Even as a young child, something about writing my thoughts compelled me to keep a diary. I stopped when I was shamed by someone who read it. In my teens, when I first converted, I wrote letters to Jesus. It made my interaction with Him more concrete. I still have all those journals. In about 2003, I forced myself to read them as a first step to writing my faith journey, something I've still not done.

I have several notebooks that I write in, based on topic or purpose. Digital journaling never appealed to me; it has to be with pen and paper. That's because I'm "old" ;) now in my 60s. I write down everything because, as someone said: "Our minds are for thinking, not for storage".

I like the idea of free-writing, but I find Julia Cameron's approach too dogmatic. I sometime start my free-writes with a quote. My brain dumps are mostly like task lists, but that is starting to change. At my stage of life, very little is time-sensitve, but there is so much I want to do. I have more interests/passions than I have time or energy to pursue. .