To start, read some random pages of your journal(s), quickly. Start from the first page, then randomly flipping it to the next pages, until you arrived at your latest entry. Just skim those pages for about 10-15 minutes.

1. the choice of words

What are some of the words that pop into our mind or catch our eyes as we’re reading our journal(s)?

Write them down.

What kind of words are they? How do these words make us feel?

Notice some words that make us feel happy, uplifted, and warm, and underline these words with our pen.
Notice some words that make us feel angry, sad, or down.

Which set of words do we use more often when we’re talking to ourselves or thinking about our life?
How can we converse better with ourselves by paying more attention to our choice of words?

2. the theme of our journal(s)

If there’s a one-word theme for our journal(s), what would that be?

How do we feel about this theme?

Why do we think our journal(s) is concentrated around this particular theme?
How does this theme reflect the theme of our life?

What would life look like if we’re following this theme?
What would life look like if we change the theme?

3. the ones on repeat

Find the top 3 things that appear in our journal(s) repeatedly, over and over again.

What are they?
A particular person?
A particular issue?
A particular dream?

Why do we keep talking about these 3 things over and over again?

What are their significances in our lives?

What do these 3 things represent or symbolize?

If we can rewrite these 3 things, how would we rewrite them to better fit our narratives about how we’d like our life to look/feel like?

Happy journaling!