I’ve been writing morning pages for the last 4 months and the benefits have been both surprising and astounding. It has not only improved my mental health but also nurtured my creativity and aided me on my journey toward self-discovery. This simple, but powerful practice can be beneficial in any person’s life and I urge you to try it.
Morning pages refer to the daily practice of ‘stream-of-consciousness’ writing done first thing in the morning. Julia Cameron recommends writing these by hand on three A4 pages, in her seminal book, The Artist’s Way. It is a tool for creative recovery, self-nurturing, and self-discovery.
The great thing is it does a lot more than that, as I found out after completing the three-month course, The Artist’s Way – A Course In Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self.
What are Morning pages?
‘In order to retrieve your creativity, you need to find it. I ask you to do this by an apparently pointless process I call the morning pages
Morning pages are one of two creative recovery tools prescribed in the 12-week course, The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron. There are a few important things to know.
- Write your pages with a pen on paper – no typing. You are less connected to what you are writing when you are typing and writing longhand gives you a chance to feel what you are feeling and connect to what you are writing.
- Aim to write 3 pages of A4 notebook-sized pages. If the page is too small, it will cramp your ideas. If you are writing more than 3 pages, your writing might become too involved.
- You are encouraged to write these three pages first thing in the morning or as soon as is humanly possible for you. Your critical voice is not yet ‘awake’ so there is less interference and judgment. By getting all the petty nonsense out of your system, you are free to be more creative and productive during the rest of your day.
- Think of these pages as a brain dump. There is nothing too petty, silly, or boring to write.
- This writing is not supposed to be good writing. You should not edit yourself at all – don’t even correct your spelling. Something smart might emerge but most often it won’t.
- Don’t read what you have written until a few weeks or months in. No one else should read your pages either – they are for your eyes only.
- You do not have to do The Artist’s Way course in order to do Morning pages but keep in mind that it is only one of two crucial practices in the creative recovery journey. It is only one part of the puzzle, so to speak.
- There is no wrong way to do Morning pages.
- Morning pages are not reserved for writers or artists only. They are for everyone because we are all creators in our own right.
- They are non-negotiable. When you don’t feel like writing them – you probably need to write them even more.
How to start your Morning Pages Practice?
The most important thing is just to start. You don’t have to know anything or do anything in order to start and reap benefits. All you need is a pen and an A4 Notebook to write in. Start by writing down anything that comes to mind. Things you have to do, something someone said that annoyed you, feelings that crop up.
It will feel strange at the beginning and you will constantly feel like you are wasting your time but this is all part of the process. Once you’re a couple of days in, you will get better at starting and gaining some momentum.
Some days you might enjoy writing and other days you might feel frustrated. Some days you might easily reach your three-page quota and on others, you might struggle to write two sentences. Regardless of these ups and downs, you should focus on doing it consistently.
I started writing my morning pages a month before I started the 12-week course and I still felt like I benefited from the practice before I knew why I was doing it.
What are the purpose and benefits of writing Morning Pages?
‘There are two pivotal tools in creative recovery: The morning pages and the artist date. A lasting creative awakening requires the consistent use of both.’
– Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
Disarming the critic
Part of the reason we become blocked (creatively) in the first place is because of criticism – internal and external. The first thing you are told to look out for in your thoughts, and record in your writing, is that little voice that says: ‘Who do you think you are? This is a waste of your time.” This voice is referred to as ‘The Censor’. Julia Cameron even asks you to name it or draw a picture of it in your Morning Pages journal.
Every time this critical voice pipes up, you will learn to recognize it and become less affected by it. Thus disarming it in a way and freeing yourself. Seeing it for what it really is, fear. Your critic is an amalgamation of all the criticism you’ve received over the years as well as limiting beliefs you have formed.
Once you have identified your critic and what it has to say, you can start working on reframing those negative thoughts into positive and re-affirming affirmations.
‘Make this a rule: always remember that your Censor’s negative opinions are not the truth. This takes practice. By spilling out of bed and straight onto the page every morning, you learn to evade the Censor. Because there is no wrong way to write the morning pages, the Censor’s opinion doesn’t count. Let your Censor rattle on. (And it will.) ‘
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
The point is that this critic’s voice will never be silenced, but by disarming it, you can take away its power to affect your confidence. With it out of the way, you will feel free to take risks which is what you need to do to create.
(Re)Discover your identity
“the (Morning) pages are a pathway to a strong and clear sense of self. They are a trail that we follow into our own interior, where we meet both our own creativity and our creator.”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
Part of a creative recovery is finding yourself again. The parts that you have lost, forgotten, or never paid attention to. Through writing about your hopes and dreams, you will surprise yourself with what you discover about yourself. You are in essence excavating your dreams and your secret desires by writing about them. Your subconscious is a treasure trove of insights and a brilliant way of accessing that information is through journaling.
The way Morning pages help you do this, is that you feel free to write whatever comes up without judgment or overthinking anything. You are almost giving yourself a license to express those hidden desires and the time to explore certain topics that have piqued your interest.
They help us get into a better frame of mind
“When people ask, “Why do we write morning pages?” I joke, “To get to the other side.” They think I am kidding, but I’m not. Morning pages do get us to the other side: the other side of our fear, of our negativity, of our moods. Above all, they get us beyond our Censor. Beyond the reach of the Censor’s babble, we find our own quiet center, the place where we hear the still, small voice that is at once our creator’s and our own.”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
You need to be in a certain frame of mind to be able to notice the gentle intuition you will start receiving as you write your pages. The benefit lasts long after you’ve finished your three pages. The calmness follows you for the rest of your day.
Experience your own power
“Yes, we will alter our brain hemisphere, lower our stress, discover inner contact with a creative source, and have many creative insights. Yes, for any one of these reasons, the pursuit is a worthy one. Even taken in combination, however, they are still intellectual constructs for what is primarily an experience of wholeness, rightness, and power.”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
You become your own guide
“Anyone who faithfully writes morning pages will be led to a connection with a source of wisdom within. When I am stuck with a painful situation or problem that I don’t think I know how to handle, I will go to the pages and ask for guidance.”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
Gets you to move from Logic brain to Artist’s brain
“Why all this logic-brain/artist-brain talk? Because the morning pages teach the logic brain to stand aside and let artist brain play.”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
None of us need help using our Logic brain more. This is what we use all day long. We need a tool to help us shift gears into Artist’s brain where we can dream and play and where creation happens without effort.
Help you understand how creativity is not mood dependent
‘We have this idea that we need to be in the mood to write. We don’t. Morning pages will teach you that your mood doesn’t really matter. Some of the best creative work gets done on the days when you feel that everything you’re doing is just plain junk. The morning pages will teach you to stop judging and just let yourself write. So what if you’re tired, crabby, distracted, or stressed? Your artist is a child and it needs to be fed. Morning pages feed your artist child. So write your morning pages.”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
This is even more perfect for procrastinators (like me) because you just don’t have an excuse anymore. You don’t have to wait until you feel inspired. You do the work- then you get inspired!
The Morning Pages are meditation
“The pages may not seem spiritual or even meditative more like negative and materialistic, actually but they are a valid form of meditation that gives us insight and helps us effect change in our lives.”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
If you’ve ever read anything about the benefits of meditation you will know that they are endless, and they all apply to the morning pages! They might even be a great alternative for you if you struggle with traditional meditation. Most journaling has health benefits and to me, morning pages are a sort of unstructured journaling
“We meditate to discover our own identity, our right place in the scheme of the universe. Through meditation, we acquire and eventually acknowledge our connection to an inner power source that has the ability to transform our outer world. In other words, meditation gives us not only the light of insight but also the power for expansive change.
Insight in and of itself is an intellectual comfort. Power in and of itself is a blind force that can destroy as easily as build. It is only when we consciously learn to link power and light that we begin to feel our rightful identities as creative beings. The morning pages allow us to forge this link. They provide us with a spiritual ham-radio set to contact the Creator Within.
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
For this reason, the morning pages are a spiritual practice.
It is impossible to write morning pages for any extended period of time without coming into contact with an unexpected inner power”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
Establish a spiritual connection
“The pages may not seem spiritual or even meditative more like negative and materialistic, actually but they are a valid form of meditation that gives us insight and helps us effect change in our lives.”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
Effect change in your life
“It is very difficult to complain about a situation morning after morning, month after month, with there is out being moved to constructive action. The pages lead us out of despair and into undreamed-of solutions.”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
Tips for getting the most out of Morning Pages
After nearly 5 months of writing my morning pages almost every morning, I have learned a couple of tips and ideas that might help you on your journey.
Don’t buy expensive notebooks.
You are going to go through them faster than you can imagine and if you continue this practice for the rest of your life (like I plan to do), you might as well start with something plain and cheap that you can buy multiple of to keep it cohesive. I use the classic Croxley Counter book (A4 lined – 192 pages). This will last you two months.
Keep two colors of highlighters with your journal.
If you are planning on completing the 12-week Artist’s Way course, you will be asked to go back and read your morning pages when you are about 8 weeks in. While you read, you highlight actions you want to take in one color and insights in another. I do this now while I write my pages because it takes so long to read your pages!
Add your insights to your note-taking app
When you start reading all the gems that are sprouting from your own mind, you will want to capture these insights in an easy-to-access future note-taking app. This should be something where you can add tags like Evernote. I simply use Google Keep at this point by taking a picture of my handwriting with Google Lens and then copying the text to Google Keep. I then assign a tag (#morningpages & #insights or #actions). This helps me both access it and more importantly put it to good use.
Try doing it by candlelight
I was forced to write mine by candlelight one morning when we experienced power cuts. It was so relaxing that it made me question why I didn’t do it more often. It turned the early morning grogginess into a romantic affair (one that I spent happily with a 3-year-old who was enamored by the candle).
Choose an inexpensive gel pen
I say inexpensive because mine lasts me less than a week and I recommend gel because it takes the effort out of writing. When you find a pen you enjoy writing with it will add to the joy of the experience. I like the Uniball gel pens I am yet to find the holy grail. I have heard rave reviews for the Pentel Energel and the Sakura Gelly Roll pens.
Do The Artist’s Way 12-week program (and get the companion workbook I created)!
If you are interested in doing the Artist’s Way course (which I highly recommend), you might want to get the Companion Workbook I created to use alongside the book. Check it out on Etsy!
