Now more than ever, a lot of us are trying to look for more ways to decompress and relax our minds during a stressful time with such uncertainty. It’s easy to get lost among your thoughts, leading many to feel overwhelmed and overly anxious about what the day will bring.
“Morning Pages” is the practice of releasing these thoughts from the mind as soon as you wake up, writing in a stream of consciousness fashion that helps calm a racing mind.
What are Morning Pages?
An idea originally developed by writer Julia Cameron, Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing done first thing in the morning when you wake up. The idea is to “empty” your mind of restless thoughts and worries by putting pen to paper, creating a sense of clarity for the mind by further organizing and making sense of your thoughts.
There is no right or wrong way to do it — Morning Pages are about anything and everything that crosses your mind first thing in the morning, and it’s for your eyes only. The sole intention is to provide clarity and comfort, and to prioritize and make sense of the day at hand.
The significance of longhand writing
In today’s times, very few of us take the time to put pen to paper to handwrite something meaningful. Much of our communication is quick and short — a text, an email, a quick note. Quick communication is a lot more detached and limits the ability to slow down thoughts.
Velocity is the enemy in this writing process, especially in regard to getting your thoughts on paper. Though it takes much longer to write by hand, this slowness gives our minds the time to slow down to make further connections with what we’re thinking.
The mind works fast, but this process gives it the space to slow down. Writing longhand each morning will help you work through what you’re really thinking, good or bad, and appreciate these thoughts more. We notice more things through slowness.
What are the benefits?
Again, the main idea behind practicing a daily set of Morning Pages is to relieve some of the anxiety that comes with racing thoughts through getting all of your thoughts down on paper.
The Morning Pages practice aims to create a sense of clarity for the mind through centering your thoughts into a distinctive space to help you make sense of them.
Morning Pages is the practice of getting out all the surface-level thoughts that tend to crowd our thinking. Simply releasing your racing thoughts on paper may aid in alleviating some of the stress that comes in times such as these.
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