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What is Guided Journaling?
There’s no argument that journaling can be an incredible form of therapy. However, it’s super important to be doing the right type of journaling to achieve your goals.
Guided journaling utilizes guided journals, which are journals that have premade prompts, activities, and information in them, to steer and guide you in the right direction for what it is you want to achieve.
This is obviously much more structured and intentional than simply having a blank, lined journal.
By using a guided journal instead of a regular journal, you increase your chances of staying committed because you’re receiving guidance, and therefore you increase your chances of achieving your goals.
To help you figure out what guided journal is best for you and your needs, I’ve created the ultimate list of what I think are the 10 best guided journals for every type of goal and occasion.
**This article contains affiliate links which means that I get a very small commission off the sale at no extra cost to you. However, I only promote items that I believe in and/or use myself. The money gained from these commissions is put back into this blog to create better content so thank you if you decide to use my links :)**
Reminder: As per the nature of online shopping, the journals go in and out of stock. I’ve picked journals that should be accessible for many countries but if you click on the link and the book isn’t available, I recommend adding it to your cart regardless and waiting for it to come back in stock. I’ve also provided alternatives sites where possible!
1. Best Guided Journal for Self-Exploration
If you’re from the U.S, buy me here 🙂
If you’re from Canada, buy me here 🙂
This guided journal is created by Jacqueline Kademian, a licensed marriage and family therapist, so this journal incorporates ideas based on psychology and also holistic approaches to healing.
The goal of the journal is to help you explore yourself, your identity, your experiences, and also reflect on what it all means for your life.
You do one prompt a day, every day for a year. This makes it worth the money for me (not that it’s SUPER expensive to begin with), because having a journal last you a year versus 3 months definitely makes a difference in the experience and it also makes it a smarter investment.
The prompts are intuitive, inspiring, and definitely get you thinking. You also get the WHOLE page to write out your thoughts so you’ll never be struggling to fit in everything you want to say.
Top Pros:
- Well-thought-out prompts that last you a full year (better investment than shorter journals you constantly have you to rebuy)
- Lots of physical space to write out your responses
Top Cons:
- The design is very lackluster. The prompts are at the top of the page like a regular sentence and then you just write onto the rest of the page. Even a little bit of structure like lined paper or small designs would have made this journal a lot more visually appealing than it is
2. Best Guided Journal for Self-Care
If you’re from the U.S, buy me here 🙂
If you’re from Canada, buy me here 🙂
Unlike the previous journal that lacked some design innovation, this one definitely does not. While it’s not the most colorful on the inside, there is a great variety in terms of how prompts are offered. For example, there are spaces to write, pictures to fill in, charts to mark off. It definitely does not get boring.
I also really enjoy the exercises that the journal prompts you through because I think they are very topical for all the common struggles most of us face with self-care. For example, writing out an exhaustive list of all the things you think you have to do even though you can’t do it all or identifying ways our bodies are trying to tell us we need some TLC.
Another piece I like is that it prompts you to actually reframe some of these ideas. I think that’s important because it doesn’t leave you hanging by thinking “Okay, I realize I do this but… what’s the alternative? How do I change my perception and behavior?”.
Lastly, there is a section where you identify how you feel every day on a weekly basis using the metaphor of weather (which is super cute). This can be really helpful in catching potential patterns which then allows you to address them.
For example, if you notice you’re always feeling extra bad on Wednesdays, you might reflect and realize it’s because it’s your busiest day of the week. So many then you choose to go to bed earlier the night before so you get more rest, or you meal-prep for that day so you don’t have to cook at least, or you may practice some extra moments of mindfulness.
Regardless, being able to see weeks’ worth of assessments can be really helpful when addressing any form of concern.
Top Pros:
- Very topical and creative prompts to help you reflect on your self-care habits and reframe your mind
- Allows you to track how you feel for 4 weeks which helps to identify patterns
- Beautifully designed
Top Cons:
- The pages with flower art can feel a bit wasteful considering they’re very minimally drawn and don’t add much aside from aesthetic
3. Best Guided Journal for Creative Release
If you’re from the U.S, buy me here 🙂
If you’re from Canada, buy me here 🙂
If you want to journal to simply get the jitters out, I got you too.
You may or may not have heard of this type of journal before, but I recall it being really popular a few years back. And rightly so because it’s so fun.
The point is to- as the name suggests- wreck the journal. You’ll be prompted with lots of fun activities to do that’ll make the journal quite the mess. Anything from finding creatives ways to stick the pages together to drawing various things onto them.
I know it may sound a little weird, but the way you follow the prompts is up to your interpretation so you actually get to have a lot of fun being creative with it.
Also, who doesn’t like destroying things as a way to relieve stress? It’s the cheaper and perhaps less physically taxing equivalent going to places where you get to smash plates and glass or throw axes.
So if you’re really not into regular journaling but rather getting to be playful and creative, this is the one for you!
Top Pros:
- Super unique approach to journaling
- Is a really fun way to get playful and creative while also releasing stress
- There are many editions of this journal so if you tried one and liked it you can then try a different one and it’ll have other prompts you haven’t yet done
Top Cons:
- If you’re a person who dies a little inside when things get destroyed, this may not be the journal for you
4. Best Guided Journal for Self-Love
If you’re from the U.S, buy me here 🙂
If you’re from Canada, buy me here 🙂
Have you been wanting to really dig into how to properly practice self-love? I think most of us do but it’s often so hard to try it alone, and you never really know quite how to start. This is especially difficult if practicing self-love is not something you’re used to.
This is where a guided journal like this Self-Love Workbook can be super helpful. As I mentioned earlier in my explanation as to why guided journals are so important, this is a prime example. If you don’t know how to go about practicing self-love but want to start journaling about it, how will you do that with a blank piece of paper? It’ll be really difficult and you may end up doing things that further set you back.
Hence, why you may want to give this journal a go instead.
This half self-help book half guided journal is divided between a bunch of different themes that encompass self-love. You will get to read and learn about these themes, while also being prompted to explore your own relationship with yourself.
That includes interactive activities with the text, answering questions about yourself, and much more.
The goal is to, by the end, have a better understanding of self-love, reflect on your own beliefs about yourself, and how you can better incorporate it into your own personal life.
Top Pros:
- Provides both education about self-love and prompts/activities to get you thinking and reframing your relationship with yourself
- Really well organized, concise and clear to make learning easy
Top Cons:
- If you prefer purely guided journals where there is no educational piece, you may not enjoy this as it is pretty content-heavy
5. Best Guided Journal for Physical Health
If you’re from the U.S, buy me here 🙂
If you’re from Canada, buy me here 🙂
Journaling isn’t always just about mental health! If you’re trying to get in better shape, or even just be healthier, keeping track of all your progress and goals can help you reach them faster.
This is the journal that I recommend for this particular occasion.
In it, you can mark what you ate for every meal, whether you exercised, how you feel about your activity level and eating that day, and more.
There are 3 things that I really like about this particular journal:
- The first is that it asks you about any cravings you’ve had, AND how you responded to them. As someone with a binging problem, this type of prompt really helps me to keep my cravings in check. It also makes it easy to see any patterns emerging of what it is I crave and when I crave it.
- The second thing I really like is that (unless you make one) there is no designated spot for calories. Now for some people, this may be bad because they want that. In this case, you can use one of the lines provided to put your calorie intake on. But I think it’s really good that the journal doesn’t promote that lifestyle. It can be so easy to fall into the hole of calorie counting in an unhealthy manner and start restricting yourself. There’s also a lot of evidence out there on why counting calories isn’t good in maintaining a healthy lifestyle (but that’s a different topic for a different day). So I enjoy that it doesn’t make you count calories as part of its guiding.
- The last thing I enjoy about this journal is that it promotes health and good self-esteem. Not losing weight. Something I think is often hard to find in these types of journals because their goals are always centered around losing weight and being thin. While there is NOTHING wrong with being thin, some people are naturally bigger but still healthy and it can be really damaging (physically and mentally) to want them to further lose weight even if they’re well.
Top Pros:
- Does not promote unhealthy weight loss tactics (calorie counting, pushing yourself to reach a thin ideal, etc)
- Is focused more on FEELING good and taking care of your physical wellbeing by practicing movement and good sleeping and eating habits
- Very user-friendly
Top Cons:
- There is a part where you put in your measurements so if that’s triggering to you stay away OR ignore the pages
- The design is simple and effective (I personally like it) but if you want a very exquisite design this may not fit your tastes
6. Best Guided Journal for Mindfulness
If you’re from the U.S, buy me here 🙂
If you’re from Canada, buy me here 🙂
Being more mindful has been a pretty hot topic recently, so it’s no surprise a lot of journals have come centered around this theme. There are quite a lot on the market right now, but I like this one the best.
There is such a variety of fun and creative prompts and activities with this journal and they really do push you to think and act more mindfully. I personally really enjoy the approach it takes to being fully in the moment and the attention to detail the author has (prompting to write certain things with pens vs pencils, light or dark colors, etc).
On top of that, the book is littered with motivational quotes and beautiful artwork that make the experience even more symbolic, inspirational, and motivating. And on days you really have no energy to journal, you can just enjoy and reflect on one of these wonderful quotes.
What’s really good about this type of guided journal as well is that it’s not rigid. You can do whatever activity you want, whenever you want. There are no dates, things to track, or restrictions.
I think that adds to the whole mindfulness vibe. It also makes it flexible, which could help some people in staying consistent with their journaling.
So if you want to zen out, this is your journal!
Top Pros:
- One of the prettiest journals on this list (the cover and the content inside)
- Has a lot of really well thought out prompts that force you to be in the moment
- Full of motivational quotes and artwork
Top Cons:
- The only con I can think of is if you’re a person that needs structure (for example specific prompts for specific dates), this may feel too abstract. Though I should add that many of the other journals on this list also do not have any particular structure
7. Best Journal for Productivity & Goal Setting
If you’re from the U.S, buy me here 🙂
If you’re from Canada, buy me here 🙂
This is the journal I’m currently using to set goals and ensure I’m being productive and I absolutely LOVE it! I mentioned it in my 6 Best Guided Journals for Productivity but if I had to pick one journal out of those it would be this one.
Let’s begin with what it includes because the answer to that is simple: it has literally everything you could want in terms of goal setting and productivity management. There is a goal-setting section about all areas of life, reflections about your dreams and aspirations, a vision board, a monthly agenda with reflections, a weekly agenda with reflections, calendars, top goals for the month, and did I mention STICKERS?!
There is just so much packed into this book, it is the main reason I have been able to stay on track since the pandemic hit. Not only that, but it has helped me to realize which parts of my life I neglect (spiritual and recreational seem to be the biggest problem areas which is no surprise considering I’m a workaholic). But now that the journal has helped me realize I neglect these areas, I’m being extra proactive in doing things within these categories.
On top of having incredible content, this journal is absolutely stunning. It also lets you fill in the dates yourself so you never waste any paper!
Top Pros:
- Has everything you could ever need to set goals and be productive
- Incorporates reflections and action plans which are essential for goal setting (and goal DOING should I add)
- Is for the whole year AND it allows you to fill in the dates so you 100% get your money’s worth
Top Cons:
- I wish it had a bit more writing room, especially for the daily agenda part
- The months are separated from the weeks which is a bit annoying to flip through sometimes (but it does have 3 ribbon markers to make this easier)
8. Best Guided Journal for Gratitude
If you’re from the U.S, buy me here 🙂
If you’re from Canada, buy me here 🙂
Similar to mindfulness, practicing gratitude has also been very popular recently. I’ve seen a lot of gratitude journals that ask the same prompts every day, which can be nice if you want to keep track of what you’re grateful for each day. However, for some people, this may be a bit too boring and repetitive.
Having gratitude journals that ask about different things can sometimes be better because it makes you think about more than just what happened in your day. It also keeps the exercise fresh and fun.
However, if you prefer the same prompt every day to help you reflect on the daily, I’ve got a journal you’ll love coming up in a bit (#11).
This journal is very simplistic in its appearance both on the outside and inside, but the questions it asks are anything but.
There is a large variety of topics discussed, so you notice all the different things that you can be grateful for. Again, this keeps it fresh and it really helps you to open your eyes to all the wonderful things you have in your life.
It even has coloring pages for you to color in to help ground you and make the experience more relaxing and fun! This is a great feature if you enjoy being artistic. Even if you don’t, it’s still just really calming and nice to do.
Every page is a surprise, which I’m very grateful for (bad joke, I know).
Top Pros:
- Prompts that cover many topics related to gratitude to keep journaling fun and fresh
- A lot of space to write (you have the whole page!)
Top Cons:
- The design both externally and internally is pretty basic so it’s definitely not as visually exciting as some of the other journals on this list
- The prompts are all mostly writing prompts so if you like drawing or other forms of expressing things on paper this may feel a bit boring
9. Best Journal for Anxiety
If you’re from the U.S, buy me here 🙂
If you’re from Canada, buy me here 🙂
This is a beautifully designed journal (both inside and out) that utilizes a variety of prompts to get you thinking about how you experience anxiety and how you can improve it.
It made an appearance in my Top 6 Best Guided Journals for Anxiety but I wanted to also include it here.
What really stuck out to me about this journal is its way of asking questions. For example, you’ll find prompts such as “What color does your stress look like?”, or “Close your eyes and imagine your most beautiful life. What does it look like? Draw or describe it here”.
This is approach is very much based on mindful-arts and it reminds me of when I was working with children that were exposed to domestic violence. Asking them to draw what their sadness looked like versus asking them to tell me what they saw at home and how it made them feel was a gentler and more accessible way of getting to the same conclusion.
Art and mindfulness can be a softer and gentler way of exploring difficult experiences, thoughts, and feelings. Hence, why I adore the approach this journal took with its prompts.
There are also a lot of beautiful quotes incorporated into the book which makes the experience of writing in it that much for fun.
Top Pros:
- Great approach to investigating difficult emotions
- Lots of room to write!
- Absolutely gorgeous design
Top Cons:
- If you want a bit more educational components in your journals, this may not suffice
10. Best Journal for Happiness
If you’re from the U.S, buy me here 🙂
If you’re from Canada, buy me here 🙂
When I first saw this journal, I thought the idea was so powerful there was no way it could be so easy and simple. But it is.
Every day for 5 years (yep, 5 years) you write one sentence (or a few if you can’t shut up like me) about what made you the happiest that day.
The point is to put in something every day, then look back and see all the things that made you happy over the past 5 years. It likely wouldn’t take more than a few short minutes, and it’s incredible to look back on.
While this journal is targeted towards happiness, you also unintentionally get to practice gratitude because you start looking for the things that make you happy every day.
This will then make you realize that there’s a lot of great things that happen in a day, no matter how small. Thus, you will start becoming more grateful for those moments.
If you’re not a big journal-er and just want something easy and low maintenance that will improve your life, this is a good guided journal to pick up!
Top Pros:
- Writing just one line a day is so easy yet so impactful
- Can help rewire your brain by constantly searching for the good in your days
- Beautiful yet simple design
Top Cons:
- If you’re an avid journaler, this may not suffice for all the things you want to journal about
11. Best Guided Journal If You’re Short On Time
If you’re from the U.S, buy me here 🙂
If you’re from Canada, buy me here 🙂
Speaking of journals that are quick and easy, here is another great one if you’re short on time. This guided journal includes a bit more content than the One Line a Day journal, but it’s still incredibly easy and quick to fill out.
The journal is divided into morning and evening prompts, all of which fit on one page which is repeated every day. In the morning, you’re started off with a quote or a weekly challenge, followed by 3 things you are grateful for, 3 things that would make today great, and a daily affirmation. Then, in the evening you write down 3 amazing things that happened today and how you could have made today better.
As I mentioned in the best journal for gratitude section, you may be a person that prefers random and unique prompts each time, or you may prefer a consistent prompt for tracking gratitude every day. The previous journal (Tiny Buddha’s Gratitude Journal) gave you the former, whereas the 5-Minute Journal gives you the latter. So, if you prefer the same consistent gratitude prompt, you will prefer this journal.
I’m actually currently using this guided journal alongside the Legend Planner (outlined earlier), and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it so far. This journal is quick to fill but allows me to practice some gratitude while also checking in with how I can make my days good.
When I was reading its explanation in the beginning, the logic behind these prompts lined up with a lot of things I’ve learned in Psychology and Social Work which is always very reassuring.
Top Pros:
- Does not take a lot of time or effort to use this journal but it reaps a lot of benefits
- Is grounded in accurate research in Psychology right now
Top Cons:
- I wish there was a bit more space to write because I often have to write past the lines
- For me, it can sometimes get repetitive doing the same prompts each time
In Summary
That sums up my list of the best guided journals for every occasion and goal (in my humble opinion). I hope you found the guided journal you were looking for today, and that you get what you want out of journaling with it.
I know it can be really hard to stick to it when life gets busy but just try your best. It’s an act of self-care and self-love, and you deserve it.
Let me know in the comments how you like to journal!
All my love,
T