MORNING PAGES: HOW 3 PAGES OF WRITING CAN IMPROVE YOUR LIFE
Ever get those days where you have a hard time focusing on doing your tasks; whether you’re writing, taking calls, or just generally working on something? Have you tried writing morning pages? Do you recognize that feeling of having so many thoughts going on in your head that it hinders your productivity?
Writing Morning Pages is one of the effective ways to clear your mind to which I really recommend. They also help reduce anxiety and enhance your productivity throughout the day. You might be thinking, does it really work? Do I have to do morning pages in the morning? Let me answer those for you.
What Are Morning Pages?
Morning Pages originated from Julia Cameron’s 1992 book, The Artist’s Way. In the book, she explained that morning pages are:
- Writing 3 full pages with a pen and paper
- Done in the morning
- Written in a stream of consciousness
- Write anything that crosses your mind
Your Morning Pages is where you dump all the stuff that is going through your head. It’s like deleting files to free up space, so there’s more room for files or thoughts that will are helpful and will contribute to your productivity. Similar to Morning Pages, writing down any thoughts in your head to the pages will allow creativity to pop up, improve your focus, and relationships throughout your day.
How to Write Morning Pages?
It’s very simple. When you get up in the morning, instead of checking your phone and scrolling through social media, stretch a little, make your morning coffee or tea, take your pen and notebook, and start writing. The idea of Morning Pages is to clear out lingering thoughts to help address any concerns or conflicts you’re having.
One of the things you should know that these pages don’t need to be perfect! It’s completely fine to make mistakes and be honest with the pages. Don’t censor yourself as you write and don’t let anyone read your Morning Pages, not even yourself! Once you let people read your pages or even you, you could get conscious which can result to not being honest while writing.
Ideally, Morning Pages is the first thing you need to do in the morning. Don’t check your phone and proceed to write your pages. Avoid distractions. If you’re living with your family, a significant other, or with kids, talk to the people that you’re with and tell them that you will be needing time for yourself. Getting up early before them can be helpful too as writing these pages can take up to 30-45 minutes.
Another tip is using your favorite pen (this is mine!). Let your thoughts flow through the ink, to the pages. Writing on your pages will be SO much better when you’re using a pen you really like. Your handwriting shouldn’t be an issue too!
Can I Do Morning Pages at Night?
For some, it does take time to build a new habit. Morning Pages is just the name of the activity but you can do it any time of the day. If you’re not able to do it in the morning, writing your pages before bed is fine. Although that could be an option, I highly recommend that you write your Morning Pages in the morning, incorporate it to your morning routine, for it’ll allow you to plan and adjust with whatever can happen in your day.
Establishing a new routine may be difficult for many, but being able to practice decluttering the thoughts in your head through pen and paper in the morning will be a game-changer.