Do you feel stuck on your personal development journey?

Do you know the steps you need to take to achieve your goals? Or do you feel like you don’t know what to do next to better yourself?

The key to self-improvement is learning how to connect with the highest version of yourself and starting to show up as that person today!

What does “The Highest Version of Yourself” Mean?

“The highest version of yourself” is a phrase I use often in my content and in my life. This is a common phrase in the personal development and self-improvement community. It is another way to say “the best version of yourself” or “the ideal version of yourself.” AKA, all things I strive towards (and you likely do as well)!

All of these phrases are ways to name the person you want to become. 

Picture what your life looks like once you work on yourself and progress towards your goals.

The highest version of yourself is the version of you living your dream life.

@julia.sophh

Evening Journal Prompts to Reflect and Connect with the Highest Version of Yourself Using these journal prompts every night can help you reflect on your day and feel more aligned with the highest version of yourself. 💞Something I’m Grateful For: Gratitude journaling is so great for training your brain to find things in your life to appreciate. List everything you can think of that you feel grateful for.. Nothing is too big or too small. 💞Intentions/Mantras: I like to write down some intentions/mantras/positive affirmations/whatever you want to call them. Just write down some positive beliefs that you want to reaffirm to yourself. General Examples: “I am worthy.” “I am capable.” This is dependent on your goals and what you are focusing on. And you can add on or change these over time. 💞Mini Triumphs: My therapists got me to start tracking my mini triumphs. Every night write down any wins from the day. Again nothing is too big or too small. This helps to boost your self-confidence! And celebrating yourself is an important step in building positive habits! 💞Something I learned: One of my recent goals is to learn something new every day. I’ve been tracking that in my journal as well. Ideally, I would be reflecting on something I learned during the day, but I usually end up doing an online search for “interesting facts.” And then I write it down. If you are also interested in expanding your knowledge, setting out to learn one new thing a day is a good place to start. One of the random facts I learned through this practice came up the other night when I was doing trivia, so I was able to answer the question: “What animal has the largest heart?” (It’s the blue whale.) 💞Something to look forward to: Every night, write down something you can look forward to for the next day. This is one of my favorite journaling exercises. I started doing this to feel more excited about life. Try this out if you also want to feel more positively about your life and more excited to get out of bed in the morning. If you feel like you don’t have anything to look forward to, create something to look forward to. Make a plan to call a loved one to catch up, read your favorite book during your lunch break, or anything else that might feel exciting to you. I hope these help you as much as they help me. As someone actively creating a more positive mindset, these journal prompts really help me feel good and feel aligned with the highest version of myself. If you are interested in journaling, make sure to read my blog post called What’s the Point of Journaling? How Does Journaling Improve Your Mental Health? To learn everything you need to know about how and why journaling benefits your mental health! You can find it at LifeByJulia.com, in the Journaling section Leave a comment to let me know what your favorite journal prompts are!💓 #journaling #journalprompts #howtojournal #journaling101

♬ days go by – Antent & my head is empty

How to Connect with The Highest Version of Yourself

In order to level up in life and connect with the highest version of yourself, you need to clearly envision who you want to become. You need to know where you are going, in order to determine how to get there. This is why it is important to clearly picture your dream life. 

Envision your dream life and get clear on these details:

◇How does the highest version of yourself dress?

◇What does the highest version of yourself do for fun?

◇What does the highest version of yourself do for self-care?

◇What habits does the highest version of yourself practice?

Answering these questions allows you to start adopting those characteristics in your life right now!

Working on my mindset is one strategy that helps me continue to connect with the highest version of myself. I have an evening journal routine that helps me do just that.

Every night before bed, I go through a few journal prompts that I’ve specifically tailored to help me reflect and get into a more positive mindset. 

Recently I’ve been growing and evolving my evening journaling ritual by adding in new elements. This ritual makes me feel good and helps me align with the highest version of myself. 

I wanted to share this practice to provide you with some inspiration to use these journal prompts to connect with the highest version of yourself and progress on your self-improvement journey.

Also, you can use these journal prompts any time of day that works best for you (it doesn’t have to be in the evening).

Remember, we are all different! Take what works for you and leave what doesn’t!

At the very least, I hope this post inspires you to incorporate some of these elements into your lifestyle. 

Read on to learn the evening journal prompts you can use to reflect and connect with the highest version of yourself!

Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash

Gratitude Journaling:

My evening journal routine started with a gratitude journal. 

I began gratitude journaling in high school. Every night before bed, I like to write down things I’m grateful for. Practicing gratitude makes me feel good, which is why I’ve kept up with this habit for so long. 

Practicing gratitude has many benefits, including: 

◇Encouraging a more positive attitude

◇Improving your mental health

◇Increasing your resilience to adverse experiences

◇Improving your immunity and and heart health

◇Strengthening your social connections

And the beauty of gratitude journaling is that it is simple and effective! This only takes me a few minutes at night, and I see amazing results!

The more you intentionally practice gratitude, the easier it is to maintain a positive mindset and find things to be grateful for!

How to Gratitude Journal

Start by writing “Things I’m Grateful For:” 

And then list everything you can think of. Nothing is too big or too small. This practice is great for training your brain to find things in your life to appreciate. 

Intentions/Mantras:

After using gratitude to shift into a positive mindset, you can use your journal to reinforce more positive thoughts.

The next journal activity you can use to connect with the highest version of yourself is writing down intentions/mantras/positive affirmations (whatever you want to call them). 

Just write down any positive beliefs that you want to reaffirm to yourself. 

Intention/Mantra Examples

“I am worthy.”

“I am capable.”

Picking phrases that resonate with you will make this practice more effective. You can look online for intention, mantra, and positive affirmation inspiration! If you find one you like, make sure to tailor it, so it feels specific to your goals.

You want your affirmations to evoke positive emotions.

These will be dependent on your goals and what you are focusing on. And you can add on or change these over time. 

Writing down these positive thoughts every day will help you reprogram your subconscious mind to believe them!

I enjoy using this as an opportunity to align my mindset to help me achieve my goals.

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

Mini Triumphs:

After reinforcing your intentions/mantras, make sure to congratulate yourself on your accomplishments!

Every night write down any wins from the day. Again nothing is too big or too small! This is something my therapist inspired me to start doing.

Tracking your accomplishments helps to boost your self-confidence! And celebrating yourself is an important step in building positive habits.

Reflection:

Next, reflect on your day and identify some insights to help you grow.

I’m a huge fan of Michelle Barnes’ (MuchelleB on YouTube) productivity and personal development tips. 

Michelle’s content provides actionable and practical tips that make me feel motivated and inspired to continue on my self-improvement journey. Instead of just consuming the content and thinking “Yeah, that sounds great!” and then not taking action. 

That said, I added Michelle’s Grow With Intention podcast into my daily Hot Girl Walk podcast rotation. And this episode inspired me to make reflection part of my evening journaling habit. 

Michelle’s episode with Susan Ashford, author of The Power of Flexing: How to Use Small Daily Experiments to Create Big Life-Changing Growth, examines the importance of self-reflection.

Setting aside time to reflect on your performance and your experiences can help you grow and improve. This is good to know for those of us interested in self-improvement!

One of the best ways to incorporate new habits is to add them onto existing habits (aka habit-stacking).

Since I already have this evening journal practice, I decided to add reflection to this habit as well. At the end of the day, I think back and ask myself if there is anything I can take away from that day that will help me move forward in life. 

For example, maybe I identified a thought pattern that is impacting me more than I previously realized. Or I had an aha moment that gave me clarity around an issue I’ve been struggling with.

Photo by Susan Weber on Unsplash

To give a concrete example of one of my recent reflections:

I realized that the reason my sleep schedule is so chaotic on the weekends is because I’m subconsciously rebelling against the stress I put on myself to maintain a certain routine throughout the week. 

This realization allowed me to better understand how my thoughts and actions influence each other. This will help me when I want to implement new habits.

You can use daily self-reflection as an opportunity to learn useful information about yourself. Understanding your patterns and habits is important for your self-improvement. Awareness is the first step to making changes.

Something I learned:

In addition to self-reflection, learning new things about our world allows us to continue to evolve.

One of my recent goals is to learn something new every day.

 I’ve been tracking this in my journal as well. Ideally, I would record something I learned organically during the day. However, I usually end up doing an online search for “interesting facts.” And then I write something down.

If you are also interested in expanding your knowledge, setting out to learn one new thing a day is a good place to start.

One of the random facts I learned through this practice came up a few weeks ago, when I was doing trivia. Thanks to this new habit, I was able to answer the question: “What animal has the largest heart?” (it’s the blue whale).

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

Something to look forward to:

After going through all those journal prompts to reflect on your day, take a moment to create anticipation for tomorrow.

Every night, write down something you can look forward to for the next day.

This is one of my favorite journaling exercises. I started doing this to feel more excited about life. Try this out if you also want to feel more excited to get out of bed in the morning!

For example, if I know I have plans with friends the next day, I will write that down to remind myself that I have something to look forward to!

If you can’t think of anything, create something to look forward to! Make a plan to call a loved one to catch up, read your favorite book during your lunch break, or anything else that might feel exciting to you.

I hope these journal prompts help you as much as they help me. As someone who is actively creating a more positive mindset and improving myself, these journal prompts help me feel my best and align with the highest version of myself.

Photo by Andres Molina on Unsplash

If you are interested in journaling, make sure to read my blog post called What’s the Point of Journaling? How Does Journaling Improve Your Mental Health? To learn everything you need to know about how and why journaling benefits your mental health!

Which journal prompt did you like best? Leave a comment to let me know!

Remember, the journey to becoming the highest version of yourself starts today! Making these journal prompts part of your routine will help you get even closer to living your dream life!

Ready to take the next step in becoming the best version of yourself? Don’t wait to start bettering yourself! Join our community of growth-minded individuals by signing up for my email list. By doing so, you’ll get notified of new blog posts with realistic self-improvement tips designed to help you start living your best life today! And make sure to follow me on social media (links below) to stay connected and receive even more positive lifestyle content!

Featured Image: Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash