Hello and welcome.
Today we are talking about morning pages.
This is maybe something you've heard about and wanted to know how to do it,
And I'm going to break it all down for you today.
Some warning pages come from The Artist's Way,
Which is a book by Julia Cameron.
It is a wonderful book.
And I highly recommend it,
But it's not what we're here talking about today.
I think even apart from everything else that's great in this book,
If you just learn about morning pages and add them to your daily routine,
I think you'll notice a very powerful change.
So morning pages are three pages of handwritten,
Long-form stream-of-consciousness writing done first thing in the morning.
And if you think it gets more complicated or there's more of a technique to it than that,
There really isn't.
Anything can go on the page here.
It can be a great place to share your complaints and your worries and your that are on your mind today,
Maybe an idea you want to remember for later,
Something you need to get at the grocery store,
Truly everything is welcome on the page.
It isn't a diary.
It isn't a creative writing practice.
It isn't really journaling.
You know,
The point of this isn't to have something to reflect back on.
The point of it is simply a brain dump draining all the ideas that are out of your head that might be kind of weighing you down and just putting them on the page.
They are not something that is meant to be good.
There's no performing of morning pages.
They're not something that you even need to reread.
You certainly shouldn't share them with anyone else because this is the place for you to be.
Frankly,
Your whiniest,
Your most complaining version of yourself,
If that's what needs to come out.
It's not a place to think that you're going to construct your most profound sentences.
Often when you're doing this,
And you're trying to do it as fast as you can just to get all the junk out,
I'm writing things like,
What else?
I don't know what to say anyway.
Far from profound,
But it keeps the pen moving and it gets me to the next thing that needs to be pulled out of my head.
They aren't really even intended as a productivity tool.
They're simply,
As I said,
A way to take the thoughts out of your head.
And with time and repeated practice,
You might start to notice that they are benefiting you,
That they are bringing up patterns that you weren't aware of,
Or that you are even feeling lighter on a day-to-day basis simply because you're making a practice of first thing in the morning,
Taking all of these thoughts out of your head.
So the reasons why they're so effective,
It's really helpful to get that noise out of your head before it starts running your day.
And the way I like to think of it is that when I take the thoughts that are bothering me out of my head and I put them on the page,
Then they are in a tangible place.
Where I can set them someplace else and go on with the rest of my day.
I don't have to take them with me.
They live now in my notebook and my notebook lives in its home,
Its spot on the table,
And I can walk away from it and I can go on and think different thoughts and do different things with the rest of my day.
They're also a great way to practice the consistency,
To practice showing up for yourself in a consistent way and seeing how much it benefits you to take this little bit of time for yourself before you're giving time to other people.
And in my experience,
To only take one.
Maybe 20 minutes,
Depending on the size of your notebook and depending on how quickly your hand moves across the page and how much you care about the neatness of your handwriting,
I will say there is no place that my handwriting is as messy as it is in my morning pages.
And often,
If I do ever peek back at them,
If I think,
Oh,
I put something down that I want to remember,
When I go back and try and find it,
I practically need an interpreter to tell me what that writing says.
So like I said,
If you continue to do this practice regularly,
They can help you notice patterns,
Notice things that might be deeper underlying concerns underneath the sort of surface level things that come out on a day-to-day basis.
And it might also help you notice things,
Positive patterns,
You know,
Something that you might actually want,
A direction you might want your life to take that you hadn't realized until you started spending this time with yourself and with the thoughts that are in your head first thing in the morning.
So my encouragement to you,
If you're watching this and you would like to start doing this,
Is to simply do it.
You've watched this video and that's more than enough.
Now,
Let's say tomorrow,
Because it's probably too late today.
But if you're watching this in the morning,
You can certainly do it right now.
All you need is something to write with and something to write on and some undisturbed time to fill those three pages.
So make a plan to do it either right now as you finish watching this or first thing tomorrow morning.
Set yourself up for success by,
You know,
Leaving a notebook and a pen right by your bed,
Making sure your phone is far enough away that you won't be tempted to reach for it first.
And then just get started.
Truly,
There is no wrong way to show up for the page.
