The Best Self-Care and Gratitude Journals For 2024

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Practicing mindfulness and achieving an inner-zen is (admittedly) much easier said than done — especially these days with so many different distractions right at our fingertips. Oftentimes, it can feel impossible trying to block out all of the outside noise and find time to truly sit with ourselves, our emotions, and even our thoughts. Therapy and other recreational activities like yoga are great tools for helping you to practice peace and gratitude on the daily. But if you're looking for something simpler to do at home that can help you start your day off on the right foot, self-care and gratitude journals are a great alternative to turn to — especially for those looking to embrace the new year with a fresh set of resolutions!

You don't need more than a pen and paper to practice journaling and reap a variety of stress-relieving, mindfulness-promoting benefits. But, guided journals specifically catered to self-care, wellness practices, and gratitude with prompts and insightful exercises may help you keep the habit. They also make beautiful, thoughtful, and caring gifts for any loved ones who are motivated to be their best selves, as they help to ease anxiety and promote more gratitude on the daily.

From self-care journals and document positive affirmations to planners that track your daily to-dos, feelings, and even eating or spending habits, there are so many thoughtful self-care and gratitude journals out there that double as the perfect gifts to give (and receive!) this season — because your own self-care deserves your attention, too. Shop our favorites ahead.

— Additional reporting by Jenny Sugar

Best Overall Journal
amazon.com

Best Overall Journal

The Five Minute Journal ($21, originally $30)

According to this journal, all it takes is five minutes to completely re-adjust your mindset, start your day off on the right note, and get better about practicing your gratitude habits more frequently. Who knew? One POPSUGAR editor even said it made her a morning person in this Five-Minute Journal product review.

Editor Quote: "Here's what my morning looks like now; I wake up, brush my teeth, and open my journal. It's a great way for me to set an intention for my day, start with gratitude, and remind myself of what's really worth prioritizing. I find that when I write down my intentions, I really am more mindful throughout the day, and I use the nighttime prompts as a way to reflect on the good, and bad, parts of my day. It truly is a five-minute (max!) commitment, and I have seen my gratitude levels markedly improve since I started using it." — India Yaffe, former associate editor, Commerce

Best Journal For Writing: The Happiest Gratitude Journal
etsy.com

Best Journal For Writing: The Happiest Gratitude Journal

The Happiest Gratitude Journal ($10)

This pocket-size journal sets you up for a cheery 30-day challenge of documenting all the things you're most grateful for. Users can follow along with writing down acts of kindness and self-care sessions in real-time. And best of all: they can better practice gratitude on the go, thanks to the journal's small and compact design.

Best Journal For Reflection
amazon.com

Best Journal For Reflection

Gratitude Journal ($10, originally $17)

Unlike other guided journals, this version includes 90 days of morning meditation and evening reflections, so you can start and end your day with gratitude. Each page allows you to consider your daily focus, positive affirmations, what you're grateful for and excited about, your feelings, plus a positive thought to think about when you fall asleep. This journal is 184 pages, boasts a hardcover design, and measures 5.75 x 8.25 inches.

Best Journal For Busy People
amazon.com

Best Journal For Busy People

The 6-Minute Diary ($28)

Say hello to your new everyday essential! This diary features daily pages where you can take three minutes to reflect on the start of your day, and three minutes to reflect at the end. You'll focus on three things you're grateful for, how to make today great, a positive affirmation, a good deed you did that day, how you'll improve, and three things you appreciated that day. There are also weekly and monthly self-reflections. This hardcover journal also comes in a variety of fun colors like turquoise, antique pink, and more.

Best Journal to Build Habits
amazon.com

Best Journal to Build Habits

Self-Care Check-In: A Guided Journal to Build Healthy Habits and Devote Time to You ($10, originally $13)

As far as bestselling journals go, this self-care iteration is one of the best. The guided journal takes users through activities and prompts split up into three well-organized sections — reflect, focus, and do. The goal of the journal is to use self-care as a method to solve problems and issues plaguing us, rather than escaping them.

Best Journal For Mental Health
papier.com

Best Journal For Mental Health

Papier's Wellness Journal ($35)

Papier's bestselling wellness journal starts off with a kind and gentle reminder that practicing mindfulness is about practice — not perfection. The 12-week journal is filled with sections dedicated to outlining "feel-good goals," and your progress toward them, sections to jot down nourishing meals, and reflection pages.

Best Self-Care Journal
amazon.com

Best Self-Care Journal

Self-Care Journal ($9, originally $17)

This 90-day hardcover journal will inspire you to commit to your self-care routine, all while encouraging healthy habits like sleeping well, eating nourishing food, getting in the habit of daily movement, and more. Plus, it promotes the habitual practice of doing other enriching things that simply bring you joy such as socializing, journaling, meditating, and expressing gratitude.

Best Meditation Journal
habitnest.com

Best Meditation Journal

The Habit Nest Meditation Sidekick Journal ($40, originally $52)

Through insightful and educational sections about the benefits of meditation, instructions on guided meditation, and more, The Habit Nest Meditation Journal helps users expand, commit to, and document their practice. For example, the top of each page features a section where users write down how long they meditated for, how they felt after, and how they can improve their inner dialogue.

Best Gratitude Journal
papier.com

Best Gratitude Journal

Papier Joy Gratitude Journal ($35)

With its golden and eye-popping front cover, this gratitude journal is boosting our serotonin levels and making us feel significantly peppier — and all before we've even opened the actual journal yet. The book is filled with five months worth of entries and prompts, all geared at helping users to seek out and appreciate more mindful moments within their day to day lives.