31 Journal Prompts for Relationships

Understanding how you love

1. 1.How do you show love, and how do you most like to receive it?
2. 2.What did you learn about love from watching the adults in your childhood?
3. 3.What do you need to feel safe in a relationship?
4. 4.When you feel close to someone, what makes you want to pull away, if anything?
5. 5.What are three things you have learned from past relationships?
6. 6.What does a healthy relationship look like to you?

Patterns and attachment

1. 7.What kind of people are you repeatedly drawn to, and why?
2. 8.When you feel insecure in a relationship, what do you tend to do?
3. 9.How do you react when someone does not reply as quickly as you expected?
4. 10.What fear shows up most in your relationships: being left, being trapped, or being not enough?
5. 11.What relationship pattern would you most like to break?
6. 12.When do you feel most secure with someone?

Conflict and communication

1. 13.How do you usually act during an argument: fight, flee, freeze, or fix?
2. 14.What is a conflict you keep having, and what is it really about underneath?
3. 15.What is something you wish you had said in a recent disagreement?
4. 16.How do you apologize, and how do you like to be apologized to?
5. 17.What makes it hard for you to say what you need?
6. 18.What does repair look like for you after a fight?

Boundaries and balance

1. 19.Where do you give more than you get, and how does that feel?
2. 20.What boundary do you need but have not voiced?
3. 21.Which relationships leave you feeling energized, and which leave you depleted?
4. 22.What behavior from others do you tolerate that you would not recommend a friend tolerate?
5. 23.How much alone time do you need to feel like yourself?
6. 24.What is a relationship you may need to step back from?

Friends and family

1. 25.Which friendship has meant the most to you, and why?
2. 26.What role do you play in your family, and do you want to keep playing it?
3. 27.Who in your life would you like to be closer to?
4. 28.What is something you have never told a family member but wish you could?
5. 29.Which relationships have grown with you, and which have stayed stuck in the past?
6. 30.Who do you need to thank, and who do you need to forgive?
7. 31.What kind of friend do you want to be this year?

Tips that make it stick

• •Write about the other person with curiosity, not just criticism. 'What might they be feeling?' opens more doors than 'What is wrong with them?'
• •Try to name your exact feeling after a hard interaction, like rejected, resentful, or jealous. Knowing it makes it easier to talk about calmly.
• •Do not use your journal to build a case against someone. Use it to understand yourself.

Related feelings