Valentine’s Day is a good excuse to celebrate love, but I believe that we should be reflecting on this topic all year-round. Love for yourself and others is truly what makes the world go round. However, since it is February, I will use the theme of love for this month’s journaling prompts.
Here is a set of daily journaling prompts that you can rotate on a weekly basis, all about love, some requiring more thought than others. Feel free to modify the prompts as you see fit, and write whenever you can make time. Daily is best, even for 5 mins a day, but whatever fits your schedule is fine.
Sunday – For [relative/partner/friend], I want to do more of this to express my love: ____
Monday – My love language is (a combination of) [words of affirmation, acts of service, giving gifts, quality time, physical touch]…
Tuesday – My partner’s love language is…
Wednesday – Do I treat myself as well as I treat others?
Thursday – Today, I am sending positive and loving vibes to…
Friday – The perfect date with myself or someone else is…
Saturday – This is how I give unconditional love to [self or other]: ____
Earlier this week, a good friend of mine who became a new mom of twin girls just over a year ago reached out and apologized for forgetting my birthday. Her reason was the overwhelm that she is experiencing due to the demands of her career and family. She doesn’t even have time for herself and her friendships. Of course, I 100% understood her, as I have experienced the very same myself. We all have a limit as to how much energy we can expend in one day, and she has chosen to put it all towards her family and her job. Again, understandable, due to her big heart and her work ethics.
When I finished writing the journaling prompts for Wednesday through to Sunday, I thought of her right away, and decided to share this story and the following tips in this post.
She must make time for and show grace to herself. If she comes across this article (and I’ll reiterate all of this to her directly), I hope she’ll evaluate how well she treats herself versus others, and I hope she’ll make time to have a date with herself or with a friend. Take a step back from the daily pressures, and ponder which memories she’ll cherish the most when she’s an old lady!
And quickly about love languages (Monday and Tuesday prompts): The moment I was first introduced to them was a life-changing event. And I felt a sense of urgency to share it with my partner. Now that we understand each other’s love languages, we are so much more aware of how to make each other smile, and also better at noticing the things that we do for each other. So, if you don’t know about love languages already, I highly encourage you to Google it. There is lots on the internet about them, and it’s worth taking some time to read a bit about love languages if you are in any sort of relationship.
Write about what resonates with you and decide what you think your love languages are (there can be more than one). As an idea for a Valentine’s gift, get a journaling kit that includes a journal for yourself, a journal for them, some pens, and a print-out of the love languages. Then reflect on them, write about them, then talk about it with your significant other.
I’ll end this article with a quote from the Holy Bible: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Happy journaling, friends, and may you be showered with love this Valentine’s Day and always.