Journal prompts for your birthday!

If you know me (or have been around my blog for a few years) you know that I love to journal and truly believe in the benefits of journaling

Journalling is a form of therapy.  It offers a mental and emotional release that you may not even know you need.  Furthermore, using journal prompts offers a quiet reflection and forces us to be honest and thoughtful.

For my birthday this year, I chose a few birthday journal prompts to get me to both intentionally reflect on the past 12 months and refocus on the year ahead.

  1. How are you celebrating your birthday (today, this weekend, later this week/month)?
  2. When you think about the last 12 months, what is 1 word that immediately comes to mind? why?
  3. What happened this year that you are so grateful for?
  4. How have you stepped out of your comfort zone this year?
  5. If you could speak to yourself 10 years from, what would you say to yourself? What would Older Self say to you?

Do you use Journal Prompts? Which journal prompts do you love to use?  

Happy Journaling!


Follow me on…
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
Youtube

Support me – Etsy Store!

Current meditation & journal routine

TLY_Journal Meditate Morning Routine

Over the last few months I’ve developed a morning routine.  Simply put I’ve added meditating and journaling to the start my day.

My focus for these activities is to breath, visualize, have gratitude, be intentional, learn more about myself and connect to shared wisdom.

My longest stretch was ~200 days.  At one point I missed a day but because I did it that long it formed a habit.  So when I do a miss a day I feel complete outside of myself.

I recently heard someone say, the only thing you can control is your spiritual practice.  And it’s so true.  Meditation and journaling has been my practice for quite some time now and what I love is no one can take that away from me.  I love it so much I share my practice and technique with people at work and my friends.

If you are looking for a sign to start meditating and journaling – let it be this.

Everything is on the other side of consistency, all you have to do is start.

Sitting still and breathing

I used to think that meditation was about sitting, uncomfortably, for long periods of time.  I thought it was mythical and that only a few people achieve it’s intended benefits. I thought it had to be done in complete silence.  I thought people who meditated could easily turn off the sounds, sensations around them and thoughts in their mind could be ignored.

I had to let all those ideas go to find my own meditation journey.   That said maybe some day I’ll be able to meditate that way.  Until then I’ll rely on my favourite guided mediation app Insight Timer.

meditation, spiritual journey, insight timer, space time,

This app lets you choose the topic of your meditation and a preferred time of the meditation.

Meditation, Spiritual Journey, Insight timer, Space Time, Intuition

My topics of choice are usually: morning meditation, chakra clearing, future self, protective white light, breath work, affirmations or mindfulness.  Time wise the sweet spot for me is 7-11 min, preferably 8-9 min.

Meditation, Spiritual Journey, Insight timer, Space Time, Intuition, Inner Direction

Now for me the absolute game changer has been to journal after my meditation.  I always include a gratitude list but other than that I may journal about what the meditation taught me, what I saw or learned, affirmations, future journaling/thank you letter etc.

I learned this trick after completing the 21 day meditation challenge created by Deepak Chopra and Oprah.  It was a whatsapp meditation group (sounds awks – but the community was helpful).  And although the meditation topics didn’t resonate with me completely, the practice did (thankfully!)

Meditation, Spiritual Journey, Insight timer, Space Time, Intuition, Inner Direction

Meditation, Spiritual Journey, Insight timer, Space Time, Intuition, Inner Direction

My Evolution Of Journaling

FA088923-20D5-42F5-A799-84CF24A6061E

Looking inward to find ways to be better for myself is by journaling.

For free writing and diary type entires, I’ve relied on my @dayoneapp. I can write long, free-form and always had an option to export my entire month or year of journaling to a PDF.

I started using the @fiveminutejournal 3 years ago because I wanted to be more present and grateful. It was by far the easiest way to keep me grounded.

When my mornings got to busy and I couldn’t even find 5 minutes to write in the morning because I didn’t have the time to myself I started using the app version of the journal. I would use it on my morning commute – it and made gratitude journaling more convenient.

A few days ago, I found out that I can combine my free form journal writing with my gratitude practice with the ease of an app! I still use paper and pen daily but having everything available on the go without the bulk of a book is a game changer!

Do you journal? Which app do you use or do you prefer a paper journal?

Why I journal (and why you should too!)

TLY_Journal1

I’ve had a “paper and pen” journal for about 6-7 years.  I have used a journal different things:

  • To Do lists (or just lists of things in general)
  • Trip Planning
  • Photo/Post ideas
  • Bucket Lists
  • Gratitude/Affirmations
  • Goals/Dreams

TLY_JOurnal4

There are other things you can use a journal for:

  • “Dear Diary” type of journaling
  • Sketching
  • Scheduling your day/week/month (love love when you can customize a blank page journal to the planner of your dreams!)
  • Recipes

…obviously the options are endless…

Since I started journaling, I’ve research a lot about journaling and became kind of obsessed with the moleskin journal. I love moleskin because it has so many different types of journals but also the simple blank page or lined page journal perfect for sketching or free-thought-writing.

TLY_Journal3

For me personally, I’ve found that journaling has helped me:

  • Be more creative
  • Organize my thoughts
  • Be mindful
  • Brainstorm

I believe in journaling so much (good old fashion “paper to pen”) that when Miss S was a few months old, I got her her own moleskin (8×11, blank page).  We do all sorts of art projects (seasonal or just something fun) and I usually write a little note about what’s going on that day.  I hope one day she’ll see the benefits of it too.

TLY_Journal2

Screen Shot 2016-07-20 at 3.41.27 PM