The journaling prompts in this post are inspired by pulling the oracle card Trickster from the Native Spirit Oracle Cards
The message of the card was:
Things are not as they seem. Something that seems bad may in fact be good and vice versa. Don’t take everything at face value. Look beneath the surface. This card encourages you to try to find humour or gentle amusement in seemingly difficult situations. It also encourages you to have irrepressible fun. Step out of the mold.
Initially, when reading the message above I felt uneasy.
I like to think of myself as an optimistic, glass half full person, however, the words that stood out to me from the message were:
“Something that seems bad may, in fact, be good and vice versa. Don’t take everything at face value.”
My mind automatically started worrying about things in my life that may seem good but are actually bad.
I felt unsure that I’ll be able to spot the difference and it took me a while to shake the feeling.
What is interesting to me is that my mind has focused on the fact that things appearing good may not be.
This stood out to me as the opposite is more explicitly stated in the message.
Intentionally journaling for self-reflection helps to explore the thoughts and feelings the message of this oracle card may trigger.
Journaling for Self-Reflection
Questions and sentence starter prompts
- Uncertainty and change make me feel…
- Looking back over the past year…
- Looking back over the past ten years…
- Approaching a new year makes me think/feel/want…
- What would your past self (from 10 years ago) want you to know today?
- What advice would you give your past self (from 10 years ago)
- How do you feel about where you started this year and where you are now?
- How can you find humour or gentle amusement in a seemingly difficult situation?
- How can you have irrepressible fun?
You can work through the prompts in the order they’re listed, choose the ones that you’re most drawn to or, start with the ones you feel the most resistance to.
With sentence starters, simply let the ink flow and write whatever comes next.
Quote prompts
- “There’s so many things that life is, and no matter how many breakthroughs, trials will exist and we’re going to get through it. Just be strong.” – Mary J. Blige
- “You can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.” – Michelle Obama
- “Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we learned here.” – Marianne Williamson
- “You just do what you can and you have as much fun as possible.” – Frank Ocean
- “It’s the game of life. Do I win or do I lose? One day they’re gonna shut the game down. I gotta have as much fun and go around the board as many times as I can before it’s my turn to leave.” – Tupac Shakur
Quote prompts can be a good alternative to questions.
Simply write about what a quote makes you feel or any thoughts or memories it triggers.
NB: With both sentence starters and quote prompts, you may find it helpful to set a timer for each prompt.
Your journal is a great place for self-reflection.
It is a safe, confidential space to explore and understand your feelings on a deeper level and allows you to notice any unusual thoughts, emotions and fears as they arise.
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