Morning Pages | 15 Tips to Get the MOST Out of this Exercise (TODAY) 

I have an amazing thing to share.. It's 6.03 a.m. in my part of the world {GOA, India} and I just finished writing my MORNING PAGES. Today I had an out-of-the-world experience.. Something was bothering me for the last few months, it was like a thorn in the flesh {if you know what I mean}. I decided to ask for the solution with my MORNING PAGES and I did.. And I was shocked at what happened next.. MY THOUGHTS GAVE ME THE ANSWER. I mean, it literally did... And I went on writing it down like there was no tomorrow and the moment I finished writing it, I felt PEACE flowing through me. I was instantly at PEACE and I knew it wouldn't bother me anymore. THE THORN WAS OUT OF MY FLESH... Such a DIVINE experience... AMAZING...!!! 😍😍😍❤ 🙌

"Morning Pages are supposed to be done the first thing in the morning because if you do them at night, you are just reflecting on a day that can't be changed" - Julia Cameron

To establish the habit, for me what made the difference was: - writing in bed. If I get out of bed, I get into work mode, and I'll never do morning pages then. - getting a Moleskine diary, with one page for a day, and just write one page to start. Having the clear visual reference of whether I wrote every day has been very useful in motivating me into keeping up the habit. Also, just one page is fine and better than nothing: three pages are a lot when you're starting, and at least for me, it kept me from starting the habit for years. I'm still writing one page, but as I'm getting more used I'm feeling more confident on expanding to more pages, probably still keeping the first page on the Moleskine while keeping another journal at hand for when I need more space.

This was great--and SO beautifully filmed. I am returning to Morning Pages practice after a very long time. Here is a tip that might help anyone with children: I first did Morning Pages about 26 years ago when I was the mother of a three-year old. I DID get up earlier to try to squeeze them in before my daughter arose, but some mornings she bounded out of bed earlier than expected. I found myself getting completely discombobulated by the interruption when I was in "flow." A friend had given me a cap that read "Bloom Where You're Planted" and I started wearing that when I wrote my pages. I explained to my daughter that if she woke up and I had my hat on, she could turn on the TV quietly, but she COULD NOT talk to me. In turn, I promised her that I would wrap up my writing within 10 minutes, make breakfast and give her all of my attention. It worked! You have offered excellent advice. Thank you!

15 years now. No regrets. Life changing.

It’s almost 6pm, I bought the Artist’s Way just this morning; I bought an ink converter for my Lamy fountain pen which came in the mail yesterday; I had purchased brown ink which I’d already planned to use for my journal. Then I saw your vlog. All my stars have aligned. Thanks for this icing for the cake I was ready to bake.

I just started the Morning pages, 39 days, and have not missed a day. I am between journaling, diary, and just random thoughts. The one bit of good advice I picked up from you is to also include what you never want anyone to read. I have a paper shredder that I am going to use for those pages. Too right, thanks for the tip.

Fantastic video, very practical, thank you! Here is a summary (you could add the points to the video description for subsequent viewers): It's 3 pages, stream-of-consciousness, totally private. 1. Get up earlier. 2. Don't look at your phone, computer, read paper, etc. prior to writing. 3. Make it a ritual, something you enjoy doing. 4. *Buy nice supplies*, things you like using, that feel good. The pen must be smooth, write easily. 5. Go outside or open the window. 6. Don't worry about your handwriting. You don't even need to be able to read it, just get it down 7. Don't worry about grammar! 8. Don't worry about having nice rounded, complete thoughts. You can even switch things mid-sentence. If it pops into your head, it needs to get written down. 9. If you use music, listen to ad-free music! 10. Don't let anyone interrupt your writing. This is your time, it's not an indulgence. Make sure you're totally alone, totally into your work. 11. Meditation - consider meditating for a few mins before starting, to center yourself. 12. If you *just can't* do morning pages in the morning, do them in the evening, or any time during the day 13. Possibly the most important: DON'T CENSOR YOURSELF. Know that NOBODY is ever going to read this. You need this space to let out your own unpleasant, bad thoughts. 14. (potentially) Destroy your morning pages after you've written them! If you need that to be free in your writing, do it. The freedom is the important thing. 15. Allow room for mistakes -- you might miss a day, don't stress it. You might miss a week! No problem, just keep starting.

Did anyone else just fall in love?

I love it when I am in Morning Pages mode.....it's a wave that comes for a season and then later I pick it up again

#12 Good point, for those who work the night shift :-) Anyway . . . My take on the concept for Morning Pages is that one is is mentally in a state between awake and dreaming, so that there is a better opportunity for the uninhibited subconscious to be at a higher operating level than it otherwise would be.

I just finished my first week of morning pages. On day 4 I watched this and realized how much I was censoring my thoughts, grammar and clarity. Your statement of don't censor, keep the pen moving, and tear them up if you want, was transforming for me. The last 3 days have been so much better and quicker (20 minutes instead of 90!). Thanks for the great tips!

For a absolute beginner, who has absolute no knowledge about morning pages; this is the Best video. ❤ on my way to explore morning pages. Thanks ❤

The best stream of consciousness writing video I have ever seen. Down to earth and inspiring. I can’t wait to begin!

I love 💕 your tips & guidelines!! 😂😊 You gave a really good 👍🏾 summary of the book 📕 and the work needed to do the “morning or evening pages” realistically practical and how to get the most out of this process!!!! Thanks 🙏🏾 so very very much for sharing and your transparency 😢. Arlene

You are so good, I feel like the music is competing with you. Love your content, thank you!

Thank you so much x

Thank you for your tips! 🌷🙏 So true on the filtering part when writing my general journal!

Hello! I just random clicked your video when i was searching some ideas for how i should write morning pages and i want to thank you very much! You are so calm and easy to watch and listen... I liked you instantly! Thank you ! You are amazing! I will follow you too here from now on! Have a great day!

This was --exactly-- what I needed to hear/understand about the practice of morning pages.. I can't wait to get back into it again!!

Love all of this. Thanks!

This is so beautifully articulated. Love your clarity, your ease and your soothing voice. Appreciate this content. Thank you!!

Beautiful, thank you for sharing😍👌✨

Thank you.

Thank you so so much for this advice!! It is so helpful to hear we don't have to be perfect about it ☺️

I have restarted morning pages many times over the years, and when I do them they ground me, and when I don’t, I feel scattered and discombobulated. Your pointing out that nobody is criticizing you, helps me. Even if Julia Cameron we’re watching me right now and saying “You’re doing it wrong!” It wouldn’t matter. The important thing for me is just to do it.

I swear, I could listen to you read the phone book and it’d relax me. Your voice is so calming. Thank You for the reassurance of morning pages. xxx

Best video on morning pages I’ve seen so far!

Thanks! These tips were great for someone who’s literally one DAY into doing morning pages. And I see you also bullet journal!! Yay! I will check out some more of your videos! This one was very good quality.

Great video. I liked the statement, "The morning pages helped me to become the person I wanted to be." Love that!!!

I'm into Week 3 of morning pages and it is nice to hear another person's perspective on this experience. Thank you for sharing these great routines ! Definitely need to stop checking my phone as soon as I wake up.

Great ! U touched so many aspects of morning pages

All these tips are incredibly helpful! Thank you for this video!🙏

Gracias ☺

Thanks! Love your content!

Thank you so much for this! I have had the Artist's Way since college, and I have never cracked the cover. It's time. Too many anxiety attacks about my creativity, self worth, enoughness, enough. It's a tool at my disposal and it's time to try. Thank you for these tips. So helpful.

Fantastic tips! I've just started stream of consciousness journaling and I'm totally in love with it! This video was really helpful. I'm particularly grateful that you mentioned how it's ok to write at night if you're not a morning person because I've been doing that and feeling inadequate about it 😄

Best tip: 1-15. Literally! I've been thinking of starting morning pages but I couldn't get myself to wake up early and many other things that you've addressed. So thank you! It's night time now and I'm going to start it right away.

I’ve been doing morning pages for the past month and I love doing it. Such a great way to start the morning.

Thank you. So helpful 💜

I love your intelligence and clarity about this subject.

Just started “The Artist’s Way” and I already feel morning pages are transforming my life. It’s such a release. Seriously therapeutic! Thank you for reminding me that this is not an assignment as much as it is an opportunity to start my day refreshed.

Thank you for making this video! I was slowly losing motivation and I’ve started back in August, but this video gave me some hope again. I appreciate it 😊

Morning pages really help a lot. I'm so glad I discovered this method a few months ago. I even bought a dedicated journal on amazon

Thanks so much for this video Shelby, I really enjoyed the tips and your delivery style - so soothing and down to earth! I'm 2 days into my new morning pages practice and I'm excited about the possibilities.

Loved the video, it has some really useful tips! Thanks for sharing :-)

i'll give it a try finally. love tip number 14

Lovely. This is perfect!

Love, love, love it!!! My favorite was tip 5: go outside. It really helped me focus on my morning pages, and feel more relaxed.

I like the morning pages exercirse. I believe this can change my life! :) Love your videos.

This is definitely a habit that I want to cultivate! I'm someone who gets up at 5, though, like you said. I may have to have "night" morning pages, haha. But I definitely want to do this. Thank you for the motivation! I have been a fan of your blog for a really long time!

This was inspiring. It's been a long time since I did morning pages! It was nice to hear your tips to refresh the way I look at them :)

This video was so beautifully done! I've been looking into doing morning pages to deal with crippling anxiety and your video has addressed some of the issues I was battling!

Thank you very much! ❤️🌹

I read The Artists Way years ago and I’m strong do my morning pages again, great video thank you so much🙏

I love morning pages. It changed my life for sure !

Still relevant, much love!

I love this video! I do journal but cannot wait to try writing morning pages starting tomorrow! Thanks for the tips and inspiration!

Thanks for sharing. Great video! My favorite tip was #12 - Write any time. ✍🏽

These tips are so helpful!....sometimes it helps to have someone else give you permission for writing this way. It can be hard to break writing habits we have been trained our whole lives to follow

Thank you 😊💖

I started morning pages when my life kind of was at the lowest point. I didn't have anyone to talk to and honestly i didn't really trust anyone. But since I still wanted to get things off my mind, I thought I would give it a try. In the beginnig i wrote 3-7 pages every morning and it made me realize how long i must have kept all my thoughts and how full my mind actually was. There were so many things i had to speak off of my soul. After a few weeks i started to have a hard time even filling the 3 pages and honestly, it makes me so proud of myself. Seeing this difference shows me how much i grew and how morning pages helped me getting rid of all the bad thoughts that where eating me up for months. And reading all of my entries again Shows me how happy i got over the time. I deeply recommend morning Pages or evening pages to everyone. Its the purest kind of therapy and it gives you the chance to be totally honest to yourself. And im sorry for my english. Its not my native language

Thanks for this, quality of pen and paper was a game changer for me. Ambient music, natural sounds, or silence is a massive help too. Isolation without interruption from people or phone notifications is also important. Final takeaway is writing without judgment, dont think or judge or apply quality control, just write. Great stuff. 👍

thank you

Great tips! I'm setting my goals for this year and your video has been really helpful!

Thank you this was so thorough and totally helpful. Very practical!

This is really great, thank you!

thank you so much for this ❤️❤️❤️

Thank you! This was very helpful, informative, and encouraging. Again, thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Thank you so much for this video, really needed to hear this. Love the music background too. I started reading the book 2016 and because I missed out on a few mornings I felt that I shouldn't have and then stopped...then I felt there was a calling for me to start again. So I liked that you brought all the points up especially when you said it doesn't have to be in the mornings...I work at night time and finish in the morning.

thanks for the video. morning pages have definitely changed my life, have made it much more focused, more relaxed, more creative and more receptive. Through this video I found your channel, a charming channel, thank you!

love the amazon prime ad in the middle of this.

How funny that you made this video: I just started doing morning pages this month and it has been GREAT! I feel so much more clear on what I want for my life when I do them in the mornings.

This is inspiring me to start doing Morning Pages again. I did it really regularly for a while but then I stopped. I think I will try it again. :)

Thanks so much

Great tips! Can't wait to apply a few of them next time I show up to the page

I’ve been getting back into the Morning Pages lately, I love these tips great video!

I loved this so much! I’m on day 7 of a morning pages practice and watched this before starting. The tips are thoughtful and practical and have definitely kept me going so far, and have helped me lay the foundation for a sustainable practice going forward. This video left me feeling inspired and supported. Thank you!!

I shall begin again!!!

IDK how this post only has 579 likes, this is amazing. I was gifted the artists way and have made the commitment for 12 weeks and honestly even tho she says there is no right or wrong way to do them I was still really intimidated by them and kind of skeptical. I did my first morning pages this morning but felt weird after I did and found this video. After watching this video I bought a way better journal because mine sucked and I am so glad that you talking about how you don't have to be correct or nice or great. I didn't even realize that I was totally stressed over my "there their" usage until I watched this. Haha, this helped me feel a lot better about my new endeavor and I really appreciate this video.

This video is really helpful. Thank you.

Tip number 15 was the tip I really needed to hear 🙏

I love your video!

I just started to do "morning pages" and glad to find this video. thanks for the tips and I'm sure this video will guide me through my routine-making process.

I love your cozy style 😊😊 Thanks for this sweet useful video😊❤️

Doing great job by helping others 👍

Nice video. Accidentally learned about morning pages just a few minutes ago. Shared this in my FB group which coincidentally has a number of people experiencing depression and anxiety.

I’ve been thinking about doing morning pages but I just can’t get myself to wake up early enough to spare time to write them and had to do them in the morning but I never thought to do them at night! I love love love these tips and I’m going to start doing “night pages” thank you so much for this video!!!! :))

I 'm so grateful that I came across your channel.🌟😌

I had read about the morningpages and Julia Camerons book at your blog and I got nosy. So I had read the book and than I started writing the morning pages. This has been for four month and my life is changing in a way that scares me, but I feel this way is my way and I know I will enjoy it. At first I have to do the scary steps which will happen in the next few months.

I just discovered morning pages and I think I like it. Thank you for the great video and for the tips.

I feel like you're talking to me as me. Bonkers. I'm on week 3 of the artist's way and am finding the morning pages a chore. This has made me realise what I need to be writing (uncensored) as opposed to what I AM writing (thinking about someone else reading it at some point). Amazing!

Thanks for the post. You have covered and explained the Morning Pages concept that is plausible for anyone who is interested. I would say that one has to just watch this video, and then go a buy a copy of The Artist's Way. No need to watch another post to understand Morning Pages. God bless you.

I was so nervous about start writing Morning Pages and your video is so helpful. Thanks!

Great video and tips. I started The Artists Way and Morning pages yesterday and I'm looking forward to seeing where the journey takes me.

Very helpful thank you

Thank you for posting this. I am in a state where I feel I am too busy, so stuck, and lacks creativity. I was searching for new ways to overcome these and came across with your video. Very inspiring!

I've been wanting to try this for months... I'm doing it first thing tomorrow !

amazing! i first discovered morning pages when i read the artist's way and did it for the three month period while reading the book. but i don't really do them anymore but maybe i'll get back into it after seeing this video :D im actually reading the artist's way for the second time through and doing a lil book club on my channel to discuss it more in depth

I can only say “THAN YOU!❤️” it looks like something that is going to improve my life!