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In this lesson, I discuss the technique of “morning pages,” which I’ve stolen from Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way.
The book is very useful for any kind of creator, but one of her most useful ideas is called “morning pages.”
Morning pages are:
- Three handwritten pages you write in the morning
- Written in longhand
- First thing in the morning
- Whatever comes to mind, let things flow, let things come out
- Every morning
It’s not writing, it’s not art, it’s just getting stuff out of your head. You might even see it as therapy.
Benefits of morning pages:
- You’re clearing your mind, getting it out of your head and onto paper
- You’re becoming more conscious of what’s going through your mind
- See thoughts as clouds floating by — it’s a form of meditation
- Ideas often come out of this process.
Cameron highly recommends writing longhand, which slows you down but in this case, speed is not your friend. It’s like walking down a path rather than riding a motorcycle. If you’re speeding by, you can’t see things very well, you might not even notice them. Getting to the end is not the point of this, the point is to let things flow out. If you have the urge to skip longhand, I encourage you to try it. Give it a shot!
You don’t have to share it with anyone, it’s not supposed to be public or put into any work. It’s a way of clearing your mind, putting you into a better frame of mind for the rest of the day. It helps you to focus completely after you clear your head.
I highly encourage you to try it for a week, see if you find it useful. It’s one of my favorite tools.
Check out Julia’s video on Morning Pages, along with a video on the artist’s date that I find useful.
Exercise
Try morning pages tomorrow morning! And every day for the next week or so, just to give it a chance.
Discuss this idea here in Slack.