12 Inspiring Journals to Help You Live Your Best Life

For many of us, 2018 was a doozy, but we here at Brit + Co are ready to hit refresh in 2019! Follow our Hit Refresh series through January and February for new ideas, hacks, and skills that will help you achieve (and maintain!) those New Year’s resolutions.

Journaling has countless benefits — from bringing more mindfulness to your life to boosting your creative inspiration to travel journals that help you remember details of adventures you’ve had and challenges you overcame. Plus, putting pen to paper is a surefire way to release your emotions. At the start of a new year, the time can feel right to figure out your what you truly want. Whether you want to develop a regular attitude of gratitude or you’re brainstorming your way to the next big thing, these 12 notebooks are designed to help you reach your dreams.

1. Your Brightest Life Journal ($17): Doodle or color your way to discoveries about yourself. Divided into seven sections including creativity, confidence, and resilience, this workbook by Caroline Kelso Zook is meant to be playful. The creative exercises such as “Clues from your inner kid,” and “The ways I’m capable,” are geared toward connecting and appreciating who you are.

2. The Universe Has Your Back ($18): Heralded by Oprah Winfrey as a “next-generation thought leader,” New York Times best-selling author Gabby Bernstein created a journal to help manifest your dreams and set your intentions. Beautifully illustrated by Micaela Ezra, there are watercolor designs and meditations throughout the book to help you create your inner vision board. After purchasing the journal, you can receive a free guided meditation from Bernstein to accompany your writing process.

3. Erin Condren Petite Planner Gratitude Journal ($12): The health benefits of expressing gratitude are just one reason to cultivate a practice of expressing appreciation. Record your thanks with daily gratitude prompts in this beautiful journal from planner guru Erin Condren. Bonus: It has inspiring quotes between the pages and comes with a fun metallic sticker sheet.

4. Calm the Chaos ($15): Life coach Nicola Taggart created this guided notebook for people stressed by constant to-do lists and running around. Simple daily prompts for “Today” and “Tomorrow” focus on happiness habits that will help you find balance.

5. Connect Every Day ($15): Perhaps your goal this year is to network more or put your phone down and engage with the world around you. This very simple journal has a task each page that asks you to step out of your comfort zone. You’ll find activities like, “Greet new neighbors when they move in,” and “Have a sleepover,” with room to write the date you completed it and a few lines to reflect on what you did.

6. I Am a Rebel Girl: A Journal to Start Revolutions ($20): Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo (the team behind the popular Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series) have created a feminist journal that celebrates what makes women amazing. Write love notes to your favorite body parts. Doodle slogans onto your own march protest posters. Complete with stickers, these odes to your badass self will help you tackle any and all revolutions, whatever they might be.

7. Love Heals Journal ($49): Event planner Arona Martin didn’t plan on making a journal, but when she found out that her best friend Jessica had stage IV lung cancer six years ago, she wanted to give a gift that would express how she felt about her BFF. Martin bought a leather-bound journal and inside the pages, she hand-lettered inspiring quotes and added pages with instructions like “Doodle your doctor,” and “Write about what scares you about cancer” and wrote Jessica notes detailing, “This is my favorite thing about you,” and “How your life touched mine.” The Love Heals Journal is a tremendous gift for a friend. You fill out sections of it, your friend fills out hers, and it’s a love letter-esque journal. After Jessica passed away, Martin says, “The stuff I read that Jessica wrote is such a gift. It’s like I have a part of her with me always.”

8. Be Yourself ($14): This journal wants to take you on a journey to discover you — no judgment allowed. Checklists, simple prompts, and illustrated quotations guide you and connect you to what you admire in others, what childhood memories are your happiest, and what you can learn from your past experiences.

9. Get Happy Stay Happy ($13): With more than 150 encouraging exercises split between “Now” and “Later,” this little journal is about getting you to try new things and expand your horizons: It’s like a sample kit of happiness. Example: One activity asks you to watch an online video about a cuisine you’re interested in, then eating a meal at a local restaurant that has that type of food.

10. 52 Lists for Happiness ($17): The CEO of retailer Moreea Seal created this journal based on her research about happiness. This to-do list-style journal is a deeply personal journey into what makes you happy and your own intentions. You’ll be jotting down compliments you want to give others, things you consider treats for yourself, and what gets you out of your head. (Share your own on Instagram with #52HappyLists.)

11. Hatch Ideas ($25): For budding inventors, future entrepreneurs, or anyone who has a big idea that needs planning out, this cloth-bound notebook has three sections — Conceive, Incubate, and Hatch. Break down your daydreams into manageable action steps and use the dotted paper as a space to brainstorm. Make a checklist and set deadlines to keep you motivated.

12. The Grass Is Green Enough! ($15): If you’re heading into a new chapter in your life, this journal is for you. Gain perspective and write your way to renewed optimism. With colorful quotes to inspire reflection, the Studio Oh-designed journal has 144 lined pages to help you appreciate what you already have in your life.

Tweet us to share your fave journals that help you with your goals @BritandCo.

(Featured image via Erin Condren)

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