8 Powerful Journal Prompts for Self Love That Will Make You Smile
This post is the third installment of my journaling series where I give you some of my favorite tips and prompts for journaling. In today’s post, I am sharing my 8 favorite journal prompts for self love that will actually leave you smiling!
If you want to learn more about journaling, you can visit the first two posts in this series here:
- The Ultimate Journal Prompts for a Money Mindset – This was the first installment and includes an overview of what journaling is if you are new to this form of reflection!
- The Best 5 Minute Journal Prompts for Beginners – Great read for those of you who are new to journaling or don’t have a lot of time in your schedules to journal for long periods of time!
Keep reading below to find out my favorite journal prompts for self love!
Why is Self Love So Important? Why Do You Need Journal Prompts for Self Love?
Self-love is important because it forms the foundation for our overall wellbeing and happiness. When we put effort into cultivating self-love, we develop a deep and unconditional acceptance of ourselves as we are, embracing ALL of our strengths and our imperfections.
One of the reasons practicing self love is so important is to promote healthy relationships. Think about it, we can’t love someone else unless we love ourselves, right?
When we love ourselves, we are better able to establish healthy boundaries and communicate our needs more effectively. This allows us to form and maintain authentic, loving relationships based on mutual respect and understanding for the other person.
Self-love also helps create a positive mental and emotional wellbeing. It helps us cultivate self-compassion, improve self-esteem, build resilience, and create a healthier mindset. It enables us to navigate challenges with greater confidence, manage stress more effectively, and develop a positive outlook on life.
Additionally, when we love ourselves, we feel more comfortable expressing our true selves authentically. We embrace our unique qualities, passions, and interests, allowing us to live a life aligned with our values and passions.
I mean it is so easy to get lost in the thick of it all in this day and age.
That’s what makes it so much more important that we learn to love ourselves for exactly who we are and who we truly want to be.
Self love also encourages us to prioritize our wellbeing and practice self-care. We’re more likely to grasp the importance of taking care of ourselves physically, emotionally, and mentally. This strengthens our resilience and ability to handle life’s challenges over time. We build confidence in ourselves through self love.
Finally, when we love ourselves, we are more willing to explore our potential, take risks (of course calculated and well thought out risks, let’s not go crazy here people), and pursue personal growth. We believe in ourselves and our ability to learn, evolve, and create meaningful change in our lives.
Overall, you can do so much more good for yourself and for others when you learn to love yourself and develop and practice the tools to practice self love.
But this doesn’t always come naturally to people because in the society we live in, it is easy to get lost in the expectations of others and feel incomplete.
That’s why taking actionable steps to practice self love, such as reflecting using journal prompts for self love, can help us get one step closer.
You may notice in the image at the beginning of this post a certain book I’ve been reflecting and meditating with – Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much by Anne Wilson Schaef. This is not at all an affiliate link and not a sponsored post. I repeat! This is not at all influenced.
My therapist recommended this book for me because she quickly realized I was spiraling and needed to find love for myself and be centered again in what’s important. I have found this book of daily meditations to be super helpful. I have linked it here in case you all are interested in giving it a try as well!
Now back from that side tangent…
I struggled with self love, was at my lowest with my health struggles, and journal prompts for self love helped me find myself.
Self love is not always easy. There is so much content flashed at us every day, not to mention even pressures from family, friends, and those close to us. It is hard to decipher what is noise and what is actually important.
And sometimes, it is hard to love yourself because of something you may be going through at a certain point in time.
For example, I went through a health struggle over the last year, and every day I hated myself, hated how I felt. It was like I didn’t have control over my own body. I didn’t understand what was going on, and it made me angry.
Because I didn’t love myself at that moment, I often found it hard to be there for my partner all the time. I was quick to lash out and make excuses.
Because I was burning out at work and it was starting to physically manifest in my body, I needed to learn how to take back control of my health, and I needed to do it fast.
Those of you who have been around me for a while know that I struggled with gut health issues. I had to fully commit to making myself better before it had even more dire consequences for my health long term.
Many of us are used to the grind culture, working jobs that are more than 9-5s, going home and cooking dinner, cleaning, working out, showering, rinse and repeat.
We rarely make time for ourselves.
Because of this, it is easy to see that as normal behavior. You begin to not be able to see any other way of life.
That is what happened to me but eventually, I was able to turn things around. I was able to transform my gut health. I never thought I would be able to see that day but eventually I started feeling better day by day. If you are curious about how I was able to transform my gut health, you can read more about my story and the steps I took here.
And while taking action to transform my gut health, I incorporated different ways to relax and find self love again. I needed to be better for me, my partner, and those I loved.
Journaling was a key piece of that and eventually through this form of reflection, I was able to find love for myself again. I researched journal prompts for self love all the time and eventually found several that had a strong impact on how I viewed myself.
I found love for this chapter in life. Everyone goes through something. It may not seem like it if they have the perfect Instagram feed, but no one is perfect.
The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can begin loving yourself as you are.
So, with that, let’s get into my favorite journal prompts for self love!
8 Journal Prompts for Self Love
1. Reflect on moments when you felt truly proud of yourself. What specific qualities or achievements made you feel this way, and how can you celebrate and honor those aspects of yourself more often?
Ladies, we have to celebrate our wins more often! There are so many of them, big and small, that happen every day. Especially when you keep a busy schedule, it is easy to keep it moving. Go on to the next task at hand, the next big thing.
Take a moment for yourself. Pat yourself on the back! Get in the habit of doing that. Reflecting on these times will help you become better at celebrating these moments in life more often.
2. Write a letter of forgiveness to yourself, acknowledging any self-judgment, mistakes, or perceived shortcomings. Release the weight of these burdens and offer yourself compassion and understanding.
I would be remiss if my top favorite journal prompts for self love did not include one that reflected on our perceptions of what we lack. You have to let go of the idea that flaws are an issue when they are in fact a blessing.
They are what makes each of us unique and special in our own right. The act of acknowledging the negative thoughts you harbor about yourself will help to clear your mind of these thoughts. It’s almost like physically releasing their grip on you and allowing you to have a clear perspective on who you are as a person!
3. Describe your ideal version of self love and self-care. What activities, habits, or mindsets would be present in this ideal version? How can you begin incorporating elements of this vision into your life today?
What does self love and self care look like for you? It is different for everyone given we all have different schedules and expectations for ourselves. Taking time to map out what this looks like for you and what you are actually interested in can help you create an actionable plan for improving your self love and self care habits!
4. List three things that you genuinely appreciate and love about yourself. Explore why these qualities or aspects are meaningful to you and how they contribute to your overall wellbeing.
This journal prompt for self love can be a hard one to reflect on. I feel like it is so much easier to list things we don’t like about ourselves than it is to list things we do love about ourselves.
Try to dig deep here and not just rush and pick things at the surface level. This can help inform how you want to be treated by others and how you even treat others! It helps you find what qualities are important to you!
5. Identify and challenge any self-limiting beliefs or negative self-talk that hinder your self love. Write down these beliefs and counter them with empowering and compassionate affirmations.
These beliefs can come from external factors as much as they can come from within. Think about how you were raised and what was important in your household. Think about the things and behaviors you were taught in school. What had lasting impacts on you and your belief system.
Do these beliefs encourage you to be a better version of yourself? Do these beliefs foster positive growth?
How can you change any negative beliefs?
6. Imagine yourself as your own best friend or supportive mentor. What kind, loving, and encouraging advice would you give yourself? Write a letter or dialogue expressing this supportive guidance.
I realize I am alway so encouraging and positive whenever I give my friends advice or respond to their actions. But when it comes to myself, I am 100% harder and more critical. Why are we like that?
We deserve as much love and respect as we give to others. What kind of advice do you think you would give yourself if you were on the outside looking in?
7. Reflect on moments when you have compromised your own needs or boundaries for the sake of others. Explore why this happened and how you can prioritize self love and assertiveness moving forward.
We often make compromises so often we don’t even notice when we are. That is why it is so important to reflect on what is valuable and important to you so that you are more equipped to realize when you are making compromises or are in a compromising situation.
People always talk about setting boundaries, but how can you set boundaries if you aren’t even sure what you care about?
8. Visualize your journey of self love as a metaphor or symbol. Draw, describe, or create a representation of this metaphor, allowing it to serve as a reminder and source of inspiration on your path towards self love.
This one is truly giving you the freedom to create something representative…something you can hold on to and refer back to. It is important to remind yourself of the importance of self love and what that symbolizes for you.
As humans, we inherently attach meaning to symbolic objects or experiences, so it only makes sense to create something to remind yourself to love you!
In the end, always remember that journaling is always a personal and reflective practice but it is only as useful as the effort you put into it. Always try to be honest with yourself.
Set aside time in the day whether it is 5 minutes or 45 minutes, and make sure that time is dedicated to you reflecting and you alone.
It may not come easy in the beginning, but it is always worth it.
And always remember that self love is a lifelong journey, and it requires practice, patience, and self-compassion. Let’s help guide each other to living a more fulfilling and authentic life, nurturing our overall wellbeing.
Hopefully these journal prompts for self love get us one step closer towards that!
Let’s take care of ourselves and each other 🙂
