We start the year thinking and planning goals we want to accomplish, but as the year goes on sometimes our motivation and inspiration fades. It can be so hard to keep working on our goals. Today’s journal prompt is all about writing out affirmations that can help keep our inspiration going! Affirmations are helpful because the more we repeat them to ourselves, the more our brain begins to process it as being true. What we think impacts what we say and what we do. So if we are continually saying or writing out positive affirmations about our goals it will become much easier to start doing things that support our goal.
Journal Prompt
Write out a goal you are working towards. Make sure to add detail as far as when you want to accomplish it and what specifically you are working towards.
Write out three positive affirmations for each prompt below:
Write an affirmation that describes yourself as having already completed the goal. For example “I am healthy and take care of my body and mind.”
Write an affirmation that describes steps you take to make your goal happen. For example “I feed my body foods that are healthy and nourishing.”
Write an affirmation that addresses your ability to accomplish your goal. For example “I am able to create space in my life for my health to thrive.”
I love journaling! One of the great things about it is that you can write about anything and make it personal to your experience! This is a list of ideas to get you thinking of what to journal today!
Write your favorite quotes.
Write the lyrics of a song you have been enjoying.
Write out your life story.
Write three things you are grateful for today.
Write out a goal you are working on right now and why it’s important to you.
Write out your favorite childhood memory.
Write a letter to someone you miss.
Write three affirmations.
Write out what you are planning to do this week.
Write about something you are looking forward to.
Write about your favorite movie or tv show.
Rewrite the ending of a story you enjoy.
Write a prayer.
Write a letter to someone you admire.
Write about your favorite season in life.
Write about three things you have accomplished this month.
Purpose can seem so illusive and difficult to grasp. Yet having a sense of purpose allows us to live life more fully and increases our quality of life. When we feel we have purpose we can be more intentional to live out our purpose with our thoughts, words, and actions. Today’s journal prompt is all about reflecting on what purpose means to you!
Journal Prompt
To reflect on our purpose we will first answer questions about what is important to us and then reflect on what these answers mean for our purpose.
Reflections on our passions:
What do you enjoy doing most throughout the week?
What skills or talents do you use in your work or hobbies?
What do you do that contributes towards your community?
What are you passionate about?
What is something that people often come to you and ask you for help with?
Is there a pattern or theme in the answers you wrote about your passions?How do these patterns relate to your purpose?
Now take a moment to write about what purpose means to you.
Based on all that you have written and reflected on so far write out what you believe your purpose to be. How is this purpose reflected in you passions?
I hope you enjoyed this time or reflection! I hope this year is filled with passion and purpose for us!
Welcome to my podcast! This brief episode is all about reflection on the new year and the quote of the day by Anthony Robbins. You can check it out below!
The beginning of a new year is a great time to reflect! It’s an opportunity to reflect on the year that has past and to make plans for the new year to come. During this journal prompt we will do both of these things! This is going to be a great year!!
Journal Prompt
First we will reflect on our experiences in 2022. Reflection is a time to remember, ponder, and evaluate our experiences. Not all the things that we experienced over the last year were easy or enjoyable. There may have been more lessons or hard times over the last year then moments of laughter and joy. The purpose of this prompt isn’t to judge your experiences, but to simply reflect on how these experiences can help us create the best year in 2023. Consider these questions to help reflect on 2022:
What brought you the most joy in 2022?
What are three lessons from 2022 that you want to bring into the new year?
What goals did you work on during 2022?
Think back to how 2022 started for you and where you were in life…where are you in life now in comparison?
Now that we have reflected on 2022, let’s look ahead to our plans, goals, and hopes for 2023.
What are your top 3 goals that you want to work on in 2023?
What habits are you hoping to break or begin in 2023?
What 2 things are you looking forward to most this year?
Where do you want to be in life a year from now? What action steps can you take this year to accomplish this?
I hope you enjoyed this time of reflection! This is going to be a great year! We got this!
The seasons can bring so much inspiration and opportunity to reflect! Today’s journal prompt is all about Winter and reflecting on the lessons this season teaches us.
Journal Prompt
Winter is a season of rest. It is a season where nature has let go and is still before a time of growth and rebirth.
How can you choose to rest and be still during this season?
Nothing in nature blooms all year. How can you use this time to recharge and refocus in preparation for a time of growth?
This is a time to reflect on where you’ve been and we’re you are going. What growth have you experienced lately? How do you intend to keep pressing towards your goals in the next season of your life?
We start the year thinking and planning goals we want to accomplish, but as the year goes on sometimes our motivation and inspiration fades. It can be so hard to keep working on our goals. Today’s journal prompt is all about writing out affirmations that can help keep our inspiration going! Affirmations are helpful because … Continue reading “Journal Prompt: Goal Affirmations”
Starting to Create Again Have you ever gone through seasons where you felt uninspired and unmotivated to create? I’ve been going through that lately! It’s been driving me crazy!! I love to create and craft! I truly believe getting creative is so important for our self-care! But sometimes finding the energy to do it can … Continue reading “Creative Life: Where To Start”
It can be uplifting and a source of hope to have a dream vacation in mind. Whether is dreaming of the beach, the mountains, new places, or new experiences keeping these things in mind can add excitement to our lives. Todays prompt is all about reflecting on what a dream vacation looks like for you! … Continue reading “Journal Prompt: Dream Vacation”
Aging is a topic that I am very familiar with because most of my social work career has been spent working with seniors. Because of that this article caught my attention and am excited to share with you what I learned from it. The article is named ‘New study finds 6 ways to slow memory … Continue reading “Factors that Contribute to Aging Well”
This is my favorite type of journal prompt! It is simply a check in to see how life is going, what we are learning, what’s happening, and how we are feeling. This prompt is a series of questions and statements to get you thinking about your life in this current season. Journal Prompt Take a … Continue reading “Journal Prompt: Life Lately”
During this podcast we will chat about creativity and inspiration! I have actually been talking with several people in a various areas of my life about this! The beauty of creativity is that we are all creative in such different ways and can be inspired by so many different things! We will chat about some of those sources of inspiration and forms of creativity.
I will also be sharing this quote and what it means to me!
Have you ever had a goal that you wanted to accomplish, but it did not end up working because of lack of planning?
Have you ever had a goal that you planned for, but the plan did not work out and it was difficult to find motivation to keep working towards your goal?
I have been in both of these situations and been disappointment when working towards my goals did not go as planned. Having a plan and ongoing inspiration can help us to accomplish our goals. There is a theory that there are four steps to change. These steps are pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, and action (DiClemente & Norcross, 1992). The preparation stage is when we have accepted the change we would like to make and then taking steps to get ready for taking action. Vision boards and planning are great steps to take to prepare for action!
Making a vision board, whether it is for the new year, a special project, or a new habit, allows us to stay focused on our priorities and stay inspired even when the change is difficult. Any change, new habit, or even new year will have challenges that we did not anticipate or that may decrease our motivation. Because of this a vision board can help us to stay focused and to press forward when parts of the plan have to be tweaked or changed to accomplish our overall goals. We all grow tired and feel overwhelmed at times from making any kind of change. Because of this it can be helpful to have something to look at and to help us to visualize why it is important to keep working towards our goal.
top view image of table with open notebook and the text new mindset new results. success and personal development concept
Types of Vision Boards
There are several ways that you can make a vision board or display your goals in ways that can inspire you and keep you focused on what your priorities are.
Vision board template with space for goals, dreams list, travel plans and inspiration. Collage frames for teens, nursery poster design. Journal page for planning, new year resolutions, white sheet.
You can make a collage of your vision and goals! This can be very fun because you can use whatever stickers, pictures, phrases, and embellishments that inspire you regarding your goals. This is a great way to express your hopes, desired results, and your “why” behind working towards that goal. The inspiration from the collage can spur you forward towards your goal and be a source of comfort to press forward when barriers come up. You can see a small vision board that I made below with a frame from the Dollar Tree. This is my Amazon referral link for the stickers I purchased for the vision board.
You could choose a word to focus on that represents your “why” behind the goal, that describes your desired outcome, or that inspires you towards your goals.
If you are someone who likes to work on a variety of goals, you could write out all of the goals you have for the year. For example, if you were wanting to work on your health, career, relationships, and faith during 2022 then you could write out a reflection on all four topics and what you are hoping to achieve throughout the year.
Example of a word to focus on throughout the year!Small vision board with a frame I got from the Dollar Tree
SMART Goals
Using SMART goals as our foundation can be helpful in allowing us to make plans that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based. After we have made a vision board or other inspirational reflection, we can than break down our goals into specific and measurable steps. This supports us in making changes and allows the change we make to be sustainable.
Example goal:
Specific – I would like to eat more vegetables.
Measurable – I plan to eat 4 servings of vegetables daily.
Achievable – this is a doable goal because it is simple and will take place during my lunch and dinner meals.
Realistic – this is realistic to me because I enjoy vegetables and can fairly easily start eating 4 servings daily.
Time-based – I plan to work on this goal for the next three months.
Summary: My goal is to eat 4 servings of vegetables daily, during my lunch and dinner meals. I will work on this goal for the next three months. This is realistic and achievable due to my enjoyment of vegetables and desire to eat healthier.
Trouble Shooting Your Plan
There are times for all of us that working towards our goals does not go as well as we hoped or planned. For most of us we give up on our New Year’s resolutions by February or we might quit a diet three weeks in. If the methods that you had planned on did not work, do not allow that to dishearten you to give up on your goal! Try adjusting the plan or the methods of how you go about working towards your end goals! Your health, wellbeing, and dreams are worth pursuing!!
cycle to reach success: try, fail, try again, success
References:
DiClemente, C. & Norcross, J. (1992). In Search of How People Change: Applications to Addictive behaviors. American Psychologist, 47, 1102-1114.
Blooming Resilient 