Journal prompts & ideas for emotional release

Let’s face it, journalling is HARD

Journalling was (and still is) an enormous part of my TMS recovery story. It's the one thing I needed to do most, but the one thing I resisted the hardest.

Some days I had a key emotional memory or a trigger that I knew I needed to address that gave me somewhere to start writing. Maybe someone had really pissed me off today and it’s fresh in my brain and I'm ready to let rip onto the page. But the regular day-to-day exercise of emotional excavation can be really tricky, especially when you need to write about the stuff that you know in your heart that really needs to be looked at. 

Resistance to journalling, or any emotional 'self-care' work that requires you to look within, is completely normal and expected (more about what to expect on this journey here). I've sat in this situation so many times and the frustration of it sometimes gets the better of me. So I decided to write a list of ideas and prompts that could help me come unstuck and get the ball rolling.

I hope they can help to nudge you to get writing, this work will change your life, it freed me from my repressed emotions and healed my years of suffering from chronic pain like a freaking magic miracle. You have the power within you to do the same, but you NEED to do the work. If you need some help with ideas on what sort of subjects to write about, take a look at the Journaling Topics & Themes page.

For more information on the journaling exercise that brought me through chronic pain check out the JournalSpeak section.

Journal Prompts

1. I wish I would have said _________________ but I couldn't.
2. I feel________
3. I need_________
4. I want to forgive ____________
5. I release _____________
6. I no longer need to _______________
7. I daren't even admit this to myself, but ___________
8. I wish I could change ________________
9. I hate _____________________
10. The secrets about me that nobody knows are _________________
11. I don't even like admitting this to myself but ___________________
12. I feel angry, but underneath that feeling I can also feel _________________
13. They made me believe that _________________________
14. I still believe that I have to ______________ (eg: in order to be loved / accepted)
15. _____________ that triggers me today, reminds me of ________________ in the past
16. What needs of mine haven't been met?
17. I dont feel validated because ________________
18. What patterns in my adult life mirror my childhood?
19. I totally avoid feeling ________________________
20. _______ you really hurt me when you said _______ it made me feel ______________
21. I know I didnt react at the time but ______________ made me so angry
22. I wish I was brave enough to say this to your face: _______________________
23. I’ve never felt so low before when _____________________
24. When you treat me like ________________ it makes me feel ________________
25. Because I dont have ________________ in my life I feel _____________________
26. I’m scared of ________________________ because it feels like it means ______________
27. When I was little I felt like __________________________ when I was told ____________
28. Honestly, what’s really making me sad right now is ____________________________
29. I cannot accept the fact that ____________________
30. I am embarrassed by _____________________
31. I feel at fault for ______________________
32. If I could talk to my younger self, what would I say?
33. I wish I was brave enough to ___________________
34. I always feel tearful when i think about __________________
35. My biggest trigger right now is ______________________________
36. The words I wish I could hear from ____________________ are ________________________
37. If I’m completely honest, I have always felt _____________________
38. I am so ashamed that I ______________________________
39. I'm trying so hard to keep the peace about ___________________ when I would rather ___________________

Writing ideas

1. Write someone who hurt you a letter (eg: a parent, a friend, an ex-partner, a current partner) you will never send it and you can win every argument you like, let them have all your unfiltered emotion, don’t censor anything.
2. Imagine you’re sat in front of the person that hurt you, but they’re not able to respond, they can only listen to you (your writing or your voice if you want to do this out loud). Let them have it.
3. Write a list of things you wish others knew about you.
4. Write a list of your secrets.
5. Make a list of everything you’d like to say no to.
6. Make a list of everything you’d like to say yes to.
7. Make a list of things that you fear.

Try ending with love

1. Think of myself as a baby version of me, hold that visualisation in my mind and list 5 things I will do today to show myself love and compassion.
2. What can I do today that I didn’t think I could do a year ago?
3. What is surprising to me about myself lately that I like?
4. Make a list of people that I appreciate.
5. What am I most grateful for today? List at least 5 things and write about how they make me feel, no matter how small.

Hold onto that grateful loving feeling, LET IT SOAK YOU TO YOUR SOUL!

Find out more about my personal journey from years of chronic pain to complete healing using journalling and only emotional work in my Recovery Journey Roadmap and let's connect on social media, I'm on Facebook or Instagram.