Best Guided Journals Compared

Last updated: 25 September 2026  |  By Rachel Smith, DipBSoM, qualified meditation teacher

Why the Give Yourself Kindness Journal is the guided journal I recommend

It's the guided journal I recommend because it's built around how you feel, and it stays gentle on the hard days. It's also mine. I'm a meditation teacher rather than a therapist, so everything clinical on this page comes from named psychologists, with links to their words.

When I went looking for a journal after Compassion-Focused Therapy, the ones I found had three blank lines to fill, the same page every day, quotes that seemed to leave room only for happy and grateful, and sometimes trackers for food and weight. None of that is wrong for everyone. For me, it made my critical voice louder. So I made the one I was looking for, with the tools I'd found so helpful, and asked clinical psychologists to review it.

Here's what it gives you:

• When your inner critic is loud: prompts that ask what you'd say to a friend feeling the same, so the kind voice is the one holding the pen.
• When three blank lines, or the same page every day, leave you stuck: open questions that change every day for 90 days, with room for as much or as little as you have.
• When forced positivity makes you feel worse: over 50 gentle affirmations that make room for every feeling, like "It's normal to feel conflicting emotions at the same time".
• When you're not sure what you're feeling: a visual emotion guide on every page, not one chart at the front.
• When you've started journals before and stopped: undated pages that wait for you. There's nothing to catch up on.
• When you want it to be about how you feel: no trackers for food, weight or exercise. Just gentle questions about you.
• When you want to know you can trust it: reviewed by clinical psychologists at Harvard and Oxford, and used by counsellors with their clients between sessions.

On this page: Compare all eight · Which suits you · What to look for · What psychologists say · Common questions

The best guided journals compared

These are the guided journals that come up most often when people ask this question, side by side. The first two are mine, and each of the others is lovely for something different.

The four kinds of guided journal

Guided journals do different jobs, and knowing which kind you're after is most of the decision. Here are the four you'll come across most, and who each one suits.

Which guided journal is best for what

Which guided journal is best depends on what you'd like more of. Here's the one I'd point you to for each, including the journals I don't make.

• To be kinder to yourself: the Give Yourself Kindness Journal. The prompts ask you to notice how you're feeling, then write down what you'd say to a friend who felt the same. More on self-compassion journals →
• For your mental health and everyday wellbeing: the Give Yourself Kindness Journal. Recommended by clinical psychologists at Harvard and Oxford, and used by counsellors with their own clients. What to look for in a mental health journal →
• If you can't tell what you're feeling: the Give Yourself Kindness Journal. A visual emotion guide on every page, not one chart at the front. More on journals for tracking emotions →
• If your thoughts won't settle: the Give Yourself Kindness Journal. A different prompt each day gives a busy mind somewhere new to go. I've compared these separately →
• For gratitude, without the pressure: the Gratitude Journal: A 30-Day Challenge. Thirty different prompts and not a numbered list anywhere. More on gratitude journals →
• For a short, fixed daily routine: The Five Minute Journal or The 6-Minute Diary. The same prompts each morning and evening.
• For a year of weekly prompts: The 52-Week Mental Health Journal, written by Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker.
• For returning to the same questions over time: The Self-Reflection Journal, by The School of Life.
• For creative exploration: Start Where You Are, by Meera Lee Patel, or The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal.

Which of these sounds like you right now?

Pick the one closest to how you feel, and I'll take you straight to what I'd suggest.

Which guided journal I'd suggest, depending on what brought you here

Here are four answers. Each one stands on its own, so you can read only yours and go.

If you're hard on yourself, this is the one I'd choose for you

If you're hard on yourself, the Give Yourself Kindness Journal is the one I'd choose for you. That harsh voice is far more common than it feels from the inside, and having it doesn't mean anything is wrong with you.

It's the journal that helps you treat yourself like you'd treat a friend. You already know how to be kind. This just points it inwards.

Three real prompts from inside the journal

This might be the one for you if you'd like to:

• be gentler with yourself, and aren't sure where to start
• understand what you're feeling, not just record what happened
• have something to use between therapy sessions
• try journaling for the first time, with the questions already written
• come back to it after a gap without feeling behind

You write the answer down, and then you have it. A kind sentence in your own handwriting can be easier to believe than anything anyone else tells you.

Three things about it that matter if you're hard on yourself:

• A visual emotion guide on every page, not one chart at the front. The words are there when you need them.
• 90 days of prompts across 224 pages, changing every day. A different question each time gives your mind somewhere new to go.
• Undated. Put it down for a month and it will be exactly where you left it, waiting for you rather than counting.

And over 50 reminders printed through it, including

Discover the Give Yourself Kindness Journal →

If you want gratitude without the pressure, here's what I'd suggest

If you want gratitude without the pressure, I'd suggest the Gratitude Journal: A 30-Day Challenge. It has thirty prompts, and not one of them is "list three things".

One day you'll notice something through your senses. Another you'll write a letter you never send. Another you'll find something worth keeping in a mistake.

Three things about it that matter if the pressure is what you'd like to avoid:

• No numbered blank lines anywhere. There's room for the days gratitude comes easily and the days it doesn't.
• Thirty completely different prompts. Nothing repeats, and thirty days is short enough to finish.
• Undated, with a guided meditation I recorded, and QR codes through to the research if you'd like to read further.

I used the numbered kind for years before I realised the format simply wasn't built for my hard days, and that nothing was wrong with me on the evenings I couldn't fill it in. I've written about that here →

If it's the harsh inner voice you'd like help with, the first answer on this page is the one built for that. And if you'd like to see every gratitude journal side by side, I've compared them all here →

Discover the Gratitude Journal →

If you've only got five minutes a day

If you've only got five minutes a day, that's enough. You don't have to choose between short and meaningful.

With the Give Yourself Kindness Journal, the prompt is already on the page, so the part that takes the time, working out what to write, is done before you sit down. There's no minimum. One honest line is a full entry, and you can stay longer on the evenings you want to.

Three things about it that matter when time is short:

• One prompt per page, already written. Nothing to decide before you start.
• A visual emotion guide on every page. Recognising a feeling from a list can be quicker than searching for the word yourself.
• Undated. Three times this week is simply three times this week. There's nothing to make up.

If what you'd really like is the same short prompt every morning and evening, the Five Minute Journal is made for exactly that, and I'd point you there. See the formats side by side →

If you're not sure yet, let's work it out together

If you're not sure yet, that's a perfectly good place to start. One question usually settles it.

Would you like help with how you feel, or with how your week is organised?

If it's how your week is organised, a goal and habit journal is a different shelf. If it's how you feel, pick whichever line below sounds most like you. Each one goes straight to the answer.

• I'd like to be kinder to myself: the Give Yourself Kindness Journal
• I want to notice good things, without pressure: the Gratitude Journal
• I can't tell what I'm actually feeling: what an emotion guide does, and where it needs to be
• I've had a journal before and set it aside: four things worth checking this time
• I'd like the psychologists' view before I choose: every expert review, in full

If none of those is quite it, the comparison table shows all eight journals together, and what to look for gives you the four things worth checking on any guided journal anywhere.

Why which journal you choose makes a difference

Which journal you choose makes a difference because a guided journal does one thing a blank page can't: it decides the question. And the question quietly decides which part of you does the answering.

That's the part I'd most like you to take away, whichever journal you end up with. Compassion Focused Therapy works the other way round: Dr Irons explains that it helps people first develop a compassionate part of themselves, one that is wise, strong and caring, and then uses that part to do the writing. He adds that compassionate letter writing builds on a large research literature on the helpfulness of expressive writing.

That's what the Give Yourself Kindness Journal is built to do.

Every prompt asks you to notice how you're feeling and then answer as you would a friend, so the kind voice is the one holding the pen. It's why clinical psychologists at Harvard and Oxford recommend it, and why counsellors use it between sessions. See how the prompts work →

What to look for in any guided journal

Four things decide how a guided journal feels to use, and all four are visible before you choose. They apply to any guided journal, including the ones I don't make, so you can take this list anywhere.

That's the whole list. Four things, all visible before you choose, on any journal anywhere.

When you can't tell what you're actually feeling

When you can't tell what you're actually feeling, a journal can help most by putting the words in front of you. Naming a feeling accurately is a real skill, and most of us were never taught it.

When you can't tell whether it's dread, guilt, resentment or plain tiredness, "how do you feel today?" is a hard question to be asked. A list of feelings in front of you turns it into recognition rather than recall, which is a kinder job for a tired mind.

The Give Yourself Kindness Journal has a visual emotion guide on every single page, right where you're writing rather than in a chart at the front you'd have to remember to turn back to. It's the part people mention to me most. More on journals for tracking emotions →

The psychologists who reviewed the Give Yourself Kindness Journal

The psychologists who reviewed the Give Yourself Kindness Journal include three clinical psychologists who have read it and put their names to it, along with two psychotherapists and a counsellor who uses it with her own clients.

And two practitioners who use it with clients

Discover the journal →

My honest verdict

My honest verdict is short. Here is what I'd say if you asked me directly.

Guided journals aren't interchangeable. Some are built around gratitude, some around emotional wellbeing, some around goals and habits. Choose for what you'd like more of, and trust yourself on that. You know better than any list does, including this one.

When you might need more than a journal

You might need more than a journal if what you're feeling has been going on for a long time, or it's affecting your sleep, your work, your relationships or your ability to enjoy things. Then please talk to your GP. You deserve proper support, not just a notebook.

A journal is a gentle companion alongside professional support, never a replacement for it. Mind has helpful guidance, and if things ever feel unbearable, Samaritans are on 116 123, free, day or night.

Common questions