Morning Pages
An encounter with self first thing in the morning.
Julia Cameron wrote a book called the Artist’s Way, a spiritual journey to recover and discover your creative self.
She suggests you write something called Morning Pages which are to be done first thing in the morning on waking, before ANYTHING else, and she is quite emphatic about it.
In one of her workshops I attended there was a huge amount of discussion about this and many questions asked, all trying to find a reason not to do them, to postpone them, shorten them, basically to change them to something different from what they are.
They are an encounter with self. The theory is that our conscious mind is not up and fully functioning for about 40 mins after we wake so that is the time to write to allow ourselves to pour out onto the page. We don’t censor in anyway we just keep writing. These are not words for others, it is not a diary or reflection, nor prose or poetry.
It doesn’t matter what we day or how we say it, no grammar is required, no sentences or paragraphs if that is how it happens, you just need to write and not to stop.
When I facilitate The Artist’s Way course I always encounter resistance to this idea. There is every reason under the sun why people cannot do it. We resist because we are going on a journey to meet ourselves. Much of what we will encounter is moaning, negative, whinging about our daily lives, work, friends and family, the world at large, but we will also find other parts, deeper more hidden aspects of ourselves, we uncover long buried dreams and desires, we awaken.
Yes it can be tedious, boring, hard and it can be wonderful, enlightening, releasing.
I found it was a great way to begin my day, in particular to surrender to paper all my fears, anxieties, worries, anger and distress. I felt unburdened and began my day more free, lighter and less bogged down by the day ahead.
It was also delightful to flow with ideas, dreams, inspiration and creativity; to feel more alive and connected to myself.
During the course we write these pages as faithfully as we can and later we begin to read back. In this process we get to see ourselves, hear ourselves. of course it’s not always pleasant but it is helpful to be made aware for awareness is the first step towards change.
For what seemed like years I began each morning with “ I am so tired”. Eventually i was sick writing, tired of seeing it, tired of hearing it and i started to do something about it. This is one of the gifts we are given the opportunity for change.
So I would say give them a go, persevere, write how you find them frustrating, difficult, nonsense, write it all and just keep on writing, you may be amazed!
4 Responses to “Morning Pages”
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- Courage | Mairi Stones - [...] have committed to my Morning Pages. I have been writing these for 10 years now and they take precedence ...
MairiStones
Mairi, how fascinating! I’ve been keeping a dream diary for years and years, about a dozen books so far, recording whatever I remember of a dream without censoring myself in any way.
And my creative writing mentor, Roselle Angwin, also influenced by The Artist’s Way, has been encouraging us to do the same. I’m still finding it hard to do every day but will go back to it as of tomorrow morning.
Thank you for your words of encouragement. Keep writing!
Wow, Margaret, that’s fantastic. Although I’m having a wee break at the moment, see Courage blog post, I think it’s good to write, it takes things out of the mind and transforms them.
That’s really interesting Mairi. I also keep a dream diary and try to transform them into images and sketches sometimes. I have also tried keeping a visual diary on a daily basis too. These are personal journeys not to be shared, and methods of self-help through the subconcious mind.
How-ever, I am not as organised as I would like and find keeping too strictly to a daily anything is difficult for me, but I am getting better at it as I get older? I will keep trying to work on bettering myself which is the whole point I think. It’s not so much the ‘getting there’ as the ‘journey’.
Have an interesting journey….
Thanks for your comments Irene. I too find sticking to a daily routine a challenge, but have found the Pages really helped. I suppose because I just did them very first thing so no time to get distracted by other things. I agree to continue the road bettering ourselves is the one to follow, though rather challenging at times I find. Still struggle with focusing on the joureny and get caught up in wondering about the destination, silly I know. All the best. X