Some people are natural writers and don’t need any guidance when it comes to journaling.   You may need prompts to get your pen juices flowing if you are anything like me.  The questions you ask yourself must be high quality.  Here are my top 8 guided journal questions for reflecting on the past 12 months:

What is a high-quality question?  

A high-quality question will open your mind and your heart.  Good reflection questions allow you to explore your past experiences with a different focus.  This may allow you to get a new perspective and view the past from different angles that you had not considered when you were in the eye of the storm.  When you take the time to look back and process the past with a fresh set of eyes, you will develop the ability to face new challenges with more wisdom and calm. 

Here are my top 8 reflective questions for beginning your guided journal:

1. What parts of the past year are you most thankful for?

Take your time and think back with a grateful heart.  Help your memory by scanning your phone for photos or messages, flipping back through your diary or calendar, or walking through your home to scan for memory cues.  As you write about each gratitude, allow your body to feel this memory and bask in that feeling for a while.  

2. What parts were most challenging?

The past year will undoubtedly have presented you with some challenges.  Hard times are often the easiest to recall because our minds are designed to seek out and find danger and pain.  This question sets you up for the rest, so give it some breathing space.  You may not have written down the past year’s challenges, so it may feel uncomfortable. To face a challenge boldly is the first and hardest step, but through it is the only way out.  Write down as many as you can think of.

3. What life lessons did you learn about yourself?

The biggest clues about what you value most in the world come out of the first two reflective questions. What you are most grateful for and what you are most challenged by are the opposing forces that centre you in your truth.  They will always teach you something about who you are, what you need, how you want to live and where you want to be.  

4. What life lessons did you learn about others?

Relational experiences shape you every day, whether you want to admit it or not.  What you learn about others will shape your worldview.  You may become more trusting or sceptical, and we build up a very complex social understanding over time.  We are always connected and affected, so our social mind is constantly reshaping itself.  Take some time to get a snapshot of the social information you gathered over the past year.

5. What self-limiting beliefs held you back over the past 12 months?

This must be my second favourite question of all time!  I will tell you my first favourite in just a second.  Self-limiting beliefs are the fearful, self-critical thoughts and beliefs that hold you back from being your truth-telling, wonder-full, light-shining, life-loving self.  Our heads are usually full of them; they thwart our growth and dull our dreams.  My list is usually a long one.  It is quite confronting to see them on paper, but I get a new perspective each year as I write them out.  Get your inner critic out of your head and decide how much longer you will allow it to live in there rent-free. 

6. What self-expanding beliefs helped you achieve your dreams over the past year?

Okay, so this is my favourite question of all time.  I have heard so much about self-limiting beliefs, and I figured that the opposite of this must be self-expanding beliefs.  You know the thoughts you have about yourself that make you feel empowered, capable, fearless, open, and totally unstoppable.  Write those bad boys down and revel in them for a while.  Take a long cool dip in them, and let them wash over you and through you until you feel alive with passion and self-love.

7. What was the lowest point of the year for you?

Your low times help you to look deep within and know when you need to rest, recover and regenerate.  There is no shame in admitting that you have low times.  They give you a better understanding of your core values (the things in life that are most important to you).  Allow space for the shadows.  Honour your limitations as much as your strengths; they will not persist in getting you down.   

8. What was the highest point of the year for you?

Find your bright spot.  Honour the time that you cherish the most over the past 12 months.  Revel in the memory until you sense an inner glow.  Tune in to the internal flame that ignites your soul as you take time to reflect on all the sensory information of this memory highlight – smells, sounds, tastes, sights, touch, feelings, images, and thoughts.  Stay here as long as you like, and fill your cup with feel-good vibes.

Wellness Arts Psychology