A diary, a pen, and your mind can bring into life a beautiful gratitude journal. And you don’t have to stare at the blank page looking for some gratitude journal prompts. It’s all around. Thus, you just need an eye to realize them. Yes!
‘Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.’
– Robert Brault
So, it’s not that overwhelming process. Just look around you and cherish what you have. No matter how big or little. This small move can bring a huge difference. Let’s see how!
What is a Gratitude Journal Prompt?
A gratitude journal is an intentional practice to be thankful. And this practice can only be carried out with its gratitude prompts. A gratitude journal prompt is a written observation of your life to see and cherish the good in it. With these, you can make your journal a self-improvement tool. So you can get back to it whenever you need inspiration.
Thus, get ready to unfold some of the best presents you have and never knew. Here we go!
125 Gratitude Journal Prompts
‘You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy.’
– Buddha
Living in this chaotic world, we curse every time about something or the other. But sometimes, we need a break. And then we realize how little things we ignore are the ones that add essence to our lives.
These gratitude journal prompts will do that for you. So, discover the bliss you were missing until now! Here you go.
- First of all, begin with your life. You are alive to live an amazing life. And aren’t you grateful for this opportunity?
- What is the thing that you adore most in your life? Family, nature, or food? Literally anything!
- How’s your health? Are you able to fully enjoy the beautiful nature of your body? If yes, you should be grateful.
- What is the first thing that motivates you to wake up every morning?
- Can you admire beautiful music or a piece of art? This aesthetic sense is bliss itself.
- Which touch or sensation do you find most beautiful? Maybe your kid’s or your favorite blanket.
- Point music or song that you admire.
- Who are the people closest to your heart? They can be your parents, siblings, life partner, or best friend.
- Mention three things that you do to make your dear ones happy.
- What is your favorite hobby? How do you enjoy it?
- Think about something you are simply passionate about. It can be painting, singing, sports, etc. Even the stock market.
- When did you have your favorite food recently?
- Have you ever stood against the wrong or unfair deed happened to you or others?
- Which part of your body do you admire most? Maybe your eyes shining behind the glasses or your artistic fingers?
- Do you love yourself? When asked about all you love, how much time will you take to whisper your name?
- What are your unique personality traits?
- An accomplishment of yours you are proud of.
- The place you feel safest or most comfortable.
- What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
- Freedoms you are enjoying. Like, you are free to dress your way or speak up your mind.
- Who is a person you admire for his/her perspective for life? How do you adopt his/her ideas?
- A difficult phase of your life that you successfully passed.
- Which part of the day touches you the most? Are you a night owl or a morning lover?
- The season you enjoy most.
- Have you ever danced in the rain to feel your soul? Or any such experience with nature.
- A beautiful smell that refreshes you.
- What is the best day of your week? Mention the activities that make it enjoyable.
- Someone whose smile you really admire.
- Whom do you find an ever supporting person for you?
- The kindest thing that happened to you.
- A funny or embarrassing incident that makes you laugh even today.
- Who was your best teacher till now?
- A stranger whom you remember secretly.
- Any incident when someone unexpectedly forgave you for your mistake.
- What is the mistake in your life that eventually led to something good?
- Any appreciation that made your day.
- Your best birthday ever.
- Name a book that you loved. How do you feel reading it?
- We all have our favorite corner at home. Which one is yours?
- Think about a special childhood memory. How was it? Why do you remember it even today?
- Who was your favorite superhero or fictional character as a child? Why so?
- Your best friend in childhood. How did you meet and mention the crazy things you did together?
- What was your favorite toy in childhood?
- Mention three fun memories with your friends, cousins, or siblings.
- Write the best memory you have with your parents or guardian.
- Which tradition are you grateful for? There are plenty, trust me. Just think.
- Describe the best things about your city or town. Mention if you have any memories related to it.
- Name a place you would like to visit. Why?
- What is a thing you did out of your comfort zone? How did you feel accepting the challenge?
- Point one of your habits that helps you grow.
- What is the thing that you love about your job? It can be your work, people you meet or the places you visit.
- When did you last solve a problem in your professional life? How was the feeling to cross the hurdle?
- Any small thing that you love doing but never thought about it.
- What do you dream about? If you have some dreams to live for, you are really blessed.
- Your favorite outfit. Yes, one you love.
- Which is the most precious or favorite thing you bought for yourself? Your first brush set or a recent diamond pendant – anything you love.
- How did you spend your first income? Or, how would you like to in case you haven’t got it yet?
- What is your favorite TV show or web series? Why do you like it?
- One thing in this world that you find most astonishing.
- What opportunity of your life are you grateful for?
- Describe an exciting trip you had.
- Which element of nature do you admire most?
- How do you face hard times? Do you practice mindful self-compassion?
- What did you want to be as a child? Revisit those cute memories.
- Do you love animals or birds? Any pet or one would you like to have as a pet?
- What is the best present you ever got? Something which was/is really precious to you.
- Describe an incident when assuming positive intent helped you.
- Whom would you like to meet once in life? Any celebrity, sportsman, writer, or anyone? You have this wonderful feeling of admiring someone.
- Any skill of yours you admire. Or, anything you created yourself. For instance, a clay model, a DIY robot, or some chocolate cookies.
- Do you have any spiritual connections? Or, do you practice mindfulness?
- Which is the cutest pet name you ever got? Or, a funny one if you don’t find it cute.
- A technology or gadget that makes your life easy.
- Describe an incident when you helped someone. How did you feel?
- Which transport mode do you prefer? How do you like it?
- Any trait of yours you explored recently.
- Which weird habit of yours people mostly notice? This is the thing that makes you special.
- Most inspiring quote, article, or poem you ever read.
- Whom do you find the best listener for you? Or, with whom do you speak your heart?
- Any incident when a stranger brought a smile to your face and vice versa.
- What is your favorite drink?
- Thinking about a ‘perfect life’, what are the things you consider?
- Have you ever unexpectedly escaped from a difficult situation? Describe it.
- Who is the person who shares much of your likes and dislikes?
- Describe an incident that made you realize your self-worth.
- Who is the cutest person you saw recently? You can definitely count you in:)
- Name a thing that made you feel good today.
- Where did you last see your favorite color?
- Make a list of 5 things you can do to improve yourself.
- Reason for your most hearty smile or the laughter of the day.
- When did you recently meet your favorite person?
- Think about something that you would like to learn in the future.
- What do you like about your better half? Or, how do you expect him/her to be?
- Describe your last vacation or holiday which you thoroughly enjoyed.
- What is the last thing you get for yourself? How do you like it?
- How do you pamper yourself? Or you may think what would you like to have after a hard day?
- Mention at least five things that you have today but hadn’t five years ago.
- What makes you feel beautiful?
- Describe an incident in which you rise above your fear. Even the smallest one made you stronger.
- What do you like to do in your leisure time?
- List 10 things that make your life better.
- Who is your special person? What do you like most about him or her?
- How have you recently helped someone or showed your kindness?
- Which personal activity do you love doing while alone?
- Have you ever got a heartfelt letter? Who sent it and how you felt?
- What are the positive aspects of the situations or people you dislike?
- Is there any phrase or something you often repeat? Otherwise, anyway or style of yours that you noted.
- When was the last time you had a refreshing sleep or nap?
- Mention three good things that happened to you today.
- Have you received any surprise party or gift ever? Or, have you made the same for someone?
- Which social media platform do you like to spend your time on most?
- Name the last thing you learned. For instance, a new language or creating a podcast, or making a perfect omelet.
- What do you plan to do in the next 5 years? How do you love this vision?
- A friend or acquaintance you unexpectedly met after years.
- How is your today better than yesterday?
- Which place in the world would you like to visit once in your lifetime? Describe it.
- Think about an incident when you did something courageous. What did you learn?
- What is your relationship status? Mention the best things about it.
- Do you ever have a mindful feeling? What are the things that make you peaceful?
- One thing you did this year to fulfill your dream.
- Any special incident occurred to you recently.
- How did you enjoy your day? Even the smallest things that bring you joy count in happiness.
- What makes you grateful for today?
- Think about the person whose existence motivates you to excel.
- Did you share your experiences with gratitude with others? If yes, you should be thankful for the positivity you shared.
- ‘Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.’ – Melody Beattie. Can you feel the quote? Reflect on how it is true for your life?
TIP
Don’t just go through the list to check what you are grateful for. It doesn’t work. Follow each point with your own time. It should proceed with a realization. And do add ‘why’ you feel so in every point.
Gratitude Journal Prompts Benefits
‘Gratitude makes sense of your past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.’
– Melody Beattie
So, gratitude fills all the vacant corners of your life. This makes it beneficial in ground reality. Let’s explore more of its pros.
- First of all, it helps you to see the positive aspects of your life.
- It helps to put down the negative thought process or pessimistic point of view.
- Have a healthy perspective for life, the world, and people.
- It gives you the strength each day to stand against the hard times.
- Widens your vision to see good and support others in seeing it.
- It is a great way of improving your interpersonal skills.
- You have better emotional resilience.
- The practice enables the ability to overcome your fear.
- Working on gratitude journal prompts enhances your creativity and aesthetic senses.
- A gratitude journal is an easiest and best way to introduce children to positive concepts.
- Also, it improves mental health and well being.
Thus, gratitude journal prompts let you focus on the good aspects. You tend to discover good even in the worst situations. This thought process turns into a habit with which you can change your approach and improve your surroundings.
The Science Behind The Gratitude Journal
Now you are aware of the amazing benefits of having a gratitude journal. But this is not only a positive practice or tradition. In fact, there is a science behind this practice of gratitude journaling. It is surely worth exploring.
Many studies carried by mental health experts suggest that gratitude journaling can be really beneficial for one’s mental health. One such successful study was carried in 2003. According to this –
- Gratitude is a very positive emotion.
- This emotion impacts the two important areas of the brain. These are the hypothalamus and ventral tegmental area.
- Hypothalamus is the main part of regulating the stress cycles.
- Thus, gratitude helps in reducing stress attacks and concerned issues.
- Also, the reward system of your brain is influenced by the ventral tegmental area.
- Hence, practicing gratitude provides a conscious focus on positivity and lets you feel happy.
- And as most of the experts suggest, maintaining a gratitude journal is the best way to realize gratitude.
Thus, practicing gratitude and giving thanks can make people more content and happier. This is suggested scientifically by various psychological studies as well as Harvard’s.
How To Start a Gratitude Journal?
Starting your beautiful gratitude journal or finding gratitude journal prompts is quite simple. It doesn’t necessarily have any rules or something. You are free to apply your innovative ideas to make it unique.
To practice gratitude journaling, you have two options –
- Either you can go for one choice a day. For this, choose one topic each day and write down your feelings about it. You can move to another gratitude prompt the next day.
- Or else, you can write about the same prompt every day till you feel like moving to next. Have your preferred way!
Process
Here’s the process of creating a gratitude journal for you. It is just a suggestion. So, you are always free to have your own style.
- Firstly, make a journal of a diary or notebook. You can definitely buy or create a DIY one.
- Realize the essence of this practice.
- Next, make a schedule or set aside time for this. It can be a daily or even weekly process.
- Start with the suggested gratitude journal prompts.
- When you are comfortable with the practice, go for fresh prompts of your choice.
- By and by, find the perfect way for you.
- Importantly, make it a habit of self-exploration.
Variations in a Gratitude Journal
You can apply these variations to make the process more fun and personal –
- Make a photo gratitude journal with your memorable pictures too in it.
- Create a DIY gratitude tree or a gratitude jar/box.
- You can surely draw, paint or doodle in it to make it more artistic.
- Also, you can create a ‘junk journal’ with some leftover memoirs of your life. This may include little things like tickets, a dried flower, food packaging, stamps, etc.
CAUTION
Be patient for the results. Don’t rush or procrastinate. You need to carry the practice for some time. So, don’t leave it in the midst. Instead, feel the rain until the thirst is quenched.
Address The Doubts!
There are certain aspects of the practice knowing which you can appreciate the practice even more.
How to introduce gratitude to your family?
A gratitude journal is a great way for this. You can create a common family gratitude journal. Or else, do it separately for each family member and discuss it over dinner or at bedtime.
In addition, you can make it fun for kids by sticking a gratitude prompt on the fridge and letting them discover its aspects.
How is it different from a personal diary?
While one may include his/her gratitude feelings in a personal diary, it doesn’t actually emphasize on it. You write all your emotions in your diary including positive and negative ones.
Hence, it doesn’t let you especially think about things you are grateful for. Whereas, a gratitude journal opens a new door of thankfulness and positivity for you.
7 Tips To Practice These Gratitude Journal Prompts
Go through these bonus tips to ensure best results for your new beginning –
- Start small. Don’t overload yourself with many prompts at a time.
- Enjoy the process. Moreover, have fun. Don’t take it as a task added to your ‘to do’ list.
- Be creative. Especially, use your own ideas to discover new ways.
- There is NO specific way for this. Of course, embrace your own style if it lets you realize the bliss around you in true sense.
- Be consistent in your gratitude journey.
- Discover the gratitude prompts in your real life. Particularly, try to find optimism everywhere.
- Share your grateful feelings with others. Let them also see the beauty around.
Armed with all these tips, you are ready to explore the beautiful world of gratitude. This will let you see the real beauty of life, indeed.
Gratitude Journal Prompts – Your Turn!
‘Gratitude is the wine of your soul. Go on. Get drunk!
– Rumi
It may seem hard to find good in difficult times. Above all, we all come across such days. But in every little corner of your life, if you can fill gratitude, you eventually remove the negativity around.
Life is full of bliss. These gratitude journal prompts let you realize the same. So make your move, something good awaits there!
