Debra Darvick
enhance your now in word and imageHEAD to TOE
NOW
Morning Pages

I’ve begun my morning pages again. Followers of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way will recognize the phrase. Morning pages are a kind of journaling with three rules: the must be written in the morning upon awakening or very soon after, they must be done for 20 minutes’ duration, they must be written in longhand three sheets of 8 x 11 paper (one side only.) Like many wonderful personal practices, this one fell by the wayside. I would journal in the evening, or sometimes jot down sudden thoughts. But nothing compares to writing one’s morning pages.
I began again when I found myself waking up teeming with thoughts, my mind noisier than usual. Although I participate in an online prayer and meditation group five mornings a week, morning pages offer a different path to calm. You sit down, you set a timer, put pen to page and write. No lifting of the pen. No mulling over the phrase you just wrote down. No self-editing. No crossing out. The goal is forward movement and getting stuff out and down. Whatever it is. You can even write, I do not like this I do not like this I do not like this if you can’t come up with anything else. Eventually you will.
When my morning pages are complete, I feel clearer. They are the muggle’s answer to Harry Potter’s pensieve. They require more work than a pensieve, but the outcome is just as magical.