Morning Pages

Several years ago I started reading The Artist Way, I got about 1/3 of the way through it and got distracted and did not finish it.

A few weeks ago, I was rearranging my workshop and moved a bookshelf, and this book, and only this book, fell off the shelf. I have learned to embrace occurrences like this, so I picked it up and started reading. I was reintroduced to the core tenet of the course, Morning Pages.

Julia Cameron, the author, describes morning pages best, “Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning.”

This is a similar concept to #ship30for30. You wake up and the first thing you do is write 3 pages with a pen and paper and just go. You do not think about what you are writing and just let what comes flow from you through the pen. I started this practice a day before I started #ship30for30. About 2 weeks in my morning pages have turned from a rambling mess into dream logs, planning sessions, intention setting, creative stories, and self-reflection. My morning pages have turned into the most useful tool I have in my productivity, mental health, and creativity toolboxes.

For example this morning my first page was a recap of my dreams last night, (there is a lot of power in recording your dreams), the second page was a plan for additional content to produce and I ended my last page by setting intentional goals for the day that hyped me up and had meready to hit the ground running.

Morning pages have been a great supplement to my #ship30for30 journey and I wanted to share the concept and The Artists Way with my fellow shippers.