Sacred Rituals: Morning Pages

A continuation of my series about rituals that help me create a meaningful lifestyle.

In my search for ways I could create a more meaningful, healthy lifestyle, I stumbled across something called morning pages. Morning pages is a type of journalling outline that you do first thing in the morning. The point is to let a steady flow of consciousness emerge from your mind to the pages in front of you. The concept is from the book "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron.

Morning pages should be done first thing in the morning when your ego is at its quietest and your mind is calm. Anything that jumps into your mind, write down. What you are going to wear today flashes in your mind? Write it down! Your to do list comes to mind? Write it down! That weird thing you said last week to your boss that you are still embarrassed about pops in? Write it down! The whole point is to see where your mind takes you.

This is a habit that I have just started recently and I feel it has helped me become more aware, quiet nagging thoughts, and be able to focus more on things that matter than the deafening thoughts that sometimes cloud my mind. It is a way to release thoughts and feelings, so that I am not crowded by the old and can welcome the new. I have felt more present rather than lost in the depths of my mind.

How do I start, you may ask. First, get yourself a journal that you adore. As you can tell, I am a fan of floral journals. I mean, who isn't? Morning pages is something that needs to be done in long hand which means no typing on your phone or computer. So invest in some cute journals! You won't regret it.

Morning pages is 3 pages of a steady stream of consciousness. You just let the thoughts roll out onto the page for 3 whole pages. I know what your are thinking, "THREE WHOLE PAGES?! You're crazy, Hannah." I admit it is difficult at first, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. The first time I pulled out my journal I sat there trying to figure out what to write, but that is not the point of morning pages. It's not suppose to be pretty, organized, articulate, or even cute. Whatever pops into your mind is getting regurgitated out onto the paper. I'll be honest some days I find 3 pages to be a daunting task, while other days 3 pages is not nearly enough. There is no right, just the act of showing up for yourself is enough.

That leads me into another important point. These pages are for your eyes ONLY! Hide your journal, lock it away, build an extravagant "booby trap" tomb for your journal. Why go to such extremes? You are writing anything that comes to mind into your journal. If you think someone may see it, then you may change the way you are writing in fear of someone seeing it. I wouldn't even go back and read what I wrote previously. No one! Not even future me's eyes can see. This way I can freely write whatever I want without a single worry. It's a liberating feeling to be unapologetically myself within these pages without the stress of anyone's judgement, not even my own.

I do my morning pages as soon as I wake up to prevent anything from muttering my mind. If you are anything like me, you are probably thinking when do you have time in the morning for this. Here is a little secret: my mornings are sacred. I wake up a half an hour earlier than I would need to, to do my morning routine. That's how important my morning routine is to me. I even have my own little morning corner (which we can talk about it another blog post). Believe me, I LOVE sleep, so the fact that I drop an extra half an hour cuddled in my warm bed within all the blankets in the morning speaks volumes. For me morning pages takes only about 15 minutes of that routine and has the power to shift my whole day and attitude.

I would be lying if I didn't say that some days I do skip, but I try my hardest to make sure I am consistent and showing up to my journal everyday. I feel the difference on days that I don't. My mind is little more sporadic and my attitude tends to be a little more impatient on those days. It's just the effects of being human.

Morning pages helped me refocus my mind and identify areas I need to work on in my life. I, also, just like having any excuse to buy some cute journals.