Self Growth and Self Development has radically changed my life.
Journaling is an incredible tool for self development. It helps you reflect on your past and focus on your own self growth.
These journal prompts for self growth are meant to go DEEP. They’re not fluffy. They’re not your average journal prompts.
These journal prompts are meant to take you on an inward journey of self reflection and healing. They will help you dive into your past, become aware of your blocks that are holding you back, and help you create new stories so that you can change your life.
These 50 journal prompts for self growth, are taken from my own guide: A Year of Growth: 12 Months of Journal Prompts for Self Development
My guide is designed specifically for women, to take you on an epic year long journey of growth, shadow work, and awareness…it will encourage new creative pursuits, deeper relationships, overcoming fears, stepping out of victimhood, healing from your past, and building the kind of life you want.
There are 12 Self-Development Topics with 28 prompts each in my guide. They include:
1.Generational Patterns
2.Boundaries
3.Fear
4.Emotional Awareness
5.Intuition
6.Health
7.Creativity
8.Money
9.Romantic relationships
10.Friendship
11.Belief
12.The Life You Want
The 50 prompts below are taken from my guide!
50 Journal Prompts for Self Growth
1. Generational Patterns are behaviors that we witnessed our parents or close caregivers doing and now we find ourselves doing too. There are many generational patterns that we carry and these patterns often control the way that we react when triggered or bothered about specific things. You may wonder why a specific behavior bothers you so much – most likely it was something that also bothered your parents (and their parents) and was passed down to you. Sit and consider this concept and write down any thoughts that come up for you. Is this is the first time you have considered the idea of generational patterns?
2. Take a deep breathe and record how it feels for you to realize you are carrying on a generational pattern that isn’t yours to carry. It didn’t originate with you. How does that feel in your heart and body? Do you feel guilt? Relief?
3. What feelings arise for you when you think about your parents/caregivers passing this pattern on to you? Do you feel angry? Bitter? Compassionate? Understanding?
4. Does the awareness of understanding where a generational pattern came from feel like it will be enough for you to break the pattern? Why/why not?
5. Write down new patterns that you would like to create now. If something toxic was passed on to you, you have the ability to change it and create a new healthy pattern that could heal your family for generations. What generational pattern do you want to replace with new behaviors?
6. Did your parents/caregivers model healthy boundaries to you as a child? In what ways were boundaries modeled and in what ways were they not modeled?
7. Can you think of a time when you had a boundary violated? How did that impact you?
8. As an adult, are you comfortable setting boundaries with others in your life when needed?
9. Do respect and boundaries go hand in hand? Can one exist without the other? why or why not?
10. We all have fears that are keeping us small and holding us back from living the life that we want. Sit and consider what your biggest fears are and during what situations do they arise for you?
11. Believe it or not, a lot of fears are very common and generally fall under a few categories. Let’s bring awareness and label your fears. If you had to categorize your fears, what would they be? (fear of judgement, fear of failure, fear of getting hurt, etc)
12. Have you tried in the past to overcome your fears? What happened when you tried?
13. Fear is your brain trying to keep you safe based on past experiences. Nearly all of your fears developed due to a past experience or situation in which you didn’t feel safe. Your body and your brain remember the experience or trauma, and determine to keep you safe from it in the future. This often happens unconsciously. Fear is actually a beautiful way that your body keeps you safe. Write a message to your body/mind thanking it for attempting to keep you safe and reaffirming that you are not a helpless child anymore – you are safe.
14. What is the correlation between your fears now, and the fears you developed as a child? Can you remember feeling the same feelings of fear as a child that you feel today? How has the fear changed or evolved?
15. What stories do you have attached to these fears? (example: “if I show up as myself online, people will talk about me behind my back.”) Get clear and write out every story that you tell yourself relating to your current fears.
16. What is the truth about these stories? What is the likelihood that the stories you are telling yourself will come true if you did the thing you were afraid of?
17. What are the NEW stories that you can start replacing the OLD stories with? (“if I post my truth online, people won’t like me.” “If I post my truth online, I will attract the right people who DO align with me. If people don’t like it, they will unfollow me and that’s okay.”)
18. What is one fear that you can overcome this week?
19. As a child, were you ever told phrases like “big girls don’t cry” or “stop crying or else I’ll give you something to cry about!”?
20. Do you ever shut your emotions down or push them away so that they aren’t felt or expressed?
21. What do you think about the idea that suppressed emotions can manifest as physical sickness and symptoms in your body? Have you ever witnessed this happen before in you or a loved one?
22. When people around you start getting stressed/yelling at you, do you find that you are able to stay regulated or that you mirror their emotional state?
23. Were you raised in an environment or religion that taught you that your heart is wicked and shouldn’t be trusted? How did this impact you trusting yourself?
24. Can you recall any times as a child where you felt strongly that you didn’t want to do something, but you were forced to do it anyways? Did this create dissonance for you?
25. Do you ever find yourself emotionally eating? Do you turn to food for comfort or to distract yourself from your emotions?
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26. When you think back to your 10 year old self, what kind of hobbies/arts/crafts did you enjoy doing in your free time?
27. At what point did you stop or “grow out of ” those creative interests you had as a child? Why did you stop doing them?
28. Do you actively make time for creativity in your life now? If not, why not?
29. What are your favorite things to spend money on? How often do you buy those things?
30. Do you invest in yourself? When was the last time you bought yourself something to further your growth or education?
31. Do you think money can make people happy? Why or why not?
32. “Working because you want to, not because you have to is financial freedom.” – Tony Robbins. What does financial freedom mean to you? What are your core values of freedom?
33. Do you believe in soulmates? Why or why not?
34. What is your definition of love? What does loving someone look like?
35. Emotional Intimacy is being able to share vulnerable feelings, fears, and experiences with your partner and building trust and connection through feeling safe and SEEN. Do you and your partner have regular emotional intimacy? Why or why not?
36. Are you able to be emotionally vulnerable with your partner? Does your partner hold space for you to be vulnerable? How do they react when you share intimate struggles or concerns?
37. Is your partner able to be emotionally vulnerable with you? Do you hold space for them to be vulnerable? How do you react when they share intimate struggles or concerns?
38. How is your communication with your partner? Which of you struggles the most with communicating? Is it something you’re both working on?
39. “Holding space” for someone is the art and practice of being a sounding board and listening ear without offering advice (unless it’s asked for). It’s not always an easy thing to do, but it is an essential part of being a friend. Do you have a friend who holds space for you? How are you at holding space for your friends?
40. Have you ever had a friendship that ended abruptly? How did it end? Do you have any regrets about it? What is a lesson you learned through that friendship?
41. Is friendship 50/50? Should each person be pulling equal weight? What does this look like?
42. “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson Write down the qualities you want in a friend. Do you embody those qualities? How can you start being a better friend?
43. Do you still hold the same religious beliefs that you were taught as a child? Has anything changed? What beliefs have changed?
44. Did you have any negative experiences in the religion/church you grew up in? How did that experience impact your view of yourself and of the religion?
45. Do you believe in a higher power? If yes, is it the same version of the higher power that you were taught as a child?
46. Do you think we have souls? Do our souls live forever?
47. Do you think all religions share the same goal? What is that goal?
48. What do you think your soul’s purpose is? Why are you here on Earth at this time?
49. How do you want to be remembered? What kind of legacy do you want to leave?
50. What do you think your 60 year old self will look back and be proud of you for?
Feel free to copy these self development journal prompts into your journal and use them as a tool for reflection and growth.
If you are interested in getting an entire YEARS WORTH of journal prompts for self growth, be sure to check out A Year of Growth: 12 Months of Journal Prompts for Self Development
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Hey, I'm Tori!
I'm so glad you're here, sweet mother!
My goal is to inspire you to remember your primal roots & live a WILD life in alignment with nature. On my blog I empower you to use herbs and natural remedies to keep your family healthy, teach you how to eat a nourishing, traditional foods diet, and inspire you to raise your babies consciously and respectfully.
