Guided Journaling with Kate Bowler

Last month, Duke University professor, New York Times bestselling author and podcast host Kate Bowler visited Blackberry Farm alongside Jenna Bush Hager, Barbara Bush and Holly Williams at our 2026 Sisterhood Summit event.

In addition to memorable Blackberry conversations, Kate hosted a guided journaling session inspired by her upcoming book “Joyful, Anyway.”

Even when happiness feels unattainable, Kate explains, joy has a way of finding us and reminding us that we’re alive. Joy is contagious. It’s not something you have to earn, but a gift that can pop up in even the most unexpected situations.

Kate’s journaling prompts are designed to inspire deeper introspection, identify the ways joy co-exists with feelings of sadness and encourage new opportunities to open ourselves up to moments of joy. Discover them below, and explore Kate’s favorite ways to put herself in the way of joy in her own life. 

Guidelines and Permissions:

• Journaling is a way of learning to be a witness to yourself.
• You don’t have to share what you write with anyone.
• Write without editing or judging yourself. There is no “right” response.
• You may skip any prompt or stop at any time.
• You may write lists, fragments, nonsense or nothing.

Three Steps:

1. Attention = Naming the Ache
2. Interruption = Joy Arriving Uninvited
3. Response = Tiny Zags, Lived Forward

1. Attention: The Ache Under the To-Do List
Noticing what’s actually here, before we try to change it.

Prompt: What is the ache under your to-do list right now? Don’t solve it. Don’t analyze it. Just tell the truth as you notice.

2. Interruption: Joy Comes Close
Recognizing how joy often shows up close to the ache.

Prompt: Write about a moment of aliveness that existed alongside difficulty, a moment when something good brushed up against an unfinished life.

3. Response: Joyful Homework
Putting ourselves in the way of joy.

• Taste test something ridiculous.
• Visit a roadside attraction.
• Send a postcard to someone you love.
• Chase a curiosity that you have. Learn more about something super niche.
• Give to a new charity and become interested in the problem they’re trying to solve.

Prompt: What three tiny zags will you try in the next week to put yourself in the way of joy?