This is my most essential daily practice.

Writing.

Journaling.

It is one of the best ways I know how to pay attention. To put it down on the blank page. And to notice.

I’ve kept a journal all my life. (Sam’s been carting boxes of old journals around from basement to basement as we’ve moved over the years!)

For the last 6 years, my daily contemplative writing practice has taken a specific format: “morning pages” — a key tool (the key tool) from Julia Cameron’s incomparable book and methodology: The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity.

I know I’ve mentioned The Artist’s Way about a million times so far this session :) and I know that several of you have shared your either LOVE or …. not love :) for journaling so far with me.

But since this is actually the practice I do faithfully every single day, I know I have to share it one more time here with you, laying out all the steps and details and … issuing an invitation to you, to try it too!

So, straight from Julia, through me, to you:

“What are morning pages? Put simply, morning pages are three pages of longhand writing, strictly stream-of-consciousness: ‘Oh, god, another morning. I have NOTHING to say. I need to wash the curtains. Did I get my laundry yesterday? Blah, blah, blah…” They might also, more ingloriously, be called a brain drain, since that is one of their main functions.”

Seemingly, simple. Silly, even.

And yet, the single most powerfully transformative tool of daily life for me (and many, many others) over the last several years.

Get what is in your head, right out in front and the tucked-away corners, out and down.

So you can see it.

Because what we give space to in our consciousness (and subconsciousness) helps make possible the world around us.

The pages become a link between your insides and your outsides.

Anything else to know before you explore this powerful tool yourself? (Which I’m about to invite you to do!)

What Julia is emphatic about; “There is no wrong way to do morning pages.”

(I’ll add, except, perhaps to not do them at all).

My invitation to you is to begin morning pages today.

(Don’t worry if you don’t have the perfect notebook or journal. If it works for you and you stick with it, you’ll find yours. Mine is a 11x14 inch sketch book ;) A wise 40 Early Mornings alum recommended that if you’re having trouble or feeling overwhelmed, “Just get a smaller notebook!”)

If you’re curious, why not continue Morning Pages for the last week of 40 Early Mornings?

Don’t read your pages right now. Just keep going.

A week or two after 40 Early Mornings ends, put a reminder in your phone to take a look at your pages. Look for words, phrases, themes, that keep reemerging. Circle them in a different color ink, pull them out and place them on a new page. What keeps coming up on your pages is what keeps coming up in your life, whether you’re conscious of it or not. Seeing it on the page allows you to be with it. To give it attention (or to see the things you’d rather not give your attention to, like energy drains, bad habits or relationships, or stuck storylines).

Only if you can see it, can you begin to do something with it or about it .

LEAVE A COMMENT: LET ME KNOW HOW IT GOES! I DEEPLY APPRECIATE THE SHARED INSIGHT INTO YOUR EXPERIENCE. I KNOW OTHERS DO TOO!

And an attention-refining meditation practice for today. Again, one of my favorites. If you have a 17 more minutes for meditation today:

I’m off to write my pages,
Cath

P.S. If you have a few minutes in the last few days (!), I’d love to get your thoughts in our out boarding survey.

P.S.S. If you missed it - the recording of last Friday’s live is included below! Mark your calendar - our next & final live is this Friday at 9:30am ET!

DAY 34’s Early Morning Meditation - Refining the Attention (17 Min)

DAY 34 Quiet Evening Practice (18 min)