Morning Pages

I do it nearly everyday.

After getting out of bed, and preparing a hot cup of plain coffee, I grab my pen and notebook, find a spot where I can be alone, then write my morning pages.

What are Morning Pages?

In her book, The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron wrote:

“Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. *There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages*– they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page…and then do three more pages tomorrow.”

I've read about morning pages last year from a blog post by Tim Ferriss. And I'm glad I did.

From Tim:

“Morning pages don’t need to solve your problems. You simply need to get them out of your head, where they’ll otherwise bounce around all day like a bullet ricocheting inside your skull.”

When I've learned that this simple practice can help me clear my head of worries and negative thoughts, I immediately tried it. I wrote my first entry on March 30 last year, and today, 16 months later I'm still doing it.

Writing morning pages helps me confront my worries, and clear my head of confusing thoughts. And as I trap my worries and fears onto the page, I feel like I'm also releasing strong emotions attached to them.

How I do it

I start by greeting myself "good morning," then followed by writing any thought that comes to mind. Then I ask myself, "what worries me?" To capture my answers, I just keep my hands writing and moving until I fill a page, or two.

Sometimes, I dig deeper by asking, "what's the worst thing that could happen?" I do this rarely though, as sometimes I'm too lazy and scared to go deep. But when I do, I realize that the worst things are not as scary as I thought they would be.

Also, when I'm writing my morning pages, I try to be as "present" as I could by recording what I see, hear, smell, or feel at the moment. Then I end my morning pages session by listing at least three things I'm thankful for.

Start Writing Your Morning Pages

If you also want to reduce your stress, and improve the quality of your day, you may also start your own morning pages practice. It works for me, so It may work for you too.

You only need two things - a pen and any kind of paper. Don't wait until you have the fancy journaling notebook, or an expensive pen to get started. I started with used notebooks and cheap pens, then later upgraded to newsprints, then bigger notebooks, then big blue record books.

Just start. And write bad, as there's no wrong way to write morning pages.

The best way is your way.