One Year of Morning Pages
I’ve been doing Morning Pages for a whole year now! They’re like a brain flush every morning—less emotional fog, more clarity, and way fewer useless news rabbit holes.
Today marks one full year since I started doing Morning Pages, as introduced in The Artist’s Way!
For me, they’ve become a non-negotiable part of my daily routine. It’s kind of like… mental digestion? Or more accurately—mental pooping.
I’ve skipped maybe 2 or 3 days this past year when I was out and just didn’t have time—but on those days, my brain felt jittery and weird. Like, mentally constipated.
My Morning Pages are where I dump out all the endless thoughts and worries piling up in my brain. In that mess, there’s usually some useful idea or insight (let’s call that “nutrients”), and the rest—the unused ideas, the mental dust—gets dumped onto the page and flushed the moment I close the notebook. It’s just like pulling the toilet lever after a successful... mental session.
By writing three pages first thing every morning, I end up figuring out what I actually want to do that day. Or I process the weird feelings leftover from yesterday, or the day before. I write down how I felt, what I wanted, what I wish had happened—without judgment.
And somewhere in that tangle, I start to see the truth. What I really wanted. What I really needed. It helps me get closer to myself. I think this is what people mean when they say “self-alignment.”
Since starting this daily alignment practice, I don’t stay stuck in emotional fog as long. I also spend more time doing the things I want to do. I’ve gotten better at diving deep, even into the murky parts of myself, and pulling out what’s truly important—and actually doing it. And when I do that, I feel good. Every day feels more full and satisfying.
And here are some things that have changed over the past year thanks to Morning Pages:
⭐️ I stopped reading news sites mindlessly
⭐️ I restarted my creative work after a 3-year pause
⭐️ I hired a coach and started learning how to work with my strengths and talents
⭐️ I made the big decision to quit my KonMari consulting practice after 3 years, and I now use that time and energy for making art
⭐️ I started this daily blog and I’m still going!
⭐️ I got back into risograph printing, joined a riso meetup, and realized—again—that what I really want to do through illustration is connect directly with people
There’s probably more, but I can’t remember it all right now.
What I do know is: as long as I keep doing Morning Pages, I’m still evolving.