What are Morning Pages? And Why you want to try them

Have you heard of Morning pages?

What the heck are mourning pages?

You may have heard about morning pages. In fact, they've been around since the 70s. So they've been around for a while. They were started by Julia Cameron. Here we’re talking about what they are, and how to do them. And three benefits of doing morning pages.

Now you may be thinking, Alisha you're a life coach, why are you talking about creativity? Well, I believe that the meaning of life is to love and the way we show love is through creativity, how we express ourselves in all things. Creativity is a way to ourselves. It's a way to find our core, our heart center. Creativity is a way to express ourselves, it's a way to make visible what's on the inside. So morning pages are something I ask every single one of my clients to at least try. It might not be for everyone. But I found that most people who try morning pages and not only stick with them, they are able to see a pronounced difference in their life before and morning pages and their life after beginning morning pages. These are one of the most powerful tools at your fingertips.

So what the heck are mourning pages, alright., Julia Cameron wrote this book, The Artists Way in the 70s. The Artist’s Way is a 12-week program modeled after the 12 steps that helps you unblock your creativity, creativity in all forms, from how you get dressed, how you do your hair, writing, painting, gardening, cooking creativity in any form, and helps you unblock that it helps you bring out what stuck inside, get it out of you onto the page into the world. One of the tools that Julia Cameron outlines in her book The Artist’s Way is what is called Morning pages.

Julia Cameron, outlines how to do these, and what she says is you write three pages, stream of consciousness longhand, as soon as you get up in the morning. So get up 30 minutes earlier, write your morning pages. And you write until three pages are filled. Now, you write whatever comes up. You write If you can't think of anything to say you write, I can't think of anything to say. But chances are, lots will come out. And by doing them first thing in the morning, you're still almost in that liminal space. You might not be firing on all cylinders, yet. You might have one-foot kind of in that dream world, that ethereal place. So it gives you access to your unconscious, your subconscious, the things that are below the surface in a different kind of way. So she says three pages, long hand stream of consciousness, whatever comes up, you write all of the things you even think you can write.

Here are my tips for doing morning pages

• Try to set your alarm 30 minutes early

• Commit to doing it at least five days a week. It doesn't have to be every day, but at least five days a week.

• Remember that it is progress, not perfection. So if you miss a day, that's fine. Don't beat yourself up. Just go back to it the next day. The beauty of morning pages is they get better and better and better over time.

• Your pages don't need to make sense. You don't ever even need to go back and read your pages. In fact, I've been doing morning pages for over 10 years and I rarely if ever go back and read.

I believe three of the benefits of morning pages are

1st: When you write morning pages, you can think of it like you are taking out the trash in your brain, it's a way to get all of those jumbled thoughts, the lingering things that are taking up space that are keeping you from doing your best thinking out, you've taken them out, and they're gone, you've taken out the trash of your mind, it doesn't need to live up here taking up space anymore.

2nd: They help you work through a problem. Okay, what do I mean by that, you can write on the page, whatever it is that you are going through, you can talk it out, you can think of it from other people's perspectives, you can think about what to do and how that's going to work out if you do it. So it's a really a way of getting it out whatever problem is happening so that you can work through it and in a really thoughtful way. 3rd: They help you think about what you want to have happen in the future. Morning pages are an incredible way to dream, to vision cast, to allow yourself to actually admit to you, admit to the page, what you want. And what I find is that when I allow myself to admit out loud on the page, what it is I want, I ended up building a plan to go after it to actually get it.

That's what morning pages are. I want to encourage you go ahead and start. Get a new journal, get a favorite pen. Create a space in your house where you will be undisturbed. Set your alarm for 30 minutes earlier, and write three pages stream of consciousness every day.

Allow your unconscious to take over as you write on the page. Let it be freeform and just see what happens. Try it for a month, and then comment below. Let me know how it went for you.

Alisha Wielfaert is a life coach and an expert facilitator skilled in the art of gathering women for meaningful connection and deep dives into spirituality and creativity.  She is the founder of Yoke and Abundance, a platform committed to amplifying the emerging voices of women through her wise women podcast, press publishing arm, and individual and group coaching programs.  Her first book, the best-seller, “Little Failures: Learning to Build Resilience Through Everyday Setbacks, Challenges, and Obstacles,” was published in May of 2022.  Alisha is working on her second book, Little Rituals.  In her spare time and stolen moments, Alisha loves watercolor painting.  She is an avid traveler, writer, and speaker who enjoys working with anyone with a propensity to take action toward their dreams.