Photo of woman in tan sweater holding tan journal to her heart. — Self reflection prompts to help you look within and get in touch with yourself

Self reflection prompts

According to Plato, Socrates famously said, “[T]he unexamined life is not worth living…”. I think that’s taking it too far, but self reflection does play a very important role in living the good life. Without moments of self reflection we can find ourselves cut off from who we are and what makes like meaningful. Without sufficient self reflection, it’s all too easy to find ourselves living a life that isn’t truly aligned with who we are on a deep level. Self reflection is how we bring back to life parts of ourselves that have gone in to hiding in the face of pressure to conform and the humdrum of daily life.

Journal prompts for self reflection

There’s a line in a Rilke poem that I love that goes like this: “[T]hough we strain against the deadening grip of daily necessity, I sense there is this mystery: All life is being lived.”[1] Self reflection is part of tapping in to the heartbeat and the mystery of the life being lived inside you, so take a short break from the necessities of daily living to spend a little time with yourself with these journal prompts for self reflection.

Share on Pinterest

Write about a moment in time when life felt really meaningful or fulfilling to you. Write about everything you remember about this moment including any sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and feelings that are associated with this memory. What about this moment made it feel particularly meaningful or fulfilling to you? Does this tell you anything about what makes life feel meaningful or fulfilling to you?
Write a short list of your five all-time happiest memories. Do these memories have anything in common? What does this list tell you about what brings you happiness in life?
Think of a time when you disappointed someone else, but you were happy with what you did. Why was your activity/choice disappointing to someone else? Why were you happy with yourself anyway?
Think of a time when you did something to make someone else happy, but you weren’t happy with what you did. Why did this make someone else happy? Why weren’t you happy with what you did?
What experience or memory from your childhood impacts you most negatively today? Write about what you remember from this experience. How did this experience impact you at the time? How does this experience impact you today? Why do you think this experience continues to impact you? What would help free you from the impact of this memory?
What experience or memory from your childhood impacts you the most positively today? Write about what you remember from this experience. How did this experience impact you at the time? How does this experience impact you today? Why do you think this experience continues to impact you?
Who do you most admire in life? What about this person do you admire? Do you see these traits in yourself as well? Are these traits you want to develop in yourself? If so, how would you go about developing these traits?
What’s the most unexpected thing about your life right now? In other words, if an earlier version of you time travelled into your life at this moment without knowing how you got here, what would the earlier version of you be most surprised to learn about your life?
Write a list of the 5 people you spend the most time with socially (family, coworkers, friends, etc.). Next to each person’s name, write about one way this relationship impacts you positively and one way this relationship impacts you negatively.
Who in your life so far has shown you the most love? How has this person shown you love? How has this person’s love impacted your life?
What physical place do you most associate with a feeling of being at peace? Why do you associate this place with feeling peaceful? What does it feel like to be at peace?
What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned in life so far? How did you learn this?
What does it mean to be self reflective? What value does self reflection have (i.e., why does it matter if you’re self reflective)? How self reflective do you think you are? How has your approach to being self reflective impacted your life so far? How do you anticipate that being self reflective will impact your life going forward?
What’s something you really want to learn about yourself or life? How would you go about learning this?
What’s something you like doing that no one really praises you for or cares much that you do? What makes this intrinsically rewarding to you?
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from reflecting on your own life?
What’s something that seems relatively easy for other people to do, but that feels hard to you? Why does this thing seem like it’s relatively easy for other people? Do you think your assessment that this is easy for other people is accurate? Why does this thing feel hard to you? How do you respond to yourself when you experience a hard time with this? How does your response impact you?
What’s something you’re really good at? What was it like the first time you remember doing this thing? How did you get really good at this?
What’s something about you that you tend to hide away from other people? Why do you hide this about yourself?
What’s a personality trait that you really like about yourself? Why is this something you really like about yourself? How does this personality trait impact your life positively? Does this personality trait impact your life negatively in any way? How have other people responded to this aspect of your personality throughout your life? How have other people’s responses impacted you?
What’s a personality trait that you’d like to change about yourself? Why is this something you want to change about yourself? How does this personality trait impact you negatively? Does this personality trait impact you positively in any way? Was there a time earlier in your life when this personality trait helped you? How have other people responded to this aspect of your personality throughout your life? How have other people’s responses impacted you?
If you had to rename yourself, what name would you choose? Why would you choose this name? What does this name say about you that your current name doesn’t say?

Citations for Journal Prompts For Self Reflection

[1] Rilke’s poetry was published in German. This translation is from Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy’s Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, which I can’t recommend enough!

Photos for this article were created with Adobe Firefly.