Morning Pages.

This morning I wrote my morning pages.

Most mornings I write my morning pages, and when I most feel like not writing them, is often when I need to most.

I learned about morning pages from Julia Cameron, in her brilliant book 'The Artists Way', which I highly recommend to anyone who is wanting to express themselves creatively through any artistic means. Writing, music, art, etc.  (My boyfriend is a songwriter and I bought it for him one christmas!)

She explains it thoroughly in her book, but it is basically the discipline of writing three pages when you wake up in the morning.

Three pages of anything, any ole drivel or thoughts, that are floating round your mind. Food shopping lists, the dream you had, the worries on your waking mind.

It's kind of like when I made chicken stock for soups. (I don't profess to be any kind of cook, other than the shove it in and hope for the best kind of cook, but I followed my mothers instructions).  I boiled the bones etc in the water, let it sit and go cold, then I scooped the fatty scummy stuff off the top.

Morning pages scoops the fatty scummy stuff off my brain.

It clears the way.

It brings clarity.

It free's me up.

Some may not think as much, about as much, as I do, but my brain really needs this.  It's like it breaths a heavy sigh of relief, like putting the shopping down on the kitchen floor after a walk from the supermarket.

I sort a lot of my emotions and concerns out on those pages, just through a stream of consciousness, pouring in out.

I find it gives me a clearer and greater emotional intelligence in my writing, and helps me be more clear about what I'm wanting to explore with particular characters.

It seems that if I'm clear about my characters and who they are, and what I want to explore about who they are, the story almost writes itself...

They tell it. (I'll explore this in another post).

Anyway, in truth I don't write my pages every morning, it is also true that I notice the difference when I don't.

This year I have a desire to cultivate disciplines that bring about a freer, and more fulfilled life.

It's not a rule, to write them (who likes yukky rules, not me), but a desire to cultivate the discipline of it.

Cultivate.

Discipline.

I like those words.