Should I meditate before Morning Pages?

written by Adriana

posted on Oct 8, 2022

I just finished meditating after journaling and started wondering – am I wasting time or it is a valuable extension?

Both journaling and meditation are two techniques can help you to let go of worrying thoughts, but you might be wondering whether you should meditate or do Morning Pages first thing in the morning.

So, in this article, I will discuss what may be helpful and why I decided to combine two techniques.

Are Morning Pages the same as meditation?

Morning Pages are not the same as meditation. During meditation you keep your thoughts in your mind and observe coming thoughts and sensations, thus it is easy to lose them. When you are writing Morning Pages, you can crystalise them by noting them down.

If you reduce the stress hormone cortisol and decrease the activation of the sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight”) throughout meditation, you may extend meditation and continue capturing thoughts and analysing them deeper.

So, do you meditate or do Morning Pages first?

Since meditating and writing focus your attention on the inner self, meditation before writing reduces distractibility and increases attentional error monitoring, making more space in the Morning Pages for creative writing and problem-solving.

Writing extends meditation as you spend more time analysing your thoughts, emotions and life situation. If you have 1 h in the morning you may benefit from meditating before, however, if you lack time, 40 min of Morning Pages will still help you to process thoughts and sustain attention.

For those who feel overwhelmed after exposure to stress triggers during expressive writing, meditation may serve as a tool to come back to reality, and calm down both your mind and body.

In this way, Morning Pages combined with meditation help you to come up with practical solutions and specific insights, since you are now fully concentrated, relaxed and have a blank space to think.

Morning pages are intended to sweep our consciousness clean

Julia Cameron

Is it useful to Meditate after journaling?

Taking time to meditate after you have been writing Morning Pages may give you space to pause and reflect on the thoughts you have just put on paper. Observing how you feel after journaling may give you new insights and allow you to process emotions, observing how your body feels after catharsis.

Since expressive writing in the form of journaling with Morning Pages may expose you to stress-triggering memories and thoughts, mediating after may reduce anxiety and tension. Taking 10 min to meditate after journaling may serve as a stress-alleviating tool and ensure you start a day without rumination and worries you faced in your writing.

It has been shown that expressive writing may have a side effect – increased anxiety. Niles et al. (2013) found participants who were low in emotional expressiveness had an increase in

anxiety after engaging in expressive writing, while other studies indicated that alexithymia interfered with the effects of expressive writing.

Thus, meditating after can quiet your mind, calm your body and bring you to the present moment.

A Take-Home Message

Meditating before or after journaling is a great way to extend journaling. Whether you are looking for a way to improve attention or reduce worries after writing, taking time to sit still may bring the maximum value from your Morning Pages.

Do you meditate before Morning Pages or after? Let us know in the comments section down below!

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Happy Journaling:)

With better awareness, better results

A&A

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