Morning Pages
I first heard about morning pages from Andy Matuschak. Morning pages are three, handwritten pages of stream-of-conscious thought, written first thing (or as close to waking up) in the morning. It's not so much about writing as about thinking (see Write to think). They started as a way to unblock creativity by [Julia Cameron]((https://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/) and are a no pressure system for getting thoughts out of your head to "provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand".
That sounds like a lot of structure but there is no wrong way to do morning pages. Your morning pages might be nightly pages, or not pages at all. Morning pages may generate ideas but need not. They are for your eyes only so you do not need to stress about presenting ideas for a public audience. For more help getting started, I keep a list of Morning page prompts.
In my workflow
- For me, the goal is to incorporate morning pages into [[!My daily routine]]. My day starts with reading the bible and note-taking anyway so morning pages would be a natural fit here.
- Currently, as part of the 'no stress' principle of morning pages I am ignoring the page count and longhand requirements. The idea is at least one 'I'm thinking about...' note, in any medium, instead. However, I'm growing sick of staring at my phone/laptop first thing in the morning so may look to move off screen for a more focused morning.