Morning Journal Prompts
One of my favourite books of recent years — for creativity and moving through emotional blockages — is The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. First published in 1992, writers, painters and poets have found it an incredibly useful book for getting the creative juices flowing again. It's where my own morning journal practice started.
I discovered it a few years back when I'd hit a wall with my writing. Short stories had once streamed out of me — more ideas than I knew what to do with. Then, suddenly, they dried up. I kept trying to generate new ones, but it was like pulling teeth. Everything felt dull and uninspired. I'd get a few lines down before casting them aside. (I've never binned ideas - I have a folder on Google Drive full of these stillborn notions.)
I was ready for this book. I've written about it more on my best self discovery books list. Alongside artists' dates — where you take yourself off once a week to an exhibition, a play, a film, a gig, anything that genuinely interests you — there are various exercises to get you going again.
What to write in a morning journal?
Anything you want. That's the beauty of it. Let your mind run free, like the morning pages below, or pick one of the prompts further down the page. It's all about bypassing the inner critic and just letting rip.
Morning Pages
The practice that resonated most with me — and the one I keep returning to — is morning pages. Every morning, whether I felt like it or not, I'd get out of bed, reach for my writing pad, and fill three pages. There are no rules. Just whatever comes into your head. I've often written about not being able to think of anything, or my pen starting to dry up.
You could do them on a laptop, but there's something about the physical act of moving pen across paper that unlocks things typing doesn't. Use whatever you have. The practice matters more than the medium.
How to start
You don't need much. A notebook, a pen, ten quiet minutes before the day takes hold.
Try to write before checking your phone. The morning has a particular quality — defences are down, the day hasn't marked you yet, and what comes out tends to be more honest than anything written at midday. Start with five minutes. One prompt. Don't aim for profundity -aim for honesty.
Gratitude & Appreciation
What are you grateful for this morning — three things, however small?
Who in your life do you not thank enough, and why?
What's something about your everyday life that you'd miss if it were gone?
Describe a moment from the past week that made you smile.
What's something your body did today that you take for granted?
What's a small pleasure you're looking forward to today?
How are you feeling?
How am I feeling right now — not how I should be feeling, but actually?
What's sitting on your chest this morning? Name it.
What are you avoiding thinking about?
What do you need today that you're unlikely to ask for?
Is there something bothering you that you haven't been able to name yet? Try.
What would it feel like to have nothing to worry about?
Self-reflection
What is the one thing you would change about your life right now?
What's one thing you're really good at — that you rarely give yourself credit for?
What did you overcome recently, and how did it change you?
What scares you most right now?
What would your ten-year-old self make of the life you're living?
What do you keep telling yourself you'll do someday?
What does your ideal day look like — in detail?
What are your hopes for this day?
Letters & Conversations
Write a letter to your ten-year-old self.
Write a letter to someone who is no longer with you. Say what you never got to say.
Write a letter to yourself to be opened in ten years.
You've been asked to give a eulogy for someone you love. What do you say?
Write a letter to a younger version of yourself at a moment when you needed to hear something.
Creativity & imagination
They're making a film of your life. Who plays you, and what are the three key scenes?
You have the gift of invisibility for 24 hours. Where are you going?
You've been granted one superpower. What is it, and what's the first thing you do?
You're shipwrecked on an island for a month. One book, one album, one film. What are they?
If you could come back as a ghost, who would you haunt and why?
The government announces that aliens are landing in 48 hours. What's the first thing you do?
If money were no object, where would you live and how would you spend your days?
If you could live in any period of history, which would you choose and why?
What animal would you come back as, and what does that say about you?
The world around you
Look out your window. Write a story about the first person you see.
Describe your neighbourhood to someone who has never seen it.
What makes you sad about the world right now?
What makes you quietly optimistic?
What do you think is humanity's worst invention — and its best?
What's something happening in the world right now that you'd like to understand better?
Memory & people
Describe your favourite family holiday in detail — the smells, the sounds, the feeling of it.
Write about your favourite teacher and what they gave you.
What qualities make someone a true friend?
Who has shaped you most, and have you ever told them?
What's the best dream you ever had?
Describe a place from your past that no longer exists as it was.
What's a piece of advice you were given that turned out to be wrong?
Fun & playful
You're hosting a dinner party and can invite anyone, living or dead. Five guests. Who and why?
If you got on a plane right now, where would you go?
What makes you laugh — properly, uncontrollably?
What's your favourite season, and what does it feel like when it arrives?
Describe your favourite pet — or the pet you wish you had.
Which famous person, living or dead, would you most like to have been for a day?
What's a film, book or album that changed how you saw the world?