Morning Pages are one of two basic tools in Julia Cameron’s best selling book, The Artist’s Way. They are called morning pages because they are written in the morning, not in the afternoon, not in the evening. Why in the morning? Morning pages are written in the morning because our minds are like a clean slate, a fresh canvas, a blank sheet of paper in the morning. The chatter, to do lists, plans, obligations, duties of the day have yet to claim our attention when we first awaken. Why do we write Morning pages? Cameron says “To get to the other side. Morning pages do get us to the other side: the other side of our fear, of our constant negativity, of our moods. Above all, they get us beyond our Censor.”
Who will benefit from writing morning pages? Anyone who wants to reconnect with their creativity. There is no wrong way to do morning pages. They are three pages of stream of consciousness, free-flowing, longhand writing. Nothing is too small, too foolish, too odd, too insignificant, or too crazy to include in morning pages. Morning pages are private, they are not meant to be shared. They are a place to dream, celebrate, vent, dump, complain and just show up. How long do they take? On average, 20-45 minutes when first starting out. I typically spend between 15-20 minutes each morning and I’ve been writing morning pages for fifteen years.
What are the benefits of morning pages? Self knowledge, motivation, clarity, insight, direction, clutter clearing, meditation, balance, prioritizing and so much more. Morning pages provide solutions and action steps. They connect us with our inner wisdom. Morning pages may not be for everyone, but for those of us who do them, they are a powerful tool and resource.
I invite you to join me for the 12 week Artist’s Way Class starting in January! Learn how to reconnect to your creativity and break through creative blocks that keep you stuck. Details on my website.
http://nancyjambor.com/classes
I wrote morning pages for years, but I never found them fully satisfying. My practice now is to write for an hour in the dark of the morning — freehand, freemind, like morning pages but with no limit of three pages. A dear friend and I are sharing this practice, and I am so, so grateful.
Like Linda said above — a way to break through to God. And that deserves an hallelujah.
Truthfully I’ve had an on-again-off-again dance with morning pages for years. When I first began doing them I found the process so helpful, and then not so much, and other things stepped in to fill their place. I’ve returned to that cycle several times.
It IS fun doing the Artist’s Way in group and I bet your class will be fabulous. And what a great way to start the new year.
Morning pages are a godsend. Literally, I think, a God Send. A way for me to break through, yes, all of that stuff Julia Cameron mentions, but mostly, to break through each morning to God. Pure and simple
Well said Linda! I totally agree:) Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your comments Elda. I am so glad you decided to jump back into Morning Pages! They are a powerful tool and have been so helpful to me in so many ways. They do take time and they also make time:)
Thanks for your comments Kama. Morning Pages are a great tool for writers block and so much more:)
I did this a couple of years ago and it was great for writers block. I might have to try it again. Thank you for the reminder 🙂
Thank you for your comment Michele and thanks for posting the question to the group.
Thank you so much for sharing this again. It’s perfect!
Thank you for bringing this to the limelight. Because of your mention of it, I decided to start this up again. This morning when I woke up, the VERY FIRST thing I did was grab my spiral notebook and start writing. It felt really good. THANK YOU!!!