An Ode to Morning Pages
Is it just me or does everyone remember the creative invigoration they received after their first read-through of The Artist’s Way? (And if you haven’t read it, can I recommend it as the next book you read?)
I was in college. In my senior year. Completely over school. I had to take a seminar course. I opted to take the course for English majors, despite being a Communications Major.
The course was on creativity. And, as a creative person, the course description intrigued me.
I cried after the first class because the professor warned us that the class would be hard. It would push us. She would expect a lot. Up to that point, I had always believed I was not equipped to do hard academic things and I’d really tried to take the easy route through college… which made her warning seem terrifying.
But it wasn’t. It was one of the best few months of my life. I finally felt like academics was made for me.
My creativity was celebrated. I was given an opportunity to study creativity and consider how it manifests in my life. I was challenged to be creative every week. It was a breath of fresh air.
That class gave me the gift that is The Artist’s Way.
If you’ve been a creative for some small part of your life, you’ve probably had Julia Cameron’s The Artists Way recommended to you. I certainly didn’t consider myself an artist back then (OHHHH, BUT I DO NOW), but her book challenged me to open up myself to creativity. A creativity that I felt hadn’t been prized or rewarded in school.
One of the best concepts I took from the exercises in her book, is The Morning Pages. The exercise of writing every morning. While I don’t practice The Morning Pages in the same ways Julia does, I have found it to be incredibly helpful to pour my thoughts onto a page most mornings.
For me, morning pages are Unfiltered. No prompt unless I’m wanting a prompt. Morning pages allows me to write lists of what I need to do. It allows me to process through the argument I had with my husband the night before. It allows me to explore ideas or thoughts sitting on the edges of my mind. It allows me to get more in touch with my feelings instead of avoiding them. Morning pages are not about perfection and for a recovering perfectionist, that’s so so refreshing. It allows me to connect my thoughts to my creativity to my relational life to my spiritual life. It’s a big dump of thoughts before I begin my workday. And I love what it does for me and for my own sanity and clarity.
And on a more personal note, it’s been surreal to live on New York’s Upper West Side, a place so sacred and special to Julia Cameron herself. I can’t believe I’m living here, creating here, and writing here too.
Have you ever considered writing in the mornings?
I double dog dare you to buy yourself a copy of The Artist’s Way and skip over to the morning pages chapter and try it out. It’s not for everyone, but maybe, it can be for you.
