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October 13, 2024 9 mins

50 Journal Prompts for Emotional Healing

What if grieving is not just a painful hurdle to overcome, but a meaningful journey to honor? This episode promises to transform the way you perceive grief by uncovering the profound impact of journaling. We draw inspiration from a remarkable blog post on Lestallioncom, featuring 50 thoughtfully crafted grief journaling prompts. Whether grappling with the loss of a loved one, an ended relationship, or any significant upheaval, these prompts provide a gentle yet powerful means to connect with your deepest emotions. Discover how journaling helps you cherish joyful memories and confront painful ones, fostering a holistic approach to healing.

Join us as we explore how grief, often seen as a burden, can become a catalyst for personal growth and transformation. Embracing your unique grief journey with compassion and openness, we discuss the importance of taking small, actionable steps to honor your emotions and experiences. Revisiting cherished memories and facing the rawness of grief head-on can pave the way for profound personal development. Let’s explore together how acknowledging and journaling through your grief can transform your life in surprising and positive ways.

LeStallion offers premium PU leather journal notebooks for writing, dedicated to all those who are pursuing their dreams and goals, or nurturing their personal development and mental health.

For More Info on LeStallion, check out:
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, welcome back Today.
We're going to be diving deepinto something a little bit
heavier this time.
You know something we all dealwith at some point Grief.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
It's a universal experience, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
It really is, and it can be well really tough to
navigate right.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
But we were wondering if maybe, just maybe, something
as simple as grabbing anotebook and pen could help us
get through it.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
You know it might sound surprising, but journaling
can actually be a reallypowerful tool, Like for real.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
It can help with healing and processing after a
loss.
So we're diving into 50 griefjournaling prompts.
It's a blog post fromLestallioncom.
What makes this post stand outto you?
I mean, it was published prettyrecently, right.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, just this past May.
What makes this post stand outto you?
I mean, it was published prettyrecently, right?
Yeah, just this past May.
And it really resonated with mebecause it doesn't frame
journaling, as you know, a wayto just get over grief.
It's more about learning tomove through it.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Okay, so walk me through that a bit.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
It recognizes that grief is well.
It's a process, you know, notjust a thing to check off a
to-do list.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Right, because it's so easy to put pressure on
yourself to move on when reallyit's about honoring what you're
going through the whole journey.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Exactly, and one thing I really appreciate is
that this post acknowledges thatgrief isn't limited to just,
you know, the death of a lovedone.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
That's a good point.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
We experience it with all kinds of loss, right.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
End of a relationship , losing a job, even saying
goodbye to a pet those are allsignificant losses.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Absolutely so true.
I mean, haven't we all beenthere in some way?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
This idea that there's no one size fits all
approach to grief reallyresonates with me.
It's about finding what worksfor you, and that's where these
journaling prompts come in.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Exactly.
It's like they're giving youthe tools, but you get to choose
your own path.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Exactly Through the wilderness of grief, so to speak
.
Love that analogy.
And one of the first stopsoften involves revisiting
memories, which I know mightsound counterintuitive at first.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, like, why would I want to do that?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Right, won't it just make me sadder?
You might think.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Exactly.
Why dredge up painful reminderswhen you're already feeling
down?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Well, here's the thing Revisiting memories,
especially positive ones, canactually be therapeutic.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Okay, now, that's interesting.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Because remember, grief it's not just sadness,
it's a whole tapestry ofemotions.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
It's about the whole experience.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Exactly.
It's about honoring everythingyou've lost the joy, the
laughter, the love, All of it.
So we need the love, all of it.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
So we need to make space for all of it, not just
the hard parts.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yes, 100%.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
That reminds me of that first prompt.
Write about your favoritememory with the person you lost,
and to describe the day indetail, how did it make you feel
All that?

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yes, and that's all about tapping into those
positive emotions that often getovershadowed by grief.
When we revisit these goodtimes, we're not just dwelling
on the absence, we're activelyconnecting with the richness of
the relationship itself.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Instead of just feeling the pain of the loss,
you're reminded of the goodtimes.
Exactly the things that madethat person so special.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Exactly, it's a way to reframe our relationship with
the loss.
Yes, there's sadness, butthere's also gratitude for what
you shared.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, I can see how that shift in perspective could
really help, especially early onwhen it all feels so raw, Like
choosing to focus on the lighteven when surrounded by darkness
, you know.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
It's a powerful image , but we also need to remember
that grief isn't always, youknow, looking back on happy
memories.
Of course not.
Sometimes it's about facingthose tough emotions head on,
which is where some of theseother prompts come in.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
This is where things get really real right.
Grief isn't all you knowsunshine and roses.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
It's messy, it's complicated.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yes, Sometimes it just hurts.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
It absolutely can, and that's okay.
It's okay for it to hurt.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
So how can journaling help with those messy moments?

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Well, think of it like this by writing those
feelings down, you're givingyourself permission to really
feel them, you know.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
To acknowledge them without judgment.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
So it's like, instead of pushing those difficult
emotions away, they're actuallywhat Lean into them.
Exactly, and you know it'sfunny because it's often the
feelings we try to avoid themost the anger, the overwhelm
yeah, those are the tough onesthose are the ones that can
actually offer the most valuableinsights really, I've always
thought of them as, like the badones, the ones to just get rid

(04:21):
of it's natural to think that,right, but they hold important
information Like remember thatprompt number 12?

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Right about a moment when you felt totally
overwhelmed by grief, justacknowledging those triggers
Huge.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Okay.
So if you can pinpoint thosetriggers, maybe you can find
ways to cope with them, right?

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yes, and that's where prompt 16 comes in Describe a
time when you felt anger relatedto your loss.
See, we often suppress anger,but the truth is it's a totally
normal part of grieving.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Bottling it up probably just makes things worse
.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Exactly so.
This prompt gives youpermission to you know, feel it,
understand where it's comingfrom.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
So by naming those emotions, even the negative ones
, you can start to like, takeaway their power.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Exactly.
You're saying okay, anger, Isee you, but you don't control
me.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Shining a light on the darkness.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
But how do we move from just surviving grief to, I
don't know like finding strength, finding growth?
Is that even possible whenyou're in so much pain?

Speaker 2 (05:23):
That's a great question, and it's something
this blog post really gets right.
It's not about erasing the pain.
It's about realizing that evenwhile we're hurting, we can
still be resilient.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
Okay, and you think journaling can help us tap into
that?

Speaker 2 (05:35):
I do yes, these prompts can help us see it.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
How so?
Give me an example.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
Well, it's about recognizing those moments, you
know, when you realize, wow, Imade it through another day.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Even when it felt impossible.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Exactly Celebrating those little victories, there's
this one prompt.
It asks write about a time yousurprised yourself with your own
strength, right about a timeyou surprised yourself with your
own strength.
I like that.
It's so easy to get caught upin the day-to-day you know and
forget about those times when wereally had to, like, dig deep,
when we're stronger than wethought.
What about you?
Have you ever experienced that?

Speaker 1 (06:06):
Oh, absolutely.
When my grandmother passed away, I was like completely
heartbroken, but I still.
Somehow I pulled it together towrite and deliver her eulogy.
Wow, Looking back, I have noidea how I did it, but in that
moment something just like tookover.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
And you tapped into that inner strength that we all
have.
I bet that experience reallychanged you, huh.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
It really did.
Honestly, it made me realizeI'm a lot stronger than I
thought.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
That's what grief can do.
It can well break us open alittle, it's true, but it can
also reveal these strengths wenever knew we had.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Like that other prompt from Lestallion's blog,
the one that says reflect on apersonal strength you've
discovered through your grief.
How has it helped you cope?

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Oh, that's a good one .
It's all about finding thosesilver linings.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Right, finding the ways this experience, even
though it's been so hard, hasactually helped you grow.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, finding the growth.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
There's that one line from the post that really stuck
with me.
It says strength is not theabsence of pain, but the ability
to move forward despite it,carrying the love and memories
with you.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
That's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
It's not about pretending it doesn't hurt.
It's about recognizing.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
recognizing like hey, I'm still here, You're still
standing and moving forward,which is amazing.
But that idea of, you know,honoring the love, the memories,
that's where these last fewprompts come in.
It's about keeping the memoryalive, you know.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
It's interesting you say that because grief memory
alive.
You know it's interesting yousay that because grief it can
feel.
So I don't know big andabstract Definitely.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
And these prompts they feel more concrete,
something you can actually do.
I think so.
Yeah, Like there's one aboutfinding ways to keep their
memory alive, little actions youcan take, or even ritual.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Okay, like what kind of things?

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Anything really cooking their favorite meal,
visiting a place they loved,even just lighting a candle for
them.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Just those little reminders.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
Exactly those little touchstones to keep their spirit
close.
It doesn't have to be a grandgesture.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Even small things can be powerful, yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
So powerful this has been amazing really.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
Who knew journaling could lead to such a deep
conversation?

Speaker 2 (08:12):
It's amazing what we can discover when we just give
ourselves the space to you know,explore these emotions.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Totally.
It's like this blog post saidjournaling can be a path to
healing and growth.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's true.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
So, as we wrap up, I just I feel hopeful Because,
yeah, grief is a part of life.
It's going to happen.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
But it doesn't have to be something we just get
through.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Right.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
It can be an opportunity for growth, for real
transformation.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Absolutely, and remember your grief.
Journey is unique.
What works for someone elsemight not work for you, and
that's okay.
The important thing is tolisten to yourself.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
Be open to what feels right.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
It makes you think you know how grief can lead to
these positive changes.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
So to everyone listening, what's one small way
you can honor your own griefjourney.
What positive change can youembrace?

Speaker 2 (09:00):
It doesn't have to be huge.
Start small.
Even a small step in the rightdirection can make a world of
difference.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
And on that note, that's our deep dive for today.
Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Thank you.
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