Use this inspo to kickstart your next self-care journaling session.
– KEYS SOULCARE
Journaling is a tried and true form of getting grounded and going deeper with ourselves. Making a date with ourselves to explore our emotions and thoughts not only honors and memorializes our feelings, but it helps clarify them for us, too.
Enter the Soulcare Gratitude Journal — the Keys Soulcare product offering designed to encourage your innermost thoughts to flow freely. This 160 page journal is a companion to your everyday self-reflection, featuring empowering affirmations curated by our Goddess-In-Chief Alicia Keys.
HOW DOES JOURNALING HELP WITH SELF-REFLECTION?
Journaling can be a powerful tool to help you identify the patterns and behaviors that make up your daily life.
Our life is the sum of how we spend our time each day, and our habits add up over time. Journaling carves out a consistent moment for ourselves even during hectic or busy seasons in life. When we journal — similar to when you tell a friend a story — we weave together a narrative of our experiences, make sense of what happens to us, and create our reality.
Plus, journaling gives us an outlet like no other: a catalog of our thoughts and feelings. It’s the closest anyone can get to being inside their own head.
HOW TO START JOURNALING
Luckily, all you need is a pen and paper to pick up the habit of journaling. To nurture this habit, try setting a timer for 15 minutes each morning and free-write anything that comes to mind, or use any of the self-reflection journal writing prompts below to spark your muse.
To gracefully wrap up the chapters of 2024 and welcome the possibilities of 2025, we’ve handpicked a set of 10 soulful journal prompts for self-reflection to help you savor the memories of the past, stay anchored in the present, and paint a vision for the future. So get comfortable, grab your journal, and embark on a mindful voyage of self-exploration with these reflective journal prompts.
10 BEST REFLECTION JOURNAL PROMPTS
1. WHAT ARE YOUR 3 TOP INTENTIONS FOR THE YEAR?
This New Year self-reflection question can actually be used any time of year. You can always start fresh at a new goal, whether it’s January or not.
Choose three intentions that symbolize what’s important to you in your life right now. Then, break each intention down. Start by giving each intention a measurable goal. For example, if your intention is to build a loving self-care practice, your goal may be to journal three times per week.
Then, with your goal set, create an action plan that breaks down each goal into baby steps. Can you journal during your lunch break, for instance? Do you enjoy slow weekend mornings where you might find quiet time to write? Think of ways to make space for your intentions in your current schedule. Remember, progress > perfection.
2. HOW HAVE YOU GROWN AND EVOLVED IN THE PAST YEAR?
List out your proudest achievements of the year, big and small. These don’t have to be awards won or hitting major milestones. As you close out the year, what are you most proud of putting your heart, your time, and your energy towards? Does that look different from the year before? If so, how?
3. WHO HAS TOUCHED YOUR HEART THE MOST?
Make a list of people you love and cherish, and write out why they are so special to you. Include as much detail as possible.
4. HOW CAN YOU EXPRESS YOUR APPRECIATION FOR YOUR LOVED ONES?
Take the prompt above a step further. Have you told the people on your list how much you love them lately? Take the reason(s) why they touch your heart and share it with them — pick up the phone, shoot over a text, write an email, or send them a thoughtful gift.
5. WHAT DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS HAVE YOU BEEN NURTURING?
Outline your dreams at a high level. Then, use your journal to outline your plans and strategies for the coming year, transforming dreams into actionable goals.
6. HOW WILL YOU BRING YOUR DREAMS TO LIFE?
What does the version of you that brings your dreams to fruition act like? What’s in their toolkit for making things happen? Is there anything you can change today to be one step closer to your dreams tomorrow?
7. HOW CAN YOU BE KINDER TO YOURSELF?
Set an intention for your journaling practice and seal it with an affirmation from our Affirmation Finder. Write down which affirmation resonates with you right now, and spend a little time reflecting on it.
What comes up for you when it comes to being kind to yourself? How do you feel about affirmations generally? Consider it all food for thought as you reflect on this journal prompt.
8. HOW CAN YOU INTEGRATE DAILY ACTS OF SELF-CARE INTO YOUR ROUTINE?
Taking care of yourself — mind, body, and soul — doesn’t have to be complicated. Self-care is so much more than bubble baths and positive thinking. It’s a daily commitment to showing up for yourself through repeated habits, whether that’s making it a point to wash your face every single night or prioritizing an early bedtime.
We created our beauty bundles to take the guesswork out of building a simple, effective skincare ritual. The Radiance Skincare Bundle is a three-step, everyday starter kit for radiant, healthy-looking skin, while the Hydrate + Glow Bundle is a short and sweet ritual that helps provide nourishing hydration.
9. CAN YOU SEE THINGS FROM A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW?
Put yourself in the passenger seat of your life for a moment. How does this external vantage point match your internal landscape? How does it differ? Can you hold space for both points of view to coexist?
Or, imagine you are watching a movie of your life. What scenes make it into the montage of this current era?
10. WHAT NEW EXPERIENCES ARE YOU READY TO WELCOME IN?
Make a list of experiences you want to try, or feelings that you’d love to feel in the future. No experience is too small; it doesn’t have to be glamorous or adventurous (like skydiving) to count here. Write down at least five.
If you’re struggling to come up with one, consider choosing an experience loosely based around the five senses — sound, sight, taste, smell, and touch — and see what that unlocks within.
Use these journaling prompts any time you want to get to know yourself a bit better. Is journaling a part of your personal soulcare ritual?
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