Why I Don't Do The Morning Pages
And how it could be hurting your creativity instead of helping it.
The Morning Pages is an exercise that was made famous in Julia’s Cameron’s well-known book, The Artist’s Way. I love this book, and it’s’ been a very useful tool in times of creative blocks and self-doubt. It looks at creativity as a spiritual practice and helps people with their creative recovery though various exercises and techniques. Essentially, if you’ve lost your creative mojo and confidence, The Artist’s Way will help you get it back. That being said, not all the techniques that are in the book are ones I’ve found to be helpful. I suppose all people are different and it’s silly to think everyone’s creative recovery will be the same. However, the seemingly universal celebration of The Morning Pages is an odd one for me, because it’s really the one exercise I found to actually be detrimental to my creativity.
If you’re not familiar, The Morning Pages is a daily practice of writing free-hand three pages of stream of consciousness writing every morning upon waking. The idea is that this will clear out the cobwebs of any negative thoughts and emotions circling around your brain. Plus it’s meant to unearth buried blockages by allowing free-flowing writing as opposed to confining your output to any kind of structure. Supposedly, people have broken though blocks, unearthed buried traumas, and cleared out negative emotions and beliefs that had been keeping themselves creatively stuck.
I’ve tried The Morning Pages twice in my life, many years apart, and both times I’ve experienced the opposite effect. Instead of breakthrough and clearing the cobwebs, I found I would get stuck in cycles of negative thought patterns, double down on all the things that weren’t working, and ultimately start my mornings in a state of anger and depression — which didn’t bode well for the rest of the day. It’s was essentially like always waking up on the wrong side of the bed.
I understand that for some people who may not be particularly self reflective that this sort of exercise could help dig up problems that one is not conscious of, which would be helpful. I also get that it’s a bit like a mental and emotional venting session, and we all need those from time to time. However, venting isn’t very solution oriented, and generally keeps one trapped in the cycle of what isn’t working. It’s good to let off steam and get things of our chest, but then there needs to be a focus on moving forward.
For me, I gave up on The Morning Pages. I literally burned an entire notebook of negative writing a number of years back. (Partly because I didn’t want anyone to read it, and partly because it felt good to destroy those old negative pages of problems.) Instead, I needed to focus on positivity. I’d never end the cycling negative thoughts going through my brain if all I did was focus on them more and dig deeper into that muck. So, one day at a time, I sought to remember what I loved about my creativity, and why I wanted to do it. I took out those old movies, tv shows, and books that brought me inspiration, and I watched interviews with artists I admired. I started creating in a bit of a vacuums, showing my progress to no one and working just for me until I felt good about what I’d made. I also started paying attention to where I directed my energy. Too much news and politics, conversations with negative people, my own ranting about whatever, social media criticism — all of it had to go.
I directed my thoughts and actions toward things I enjoyed, not just creatively, but in all areas of my life. Instead of eating the easy, healthy meal I didn’t love, I took time to think about what foods would make me feel good. I changed the music I listed to and listened to a whole lot more of it. I stopped reading books I thought I should read and read the ones I wanted to — and, for the first time, didn’t finish books I wasn’t enjoying. This was a way to connect back with the joy of life, which did ultimately lead to greater and easier creative output. But it was also a way to connect back to myself, rediscovering the things that made me feel inspired, or content, or passionate.
Sometimes we can get caught in negative cycles when we lose sight of who we are. There’s a lot of pressure among creatives to be on trend, or listen to the critics and reviewers, or to just have too many unsupportive people around us. This is where creatives need a very strong sense of self, and to remind themselves of the things in this world that make them feel alive — which ultimately leads to creative inspiration.
Instead of The Morning Pages, try a positivity journal. Keep lists or stream-of-consciouness entries on all the things that give you joy and inspiration. Write down your future dreams, keep track of accomplishments both big and small, and record lists of favourite things. Remind yourself what you love. Then, when you wake up angry, or depressed, or defeated, go back to those lists and change the tune of your mind. As someone told me recently, try to wake up happy. Think of something that brings joy upon first waking up, regardless of nightmares or worries for the day, and see how that changes your outlook for what’s to come in the hours that follow. It may seem a bit silly or uncomfortable at first, but for me, the changes in my life have been huge.
So, if you’re like me and tend to be quite self reflective, and are easily stuck in negative thought patterns, then don’t do The Morning Pages. Odds are they’re make you feel worse more so than better. Instead, refocus your energy, pay attention to where that energy is going, and dial your mind to joy. Look for a lovely piece of clothing you like on another person, remember and rewatch an old film you once found inspiring, and put down that book that’s like pulling teeth to finish. Change the frequency of your mind to one that resonates with who you are, one that finds the joy in life, and that’s one hell of a great artist. And I bet your creative output’ll soon be off the charts.
I am always more productive and in a mood to create when I start the day thinking about how good things are or could be compared to getting out of bed lamenting the worries and stresses of yesterday