When Should I Do my Morning Pages? A Powerful Way to Include Exercise to Boost your Creative Writing
Morning Pages are more beneficial if you do them after waking up as your focus is sharp and you are in a clear state of mind.
When it becomes a habit, your learning discipline and remotion regulation during the day become easier, since you prepared yourself in the morning by releasing them on paper. In this way you are prepared for the day, Morning Pages helped you to reduce the stress hormone cortisol, identify priorities and explore triggers.
Now you are calm and mindful despite encountering challenges as you go through your day.
Wave goodbye to emotional reactivity and stubborn negative thoughts!
What happens on the days I don’t do Morning Pages?
According to Julia Cameron, Morning Pages should be written first thing in the morning because you are half-asleep – a perfect state to wake up your creative artist and shut down the Censor (the critic’s voice). To get a greater dose of benefits, including Morning Pages into your routine might be a good idea, however, if you have a 1 h break during lunch, or in the evening, you may try it at different times.
After journaling for 10 years and practising Morning Pages for 7 days, I realised I’m more productive, calm and energised when I fit Morning Pages into my morning routine: journaling first, walking to the gym or a run in the park afterwards, and a 10 min meditation at the end.
Find out what is your best “thinking” time, and stick with it for a week. If it doesn’t work, go for a new experiment.
Personally, I tried Morning Pages in the evening before bed, but it was exhausting: my mind was processing faster than my writing! Releasing emotions before going to bed may bring new thoughts, leading to overthinking, anxiety and insomnia, so now I’m no longer an evening writer!
Also, waking up 30 min earlier gave me a bonus – prolonged solitude and a sense of mindfulness as the world still sleeps and there is infinite time for your meditation on paper.
That’s why I stick to my ritual of “creative writing workshop”, which may relax you and kick off your creative thinking!
What happens on the days I don’t do Morning Pages?
I feel that something is missing. When it becomes a part of you, an automated habit of picking your brain, having too many thoughts may preoccupy your mind and prevent you from productive work.
Since nowadays the culture highlights the significance of work-life balance, time off with writing Morning pages is a getaway to reach that balance.
Skip a few days and you’ll see what I mean!
Morning Pages before or after exercise?
Imagine that you are an interior designer. You’ve just completed a perfect aesthetic plan of the flat, but you haven’t shown this to the person who plans to live there. How do you know if will they like it? You showed them. You show your work and wait for the outcome.
Writing Morning Pages is the same process, however, now you can accelerate both thinking and writing with exercise.
Before the exercise, you feel blank, but after 20 min of cardio you feel more focused and energised since exercising instantly increases neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline, leading to faster reaction, reduced stress, improved attention, and cognitive flexibility.
Studies show that exercise increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF), and endorphins, thus your creative writing reaches a new level with faster writing and creative thinking. Exercise gives you the opportunity to catch your thoughts faster since executive function (mental skills eg. working memory, planning, attention shifting, multitasking) is improved.
That’s why I’ve been journaling for 3 years and found more benefits in journaling after exercise.
Although I enjoy a slow morning pace, a combination of exercise with Morning Pages being second makes my writing process more joyful and productive (and I spent less time!). In contrast, writing first thing in the morning became a new habit and stayed with me for a week, because I prefer to move first, and engage in deep thinking following writing afterwards.
What do people write in Morning Pages? (examples)
- Quotes from the books
- Descriptions
- Mind-Wandering
- Questions without answers
- Personal stories
- Other people stories
How long does it take Morning Pages to work?
Nobody can tell you for how long you should keep writing the see the outcomes. To see the result, you have to engage in the deep thinking process and explore your emotions, thoughts and mind-wandering with commitment, reaching deep layers. I’ve been journaling for over 10 years, that’s why Morning Pages were not overwhelming at the beginning. However, writing first thing in the morning for 40 min helped me to identify my priorities and process emotions with clearly visible effects in 7 days.
Although at the start I was very superficial in my writing (I wrote about the colour of the wall, my sleep routine, fatigue, and the town I lived in), but noticed that after writing daily for at least 30 min, I could notice what I was actually trying to hide by being busy. Thus, being honest and asking “why” multiple times may accelerate the self-development journey with Morning Pages.
Who knows, maybe you will see results in one day, one month or one year?
It took me one year to develop resilience and process emotions on paper by writing a journal, but only 7 days to realise that Morning Pages is worth my time.
Identify your intention and set a specific goal. Why do you want to start writing Morning Pages? Have you used other types of journaling before? What worked and what didn’t work?
When you answer these questions, it will help you to clarify your “Why” with the Morning Pages. By understanding your motivation behind it, you will be more consistent and self-aware of how you can make the most of your writing.
Be clear with what you want to achieve and remember, that sense of calmness, reduced tension and clear thinking is also a goal.
Although you can’t touch or measure it objectively, ask your colleagues or family members if they notice a difference in you after one week of writing Morning Journal. For example, my friends noticed I was less reactive during conflicts or unexpected assignments, which required me to be more flexible and take on additional workloads. Writing about my emotions helped me to release them and leave them on paper, thus fewer conflicts saw the daylight.
Without no doubts, physical activity will elevate your mood and give new ideas for writing. Writing Morning Pages is like a morning ritual – you plan, prioritise and think. If you stick with it long enough, you may get stunning results in different forms: better focus, reduced anxiety and creative problem-solving. It may take one week, one month or one year to see a progress, however the greatest achievement is the fact that you are holding the pen and meditating on a paper with your Morning Pages.
When do you write your Morning Pages? Do you write them before or after exercise? Share your experience below in the comments section!
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