Morning pages

In many ways morning pages are the opposite of evening prompts.  Evening prompts are structured, short and (typically) done in the evening ; morning pages are unstructured, long and (typically) done in the morning.

Morning pages were brought to us by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way.  I’m currently working through the book and thus the morning pages.

With morning pages you write whatever comes to mind for three pages and then put it away somewhere and don’t look at it for several weeks.

That’s it.

It’s simple but not simplistic.

You don’t think critically about your writing or judge it in any way.  Your writing may be boring: what you did yesterday, what you need to do today or your grocery list.  Sometimes it will be insightful.  You might come to the page with a lot of frustrations and leave with some feeling of relief, working through tears.  But not always.

You may write nonsense or “I don’t know what to write, I don’t know what to write” for three pages. That’s OK.  The point isn’t to scribble out a masterpiece.  The point is to get in the habit of creating,not listening to your inner critic.

Your inner critic is the voice who tells you what you are doing is stupid, foolish, childish or in any way not good enough.  Through morning pages we practice silencing our inner critic.  When you pause to think about how to say something instead of just writing it down.  That is your inner critic grabbing your ear. 

What you say might surprise you or won’t feel fully true.  Again, that is OK.  You can’t do morning pages wrong.  You just do them.

The main point of morning pages is to help with creative blockages. But, after weeks doing morning pages, I noticed the biggest benefit for me is with emotional processing.  

I’ve found space for joy, sadness, praise and all sorts of other feelings.  However, let me focus on anger..  

I’ve realized I have to do something with anger.  If not, it festers and turns to rot.  Sometimes my words are incoherent scribbles.  I am letting those angry thoughts have space and come out with the full force they are felt with.  It’s similar to going on a hard run (but you don’t need to add extra recovery to your protocol afterward.

Morning pages give me the space I need to work out anger.  I can let it have its place. Express it.  Examine it later, if I choose.  Anger comes onto the page in a generative creative, not destructive, wave.

For fathers: This might all sound a little woo woo. But here’s why I think you should take the time to try morning pages. Your kids need examples of healthy emotional regulation and expression.

Too many men either bury their emotions, choosing to show an emotionless front to the world. Still others only know how to express the emotion they feel is masculine, anger.

As a father having tools to be in touch with your own internal world will allow you to pass on those tools to your children. Journalling is just one of those tools, but one that requires some modeling.

If you feel yourself getting in your own way to express yourself, creatively or emotionally, grab a notebook and pen, and start doing morning pages.

P.S. There is a lot more to The Artist’s Way and the articles and other exercises found within are well worth picking up a copy and working through it.