Stoicism
Stoic journaling: how to start, plus 40 prompts from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus
Marcus Aurelius never meant his notes for anyone else. That's exactly why they work as a model for yours.
The short answer
Stoic journaling is a short daily writing practice. In the morning you prepare for what the day may bring and decide how you want to act; in the evening you review what happened, what was in your control, and what you’ll do better tomorrow. It takes five to ten minutes. Almost every Stoic prompt comes back to one question: what here is actually up to me?
The most famous journal in Western philosophy was never meant to be read.
Marcus Aurelius, emperor of Rome, wrote the notes we now call the Meditations to himself. The Greek title is usually rendered “to himself”. Some books end with the name of the military camp where he wrote them. They’re full of reminders, repetitions and self-corrections: a powerful man talking himself back into being a good one.
That’s the spirit of Stoic journaling. It isn’t a diary of events or a gratitude list. It’s a daily practice of preparing, reviewing and adjusting, done in writing so you can’t fudge it. Here’s how to start, and 40 prompts to keep you going.
What Stoic journaling is (and isn’t)
Three Stoic ideas sit underneath almost every prompt.
The dichotomy of control. Some things are up to you: your judgements, intentions and actions. Most things aren’t: other people, outcomes, the past, your reputation. Peace comes from putting your energy into the first group.
Virtue as the real goal. The Stoics named four core virtues: wisdom, courage, justice and self-control. A good day isn’t one where things went your way; it’s one where you acted well.
Perspective. Zoom out. Remember that you’ll die. Picture the event from far above. Most of what feels enormous at 11 PM is small at the scale of a life.
What Stoic journaling isn’t: a place to suppress your feelings, punish yourself, or write beautifully. The Stoics were practical. A few honest lines beat a page of performance.
How to start: five minutes, twice a day
In the morning: prepare
Marcus opens Book 2 of the Meditations by warning himself about the day ahead:
Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.1 (trans. George Long)
It isn’t pessimism. It’s rehearsal. If you expect friction, it can’t ambush you. In the morning, write two or three lines: what’s likely to test you today, and how you’d like to respond when it does.
In the evening: review
Seneca describes an evening review he learned from the philosopher Sextius: once the lamp was out, he would go back over the whole day, asking which bad habit he had overcome, which fault he had resisted, and in what way he was better. Epictetus recommends something similar, quoting older verses that tell you not to fall asleep before you have gone over each act of the day: what went wrong, what you did, what you left undone.
In the evening, write three short answers: what you did well, where you slipped, and what you’ll do differently tomorrow. Be specific and be fair. Seneca was clear that the point is to understand yourself, not to condemn yourself.
A few practical rules
- Same time, same place. Attach it to something you already do, like your morning tea or brushing your teeth.
- Paper or app, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’ll actually open it.
- One prompt is enough. Don’t answer all 40 at once. Pick one or two a day.
- Write facts, then judgements. “My manager didn’t reply” is a fact. “She thinks I’m useless” is a judgement you added. Stoic journaling lives in the gap between the two.
40 Stoic journal prompts
Morning prompts: prepare for the day
- What is likely to test me today, and how do I want to respond when it does?
- What is the one thing today that is fully within my control?
- If today goes badly, which part of it will still be mine to handle well?
- Who might frustrate me today, and what might they be dealing with?
- What would I do today if I weren’t worried about how it looks?
- Which virtue does today need most from me: wisdom, courage, justice or self-control?
- What am I treating as urgent that isn’t actually important?
- What would the calmest version of me do first?
- What do I already have that I’d miss terribly if it were gone?
- How do I want to describe today, in one sentence, tonight?
Evening prompts: review the day
- What did I do well today?
- Where did I lose my composure, and what was I trying to control?
- What did I avoid today?
- What did I do out of fear rather than judgement?
- If today repeated tomorrow, what would I do differently?
- What was outside my control today, and did I accept it or fight it?
- Whom did I help today, and whom did I neglect?
- What did I learn about myself?
- What am I carrying into tomorrow that I can put down tonight?
- What small thing went right that I almost didn’t notice?
For overthinking and worry
- What exactly am I afraid will happen? Write the worst case in one sentence.
- If it did happen, what would I actually do?
- Is this thought helping me decide, or only helping me worry?
- Which part of this is mine to act on, and which part do I need to release?
- What is this worry assuming about the future that I can’t know yet?
- Will this matter in five years? Five months? Five days?
- What would I tell a friend who was thinking this?
- What is the next small action, and when exactly will I do it?
For anger and other people
- What did they actually do, and what judgement did I add to it?
- Could they believe they were in the right? What might they know that I don’t?
- What would it cost me to let this go, and what would it cost to keep holding it?
- How would I want to be treated if I’d made the same mistake?
- Am I angry at what happened, or at my expectation of what should have happened?
- What response would I be proud of tomorrow?
For perspective
- The view from above: picture this moment from the sky, then from the city, then from the century. What shrinks?
- Memento mori: if I had one year left, what would I stop doing tomorrow?
- Amor fati: how could this setback turn out to be useful to me?
- What did people a hundred years ago lose sleep over that nobody remembers now?
- What am I grateful for that I usually treat as ordinary?
- If Marcus Aurelius read today’s entry, what would he write in the margin?
Three Stoic lines worth keeping near your journal
Of things some are in our power, and others are not.
Epictetus, Enchiridion 1 (trans. George Long)
The universe is transformation: life is opinion.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.3 (trans. George Long)
We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.
Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 13 (trans. Richard M. Gummere)
Common mistakes (and easy fixes)
Turning the journal into a worry diary. If every entry is the same fear written out at greater length, you’re going round in circles on paper. Fix: end every entry with one action or one thing you’re releasing.
Writing essays. Long entries are hard to sustain. Fix: three lines is a complete entry.
Being harsh with yourself. The evening review is an audit, not a trial. Fix: always start with what you did well.
Skipping the morning. Reviewing without preparing means the same things keep catching you off guard. Fix: one line before you check your phone.
Stoic journaling with a little help
The hardest part of any journal is the blank page. Stoic prompts solve that, but only if you remember to use them and pick the right one for the day you’re having.
MindShift takes care of that part. Stoicism is one of its four philosophies, alongside Dharma, Sufism and Ikigai. Each day it asks you one question built from what you’ve written before. You reply in a line or a page, and your mentor answers with what’s really going on, a Stoic mind shift and one small next step. Over time it shows you the patterns you keep repeating, so you can spot the same mistake on day 30 that you made on day 3. If you’re not sure Stoicism is your philosophy, the free quiz will tell you which one fits your mind right now.
Frequently asked questions
What is Stoic journaling?
Stoic journaling is a daily reflective writing practice based on Stoic philosophy. Its usual form is a morning entry that prepares you for the day and an evening entry that reviews it, organised around what is and isn’t in your control and how well you acted.
Did Marcus Aurelius really keep a journal?
Yes, in effect. His Meditations are private notes he wrote to himself, probably in the 170s CE, partly while on military campaigns. They weren’t written for publication, which is why they read like reminders rather than lectures.
How long should a Stoic journal entry be?
Short. Five to ten minutes, or a few lines, is enough. The value comes from doing it every day and being specific, not from writing well or writing a lot.
Is Stoicism about suppressing emotions?
No. The Stoics weren’t trying to feel nothing. They argued that much of our distress comes from our judgements about events rather than the events themselves, and that examining those judgements leads to steadier, wiser responses. Feelings are information to look at, not enemies to hide.
Should I journal in the morning or the evening?
Both, if you can. The morning entry is preparation; the evening entry is review. If you only have time for one, the evening review is the one Seneca and Epictetus describe most clearly, and it’s a good place to start.