Write a few short lines about the day in front of you: the date, one thing you notice, what is on your mind and one question to come back to later. A morning journal has no fixed format, so the prompts below are options. Keep the ones that fit and drop the rest.
What is a morning journal?
It is a diary entry written at the start of the day. Wikipedia describes a diary as a record "with discrete entries arranged by date" and says a personal diary "may include a person's experiences, thoughts, and/or feelings". Written in the morning, the entry looks at the day ahead as much as the day before.
One named format comes from Julia Cameron's 1992 book The Artist's Way. Its programme includes daily "morning pages" of free writing. That is one way to do it, not the rule.
Which morning journal prompts can I use?
Pick two or three and use the same ones for a week, so the page is quick to start. The sample lines are made up.
| Prompt | What you write | Sample line |
|---|---|---|
| The date and the sky | The date and the Moon's phase | Wed 4 Nov: waning crescent Moon |
| What I notice | One thing you can see or hear now | Rain on the window, a kettle starting |
| What is on my mind | Whatever is there, unedited | The call at three and the email I haven't sent |
| One question for today | Something to find out or decide | What do I need to ask before Friday? |
| One line from yesterday | Something worth keeping | The walk home was quicker by the river |
How do I find the Moon's phase for the first prompt?
Look up the dates of the nearest main phases, then see where today falls between them. The sample below works it out for Wednesday 4 November 2026.
- LQ1
- NM9
- Day4
- Lit23%
Last quarter 1 Nov 20:29 UTC, new moon 9 Nov 07:03 UTC. 4 Nov falls between them. At 12:00 UTC the Moon is about 23% lit.
Between last quarter and new moon, with 49% to 1% lit, the Moon is a waning crescent, so the line reads "Wed 4 Nov: waning crescent Moon".
The times come from Astronomy Engine, an open-source astronomy library (version 2.1.19). They are UTC, so your local date can differ near a phase change.
How long should a morning journal entry be?
There is no set length. A fixed size, such as five lines or one page, tells you when you are done. If the entry starts taking longer than the time you have, use fewer prompts rather than writing faster.
What this means for your day
For your day
Do
Write today's date and one line for each prompt you picked.
Don't
Don't go back and correct yesterday's entry before you write today's.
Questions people ask
Is a journal the same as a diary?
The two words are close. Both come from Latin words for "day": diary from dies and journal from diurnus. In this article, a morning journal is a dated diary entry written in the morning.
Should I write by hand or type?
Either works for these prompts. Wikipedia notes that diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital.
What if I don't know what to write?
Start with the first prompt, the date and the sky, which always has an answer. Then write one line for the next prompt, even a short one.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Diary. A dated record; a personal diary may include experiences, thoughts and feelings; handwritten or digital; the Latin roots of "diary" and "journal".
- Wikipedia: The Artist's Way. Julia Cameron's 1992 book, with daily "morning pages" of free writing.
- Wikipedia: Lunar phase. The four main and four minor phases; a waning crescent is 49% to 1% lit.
- Astronomy Engine, version 2.1.19. NinePath's own calculation of the phase times and of how much of the Moon is lit on 4 November.