12 Tips for Writing Morning Pages
While writing morning pages is a fairly straightforward practice, there are tips that can help you make the most of your daily writing practice:
Start journaling. It’s easy to make excuses and say you’ll start morning pages another day, especially if you’re not a morning person. There has to be a first time in order to initiate this new morning routine. Set your alarm, wake up, and start writing. Before you know it you’ll have a daily writing habit.
Write longhand. For morning pages, write longhand only. Writing with pen and paper takes time and allows you to process what you’re expressing. Also, longhand takes longer to keep up with your thoughts which leaves no time to edit what you write, a key component of morning pages.
Avoid distraction. When you work on your morning pages, you are dedicating a little time to self-care. Stay away from potential distractions. This includes other people, your phone, and your computer. Ambient music can be soothing, but don’t listen to talk radio or a podcast that can take your focus away from your journaling or influence what you write.
Get comfortable. It will be easier to do morning pages if you’re comfortable. In fact, you’ll even start to look forward to this time of day. Find a cozy spot in your home, make a cup of coffee, find a pen that feels good in your hand, and use an inviting spiral-bound journal.
Do it first thing. Morning is the optimal time of day for stream-of-consciousness daily practice. Your morning brain is fresh. Write your pages before you fill your head with any outside influences.
Never read your journal. It might seem odd that you spend so much time writing something that you’re never supposed to look at, but the true purpose of morning pages is to transfer thoughts in order to clear your head. Put them on a shelf and don’t read them. But do make note of any entries you might want to use in your creative work.
Be authentic. Never censor yourself when writing morning pages. Your journal entries need to be authentic in order to serve their purpose of raising self-awareness. If you are truly worried about someone finding your journals, destroy them.
Throw writing rules out the window. Morning pages are not high art, and you’re not trying to write a bestseller. Morning pages are raw emotions and real thoughts. Don’t worry about following proper style and grammar.
Fill up all three pages. You may find that some days you’ll find your creative flow and three pages will come easily. Other days writer’s block will get the best of you and you’ll have a hard time just writing enough for the first page. Whatever you do, don’t stop. Keep writing until all three pages are filled.
Use writing prompts. It’s okay to use a few ideas as journaling prompts. Some basic ideas are positive affirmations, goals for the next year, and things you’re grateful for. Be careful not to make it focused on a single theme, like a gratitude journal. Use journal prompts to help you through the days when the words need some encouragement to come out.
Realize there’s no wrong way. Morning pages are unique to every individual. There is no right or wrong way to do them. While freewriting is another variety of brainstorming on paper, that style usually consists of full sentences while morning pages can be unfinished thoughts. Content, style, and handwriting are irrelevant. Just accomplish those three pages and your job is done.
Commit to writing morning pages. Make the practice of writing morning pages a daily ritual. Start by doing it for a single day. Then the next. Before you know it, morning pages will become a new habit. Create fun little incentives, like putting stickers on your calendar every day that you finish. Then, when you run out of pages, go out and get a new journal.
Check out the benefits to this type of journaling on below site:
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