Journal Prompts for 2022

In the first half of the month, we reflected on 2021. See this post. We’re going to spend the last two weeks of the year looking forward and thinking about what we want for the coming year. New Year’s resolutions are easy come, easy go, but when we spend the time to deeply reflect on what we have learned from the previous year, what we want more of, and what we want less of, those intentions have a better chance of sticking. So here are your New Year intention questions:

1. What’s your history with New Year’s resolutions? Have you ever had one really last? What factors went into that? What about habits you have created at other times of the year? What went into making those habits stick?
2. When you reflected on 2021, did anything stand out to you that you want more or less of?
3. Where do you hope to be in 10 years? 5? What needs to happen this year to move you toward that?
4. It’s the end of 2022, and everything you hoped for has happened. You are telling your friend about it. Describe what the year has been like.
5. What part of that vision is happening already? What did you do to make those parts of the vision happen? (adapted from SFBT)
6. Put a 1-10 number on how close your life is to that vision right now. What would it take to bump you up just one number on that scale? (adapted from SFBT)
7. What have you discovered about your values? If you had to put a word to your most important value, what would it be?
8. How would you like to live out your most important values this year?
9. What gets in the way of living your values? Can you think of ways to troubleshoot this so that you can find ways around these barriers?
10. What emotions do you most want to feel this year? What activities tend to bring up these emotions?
11. Who do you want to connect with this year? What ways would you like to connect with these people?
12. What do you want to contribute this year?
13. What things recharge your batteries? How much recharging do you need in order to be the kind of person you want to be?
14. Howard Thurman reportedly said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” What makes you come alive? What would it take to do more of that this year? (Quote in “Violence Unveiled” by Gil Bailie)
15. Given all these things that we have explored, what are some SMART goals you can set for yourself (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound)? Think about whether you want to set goals for the year, or just for January and go month by month, or whether you want to set a goal for the year and break it down into monthly steps.