5 journaling prompts to start and end your day with
In a recent study by Scott Berry Kaufman, the researcher did an analysis on which trait is most indicative of well being out of the 24-character strengths: including creativity, kindness, love, curiosity, and many more. The result of the study showed that gratitude was the best predictor of well-being. Gratitude to me means being aware of the good around you, no matter how small it seems to be. Sometimes we focus on what hasn’t been going well, and spend more time feeling our negative emotions when they come to us. On other days, we might end a day forgetting what had happened and go straight to sleep. On both instances, we didn’t give our chance to reflect on how we can improve our day. An easy way to maximize your happiness and take more control of your emotions and your life is by journaling.
Start your day by asking yourself two simple questions: “How am I feeling right now” and “What would make me happy today?”. Begin with a basic word that sums up how you feel in the moment: peaceful, happy, sleepy, excited, hungry? Whatever it is, take note of it and continue to the next question. “What would make me happy today?” Start perhaps with how you’re feeling right now. If you’re hungry, go get some food; if you’re feeling down, think back to the last time you were genuinely happy, then try recreating that moment. If you were hanging out with a close friend that day, ask them out!
You can also go ahead and write down two to three things that you would like to do today. Some things that I like to keep on my list include going on a walk around the neighborhood with a drink, reading, and watching one episode of a drama. As each day go by, take note on what activities make you happy and try to maximize them in your life each day.
Reflection at the end of the day can also bring a lot of joy and put you in peace and happiness before sleep. Two prompts I enjoy writing on is “what were the three highlights of my day?” and “what are three ways in which today was perfect for me”. Highlights don’t have to be anything fancy, they can be as simple as “I saw a baby on the street, and she smiled at me” or “I took a long relaxing shower today”. It could be anything that gave you a smile and brightened up your day. I am a believe that each day is perfect in its own way, or at least, that we learned something from it. If you had a great happy time, amazing, go ahead and expand on your highlights. If not, think about your day in another angle. “yes this happened but how can I learn and move on?”
Hope that helped and have a great day! Remember that you are all loved and perfect in your own way :)
