As a supportive way to track our goals or progress through challenges; writing in a journal can serve as a reminder of accomplishments and growth over time.
The valuable thing about journaling is that anyone who is interested can start at any time. Whether it’s with a notebook and pen, adapted writing and typing aids or assistive technology — even notated sketches and drawings — it can be picked up whenever required.
Similar to a diary, a journal is a record of our experiences or perceptions about a topic or question that we want to explore. It becomes a living document that connects us to our personal growth as we work through the ideas, emotions, successes and hardships that influence us.
Many of us will embrace our own concept of what gratitude means; typically, it’s about recognizing the things in life we are thankful for. However, in broader terms, particularly when establishing the basis of a journal entry; gratitude can represent a way of examining both positive and negative situations, emotions and experiences — taking a look at what we can learn from them and how to improve ourselves or appreciate who and what we have around us.
There are many ways in which practicing gratitude is beneficial for our personal well-being. From improved sleep to lower blood pressure; decreased stress and improved levels of optimism — even boosted self-esteem — being mindful about gratitude in our everyday lives can offer a significant source of emotional resiliency.
Here are 14 engaging journaling prompts that focus on gratitude …
- What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? How did it impact your life?
- What’s the best compliment you’ve been given?
- What bad habit would you like to change? How will this improve your life?
- Describe how a friend has supported you when you really needed it.
- Write about a time a stranger did something nice for you.
- What, in your opinion, is strength?
- How do you show your loved ones they are appreciated?
- What has made you angry this week? How did you deal with it; what did you learn from it?
- Have you ever taken a huge risk? What was it, and was it worth it?
- Write a one-minute ‘Thank You’ note to someone (it can also be a note to yourself).
- Describe how you give and receive unconditional love.
- What three character traits are you most thankful for — and why?
- What or who do you have in your life that makes you feel safe?
- How do you practice reciprocity?
The purpose of these journaling prompts is to hopefully facilitate personal reflection and emotional exploration; allowing gratitude to become a lens through which we observe life. Cultivating this kind of mindset is definitely worth welcoming into our day.
Which prompt is your favourite? Do you practice gratitude in your everyday life?
Further Info:
Journaling for Mental Health: A Therapist’s Guide – TalkSpace
transatlantic | notes 
These are good prompts for journaling . Will add some of these in my journal. Thank you for sharing.
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I’m so happy you liked them!
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Great prompts!
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Thanks!
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Journaling is so important. I love these prompts & will be using them myself. Thanks for sharing.
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I hope you will enjoy using them and that they prove useful!
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These are very helpful prompts! My favourite is the one-minute thank you note as I’m naturally inclined to do this. Thanks for sharing Molly!
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That’s great; I like this one too as it’s a nice emotional health habit to get into!
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These are wonderful and thought-provoking journal prompts! I can’t wait to use them to connect with myself on a deeper level. My favorite prompt has to be “What has made you angry this week?” It’s a great way to reflect and examine a situation where we could’ve reacted better without thinking of it as a negative experience. Thank you for sharing!
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I love that one too because when I get angry about something I don’t always look at what I can learn from that/do better next time. I am so glad you like these prompts — thanks for reading!
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These are great prompts! Thank you!
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I appreciate that!
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These are great prompts for journal. Sometimes when we are feeling anxious or stressed, a gentle pat in the right direction helps us a lot. These prompts are those positive signals to understand ourselves in a better way.
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I love the idea of a ‘gentle pat’ to help us out and I think that fits perfectly here — thank you so much for stopping by!
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Really lovely blog.
I adore journalling and find it very therapeutic. These are great prompts
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It took me a while to come around to the idea of journaling but it really does help so much with emotional care — thanks for reading!
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So many journal prompt lists are overwhelmingly long, mostly because many of the prompts are a little too similar for my taste. Love that you keep this list short and sweet! 🙂
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I find the exact same thing; and they are usually very generic. I try to make the prompts I come up with a little more engaging (and not overly swamped with examples, haha)! Thanks so much for reading!
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These are some really great journaling prompts which I’ll defiantly be taking note of! Thank you so much for sharing with us lovely Xo
Elle
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I am so happy you like them!
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These are really good journal prompts Molly. I’m going to use these when I do my journaling tomorrow morning. Thanks for sharing.
Jade MumLifeandMe
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I am so glad you’re going to use these; I’ve found them really useful when journaling.
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I really want to get into journaling again and these all sound like great prompts. I do quite like the best advice prompt as well as the unconditional love prompt.
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I like those prompts too as they really get me thinking — thanks so much for reading!
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I love these journal prompts focusing on gratitude. I like the idea of writing one thank you note to someone, even if it’s to yourself! x
Lucy
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It’s such a lovely idea; I’ve done it a few times and it definitely focuses on gratitude — thanks for reading!
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Thank you for the prompts will definitely use them. I found your blog on a fellow friend’s website. Take care
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I am so glad you popped over to have a look/read! I hope these prompts prove useful for you!
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These prompts are thought provoking and I like that. I should add these. Thanks for sharing.
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I am so glad these proved useful; thanks so much for reading!
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I like the prompt what is a bad habit you would like to change? Very thought provoking.
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I like that one too; when I sit and think about it I realize what I’ve let some things become a habit that need to be tackled. Thanks so much for reading!
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Love this post! I keep meaning to go back to my journaling but I just keep letting slip my mind. My self-care has slipped recently and it’s really beginning to show.
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I have let my self-care slip so I know how stressful that can be (sending you love); journaling is something I pick up every now and then which has honestly been it’s most positive aspect. I don’t always do it but it’s there when I’m able to use it. Thanks so much for reading!
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I’ve been looking for some more journal prompts lately! I’ve given my journal a bit of an overhaul and want to use it to help my mindset and personal growth. I’ll definitely be using all of these! Thank you for sharing, Molly x
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I am so happy you found this useful — journaling can be so useful to shift our mindset (something I need too). Thanks so much for reading!
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These are really great prompts and quite different from the typical gratitude prompts I come across. I really like these two: “What has made you angry this week? How did you deal with it; what did you learn from it?” and “Have you ever taken a huge risk? What was it, and was it worth it?” Anger is a big emotion that we are taught to ignore or repress, but emotions are signals to our internal states and we can learn from them. These past few weeks have been one of reaccessing my life and making changes so thinking about the risks resonates. Thanks for sharing.
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I am so encouraged that you liked these prompts; I try to come up with ones that are a bit more unusual as it really gets us thinking. You’re so right about anger being an emotion we’re often taught to ignore or see as negative. Understanding it is key so I love that you mentioned it often signals what;s going on internally for us; I 100% agree!
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Oh wow, I love these journaling prompts! They are so helpful and really quite thought provoking
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Thank you — I’m glad they were useful/interesting!
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Gratitude is something I practise regularly to make sure I stay grounded. You have shared some great suggestions. Thank you for sharing.
Lauren.
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It’s such a great way to shift our mindset and focus on things we can be grateful for/put into action. Thanks so much for reading!
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