Journal Prompts for the New Year
- Suzana Da Costa, DHOM, N.D., DHP
- January 21, 2023
Journal prompts are starting points for encouraging a dialogue with ourselves that facilitates our evolution.
What is virtually free, simple or elaborate, can take 5 minutes or a few hours, can include ink, paint, stickers, photos, paper, tape, glue, sparkles and be a doorway to your unconscious and potential self? Journalling!
Journals are truly what you make them while also being a powerful avenue for engaging with our inner landscape. Do you want an easy way to explore what is looking for expression within you? Would you like a place to collect your memories, experiences, dreams and reflections? Journals can be used for that and more. For students at MICH, journalling is important, and is a constant companion on the student journey.
Journal prompts are helpful for both novice and experienced journallers because they provide starting points that encourage a dialogue with ourselves. Through dialogue, we shed light and awareness on aspects of our psyche that seek expression. This process helps us develop and discern actions and choices that align us with our evolutionary journey.
Journal prompts also invaluable in helping to inform and guide New Year’s resolutions by providing a space to revisit our goals and reflect on our dreams. Choose one or more of the following journal prompts to explore your inner landscape and what is unfolding within you.
Write a letter to your future self
Do you have a vision of where you see yourself in 10 years? Write down everything about that. Be honest about how you’re feeling (uncertain, scared) and trust that your future self has what you need to get there.
Write a letter to your past self
Is there an experience from your past that feels unresolved? Write to yourself about how that experience has changed you and how you feel about it. How has your experience of that event changed over time? Even if it was a bad experience, try to see how it was a catalyst for an opportunity you would not have had otherwise.
Write down 20 things you were grateful for last year
Review the year just past and write down 20 things you were grateful for. Did a neighbor help you dig out your car? Did a stranger give you a bright smile that lifted your spirits? Being grateful for small moments help us to stay aligned to the gifts of the universe and can be a cornerstone of our journal practice.
What are you ready to invest in and cultivate in the new year? What are you ready to leave behind?
Write down the activities you do daily, weekly or monthly that bring you joy and pleasure as well as what burdens you in life. Use this list to choose what you want more of, as well as how to provide self care when you feel challenged. Take your time to discern whether what challenges you is no longer needed or something that can be seen through a different lens.
Choose a visual prompt
Print or cut out an image from a magazine that inspires you. Paste it in your journal and write about why you chose it and what it means to you. You can do this every time you come across an image that inspires you and use it to explore what attracts you to it.
Start a health journal
Not a journal prompt, but a useful and sometimes disregarded support for the resolutions we set for ourselves to work out more, stop drinking or lose 10lbs. Your health journal can include a food diary, mood and energy tracker, as well as any supplements or diets you’re trying. Use your health journal to assess what works for you and adjust your diet and lifestyle accordingly.
Frame a favorite quote or inspiration
Do you have a favorite quote or message that inspires you? Find a photo frame that you like and use it to hold that message. Put it on your desk, or somewhere else you’ll see it everyday. I change the message once it no longer feels relevant, and replace it with a new one that will support me in my goals.
Journaling as a therapeutic and creative tool is encouraged throughout the MICH Diploma Program.
From holistic integration exercises to personal, 1:1 mentorship, students at MICH are regularly invited to journey to deeper dimensions of their experience.
About Suzana Da Costa, DHOM, N.D., DHP
Suzana’s compassion, ability to listen and hold space for someone lies at the heart of her growing practice. Her work as a homeopath is complemented by her practice as an astrologer as well as her passion for self discovery and the human journey.
If you are looking for a Holistic Practitioner to help you with what may come up in your journaling, please visit our Find a practitioner page. Working with a MICH Practitioner will help you advance the self discovery and exploration you initiate in your journal and help you apply that in your daily life.