Photo of calm lake surrounded by pine trees and mountain. — Journal your way to emotional healing with these healing writing prompts

Journaling for emotional healing

Journaling has been an important part of my own healing journey. For me, it’s a great way to set aside quality time to connect with myself. Journaling has helped me learn to listen to myself so that I’m better able to understand what I need. Caring for myself in this way has built an internal sense of trust that’s changed how I approach myself and the world around me.

Journal prompts for healing

I’ve written these journal prompts for healing to help you connect with yourself on your own healing journey.

Share on Pinterest

Do I have ideas about what it is I need to heal from? If yes, write about what you need to heal from. If no, write down anything you know about why you feel like you need to heal.

What does it mean to heal? What would it look like if I was healed? (In other words, how would you know when you experienced healing?)
What do the culture and sub-cultures I live in tell me about healing and what it means to heal? Do I agree with these messages? What about these messages is helpful to me? What about these messages is harmful to me?
What ideas do my friends and family have about healing? What messages do they directly or indirectly send me about healing? How do these messages impact me?
When I think about healing, what stories comes to mind? (These could be stories you’ve heard, stories from your own life, books, movies, etc.) What do these stories tell me about healing? What sounds accurate about these stories? What sounds inaccurate?
What frustrates me most about healing?
What excites me most about healing?
How often do I feel physical sensations associated with emotions in my body? Do I feel physical sensations for some emotions and not others? If so, why do I feel physical sensations for some emotions and not others?
How do I respond when I feel physical sensations associated with emotions? What stories do I tell myself? What’s my self talk sound like? Do I pay attention to these sensations, or do I push them away?
Are there certain physical sensations associated with emotions that are harder for me to experience than others? Are there certain emotions that are harder for me to physically experience than others? If so, why is that the case?
What activities do I engage in that feel the most healing to my body? Why do these activities feel healing?
What does it feel like to feel safe? What does it physically feel like in my body when I feel safe? When do I feel the most safe? What am I doing? Who am I with?
What does it feel like to feel unsafe? What does it physically feel like in my body when I feel unsafe? When do I feel the most unsafe? What am I doing? Who am I with?
What’s one small thing I can do feel safer in my day-to-day life?
How do I feel about the way I talk to myself? What kinds of things do I say to myself regularly? How does the way I talk to myself compare to how I talk to other people in my life who I care about? How does the way I talk to myself impact my life? Does the way I talk to myself increase or decrease how safe I feel?
What has been the most healing experience of my life so far? Write down everything you can remember about this memory. Why was this experience so healing?

Shadow work prompts for healing

Shadow work can be a powerful tool for healing. So, what is shadow work? To understand what shadow work is, we first need to understand what a psychological shadow is. Psychologist Carl Jung described the shadow as unconscious aspects of personality. These shadow parts of our personalities are not necessarily good or bad, they are simply parts of who we are that we aren’t aware of. The shadow self is composed of aspects of our personalities that it feels too scary to see. Our shadows are made up of parts of ourselves that we don’t think should be there for whatever reason. Our shadows could contain desires we don’t think we should have, emotions we don’t think we should have, and needs we don’t think we should have. The idea that these aspects of our personalities are undesirable might come from childhood, culture, or experiences or relationships in our lives. Shadow work is the process of learning about what your shadow contains and accepting these aspects of yourself as part of the whole that is you (or the “Self” in Jungian terms). You can read more about getting started with shadow work here: What Is Shadow Work?: How Your Shadow Self Can Free You To Live Authentically.

For now, here are a few shadow work prompts for healing to get you started.

Share on Pinterest

Relax and close your eyes. Listen to the sound of your breathing for a little while. When you’re relaxed, imagine that you hear a small whisper in your right ear. This small voice has something important to tell you about healing. What did the whisper say? Why do you think that’s what came to mind?
Think about someone in your life who you think needs healing. Why do they need healing? What do they need to do in order to heal? (Stop and write before you read the next sentence.) Now, re-read what you wrote and reflect on whether anything you wrote about this person might also apply to you.
Think about someone in your life who you think has healed in some way. What did they heal from? What did they do in order to heal? What about them (characteristics, traits, etc.) helped them to heal? Do you see any of these same traits in you?
Write a short story about a day in your life now. Next, write a short story about a day in your life after you’ve experienced healing. Now, re-read your two stories. What looks different? What feels different? Finally, write a short story about how you got from the day-to-day life of story number one to the day-to-day life of story number two.
What image or symbol most fully encompasses the concept of healing for you? You can draw this image or symbol in your journal if you’d like. Why does this image or symbol express healing? What does this say about what healing means to you?

For more shadow work prompts for healing, check out these resources: