Writing Prompts

These prompts are not homework. They’re quiet invitations to notice what’s true for you today — without needing to perform, impress, or turn it into content.

You can use them in a notebook, on your phone, in a notes app, or just in your head. There is no “right” way to do this. Even a few honest sentences are enough.

How to Use These Prompts

  • Pick one prompt that catches your attention — not the “right” one.
  • Set a timer for 5–10 minutes, or stop sooner if you feel done.
  • Write without editing or cleaning it up for anyone else.
  • When you’re finished, take a breath and notice how your body feels.

If anything big or painful comes up, it’s okay to pause, ground yourself, and bring it to therapy or a trusted person. You don’t have to carry it alone.

Prompts for Safety & Grounding

  • “Right now, my body feels…” Focus on sensations (tight, heavy, buzzy, warm) rather than judgements.
  • “Three small things that feel even 5% safe or okay in my life are…”
  • “When I imagine being completely off the hook for a day, what I’d actually want to do is…”
  • “If my nervous system could speak, it would ask me to stop doing… and do more of…”

Prompts for Self-Trust & Boundaries

  • “A time I said yes when I wanted to say no was… If I could replay it, I wish I had said…”
  • “Three signs that I’m abandoning myself in relationships are…”
  • “A small boundary I could hold this week, just for me, is…”
  • “If I trusted my own sense of what’s right for me 10% more, I would stop… and start…”

Prompts for Emotion, Shame & Repair

  • “An emotion that keeps showing up lately is… It tends to appear when…”
  • “If my shame had a sentence it repeats, it would be… A kinder sentence I could offer myself instead is…”
  • “I feel anger about… Underneath that anger, there might also be sadness about…”
  • “One situation I still feel bad about is… If I focused on repair instead of punishment, I might…”

Prompts for Connection Without Self-Erasure

  • “I feel most like myself around people who…”
  • “A relationship where I quietly shrink is… I notice I shrink in these ways…”
  • “If I believed my dignity mattered as much as anyone else’s, I would…”
  • “One small way I could be 5% more honest in a relationship I care about is…”

Prompts for Grief, Limits & Letting Go

  • “Something I wish had been different in my past is… What it cost me was…”
  • “One path I didn’t take, that still tugs at me sometimes, is…”
  • “A limit I find hard to accept about myself or my life is… If I softened around that limit by 5%, I might…”
  • “Even in the middle of all this, one small thing I’m grateful to myself for is…”

Bringing This Into Therapy (If You Want To)

You don’t have to share your writing publicly for it to matter. Most of the work on this site grew from thousands of private notes over many years. If something important appears as you write, you can:

  • Read a line or two aloud in therapy.
  • Share the feeling, even if you don’t share the details.
  • Use a prompt again after a session to see what’s shifted.

There’s no rush and no requirement to “keep up”. These prompts are here to meet you whenever you’re ready.