Do you ever feel like you’ve got so many thoughts swimming around in your head that you just can’t function right?

So much happens in a day. If we don’t give ourselves the time to process all of it, we clutter our brains with events and ideas and opinions. It is important that we give ourselves time to reflect and to allow an outlet for all of those thoughts. When we do, everything feels clearer, and we feel more prepared to face what’s ahead.

And that’s where morning pages come in.

Today I want to share with you what morning pages are and how they can help you improve your mental clarity and give you a more fulfilling, purposeful day. You will learn what it is, what it can do for you, and how you can do it yourself. I will also be sharing my personal experience with morning pages.

Interested in other ways to clear your head? Check out these other great articles!

• Morning Brainwash: How to Start Your Day Right
• How to do a Brain Dump to Start Your Week Right
• How to Stop Feeling Stuck and Transform Life
• How to Make Your Shower Routine a Restorative Practice

What are Morning Pages?  

Morning pages are a concept created by author and screenwriter Julia Cameron, which she wrote about in her book The Artist’s Way.

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It was originally intended for people who felt that they had lost their creativity. Perhaps they had ‘writer’s block’, or simply felt that they no longer had their creative edge.

In essence, it is a morning ritual that consists of messy, stream-of-consciousness writing that ends when the writer fills three full pages with their thoughts.

The pages are supposed to be unpolished, unedited, private submissions. There is no expectation to be perfect or artistic; you simply write.

Above all else, you are aiming for progress, not perfection. Don’t worry about how it looks; what matters most is the process and what it does for your mental health and creative mind.

Why is it good for you?

The original purpose of morning pages was to help people who wanted to rekindle their creativity, but that doesn’t mean that this was the only benefit it offered. People have given many other reasons that they enjoy using morning pages-even people who don’t consider themselves creative.

• Much like a brain dump, it helps to clear your mind.
• Some people feel that it helps them move beyond fear and negativity.
• Others felt that it helped them learn more about themselves.
• Morning pages are a form of meditation, so it can be good for people who don’t like the typical style of meditation.
• Morning pages can also serve to calm anxiety and offer comfort, give focus and clarity, or even improve your confidence.

It is not likely you will receive all of these advantages, but you will definitely find that writing morning pages offers you a handful of benefits unique to you. 

How to Get Started

At this point, you are probably wanting to know what exactly you have to do to try this out for yourself. One great thing about this habit is that you likely already have everything you need to get started!

Materials you need 

All you need is a notebook and a pen, and that’s it! It is not recommended that you use a laptop for this activity. Writing the old-fashioned way is going to benefit you more than typing will.

I would advise that you choose a pen that you enjoy writing with (is anyone else out there super picky about their pens?) and a notebook that you feel comfortable writing in.

It’s important that you like your materials since the point of morning pages is to calm you. Imagine trying to write your thoughts out with a pen that’s drying out. It would end up being a frustrating experience that is definitely not helping you. So make sure that you will take pleasure in the materials you chose- you will be using them often!

When to do morning pages

You’ve probably already figured out that this activity is done in the morning. In addition, there are a few other things to consider that can really add to the experience. Ideally, this activity is supposed to be done before your brain has really been activated.

You should not use your phone or try to get anything accomplished until you have completed the morning pages.

Now, this does not mean you have to go immediately from your bed to your writing desk, but you should try to make it one of the first things you do.

Many people like to make a little routine around this routine. For example, some people wake up and make themselves a cup of coffee before settling into their morning pages. It’s up to you how you want to implement the routine. But it is definitely best for you to try to do it before letting too many other things influence you. This allows for a more authentic writing experience. 

What to write about

As we’ve already established, this routine is very low-key and really doesn’t have a lot of expectations. However, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind in order to get the most out of your experience.

First, don’t write about your dreams from the night before. Julia Cameron explains that writing dreams would not serve the purpose of wiping out everything that’s on your mind. If you spend two pages simply narrating your dream, then you won’t have enough space to get to all of the corners of your consciousness.

Second, don’t worry about how you’re writing anything. Spelling mistakes and errors in grammar are welcome. You don’t need to slow down your writing to pay attention to those things.

Those two restrictions cover everything you shouldn’t do. Beyond that, you can write whatever you want! In fact, if you can’t think of anything at all, then just write “I can’t think of anything to write” until you reach your three-page quota.

When you are done writing, make sure that you keep your journal private. Don’t show it to a single soul. Honestly, even you don’t need to read it. In fact, when I fill up one of my morning page journals, I throw out the entire thing! It is easier to write authentically when you know that you will never have to be embarrassed or ashamed of the content you wrote. 

Prompts if you really need ideas

If you’re not used to writing, it can be really hard to crank out three whole pages of writing in one sitting. If you end up in this situation, morning pages are not exactly going to be something you look forward to. In fact, it might end up becoming yet another thing you dread in the morning! We don’t want that.

So I’ve created something for you that will be sure to help!

I wanted to make sure you had everything you needed to be successful implementing morning pages, so I created a Morning Pages Package that has everything you could possibly need to start your own morning pages routine!

In this package, you will find:

• A message to encourage you on your journey
• A three-page template that you can print to write your morning pages
• A hefty list of prompts so that you will never run out of ideas

This package of treats is meant to encourage you and empower you to do your own morning pages! With this Morning Pages Package, you will never run out of inspiration for your morning writing.

If you’re ready to try out this amazing morning ritual, then just sign up for free in the sign-up box below and get the package sent instantly to your inbox!

I want you to succeed, and this can help you get there. Download your package now and see the difference it can make in your life!

Why I liked Morning Pages

I wanted to finish by telling you a little bit about my experience with morning pages. I have mostly positive feelings towards them, but there were a few aspects that really didn’t work for me.

As with any of the ideas and activities I share on this site, not everything is going to work for everyone. That’s why we have to test them out for ourselves and make adjustments that work for us!

When I first started morning pages, I did find a big difference in the way I felt afterwards. I really enjoyed starting my day by getting all of my emotions out and onto paper. It felt therapeutic, and it did give me a better day.

Why I didn’t like Morning Pages

However, at the time that I was trying this out, I was teaching, which meant that I was trying to squeeze in a half-hour of writing before getting everything ready for a day that I was already anxious about (for more details on my struggle with anxiety, you can read my about page). Having to get the three pages written down in a limited time frame eventually started to add to the anxiety I was already feeling in the morning.

If you are someone who tends to get stressed by time frames, or if you have a job that requires you to be at work early and right on time, I’m not sure I would recommend morning pages for you.

Anyways, I stopped doing the morning pages during the weekdays and saved them for the weekends.

But here I ran into another problem.

If I was already in a bad mood, or I was spiralling from something that I was worried about, I found morning pages to be an unhealthy way to work out my feelings. Because I was not filtering my thoughts, my morning pages turned into a sort of echo-chamber that just confirmed my worries further. For some people, they are able to use morning pages to turn their mood into a positive one, but for me, it just amplified whatever mood I was already in.

For those of you who have a sensitive emotional balance, I would suggest you try morning pages with caution.

If you notice that it is not helping, I would recommend trying the morning brainwash method, instead.

The Final Verdict

All things considered, now that I am not teaching and do not have a strict schedule to adhere to, morning pages benefit me greatly! It is all a matter of personal preferences and the season you’re in. When things change a little in your life and morning pages stop benefiting you, don’t feel bad if you decide to take a break from them. Try it again when you’ve moved on to a new season and see how it feels different.

I hope that this information has inspired you to try out the morning pages method for yourself! It is simple to start and a lot of fun! Try it out and see what sort of benefits this morning habit can bring you! 

What about you?

Have you tried morning pages before? How did they work for you? Comment below to share your experience! I’d love to hear from you!