In her book, The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron introduces the idea of Morning Pages. The Artist’s Way is set up as a 12-Step program towards Creative Recovery. Morning Pages, are 3 hand written pages done every morning for the course of the program. The writing is stream of consciousness. Put pen to page and write the words that are at the top of your head, without stopping, without correcting words or spelling. It is not meant to be brilliant writing, but every now and then nuggets of gold appear on the page. The idea behind the morning pages is write out your thoughts, worries, fears, your loves, your hates, grocery lists, goals, desires. Everything that comes to mind, so that you empty your mind on the page and then get on with real work of your life. Ideally, morning pages are done in the morning, in the first hour of the waking day. The pages are meant to be private. Not read to anyone, nor reviewed yourself – not immediately. Julia suggests not reading what you have written for months.
Morning pages are not only an effective catalyst for personal growth, but they also start up the creative engine.
Morning Pages, combined with Artist Dates, the other practice Julia Cameron refers to in her books, are a recipe to create magical change in your life.
Since Julia Cameron introduced Morning Pages 25 or so years ago, I have seen the practice referred to in other creative programs, with various twists. Some people do it for 10 minutes. Some writing groups do it to prompts. I have tried variations as well. What I can tell you, is that, if you do decide to try the practice yourself, take it on for a period of at least 3 months. The longer you sit to write in the day, the more profound your change will be.
“It is impossible to write morning pages for any extended period of time without coming into contact with an unexpected inner power”
– Julia Cameron
Exploring ideas on creativity through digital art.
