Just Open Your Journal & Songs to Write To
Are you trying to get into journaling for the first time (or back into it)? My advice: don't start out trying to write about your feelings. If you do that, it will be harder to start writing when you’re not in the mood, feeling sad, or just overall ennui.
It can be intimidating to face your true feelings just to write a journal entry. Instead, you could start out by writing about something you did today, however small (I read a chapter of a book and unloaded the dishwasher—yay, me!), and then the feelings (or even gratitude) will come later.
Here are a 3 easy prompts and my TOP 12+ favorite songs to write to:
1) Write down a favorite quotable quote. Maybe you found the quote on Pinterest or Instagram or TikTok, but there is something about committing the quote to the page, and writing about why it moved you, that will be satisfying.
2) Write down a meaningful line from a book you read that you want to remember or even discover again later as you flip through your journal. Why did it mean a lot to you? Sometimes writing down the words of others is a good place to start. Just putting pen to paper, feeling the texture of the paper and the heft of the pen in your hand, can be a relief.
3) Write about what you imagine, think, or feel as you listen to a favorite instrumental song. Here are a few of my favorites to get your imagination flowing. View/listen to the playlist on YouTube.
September Song by Agnes Obel
We Move Lightly by Dustin O’Halloran
Dreaming by Austin Farwell
Idea 7 by Gibran Alcocer
Back in Time by Borrtex
Written on the Sky by Max Richter
Natural Light or Time Lapse or Divenire: anything by Ludovico Einaudi
Happiness Does Not Wait by Olafur Arnalds
Part 8: Starry Dream by A. Blomqvist
The Time Traveler’s Wife-Main Title by Blake Neely
A Gentle Sunlight by James Quinn
It doesn’t matter if you write one sentence or one page. Just open up your journal.
Journaling with my favorite pen
