four reasons to write morning pages
If you follow us on Instagram, you’ll have noticed that we mentioned morning pages a couple of times. Morning pages are a simple way to ease into the routine of writing daily.
Author Julia Cameron first introduced the idea of morning pages in her book The Artist’s Way. In short, morning pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing. Cameron states that there is no wrong way to do morning pages; they’re simply whatever you want to write about at that moment. Below, watch a video of Cameron explaining more about morning pages.
While Cameron suggests using morning pages as a way to be more creative, there are also multiple other reasons to write them. We’ve listed 4 of our favorite reasons for you to think about!
- Clarity
Morning pages are basically a dumping ground for your brain. Sitting down first thing in the morning and getting any and all of your thoughts out on a page really helps you clear your mind of worry and anxiety. At the end of your pages, you’ll feel lighter, refreshed, and ready to start your day.
- Comfort
Our slogan here at FPJ is “Go ahead, talk to yourself,” and morning pages are the perfect example of doing so. So many of the other journals that we talk about are a way to keep track of our nutrition, or our daily events, or something that we’re grieving over, and while all of these are ways to gain more insight about ourselves, morning pages are the most basic way to figure out what’s happening in your head, and that is incredibly comforting. The more you know about yourself, the more comfortable you will be with yourself. And that is a great thing.
- Freedom
You’re not supposed to go back and read the pages, and this gives you a major sense of freedom. By having this freedom to say whatever you want, you have the ability to be your truest self. You can be grumpy and negative if you wake up feeling that way, and it’s okay. These pages are for you and the only goal you have with them are to get everything out. Use your pages to vent, rage, brag, list, whatever you want, and then close your journal and start your day. You’ll feel and be better for it.
- Practice
Morning pages are a great way to get into the swing of writing and getting comfortable with talking to yourself. All of the reasons we listed above can work with any type of journaling, but they’re amplified with morning pages. After doing morning pages for a few weeks, you’ll find it easier to sit down and write in any situation.
While we stress flexibility in journaling, there is a rule with morning pages. Always write them with a pen and paper. It’s harder to second guess yourself when writing longhand rather than on a computer, because it’s more difficult to go back and edit.
Cameron also suggests always writing three pages and always writing in the morning. However, sometimes, we don’t give ourselves enough time in the morning, or run out of time entirely. If you find that you only have time to write one or two pages, that’s okay by us. Also, if you find yourself writing at night rather than the morning, that’s okay too. It’s still beneficial to clear your mind before bed. However, the goal is to write three, longhand pages first thing in the morning. We suggest keeping a journal and pen right by your bed and rather than reaching for your phone when you wake up, reach for your journal!
If you start doing morning pages, we hope that you find them beneficial and fun!
Have you written morning pages before? How did they make you feel? Let us know in the comments!
