Morning Pages

This morning, fittingly, my MIL told me about Morning Pages. They are a basic tool from Julia Cameron's classic book The Artist's Way.

© Julia Cameron

Julia writes:

"In order to retrieve your creativity, you have to find it. I ask you to do this by an apparently pointless process I call the morning pages. Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages -- they are not high art. They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind -- and they are for your eyes only."

In fact, the author recommends that you do not read your own Morning Pages for at least several weeks, if ever. I think this exercise would be valuable for anyone, whether you consider yourself an artist already or aspire to be one someday. I think it's even valuable for say, engineers or accountants!

Julia has written quite a few books about the creative process.