Anyone who has journaled before knows how beneficial and life-enriching journaling can be. Combining journaling with mindful practices and meditation enriches your meditation journey, and helps you track your successes. But you don’t have to have any experience journaling to start writing today. You also do not need any experience with meditation to use our meditation journaling prompts.

All you need is paper or a notebook and a pen or pencil, along with the willingness to start and finish this 40-day journey. You could also use a computer, tablet, or phone if you prefer.

Grab your meditation journal, take a few deep breaths, and let's start!

40 Days of meditation journaling prompts

Day 1: Create your space. Jot down and draw ideas for how you want your meditation space to look and feel. Knowing that your space is a work in progress just like you are, begin to create that space in your home.

Day 2: List your meditation goals. What is it that you want to get out of your meditation practice? Are you looking for more focus? Do you want to reduce stress? Do you want to worry less and relax more? Or, are you looking for enlightenment? 😉 You can revisit this list as often as you like to add as your journey unfolds.

Day 3: What are the obstacles that sometimes keep you from meditating? Being aware of obstacles is the first step to overcoming them. If you do not have any obstacles, what do you think is needed to realize your meditation goals?

Day 4: Notice your breath. Write everything you notice about your breath. Temperature, depth, speed, and feelings as you observe your breath. Continue paying attention to your breath throughout the day.

Day 5: Try this guided meditation. Take a few minutes to write about how you feel before and after this 10-minute guided mindfulness meditation.

10 Minute Guided Mindfulness Meditation | Sit By the Lake With Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Day 6: What is your intention for today? Decide what kind of day you want to have. Include any specific goals. Write freely about whatever you would like to see happen today.

Day 7: What are you grateful for? Gratitude has a direct connection with the law of attraction. List everything you are grateful for. To help this process, think in terms of, “What are you not grateful for?” Is it possible to be grateful for everything? Even the so-called “bad” things we experience in life? Come back and add to this list on a regular basis.

Day 8: Why do you meditate? There are a million good reasons to meditate. Everything from better sleep, healthier blood pressure (aka less stress, less anxiety), an increase in energy and mental focus, and the list goes on and on. What are your reasons? Jot down all your reasons for meditating.

Day 9: What are your positive qualities? What you put your attention on grows! Write every positive quality you have. You can add to this list any time your energy is low.

Day 10: What does commitment mean to you? Goals become realized when we commit to working towards them. Journal about how you see commitment in general, and how you will work towards your meditation goals.

Day 11: If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be? Write about that change and imagine that it could happen. Sometimes all that is needed is a shift in perspective, a little imagination, and change becomes possible.

Day 12: Practice mindful eating. For at least one meal, spend more time eating with full awareness, instead of watching TV or looking at your phone. Write about your experience.

Day 13: What’s happening right now? Write about whatever is happening in your environment and then write about what is happening in your mind and emotions. Mindfulness is a “happening!”

Day 14: Try this guided meditation. Take a few minutes to write about how you feel before and after this 10 minute short morning meditation to start your day.

10 Minute Short Morning Meditation to Start Your Day | Art of Living

Day 15: Do random acts of kindness. Kindness expands your consciousness! See how many random acts of kindness you can do in one day, and write all about your experiences. Also, note how your meditation feels after acts of kindness.

Day 16: If your body could talk, what would it say? Your body communicates with you all the time. But too often we miss what our body says to us. Pay close attention to your body and write what you think it has to say. #self-love

Day 17: What bad habit would you like to see change? Changing for the better is a lifelong journey. Write about how one bad habit affects you, and make a plan to change it. 

Day 18: Walking “elements” meditation. Take a walk anywhere and notice the elements at play: earth element, water element, air element, and space element. This “elements” walk works in the city and a natural setting. Write a poem or prose about your experience.

Day 19: Who are you? Ask yourself this question, and write every answer that comes to mind without editing yourself. What comes after all the labels, roles, and identifications? Revisit this prompt in six months.

Day 20: Breathe. Learn how to do victory breath, named because this breathing exercise helps you overcome too many thoughts. Write about your experience before and after practicing victory breath. 

Ujjayi Breath/Victory Breath

Day 21: Plan a day of self-care. Spend a day of “me time” doing the things that nourish you on every level: body, mind, and spirit. Make sure you try something new! Write about how you felt during and after a day of self-care.

Day 22: Close your eyes and list everything you hear. Set a timer for two minutes and listen carefully to everything. Now write whatever you remember hearing, and follow up with how you felt listening with full awareness.

Day 23: Count your blessings. Why is it good to count your blessings? Being mindful of your blessings brings more blessings into your life. Start writing every blessing you can think of and revisit this entry on a regular basis.

Day 24: Meditation experiment. Start your next meditation with your eyes open. Gazing in front of you with eyelids open at about 45 degrees. After a minute, lower your eyelids until almost closed, with just a sliver of light coming in. After another minute passes, let your eyes close and gently ease into meditation. After your meditation session, record your experience. 

Day 25: Dance like no one is watching. Moving your body to music is a great way to practice mindfulness and experience the present moment, while also helping you to relax. Play your favorite tune, and dance without holding back. Then sit with your eyes closed for a few minutes before writing about your experience.

Day 26: Doodle. A picture is worth a thousand words. Draw, doodle, scribble, and otherwise express yourself without words. Let your inner child be in charge without editing yourself.

Day 27: Sound experiment. Sound is vibration. These vibrations have an effect on your mind and feelings. As you sit for your next meditation, take a deep breath, and as you exhale chant Om. Repeat two more times and continue meditating for a while. After you come out of meditation, write freely about your experience with the sound Om.

Day 28: Spend the day in silence. We never really know how much noise is in our lives until we unplug! Plan to disconnect from all electronic devices including phones and TVs, with no texting, no music, and no talking for the entire day. Write about your experience at the end of the day or the next day. 

Day 29: Give yourself three pieces of advice. On one level, we already know what we need to do to be happier and healthier. From a meditative space, intuitively compose a letter to yourself with three helpful pieces of advice.

Day 30: Why are you here? The most fortunate are those who ask, “Why am I here?” Write as you ponder your life’s purpose. 

Day 31: What if you could not fail? Describe and plan your greatest hopes and dreams without thinking about the how and what ifs. This is your chance to edit out all the negative self-talk!

Day 32: Try on a different perspective. Think of this exercise as a chance to change sides on a debate team. Imagine (and embrace) a situation or belief from a different perspective, then record how it felt to see things differently. 

Day 33: Retell a story about someone dear to you. The art of writing a story about a real-life person unlocks a little magic. From memory, jot down a story you have often told about someone you love. Then write about any emotions that came up or changes in perspective.

Day 34: Remember a time when you overcame a big challenge. Once a significant challenge is behind us, we can forget how strong we really are. Put in writing everything you can recall about overcoming a big challenge. What physical sensations happened then and are happening or not happening now? 

Day 35: Learn a new breathing technique. Alternate nostril breathing is perfect for just prior to meditation or mindful writing. After practicing alternate nostril breathing, take a few minutes to record your experience.

PAUSE The Chatter In Your Mind With Alternate Nostril Breathing | Art of Living

Day 36: Be the change. We can all make a difference with even small actions. Spend a few hours doing community service, and put in writing how this experience affected your meditation. 

Day 37: Learn the three keys to meditation. Read this article before your next meditation. Try using the three keys as you sit for meditation. Follow up with some mindful journaling about your experience.

Day 38: Honoring the practice. With gratitude, gratefulness, honor, and respect, commit to including meditation in your daily routine. What does this look and feel like? Reflect and write on honoring the practice.

Day 39: Evaluate. Read over all of your journal entries and evaluate your journey so far. Write an evaluation of your experiences thus far. What benefits and positive experiences have you had along the way? Reflective journaling helps you gauge your successes and decide where you want to go next!

Day 40: Attend a free breath and meditation session. Write about your experience of learning breathwork and experiencing a live guided meditation. You will also learn about the Art of Living’s SKY Breath Meditation. Click on the image below to save your spot!

Congratulations on completing 40 days of meditation journaling! Yay, you!