Quick answer
A blank journal gives you space. A guided journal gives you a question. Neither is the grown-up version of the other, and a lot of people who journal for any length of time quietly end up with both.
So the useful question isn't which type of person you are. It's which one you want in your hands this evening, and the honest answer to that changes with the week you're having.
Here's the thing both of them are actually for.
You sit down at the end of a day that has been sitting heavily on you and you can't quite say why. You write for six or seven minutes. And when you get up, the thing has a name.
Not fixed. Not resolved. Named. And it turns out that most of the weight was in the not-knowing, because a feeling you can point at is so much easier to carry than a feeling that's just weather. That's the bit worth having, and either kind of journal can get you there.
I should say plainly that I make a guided journal, so you can weigh what follows knowing that. I'd genuinely rather you ended up writing than ended up buying. If you already have a notebook you like and the words come easily, you may not need anything from me, and there is nothing lesser about that.
Where prompts earn their place is narrower and more specific: when the page stays empty, or when what comes out is harsher than you'd ever say to anyone else. If neither of those is your experience, brilliant. Keep going.
Dr Andreas Comninos
PhD Clinical Psychologist and EMDRAA Accredited Practitioner, with over 15 years of experience
"Journaling is fantastic because: it is free, simple, and portable; it can be done in many creative ways, and it offers an extensive range of psychological, emotional, and physiological benefits. Decades of studies have demonstrated its wide-ranging benefits across diverse methods, from Pennebaker's 20-minute Expressive Writing paradigm to keeping a brief daily Gratitude Diary in bullet-point list format."Read three clinical psychologists on journaling →
"Many creative ways" and "diverse methods" is the part I'd underline. The research doesn't crown a winning format. It keeps finding that writing helps, across a whole range of ways of doing it. Which means you are allowed to mix, to switch, and to change your mind in October about what worked in March.
Why trust me: I'm Rachel Smith, a qualified meditation teacher. For years I kept blank journals because everyone said journaling would help, and I would sit there with the pen hovering, thinking "am I doing this wrong? Maybe journaling just isn't for me." The blank page that was meant to help me process emotions became one more place my inner critic could tell me I was failing. That is why I eventually made a guided one, and had it reviewed by clinical psychologists at Harvard Medical School and the University of Oxford. More about me →
What each one is brilliant at
Read both columns rather than picking a side. Most people recognise themselves in some of each, and that is the most useful outcome this page can give you.
- You've already got something you need to get out
- You want to draw, list, plan and reflect in one place
- You're processing one big thing and don't want to be steered
- You like the freedom, and a question would feel like an interruption
- You're in a settled stretch and just want somewhere to think
- You want it to cost almost nothing
- You sit down willing, and nothing arrives
- What comes out is harsher than you'd say to anyone else
- "Stressed" or "fine" is as close as you can get to naming it
- You're tired, and choosing a subject is one decision too many
- You want to be taken somewhere you wouldn't have gone alone
- Everything feels like a lot and structure is a relief
Or, quite reasonably, both
This is what most long-term journalers actually do, and nobody says it out loud because it doesn't make a tidy article. A plain notebook for the overflow, the lists and the two-in-the-morning brain dump. Something with prompts for the evenings when you know you'd benefit from writing but haven't got a subject in you.
They're different tools for different jobs, in the way a saucepan doesn't compete with a frying pan. If you have both, you'll reach for whichever the evening calls for, and you'll write more often than someone loyal to one format.
Why the blank page is sometimes the hardest thing in the room
This is worth understanding even if you never buy a guided journal, because it explains an experience a lot of people quietly blame themselves for.
A blank page asks two things of you before you write a word: know what you're feeling, and be kind to yourself about it. Both are skills, both get better with practice, and both are least available exactly when you're struggling. Which is often the evening you reached for the journal.
Dr Chris Irons
Clinical psychologist and specialist in Compassion Focused Therapy, co-director of Balanced Minds
"Journalling can be a powerful way of developing self-reflection, self-discovery and enhancing emotion regulation. However, from a Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) point of view, it's useful to consider which part of ourselves is doing the journalling... it could be that it's a fearful part of you that is writing, or an angry or self-critical part. And although it's understandable that this might happen, how helpful might it be if it is our self-critic journalling?"Read Dr Irons in full →
A blank page doesn't give you a voice. It hands the pen to whichever voice is loudest that evening, and some evenings that isn't the kind one.
That's the real difference between the two formats, and it isn't about difficulty. A blank page is neutral: it will faithfully take down self-criticism for an hour if that's what turns up. A well-built prompt isn't neutral. It's written to call a different part of you forward first.
Dr Irons describes what that looks like in Compassion Focused Therapy: developing "a compassionate part of self, a part that is wise, strong and caring", and then, once it's there, using that part to do the journalling. A good prompt is essentially a shortcut to the same place on an evening when you can't get there under your own steam.
Dr Andreas Comninos
PhD Clinical Psychologist and EMDRAA Accredited Practitioner
"Certain types of journaling, such as writing about challenging experiences, may stir up strong emotions. It is important to approach intense journaling with care and kindness towards yourself."Read his full guidance →
Worth holding on to whichever format you choose. If you're writing about something heavy, pick a time when you can look after yourself afterwards rather than squeezing it between two other things.
One last thing that applies to both: writing by hand seems to do something typing doesn't. Choosing words slowly is a decent part of why any of this works.
What to look for in a guided journal
Not every guided journal solves the blank page problem. Some replace it with a different one. These are the four things I would check before buying any of them, mine included.
- A different prompt on every pageIf the same question comes round daily, you will be answering it from memory within two weeks. Variety is what keeps you actually thinking rather than performing.
- It makes room for difficult feelingsCheck that some prompts ask what was hard, not only what was good. A journal that can only hold a good week will be closed during a bad one.
- UndatedSo there is no gap to look at when you come back, and no counting.
- Someone qualified has looked at itPrompts shape how you speak to yourself. It is worth knowing whether a mental health professional has read them, or whether they were written to fill pages.
The guided journal I make
I made this because I could not find one that did the four things above. Its prompts are built to hand the pen to a different voice, which is the specific problem a blank page could not solve for me.
Here is what that looks like on the page, so you can judge it yourself:
"What has challenged you today? Talk to yourself as you would talk to a friend, write down what you would say."
"Notice how you are feeling right now. Think about what you would find it helpful to hear, it might help to imagine something a friend would say. Write down words to say to yourself."
"Choose an emotion that you have just noticed. Imagine a friend came to you explaining that they feel that emotion. Write down what you would want to say to them."
Those are not just questions with nicer wording. Each one puts a friend in the room before it asks you to write, and that is the entire mechanism.
The Give Yourself Kindness Journal. 224 pages, three months of undated prompts with every page different, and a visual emotional awareness tool on every page rather than one chart at the front. Over 50 self-care quotes throughout. Reviewed by Dr Chris Germer of Harvard Medical School, Professor Willem Kuyken of Oxford and Dr Chris Irons.
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Dr Chris Germer, PhD
Clinical psychologist, Harvard Medical School. Co-developer of the Mindful Self-Compassion programme, taught to over 250,000 people worldwide
"A warm invitation to make friends with your emotions and yourself!"See all the expert reviews →
If thirty pages feels like a better place to start than three months, The Gratitude Journal: A 30-Day Challenge is £10.95 and works the same way, on a smaller promise.
If you're going with a blank notebook
Genuinely, this is the cheaper and often better option. Three things that make it work:
- Build yourself one repeatable opening. Something like "Today I noticed I felt ____ when ____. What I needed was ____." A single sentence stem removes the blank page problem without buying anything.
- Build the emotion vocabulary separately. If "stressed" is doing a lot of work in your writing, this free guide to identifying emotions will do more for your journaling than a new notebook will.
- Notice who is writing. If you read back an entry and it sounds like a telling off, that is worth knowing. Here is how to shift that.
Common questions
Is a guided journal cheating?
No, and it is telling how often this gets asked. Prompts are scaffolding, in the way a recipe is scaffolding for cooking. Therapists recommend guided journals to clients routinely. The goal is to write honestly, not to prove you can do it unassisted.
Will I always need prompts?
Probably not, though you might choose to keep them. Many people use a guided journal to build the two skills a blank page assumes, naming what they feel and answering themselves kindly, then move to blank pages once those feel natural. Others find prompts get them further and stay with them. Both are fine.
Why do blank journals feel impossible for me and not for other people?
They are hard for far more people than you would guess. You see the finished spreads online, not the empty notebooks. Beyond that, blank journaling asks for skills that some people built early and others did not, and those skills are least available when you are struggling. It is a difference in what you currently have to hand, not in what you are capable of.
I've tried guided journals before and felt worse. Why?
Usually one of three things: the same prompt every day, so it went mechanical; relentless positivity, so it had no room for a hard week; or dates, so missing days became the story. Those are properties of that journal, not of guided journaling.
Can I use both?
Yes, and plenty of people do. A guided journal for the slower emotional work, a plain notebook for lists, ideas and the daily noise. They are different jobs.
What is actually in the Give Yourself Kindness Journal?
224 pages, A5, three months of undated prompts with every page different, a visual emotional awareness tool on every page, and over 50 self-care quotes throughout. 120gsm FSC-certified paper and a pistachio green cloth cover. It arrives wrapped in bespoke tissue paper, and you can add a handwritten note free through the order notes at checkout.
“By far my favourite guided journal that I’ve used!”
Reviewed by clinical psychologists at Harvard Medical School and the University of Oxford, and used by therapists with their own clients between sessions.
