Week 3 Journal Prompts

I know you are going to love this week. Before we begin, I want to assure that if you are writing something in your journal, you are doing this right! The only wrong way to keep a journal is empty on the shelf. Approach the page with confidence. I am giving you tools, but you are the one who is writing your life. Every beautiful detail is useful and important, and you are interpreting each prompt exactly as you should if you continue to just show up, lean into your intuition, and record your thoughts.

With that said, let’s jump into this week’s writing prompts!

Day 1: Sensory Databank

Today I am going to ask you to brainstorm a sensory databank of your life. Feel free to pick one or two, or if you have time, complete a list for each of the five senses. We are going to begin with my favorite sense to write about.

At the top of your page, write the word, “Sense of Smell.”

Now, as fast as you can, leaning into your intuition, I want you to write a list of scents. These are the smells that you are familiar with from some season of your life. Some of my first thoughts are: chocolate chip cookies, the smell of diesel and rain (which instantly takes me back to the streets of Costa Rica), earth, smoke, tomato plants in sunshine, Darjeeling tea, strawberries, my children’s hair, etc. They can be pleasant or unpleasant. Just write whatever comes to mind. It doesn’t have to be profound! You are creating a written record of the smells/scents/fragrances of your life.

When you are done, you can try another sense (sounds, touch, taste, sight). Allow yourself to be surprised at what you write!

Day 2: Collecting Conversations

Today, you are going to write down things people have said to you in your life. It may be something life-changing that they told you, or it may be something very small and seemingly insignificant. It doesn’t matter. But I want you to think about a person who has been in your life and allow something they said to surface. Write it down. Then move on to another person. You don’t even have to pick the biggest players in your life. It can be conversations you had with strangers or with your closest friends. It could be a word or phrase you remember someone always saying or something someone spoke to you at a transitional moment of your life. Today, you are going to collect conversations and place them on the pages of your journal. Isn’t this a fun collection to begin?

Day 3: Word Collection

Today you are going to create a collection of words that you like. There are no rules here! Just fill up your page with words.

Day 4: Quotes

Today, you are going to be using your journal to copy words that other people have said that you find inspiring. Grab a favorite book, or song lyrics, or a poem you memorized as a child. And fill this page with quotes that are meaningful to you.

Day 5: Menu of All the Memorable Meals of Your Life

Today I want you to make a list of all the memorable meals of your life. They may be memorable because they tasted amazing (or disgusting!) or because they were shared with someone special or in a beautiful place. Make a list with as many meals of your life as you can remember. Have fun with this one!

Day 6: Poetry of This Moment

Today you are going to be a poet! Trust me, it is going to be easy. You are going to use your senses to create a poem of what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch around you. I want you to make a list in short phrases of the things that you are taking in with your senses. Keep these lines descriptive, but short. In the end, you will have a throw-together poem that is rich with sensory detail. Here is a quick example from my basement office:

hum of water
empty teapot
faint noises of children
running crying laughing humming
yellow light from one lamp
dark red door
the mellow taste of cinnamon
cloves and cardamom
chai
cold floor on bare feet

See how easy it is? Record your details for an instant poem of this moment in your life.