How a Simple Morning Habit Can Help You Figure Stuff Out

So, I’ve been writing poems every morning.

I know! I know! “Poems,” say the anti-poem people. “Ick!”

And I totally get that, I do. Just like not all people are into graphic novels or manatee erotica (making that one up), people aren’t all into poems.

The only reason I’m telling you about this is that it relates to morning pages.

What are morning pages?

“Three pages of whatever crosses your mind — that’s all there is to it,” according to Julia Cameron. “If you can’t think of anything to write, then write, ‘I can’t think of anything to write….’ Do this until you have filled three pages. Do anything until you have filled three pages.”

This is called stream of consciousness writing, which is basically just writing without stopping a lot and thinking about it. It’s sort of like writing without a filter. It’s writing without that internal critic/editor standing over your shoulder and telling you that you and/or your writing sucks and putting up walls between you and the page.

I do this for poems, apparently.

Here are a couple of screencaps of my morning pages so that you don’t feel like you have to be precious about your own. I’m just going to use the last three entires (there’s a skip because I took the weekend off).

So, you can see, I did not filter to share this. :) But that’s sort of the point, right? Just, um, don’t share it like I just did because you feel super vulnerable.

We chose to get into a habit of thinking and/or writing and then that habit continues in a way that will hopefully mold us into the sort of human that we want to be. I want to be an unfiltered, brave writer. The morning pages help…