Daily Mental Health Log: How to Track Your Mood?

Imagine the joy of creating a safe space in your own mind, a place where you can let yourself feel and process your own moods without judgment. A few minutes of tracking your emotions daily can be one of the core steps to your personal growth and emotional regulation.

Some people use digital mental health trackers because they give them access to mental health services they need, while others prefer a traditional approach of journaling to write notes on their day.

It takes time to understand which tools can help you reflect on your thoughts and feelings. This article explores strategies and tools to help you track your day and feel connected to yourself.

Key Learnings:

• There's no single "right" way to log your mental health. Whether you use an app like Liven, Daylio, or Finch, or prefer paper journals and worksheets, the most effective tool is the one that helps you consistently notice and reflect on your feelings.
• Tracking moods, sensations, and thoughts over time helps you understand patterns behind anxiety and stress, making you more mindful and showing you what things you can and can't control.
• Consistency matters more than depth or detail. One exercise a day is more effective than doing ten practices once a month.

Best Mental Health Trackers

Liven

Liven is a self-discovery companion app with tools for mood tracking, habit building, journaling, and supportive guidance.

How: Liven's Mood Tracker can be used any number of times during the day. You log your overall mood and describe the factors that contribute to it.

For example, you can add notes on what daily events or people triggered your emotions. Over time, the app provides a visual timeline and advanced statistics on your emotions, helping you identify patterns that positively or negatively affect your well-being.

For whom: Liven is best suited to people who want a reflective, self-improvement-focused tool that combines mood tracking with habit planning and personal growth.

Sometimes our mood fluctuates, and we don't know how to integrate journaling into our long-term growth. If that's the case for you, you can take a free quiz and get your personalized dopamine management plan.

Get your personalized plan for a calmer mind! Take a quick quiz

Daylio

Daylio is a micro-diary and mood tracking app that lets users log feelings and daily activities without writing full sentences.

How: You can tap to choose your mood on a simple scale and add what you did that day. Daylio generates charts and statistics to show emotional trends over time.

For whom: Daylio is most suitable for people who want a quick, visual, and simple daily mood log without long writing. If you don't have much time or simply aren't a detail person, Daylio is a perfect fit.

Finch

Finch is a self-care app that blends habit tracking and simple mood check-ins with a playful virtual pet you care for by completing wellness activities.

How: You regularly check in with quick mood selections and complete wellness or self-care tasks, and your mood inputs help influence the growth/health of your virtual companion.

For whom: Finch is best for those who prefer a gamified, light-touch approach to mood and self-care tracking rather than a traditional journal style.

Paper Daily Journals & Worksheets

Paper journaling often feels rewarding in a different way — some people enjoy sitting quietly with their trusted daily journal and writing a daily entry. Below are a few worksheets that you can copy or print out and use in your usual diary.

Daily Mood Logs

Here are a few printable and free worksheets that you can choose from:

• This daily journal is a mood chart from Therapist Aid.
• Mood-tracking worksheet from Bearable can be more helpful if you prefer beautiful icons and a more detailed exploration of your thoughts. This one includes both a morning and an evening worksheet, along with guided prompts to help you discover new trends.
• A larger worksheet from McGill University can be made into a super-simple diary. If you print these out, you can create your own diary or put these papers all in a folder and use them as needed.
• In contrast, some people prefer a quick worksheet they can insert into their school diary or organizer. If you prefer this format, you may appreciate this quick worksheet from Black Dog Institute that provides a clear review of your month.

Mental Health Journaling

There are plenty of mental health trackers that are focused on separate mental health concerns. They encourage users to develop healthy habits, improve their physical health, and become more aware of how daily events impact their conditions.

• Anxiety tracker from Cornell University. It encourages users to track any anxiety incidents by providing details about their physical sensations and the severity of the emotion. This tool encourages positive self-talk and reframing one's worry into something more productive.
• Bipolar disorder mood log from Therapist Aid is helpful for people with a diagnosed bipolar disorder who want to notice the changes in their emotions during the week. It includes the general elevation changes and the signs and symptoms of depression or mania.
• Panic diary from MindWell Leeds is a structured, CBT-informed self-monitoring tool that helps users record details of panic or panic-like episodes — including when and where they occurred, what they were doing, the level of panic, physical sensations, and frightening thoughts (catastrophic misinterpretations).
• PTSD Thought Record from Think CBT is a cognitive-behavioural worksheet designed to help users monitor and work through intense emotional and physical reactions tied to trauma-related triggers. It asks users to describe the situation or trigger, note their emotions and bodily reactions, and identify the distressing thoughts, images, or memories that arise.
• Stress Exploration from TherapistAid is a self-reflection and stress relief worksheet that helps users identify and rate the things in their life that contribute to stress (such as daily hassles, major life changes, and ongoing life circumstances), while also helping them recognise protective factors and healthy coping strategies like daily uplifts and positive habits that lessen stress.

⚠️ Disclaimer: These tools are not intended to be a substitute for professional monitoring.

How to Build Healthy Habits With Daily Logs

1. Make it a daily habit. Regularly tracking your feelings supports emotional regulation and makes patterns in anxiety and mood easier to notice over time.
2. Write honestly, not perfectly. A mental health journal works best when it's a safe space to write real thoughts and feelings, not something polished like an old school diary. Journaling is one of the best ways to stop overthinking, so being actually earnest about your thoughts will benefit you.
3. Track moods and body feels. Noting physical sensations alongside emotions can reveal how anxiety shows up in your body and what your thoughts bring into those moments.
4. Use the tools that help you stay consistent. Features such as dark mode, funny emojis, positive affirmations, or a PIN lock may seem small, but they help you feel comfortable and in control while journaling.
5. Analyze instead of just recording. Take a moment to reflect on what you write — this is where journaling supports mental health and turns data into insight.
6. Set simple monthly goals. Looking back at tracked moods and entries helps you set realistic monthly goals rather than reacting only to tough days.

Final Thoughts

Mental health logs are not about fixing yourself — they're about creating a safe space to notice, reflect, and gently regain control over your feelings. When journaling becomes a simple part of your life, it supports emotional regulation, helps make sense of anxiety over time, and turns scattered thoughts into clarity you can actually use. If you're not sure where to begin, start small: one feeling, one thought, one moment from today. A mental health journal doesn't require insight or structure, just a willingness to notice what's already there.

References

1. Pempho, J., & Melvin, M. (2024). Mental health support app with Mood Tracking and resources. I-Manager’s Journal on Mobile Applications and Technologies, 11(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.26634/jmt.11.1.20662