Journal Prompts for Values

🌙 Reflective 💭 Thoughtful ✨ Inspired

It is easy to lose sight of your values in the current of daily obligations. Evening is when you can step back and ask the deeper questions, not just what you did today, but whether it reflected what you actually care about. These prompts help you excavate the principles that guide you, even when you are not conscious of them. You might pair them with a values clarification exercise or use them alongside a guide to journaling about values for deeper self-awareness.

1 What are the three values you consider most central to who you are?
2 Did your actions today reflect your values, or were they at odds with them? Where was the tension?
3 Think of a decision you made recently that felt right even though it was difficult. What value were you honouring?
4 What value did you inherit from your family that you have chosen to keep? Which have you let go of?
5 Write about a time you compromised a value for convenience or approval. How did it feel afterwards?
6 If someone watched how you spend your time and money, what would they conclude your values are? Does that match your answer above?
7 What value do you wish you lived more fully? What gets in the way?
8 Describe a person whose values you deeply respect. What specifically do they do that demonstrates those values?
9 How have your values shifted over the past decade? What prompted those changes?
10 What would you stand up for, even if you stood alone?
11 Write about a moment when your values were tested and you held firm.
12 Are there values you claim to hold but rarely act on? What would change if you did?
13 What does integrity mean to you in practical, everyday terms?
14 How do your values shape the way you treat yourself, not just others?
15 Write about a value you discovered you held only after it was violated.
16 What tension exists between two of your values: for example, ambition and rest, honesty and kindness?
17 How do your values inform the kind of relationships you seek?
18 What legacy do you want your values to leave?
19 Write about a value that is unfashionable or counter-cultural but important to you.
20 As the day ends, which of your values felt most alive today?

A week of evening entries

Five prompts to carry you through a week. In Nightbook, five entries form a constellation.

★ What are the three values you consider most central to who you are?
★ If someone watched how you spend your time and money, what would they conclude your values are? Does that match your answer above?
★ Write about a time you compromised a value for convenience or approval. How did it feel afterwards?
★ What tension exists between two of your values: for example, ambition and rest, honesty and kindness?
★ As the day ends, which of your values felt most alive today?