How to Create a Thoughts Journal

Co-authored by Sandra Possing

Last Updated: June 29, 2023 Fact Checked

Everyone needs a constructive way to process their emotions every now and then. Writing about your thoughts is a good way to both let go of your emotions, and to reflect on how you are feeling at certain times, from feeling depressed to feeling euphoric. Thought journals really help you by opening up the emotions, exploring them more closely and identifying the triggers so that you can learn to better manage your feelings. Here are a few tips and pointers that will help you write a journal and maintain it as well.

Thoughts Journal Entry Template

Sample Thoughts Journal Entry Template

Part 1

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Choosing a Suitable Journal

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Get a nice notebook that you like the feel and look of. It's a good idea to buy one online, as you'll may find a greater assortment of notebooks; however, if you want to hold and touch the notebook first, visit a few stores that stock good quality stationery. If you can't find a design you like, it's a fun idea to find any kind of durable but flexible paper, such as wrapping paper, in a color you like, which you can use to cover a plain notebook with.
- Write your name on the first page and any relevant details.
Using just a plain notebook or a small pad of spiral notebook paper is fine too, but you may prefer the look and feel of an actual journal; just don't stray too far from your budget.

Part 2

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Writing in your Thoughts Journal

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You could add a picture of yourself if you like. It's also a neat place to write about your likes, your dislikes, your family, your friends, your enemies, your crush etc. This will personalize your journal.
Include items about people, places, things or activities. Spruce it up depending on the item you are talking about.^{[1]
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You can color code your writing. Use red for really mad days, blue for sad days, sun-bleached yellow for happy days and green for sick days, or however you feel.
There are a few websites online that can provide them, but most bigger bookstores (like Barnes and Noble and similar) have writing prompts journals that you can use to create prompts and answers yourself.^{[2]
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Write about your thoughts on a particular topic you'd like to write about. It could be politics, popularity in school, a story, or anything you feel like writing.
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It can be useful to write down your feelings whenever you feel confused, upset, worried or distressed. It can be just as useful to write down your thoughts whenever you're feeling happy, excited or inspired. Recording thoughts can help you to learn that you're a balance of both negative and positive thoughts and that you might be tilting a little too far either way and need to readjust to see life more realistically or less pessimistically. It's also great to have some positive entries to read on days when you feel everything but happy or settled.^{[4]
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It can be a great place to make lists, do pro and con columns and to work through consequences. You can also read back to other times you've made decisions, to remind yourself of the outcome and what worked best for you each time (or what didn't work).^{[5]
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Use mind maps, lists, diagrams and other visual aids to work through the goals you want to set yourself and the hopes and desires for things to turn out the way you'd like them to. Be sure to include possible roadblocks and speed bumps––thinking ahead about possible negatives is a way of planning for the worst and having alternative scenarios to help you move on.^{[6]
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Of course, you could also use photographs if you have any.
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It's a good idea to write your journal after school or college each day or after dinner. By that time, a lot has probably happened that day, and you might want to write about it.^{[7]
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- It's really up to you if you want to write in your thoughts journal daily or less often. The benefit of getting into a habit of writing daily is that it can help you to see patterns of thinking and can be a great way to start rearranging your thoughts to be more constructive and helpful to you. You don't need to write a lot each day––just a few lines is as fine as several pages.

Part 3

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Keeping your Journal Safe

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Hide your journal somewhere safe. You do not want your journal to be found, especially if you write about private thoughts or secrets. So make sure you keep it safe. Some ideas for hiding places include:
- Keep it tucked between books in a bookshelf that only you ever use.
- Put it in pile of folded clothing that only you ever access.
- Place it inside a shoebox of many papers.
- Hide it in plain site. Make it as boring as your school or college books and keep it among them. Just take care not to carry it to school or college with you though!
- Keep inside a secret hollow book.
- And boldest of all, don't worry about others reading it. Be bold and don't care what others snoop around and learn. That's their karma and you'll stand by the person you are.

Expert Q&A

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How do you start a thought journal?

Sandra Possing
Life Coach
Sandra Possing is a life coach, speaker, and entrepreneur based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sandra specializes in one-on-one coaching with a focus on mindset and leadership transformation. Sandra received her coaching training from The Coaches Training Institute and has seven years of life coaching experience. She holds a BA in Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Sandra Possing

Life Coach

Expert Answer

It's totally up to you. One thing you may want to do is start by just jotting down how you're feeling. What emotions and thoughts are you experiencing at this moment? Then, get in the habit of tracking your emotions every day. That would be the easiest way to use your thought journal.

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Why would someone want to use a thought journal?

Sandra Possing
Life Coach
Sandra Possing is a life coach, speaker, and entrepreneur based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sandra specializes in one-on-one coaching with a focus on mindset and leadership transformation. Sandra received her coaching training from The Coaches Training Institute and has seven years of life coaching experience. She holds a BA in Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Sandra Possing

Life Coach

Expert Answer

There are a variety of reasons someone may want to use a thought journal. One reason may be to fix unproductive thoughts. A lot of the time, we're negative without really knowing it. Tracking your thoughts will help you uncover any negative thought patterns and you'll be able to take the next steps to resolve these patterns.

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What else can I do besides keep a thoughts journal if I want to be a better person?

Sandra Possing
Life Coach
Sandra Possing is a life coach, speaker, and entrepreneur based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sandra specializes in one-on-one coaching with a focus on mindset and leadership transformation. Sandra received her coaching training from The Coaches Training Institute and has seven years of life coaching experience. She holds a BA in Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Sandra Possing

Life Coach

Expert Answer

Start practicing gratitude! Wake up every day and list three things you're thankful for. Try to identify at least one good thing that happens every day before you go to bed. If you can get in the habit of being more thankful, you'll naturally become a happier person.

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Tips

It's your journal. Don't feel as if there are any "have to do this" approaches. If you want to write it upside down and back to front, in squid ink and filled with cartoons, that's totally up to you. The only must is that it all makes sense to you.

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Remember that you are writing for yourself and that this journal can also be used as a sad day diary.

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Check out thrift stores and charity shops for old notebooks that nobody cares for or has even ever written in. You can grab a bargain this way and give that book another chance.

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Warnings

If hiding the journal, avoid places where snoops know to look, such as under a bed, under a pillow or in a desk drawer.

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Its better not to brag about your journal to your siblings. Doing so will likely prompt them to try to find and read it.

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Realize that should someone read your thoughts journal and make fun of you, it is they who are the lesser person, not you. If they read something about themselves that they do not like, that is the price for snooping. That said, if the person reading is in a position of authority over you and can make life hard or unbearable for you, use a code or hide it extremely well; there is no need to get harmed over expressing your thoughts.
- If someone reads your journal, tell them that it is your journal and they don't have any right to read it, as it invades your privacy.
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