9 Steps to Nurture Your Self in Morning Pages

9 Steps to Nurture Your Self in Morning Pages

I first read Julia Cameron's transforming book, The Artist's Way, over a decade ago and I have used Morning Pages off-and-on since then. I am not a daily user, and do not pretend to be, however I keep them in my Toolkit for whenever my unconscious mind needs to do a purge and I begin to feel that feeling of over-arching, overwhelming anxiety.

Anxious? Feeling overwhelmed? Write your Morning Pages.

That kind of generalized anxiety that just hangs like a gloomy day – oppressive and heavy. I have had that feeling enough to know that the sooner I deal with it, the better. And that the longer I leave it, try to ignore it, and soldier on, that the worse it will get. It will not take care of itself.

I need to take care of me when anxiety creeps in.

Even if, or especially if, I'm waking up in the middle of the night with the awareness that I will *never* sleep again.

Morning pages are one of the best ways I know of to do that.

Can't sleep? Feeling anxious? Do Morning Pages.

I should really get that tattooed somewhere. Or stencilled on my walls.

Here are the 9 easy steps to doing Morning Pages:

1. Get a notebook or pad or lined paper. Avoid making it pretty. This isn't your Gratitude Journal and you won't want to hang onto it. I tend to use school notebooks that are close to 8-1/2" x 11" so I have lots of room to write.

2. Get a pen. (Told you it was easy!) It's even better if you like the pen you're writing with and it feels good in your hand and then ink just flows out onto the paper.

3. Put the pen and paper by your bed the night before.

4. When you wake up in the morning, and before you have fully awakened, roll over, grab the pen and paper and start writing.

5. Write whatever is in your head. Fill 2-3 pages. Keep the pen moving.

Avoid day-dreaming. Let your emotions flow onto the page. If you're anxious, write, "I'm so anxious about…" or "I'm anxious and I don't know why. Tell me why…" Your unconscious mind will give you the answers when you ask the questions. Get angry. Get sad. Get bored. Be real. Be present with what is happening in your body RIGHT. NOW. Keep writing.

6. Seriously. Keep writing.

If you run out of thoughts you can celebrate because you have achieved the zen buddhist state of satori. Yay! Keep writing anyway. I have pages that are filled with, "I don't know what to write," over and over again until another thought pops into my head. I have found it takes less than 20 minutes.

Enjoy the relief of radical self-care and eliminating anxiety.

7. Do the tasks that find their way onto the page and let everything else go. Some days, my Morning Pages are lists. Some days they are poems. Some days they are simply rants about the general crappiness of the world.

And sometimes they are praises and awe-inspired wonder at the beauty and grace of that same world.

It's all good in your Morning Pages.

8. Do this every day for at least a week and notice your general mood improve. Notice your anxiety decrease. Celebrate those shifts.

9. When you have filled a book with your ramblings, burn it. Or shred it. Or shred it, burn it, and then bury the ashes. Avoid hanging onto your Morning Pages – they are your past.

Let me know in the Comments, or by email, how they work for you. Give it a week and see the shifts.

–Vanessa

Image Copyrights: limonzest / 123RF Stock Photo, ariwasabi / 123RF Stock Photo

Vanessa Long

Looking to transform your relationship with your Self, your Source, or your Spouse? You've come to the right place. Sacred Physicality will help you create a life you love and relationships that rock. Welcome!

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