What I Learned After Writing Morning Pages For A Month

Last Updated on February 11, 2020

Have you heard of morning pages before? I’d seen this term all over the internet, but I’d never thought it could be worth the effort.

After all, writing three pages of stream of consciousness thoughts every day seemed like a lot of work. Though I’ve always loved journaling, I’d never felt like I needed more than one or two pages to write out my thoughts.

Well, I decided to look more into the morning pages to see what the fuss was about. Turns out, morning pages are a game-changer. I’ve liked the process so much that I’m still doing it after giving it a try for a whole one month.

Writing morning pages has helped me dig into things I’d usually avoid, and I’ve been more productive since making them part of my morning routine. In this post, I’m sharing what morning pages is all about and how my experience with writing daily has changed my mindset.

What‌ ‌are‌ ‌morning‌ ‌pages?‌ ‌

Where they came from

Morning pages originated from Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. Cameron describes morning pages as “three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning.”

As a writer, she’s used this method herself and when working with artists who have lost their creative spark. If you don’t consider yourself to be creative, you might be thinking this isn’t doesn’t apply to you. But if you’ve read Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, you’ll know already that we are all creative.

Creativity is often associated with art, but every day we find creative solutions to problems that make our lives easier. Creativity can happen in our work, relationships, and everyday occurrences.

Morning pages aren’t just for writers or artists. They’re also not a tool to help you improve your writing (although it most likely will since you’re writing so often). They simply help you to clean out the junk that goes on in your mind, and anyone can benefit from that.

Why you should write morning pages

Why would anyone want to fill three pages of random thoughts? Here are a few key reasons:

1. To clear your mind – Morning pages help you to clear your mind of cobwebs and get to the root of why you might be feeling stuck or unmotivated. As Cameron says, “The pages are intended to sweep our consciousness clean.”

2. To move beyond fear and negativity – Cameron says morning pages get us to the other side of our fear, negativity, and moods. When we’re unmotivated, we tend to criticize ourselves and we feel like we’re never doing enough. By spilling your thoughts every morning, you learn to ignore your inner critic.

3. To understand who you are – When you write about what’s on your mind every day, you start to know yourself more. Cameron says, “The pages are a pathway to a strong and clear sense of self.”

What to write about

Cameron says nothing is too petty, too silly, too stupid, or too weird to be written about. One day, I literally wrote about how I pinched my elbow in the closet door and it really hurt ? Morning pages aren’t supposed to be ground-breaking because they’re not to be read by anyone (and actually Cameron doesn’t want you to read what you’ve written for the first two months). The only thing she says not to write about is your dreams from the night before.

Knowing that I had to write three pages forced me to get all of the cobwebs out of my head. There were days when writing three pages felt like too little, but there were also times when it felt like pulling teeth.

“Worrying about the job, the laundry, the funny knock in the car, the weird look in your lover’s eye—this stuff eddies through our subconscious and muddies our days. Get it on the page.”

Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

Cameron says, “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.”

I would write, ‘What do I need to get off my chest right now?’ or ‘What’s floating through my mind right now’ when I had absolutely nothing to write about.

Related Post: How To Start A Journaling Practice (+25 Free Prompts)

What I’ve learned from morning pages

Here are three key things I learned after writing morning pages for a month:

1. I’m doing better than I think

Usually, the first page of my morning pages ends up being about what I need to do that day or how I’m annoyed at myself for not waking up earlier. Apparently my stream of consciousness likes to focus on to-do lists.

This made me realize that I don’t write much about my own feelings. I decided to do daily check-ins with myself, usually around page two of my morning pages, to ask myself how I was feeling. This helped me to notice when things were actually going pretty well. If you only write about your feelings when you’re sad, you tend to miss the moments when you feel content. Checking in with my feelings has helped me to realize that things are usually going better in my life than I think they are.

2. I’m more productive after I write

Sometimes I didn’t feel like writing morning pages because it seemed like a lot of effort, but I always knew I would feel better afterward. Most of the time, I actually wanted to write though. I knew that it would give me more mental clarity before work, but I also knew I’d feel a sense of accomplishment after doing it.

A lot of what I wrote would be a combination of things I got done the day before and needed to finish or things I wanted to start working on (clearly I value being productive ?). If there was a project I was procrastinating on, I would write about why I was feeling unmotivated.

Morning pages helped me to uncover that it was often my own inner critic that was holding me back. Writing helped me to find ways to move past any doubt. After writing, I was usually more productive during the day because I’d a) found the root of my procrastination and b) written down a plan to get things done.

3. I can be consistent with things

Most of all, writing morning pages for a whole month taught me that it’s possible for me to be consistent. I often struggle with consistency and tend to fall off the bandwagon with a new habit after a week.

Before I started writing morning pages, I would only journal when I felt like I needed it. That meant I could convince myself that I didn’t really need to write when I was feeling lazy. Having the structure of writing every (weekday) morning meant I could finally be consistent with journaling.

Now my routine when I wake up is to do my skincare routine, make a cup of tea, and then get started with my morning pages. I realize that I don’t have to be in a certain mood to write because the words will always come if I give them a chance. 

Overall, I felt that it was worth my time to write three pages every day, and I plan to continue with morning pages as part of my daily routine.

Would you ever try morning pages?

I hope this post has given you some insight into what morning pages are and why you should consider writing them. Let me know if you think it would be worth the effort!