6 Reasons Why I Type My Morning Pages
Yesterday, I shared how writing Morning Pages (every morning) changed my life.
I actually look forward to writing them every day. It doesn’t feel like a “to-do” – rather it feels like a luxury. It’s a little bit of “me” time that sets my day up for success. I experience more calm, I get more organized, and a weird sense of relief comes over me after I’ve dumped my mind’s contents into my Morning Pages.
Morning Pages Feel Like Mini-Therapy Sessions
The Morning Pages clear my mind and give me energy with a feeling of well-being. They add a boost of excitement for my day – maybe because in a sense I feel like I’ve had a mini-therapy session. Most interestingly, however, is how they open my eyes to see new things in life I didn’t expect. My senses are more alive as a result of Morning Pages.
Morning Pages Variety
Sometimes my writings are bland. Other times they’re quite repetitive as I slog through stuff – day after day. But on the other end, I come through, with more space in me and around me. I dump whatever is on my mind onto the Morning Pages whether it’s (literally) a repeating word or a to-do list or feelings about my life.
You can write whatever you comes to mind with your pages from venting to praying to list making to exclaiming to repeating the same words 750 times. Just write whatever is on your mind.
The Rules
I mentioned in my last post one of the rules for writing Morning Pages is writing them longhand.
Ugh. Longhand.
I tried that for a short while – I really gave it a good go – but I went back to typing them.
6 Reasons Why I Type My Morning Pages
My favorite way to write Morning Pages is to type them, and I list six ways in this blog post for why.
Posture
When I’m writing longhand my posture suffers. After writing these pages longhand for many days in a row, I felt hunched over the table and uncomfortable. Posture is important and the last thing I want after writing is a neck ache.
Too Slow
Maybe most importantly, I find the speed of longhand to be frustrating.
It becomes a bottleneck for my thoughts gushing through my hand.
The author of The Artist’s Way (that’s the book detailing how to write Morning Pages) says it’s important to slow down, and that’s why you write these longhand.
It…. slows……….. you…………….. down. (It’s supposed to be good that it slows you down.)
I disagree.
I have so much in my mind that wants to get out in my Morning Pages. If I take too long, then I don’t get everything out!
In fact, I feel the most cathartic when I can type them because my fingers can bang on the keyboard and I can get everything out at lightning speed.
Hand Cramps
The next reason I like typing my Morning Pages is because of hand cramps. When I was writing them longhand (in an effort to give them a solid go, longhand-style), I found my hand cramping. I begrudgingly had to pause too many times. Again, probably because I’m trying to write so fast because I have so much shit to get out of me. It’s almost desperate at times.
Reusing Information
I also discovered I want to reuse some of the information in my Morning Pages.
Creative things come out of my head and I think that later I might want to use it in a book or in a blog post. By writing them in a program like Scrivener (or notes or Evernote), I can save them easily and search them too. (I will write more about my love for Scrivener in a future post.)
Use Morning Pages and Scrivener together allows me to keep them organized. I can quickly find past Morning Pages for these gems of insight or inspirations that come out and not worry about them getting lost.
Travel
I know I mentioned the speed as probably the most important reason for typing my Morning Pages.
But I have another competing one.
I find I want to type my Morning Pages because I travel. It’s not practical for me to carry notebooks all over the world because I can barely carry all the stuff I have (because of baggage weight restrictions). Hellooooo, I need my beauty products and beef sticks, too!
So, with our world travels, typing my Morning Pages is the best solution for me.
Scribble Handwriting
The last reason I like typing my Morning Pages is because I, frankly, cannot read my own shitty handwriting very well.
Maybe I’m out of practice or maybe it’s because I’m writing so furiously to get everything out of my head before it vanishes. But my writing seems more like a scribble.
This makes it almost impossible to go back and find things I might want to revisit.
In Conclusion
As you can see, I have excellent reasons for typing my Morning Pages. I continue to experience a myriad of benefits and I love having them stored safely so I don’t lose them.
If you haven’t checked out the book, The Artist’s Way, I highly encourage you to do it. You’ll discover parts of yourself you didn’t know were there. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think you have a creative cell or bone in your body, you’ll be blown away at the changes that happen in your life – big and small – short term and long term.