Simple journal prompt for when you’re short on time

Today when I got home from work I didn’t really feel like writing, but I still felt drawn to my journal.

When we are super busy or stressed it can be easy to feel like journaling is too much effort, or takes too much time.

Today I used a really simple journal prompt to just check in with how I’m doing, without writing pages and pages. It took all of 5 minutes.

I got this idea from a random piece of scrapbooking paper I had floating around.

All you do is simply this: create the following headings and jot down whatever comes to mind for each.

• Loving
• Wishing
• Dreaming
• Feeling
• Thinking

It was great to help me get some of my thoughts and feelings down. Here’s a few of the things I came up with:

• Loving – sleeping, glasses of wine, journaling, cuddles with my pup, cups of tea
• Wishing – the holidays would get here faster (less than a week to go!)
• Dreaming – about living in the tiny house with my partner and working less
• Feeling – tired, stressed, overworked, grumpy
• Thinking – about business ideas

Some positive, some not so positive. But it has made me feel better to get some of it off my mind and onto the page, even though I’m short on time and energy. And it has provided a concise little snapshot of where I’m at today.

Another thing you could do is add some prompts to include your senses:

• Hearing
• Seeing
• Smelling
• Tasting
• Feeling

So a journal entry could look like this:

• Hearing – the rain on the roof, the ticking clock
• Seeing – the blank paper, the lamp light on my page
• Smelling – dinner cooking
• Tasting – a sip of coffee, sweetness
• Feeling – the soft and warm blanket over my knees, the chair under me

If you’re short on time or energy, try using one of these lists/prompts to quickly and easily check in with yourself.