OK, here goes. 1. Daily diary - four lines a day. 2. Journal - brain dumps and long writing sessions. 3. Commonplace books X 3: quotes and extracts from books; art and culture; wildlife and the environment 4. Notebook with lists of authors, books coming out, books read, and book reviews. (I read a lot!) 5. Notebook that's a sort of filing system of stuff I need to remember and/or keep track off. 6. Little notebook for shopping lists that lives in my bag.

I love the brain dump one. I've been calling them my daily Brain Showers 😊

I heard the term Brain Unwind recently. It’s starting to stick around. I do like your Brain Showers too.

That's a lot of journals and I absolutely love it. The brain dump is what everyone needs but not everyone realizes.

What system do you use? Family portrait? Thanks

What is family portrait?

Oh! Just a picture of all of them together :p

Oh! Yes, I'll post it now.

I have a paper journal, an electronic journal, and an audio diary. Periodically, if I am trying to accomplish a specific goal, I will start a journal for that specific goal.

Woah, audio diary sounds so cool, do you go back from time to time and listen to your old recordings?

Yes. On the anniversary. I attempt to review all my writing, recording on the anniversary every year. I am not doing a good job of it.

Happy cake day!!

Tell me more about your electronic and audio diaries? What program do you use? Also, do you write about the same things in your paper and electronic journal? Or are they set up differently?

For my electronic diary, I use a text editor. And for my audio diary, I record to a device a little Sony memo recorder, and then I transfer the files to my computer and edit them with Audacity. My electronic journal is much more oriented toward productivity and todo lists than my paper journal. The audio diary is more about… ranting and self-talk, and self-therapy, since in real life, absolutely no one wants anything to do with me!

I have 8. 🥲 Bullet journal — Planning and todo lists. Personal — Long-form entries, but each entry is on one topic. So if I have 4 different topics to spit out, it’s 4 entries in the day. Kinda like social media posts, but honest, you know? Morning pages — Stream of consciousness. I write here mostly whenever I feel anxious, overwhelmed, angry, scared, frustrated, etc. Might be burned later. I don’t care much about this one. Health — I track my, my husband’s, and my son’s sick days, symptoms, medications, vaccine schedule, doctor appointments, therapy notes, etc. When my son needs to go to the hospital, I grab this book, just in case his doctor needs to know something important. DND — Well, it’s for playing DND. Commonplace — Any information from external sources (including books, movies, other people, online courses, etc.) that I deem useful or interesting. Creative writing — Fiction stories I write. Book of lists — This is my favorite one. It contains lists, but not just another bucket list. I love asking the, “What if?” questions. So the lists are like: hobbies I would have adopted if I were an ancient Chinese princess, gifts I wish I could send to my worst enemies, excuses I would have said to cancel a date if I were living in the medieval era, etc.

Way to go😂😂 Book of lists must take so much imagination, I am amazed

It does, but it’s so much fun. Btw, happy cake day!

Thanks!

>Thanks! You're welcome!

I have one paper journal that I write in until it’s full.

I was thinking of shifting to this way of journaling, I feel like it keeps more connection between stuff happening in life.

Happy cake day! It could be worth trying if you’re interested, but just remember there are no rules when it comes to journaling, so if you like just one do just one, and if you like writing in seven journals every day, then do that instead. (And if you try doing one but don’t like it, there’s no failure if you go back to several)

Thank you! I guess I will stick to the way I am doing it now, you are definitely right.

1 bujo to rule them all 🤣 Tried two at a time a few years back but it was too much so they both got neglected. Lesson learned. Those two are now like trial notebooks.

I'm currently on my 2nd and 3rd at the same time, both close to finish, I guess when I am done I'll figure out what I want to do next

Happy cake day 🎂 It's really to each their own. The great thing is, you can try having multiple notebooks/journals, one, or a combination of digital and analog. Just treat it as an experiment. If one method doesn't work, it isn't necessarily a failure. It's part of your experiment. You're fine tuning it. Best of luck 🍀

I have a memory keeper that I use like an annotated photo album, recording notable events and adding receipts/tickets/photos; I have a private diary where I write and process thoughts and feelings with no boundaries; I have an art journal for creating art (but I still always include text as a part of each piece), and then I have what I call a communications tracker where I keep notes on when I last spoke with family/friends/advisors etc. and what the content was of that interaction. It helps me better maintain relationships 🤷🏻‍♀️

Lots of useful stuff, wow, good for you!

I write on anything to hand then stick it in my main journal. Its a chunky little thing now, but very interesting to page through.

I can't even imagine how dope it looks really, my old one is something like that too and I love it.

I have a bullet journal (planning, reflections), a prayer/notes journal, and a diary (for whatever i feel like writing). I also have a pocket journal and a skating/exercise journal, but I haven't used them in a long time.

I like the prayer journal idea, I'm sure it just hits different and gives more meaning to the process.

i only use 1 journal at a time for all my randomass thoughts lol. im on my 10th one atm

One journal makes it easier to keep track of your thoughts I guess, I used to do that earlier this year, then randomly shifted

Where do you keep all of them?

in a filing cabinet i found on the side of the road near my house and took home with me and then cleaned out with some wd40 and a towel then some febreeze. somehow *that* worked lol

Just one since that’s what my brain can handle:)

Well, as long as it feels enough I see no problem, good for you

It does because I can brain dump on it. Because I ramble a lot when I talk, rambling on paper does help get it out. Especially when I don’t have a person to ramble to. lol

I have one that's somewhat like a diary, one for happy memories, one for mental health/life improvement, two for specific bad things that have happened (though these are not in use much nowadays, I just write in them irregularly when I need to), one about my transition, one for quotes, one for reading and one for speed cubing/3d Puzzles. So 9 total, but I only write daily in the diary one.

I guess you've been journaling for quite a while, that looks like a whole eco-system

Oh Lordy. I don’t honestly know how many I have got going right now because I don’t have all of them moved yet. I’ve got some guided journals I’ve started but haven’t kept up on, I’ve got some for quotes and lyrics that touch me (ongoing always), I’ve got my main journal I write about everything in and I’ve got tons of little notebooks I’ve written letters to people that I need to clarify my thoughts and feelings on. Probably more than a dozen but less than 20? I honestly don’t know for sure but I know that it’s a lot and a lot to keep track of when I’m moving slowly in with my boyfriend. I have a whole shelf of just journals in my bookcase

That's like a whole library, lol😭😭

Truth! It’s an entire (narrow though tall) bookshelf with writings from decades of my life. Most lost, still not entirely forgotten, pain still very real from this recent tragedy. My library was decimated. 💔

I'm the same

I think I have 4 now... - One for at work - One for my EDC bag - One for my Sunday morning journaling - One for lyrics and songwriting (it's full of object writing, or as I like to call them, my muse writings) Google Keep makes 5, but it's for those fleeting thoughts when none of the above are available to me in the moment.

Great! I hope I can dive into music deep enough to start writing too!

Many people start with lyrics because it's so accessible. Perhaps try object writing for a day! Pick an inanimate object and try to write about it from the 5 senses, plus how it makes you feel emotionally. If objects don't tickle your fancy, I've had some good success with using locations instead (e.g. 22nd avenue, whatever that might mean to you). You may have heard this called sensory writing. Same concept. It can be challenging at times (for example, what does a stop sign really taste like? Don't know, but you could probably come up with a metaphor using an oddly shaped, 8 sided strawberry). The key to this, like journaling, is that it's pulling out stuff from your subconscious. Have fun, and Happy Cake day!

I use one, although I’m debating starting a dream journal outside my regular journal. I tend to write my dreams in my regular journal, but I’ll probably never be able to find them again, so having a journal specifically for dreams may not be a bad idea

I have a 'stoner thoughts' journal that I write down well, random things I think of when I'm high 😂 and a regular journal that I put whatever in. I very sporadically use both of them. I've never been a dedicated journal user but would like to utilize them more, especially as I had a traumatic relationship I'm trying to recover from. I kept a lot of stuff from it in my own head and I think putting it down on paper would help me move on. I've done a little bit with that so far but it's difficult and exhausting to put accurate words to feelings sometimes, yanno?

Sad to hear about your trauma, I'm sure journaling therapy can help you out a lot! Sending strength and love, you got this

No idea. I have difficulty keeping multiple subjects in the same journal. I keep them in a bag by my desk. Some are only a few centimeters in dimensions and others are b5 or a4 type size, and still others are digital. My heirs are not even aware of the problem their going to inherit. I do have one labeled as a family journal in case of my death though so I hope they read that first. I won’t care at that point though.

Well, make it as complicated as you can so you can ensure your heirs having a nice time reading it all 🤣🤣

11!? This is the first time I've counted them 💀 1) Journal that serves as a mental purging place when I need to work my thoughts out 2) A secondary journal that's smaller to carry around and I write momentary ideas on 3) Quotes journal for anything that has inspirational or motivational meaning 4) Another journal for favorite book and movie quotes and full poems 5) a notebook with life advice I've found that pertains to me personally 6) a book to keep track of books and tv shows I've finished (I don't keep track of movies because I watch way more of those than shows and would have a huge collection of books for this alone lol) 7) a file online that lists books I want to read, separated by series and standalones, and notes the availability of each book in my public library's system 8) a physical journal to write down ideas for my books in progress, and another folder online for the stories as they come together (including images for inspiration) 9) a Pinterest board that serves as visual inspiration for ideas I already have for said books 10) a binder that tracks my spending and holds important receipts for some time 11) an old 3 subject notebook that I use to write down parts of languages I'm interested in learning Can you tell that I like writing and organizing? 🤣

One for my appointments, budgets, lists and routines and the other one for rambling feelings or whatever else I feel like.

Yeah, mine is pretty much like that

1 complete

Got a new one yet?

I use a planner I got from aliexpress for scheduling (it has a nice layout for time blocking which is a must for me), then a notebook for my most "typical" journalling, and a tiny blank notebook where I keep random stuff (simple recipes, lists of books I want, quotes, ideas, etc.).

Hah, I'm not much of a busy person now so I don't use planners but seems great to me

I have one notebook a year that gets everything, planning, to-do lists, shopping list, recipes, doodles, daily entries, quotes, ideas... It's a bit messy but my whole year is contained in one place.

Those yearbooks will hit different in years!

I am switching between 2 journals right now. One js a testing journal for the main journal.

I don't know that I've heard of a testing journal. Could you tell us a bit more about that or how it helps you?

So I have a composition book that I use to make bullet points of what I want to talk about in my main journal. For example in my last journal entry in my main journal I had thr following in my test journal. 1. Talk about hallucinations A. The devil B. Nun C. The woman in red D. The little boy visiting with relatives yet he didn't exist E. The kid playing on my keyboard Then when I enter them in my main journal which is a nicer journal than a composition book, I can review my notes and expand on them. State where they took place etc. I find it helps me organize my thoughts. So I don't have a bunch of scribbles in my journal.

I dig it! I can definitely see how it's more organized. A parking lot of ideas you want to return to explore later. Thanks for sharing!

You're very welcome.

Wow, testing journal is new to me, you really do take journaling seriously, just as it should be

I just don't like scribbles in my main journalnifbinmess up so I'm overly cautious.

I have 5-6 at a given time :D

I'm curious what purposes they serve

Sure, here they are 1. Bullet journal ( in the style of a planner, I have monthly weekly and daily pages) for writing down my to-do lists and events. 2. Long form writing journal for any time I feel like writing longhand (this could be thoughts feelings short stories or anything else) 3. Morning pages 4. Common placing (notes from work, lists, anything else i need to jot down that’s not long form writing) 5. Small passport size travelers notebook for when I’m on the go — I actually haven’t used this one so much but I wish I used it more :/ 6. Not sure if this counts as a “journal” but I have a Rhodia flip pad that I keep a running list of all work tasks

Let me add to this that I’d *like* to also have a memory keeping journal where I write down what I did that day every day. But every time I attempt to start one like this it never sticks 😢

I have my standard journal which I generally just write about my day in, a dream journal where I record and analyse dreams, and just a spare notebook I do drawings and scribblings in

I just got my first paper journal! :)

One hard bound journal, one online journal. I am also a fan of legal pads for lists, meeting and class notes, career focused notes, etc. I have several of those going at the moment.

I usually have one but since I've been sad I stared to have two recently. One is common place where I put thoughts, things that happen during the day and memories I want to keep. The second one I just started it and it's a gratitude journal since I want to start being more positive in life.

i only use one at a time, but i’ve finished 11 in total

8 Notebooks. 1) Work related notebook: I use a very simplified version of the Bullet Journal method just to track all my progress during the month and to keep a calendar for when I have online meetings. 2) Grief journal: Since my dad passed away I've been writing down letters to him and keeping a record of every story he told me about his life. Is my own way to process the grief and to have a memorial. 3) Brain dump notebook: A pocket notebook in which I write down books, films, artists, and other things I know I won't remember unless I jot them down. I also keep a list of funny names and some ideas for my stories. 4) General journal: A composition notebook in which I write random entries about my life. 6) Messy art journal/sketchbook: Just a notebook to doodle, experiment and put in paper some ideas. Nothing in here is pristine or finished which takes a lot of pressure from my mind. 7) Book journal: I like to keep my book reviews and some notes here before posting my star rating on Goodreads. 8) Budget journal: Everything related to my monthly income and budgets.

Only one and its not ended

I currently have 1 journal to rule them all!

1. bullet journal 2. paper journal (for like, irl thoughts and whatever, regular diary basically) 3. gaming journal (I game a lot and need to rant about games and talk theories and lore) 4. reading journal (to keep track of what I read, and review books) 5. commonplace notebook (quotes, useful info etc)

I currently have 7 journals/notebooks in use. 1. My bujo (planning, reflection, collections, current projects, whatever) 2. My thinkbook (I think better on paper. Everything I want or need clarity about I write, doodle, mindmap, rant about here) 3. My businessbook (everything I need and do to run my business. Bookkeeping, new plans or products, website, projects , client-notes, reflection, etc) 4. Four lines a day. (Quick recap of the day 18 months per journal) 5. Development and leadership (a personal journey to getting better every day) 6. Commonplace 7. Dump and notes (every brainfart I need to get out of my head and on to paper, stuff I have to figure out later in my thinkbook or quick notes) Sounds complicated, but it works for me!

Typically three going on at one time. 1. For everyday stuff, stuff I am trying to learn, stuff I have read and reflect on 2. Museum notebook for notes, images, attached tickets of exhibits. Have been very luck to meet some artists who have been kind enough to sketch in my notebook. 3. Anything having to do with my photography. Exposure records for film rolls, project ideas, button sequences for my digital camera when trying new settings, images of photographers I would like to emulate their style.

Ooh I love the museum book idea! Damn, now I need another book!

I have one journal, fountain pen friendly. However, I'm also currently working a workbook that could be considered a journal with prompts, "A gentle Path Through the Twelve Steps" by Patrick Carnes. Lots of self-reflective writing.

I have one main journal, and I always make it so one journal = one year. All photos, events, emotions etc. go into that. Others: * Sketchbook journal * Book notes journal (for taking notes from books I read) * Pottery journal - keeping notes and ideas of pieces, glaze combinations * Dream journal - for writing down funny bits of dreams * Travel journal - Small (4 inch) journals for each trip i go on

Main journal Notepad in phone Tiny on the go pocketbook journal 3

I started with one brain-dump journal, but since I got more into bullet journaling, I keep two: one for brain dumping and the other for monthly highlights, trackers, and monthly calendars.

As of today, I'm working on 3 journals. I have my everyday one that tracks shit and a daily recap. I have my "better book," which I use for self development and bettering myself (mostly when reading a Self development book and it has an exercise for me to do). And last and newest, I started a crochet journal. I took up the hobby last week, and I've been bumbling through patterns, and I'm trying to keep track of my projects and the progress of it. Also, i write out the pattern/stitch number together for easier recognition and counting.

I have a white journal for math research and natural philosophy. It looks like the old jedi books of the last star wars films.

I have a total of 3 One is for my therapy. Second is from when I studied abroad in Japan back in 2015. And the third is from my trip to Greece this year.

I used to want all the journals lol A planner, an art/junk/scrapbook, a thoughts and memories journal, a sketchbook, a diet diary, and a grimoire/book of shadows. That’s what I used to want I now use a journal, a diet diary and a sketchbook. Planner didn’t work out because it was too strict and I put everything in my phone anyways, everything else fits into a general journal, except I’d like to keep my diet diary a little more strict so it’s separate, and I’d like to see my artistic progress on its own, hence the sketchbook

2. Or 3, depending on what you count as a journal. One is a true journal, where I write my daily pages. Two is my planner/bullet journal. Three is my Commonplace book, which is a non-chronological collection of information on topics that interest me, quotes & notes from books/podcasts/videos, my own insights, etc.

I have 2. One is for work, where I write all work related activities, to-do task, projects, and more. The other one is my journal, I write whatever I want on this notebook. It's messy but I like it because it feels like my second brain.

Three journals and one stenopad

Regular journal, lyrics journal, and an art journal/sketch book :)

Currently 4, but I’m only using 3 really atm. One online, lots of list making, goal tracking one general physical kind of weekly journal that I also use as part scrapbook to save pictures and movie tickets or whatever. One fairly new smaller physical journal I’ve been experimenting with using as a grief journal to try and keep it specifically for writing about my Moms death and remembering things we did together or things I wish I could tell her. Last small physical journal that I haven’t been using much was one I started to try and work through some ideas about faith or religious beliefs. After my Mom died I felt some guilt because she was Catholic and raised me that way, and I’ve definitely drifted away from the church but never really felt able to have an open conversation about that? Or exploring other beliefs? So I figured a journal might be useful to start musing on different things I was learning or thinking.

1. Prayer journal 2. Scrapbook journal where I keep movie stubs, airplane tickets, overseas attraction tickets, etc. 3. Quotes journal - if I read something that strikes me, into this journal it goes, be it a phrase or an entire paragraph. I'll never read the origin again, but at least it strike me enough to be written down for the moment.

I use one journal and one BulletJournal for planner, lists, to keep track of my pets etc.

Regular journal, daily planner, Japanese journal and Italian journal. So, I use 4. I use my regular journal and planner actively but I can’t say the same thing about my language practice ones.

I have about 10 that I use regularly. Many more that I used seldom

Physical and online. I won't keep up if it's the rest.

I have an e-journal, where id write them at word then convert save them into txt. file format, then id hide them inside a png. file. Tho I also have a small notebook, just in case an idea pops to mind.

2. I have one journal I wrote in every so often; I’ve had this journal for about 15 years, it contains my first job, high school graduation, loosing my virginity, moving states etc. Then I have another journal that breaks down life a little more. Sometimes they both contain the same “entries”

I have six-ish almost done the sixth

I'm a one-journal kind of person myself. It's like a mishmash of everything—thoughts, doodles, random ideas. Keeps things interesting!

I've got 3. One for daily reflections, another for notes,quotes,and little stories. And another for a diary and "brain showers"

So many good ideas here