In his acclaimed book The artist’s pathJulia Cameron recommends filling three pages with mindful handwriting each morning as a tool to unleash your innate creativity. You have decided to make writing the morning pages part of your busy life. Good for you! Here are some tips to help you turn your good intentions into consistent practice.
First, choose your writing materials carefully. You can write in a bound notebook or journal, perhaps one you’ve chosen especially for this purpose, or you can choose to write on loose sheets and collect your pages in a binder. You can choose unlined or lined paper. If you opt for striped, you have the option to choose between narrow or wide stripes. Wherever you put your pen each morning, it should welcome you and make you feel at ease. Speaking of your pen, take the time to find one that feels comfortable in your grip and flows across the page. Again, pay attention to your personal preferences in terms of ink color, whether fine or medium tip, and other unique characteristics. When you sit down to write your morning pages, you want to have your chosen materials on hand without having to think about them at the moment.
Where you write is another important consideration. You need to find or create a space in your home where you can spend a period of time writing every morning, without interruption. It should be a place where you feel comfortable and where you can focus, free from distractions. Your thoughts won’t flow freely if you have a cluttered inbox, a pile of dirty laundry, a long to-do list, or the like within your line of sight. Ideally, you can designate a quiet place in your home that you will go to every day to write your morning pages. Make sure it is equipped with a place to sit, a writing surface, good lighting (natural or not), and your chosen writing materials.
Now that you have your tools and a place to use them, it’s time to create a little ritual around your morning writing practice. The idea is to start writing first thing in the morning. If you get up and go straight to the computer to check your email or start doing things around the house, it is very easy to run out of time and never sit through its pages. Prioritize your writing by doing it first. If you do something before you start writing, make sure it’s only what you need to do to address your physical needs or enhance your experience. I tend to wake up hungry and thirsty, so I use the bathroom and then head to the kitchen for a banana and a glass of water before entering my special writing spot. Once these basic needs are met, my mind is free to go where it wants. You can enjoy a cup of tea or coffee while writing your pages. You may need to get the dog out before you can start. Have a routine, whatever that entails. That way, the mornings when you haven’t slept well and have to drag yourself through your routine will be automatic.
You have taken the first step in adopting a new habit by deciding that it is something you want to do. By following the tips above, you can establish a daily practice around your morning pages. I invite you to read more articles from my ezine on how to write morning pages.