The Sound Of Paper

Sometimes it’s simply curious to hear a familiar concept out of context and other times it’s quite inspirational. Many of you will have heard of the seminal work on creativity by Julia Cameron, called The Artist’s Way, where the concept of Morning Pages first hit the mainstream, bringing creative journaling to the masses.

As Cameron describes it, “Morning Pages are the pivotal tool of a creative life. They are three pages longhand, morning writing, about anything and everything. You may complain, whine, grumble, grieve. You may hope, celebrate, plan, plot. Nothing is too small or too large to be included. Everything is grist for the mill.”

Developing the discipline to crank out three pages on a daily basis allows you to download bedhead fuzzy thinking, get past mindless brain-chatter and awaken your creative spirit. Oddly enough, of all the techniques I’ve recommended, this one is probably the hardest to do. The sheer level of resistance to getting anything down on paper stops most people in their tracks and those that get started are mortified by the petty grievances that work their way onto the page. However, only when you get past the dull stuff does the gold appear, so only those with perseverance make it to the bit where your intuition kicks in and starts to hand over the goodies.

Answering the question why we should do Morning Pages, Cameron responds “Morning Pages prioritise our day. They render us present to the moment. They introduce us to an unsuspected inner strength and agility. They draw our attention to those areas of life that need our focus. Both our weaknesses and our strengths will be gently revealed. Problems will be exposed and solutions suggested.” Moreover, she adds, “Morning Pages are a potent form of meditation for hyperactive Westerners. They amplify what spiritual seekers call the ‘still, small voice’. Work with the Morning Pages awakens our intuition. Synchronicity becomes a daily fact. We are more and more often in the right place at the right time. We know how to handle situations that once baffled us. In a very real sense, we become our own friend and witness. Morning Pages are the gateway to the inner and higher self. They bring us guidance and resilience. They make us far-seeing.”

It’s the witness part of Morning Pages that seems to crop up in its other guises that have come to my attention of late. Someone mentioned writing out three pages - and apparently it had to be exactly three pages – when deciding whether to end a relationship or not, which seemed to be an adaptation of the same concept. When you become witness to your own feelings and face them in black and white, it’s a lot more difficult to remain in denial and a lot easier to see graphically how you really feel. By the way, there’s no special magic in three pages, in case you’re wondering what that’s about. It’s just that it generally takes that long to get past the rubbish lurking about on the surface of your mind and tap into the creative wiring that lies beneath.

The other use I heard for the Morning Pages was as a diet journal. Apparently, when Cameron teaches The Artist’s Way and people participate in Morning Pages on an ongoing basis, they very often lose weight as they become conscious of their own feelings and inner dialogue. In her new book, The Writing Diet, Cameron encourages journaling beyond the bounds of simple Morning Pages, into an ongoing daily practice to become conscious of the link between mood and food. As she says, “The journal makes it very specific. It is a way of becoming accountable. Usually when people are overweight, they’re kind of vague about food. When you have the food journal, you can see ‘I did fine until 4 o’clock’. The food journal allows you to interrupt a binge. The minute you write in a journal, you become conscious of the direction you’re going.”

To be honest, there’s probably no issue that wouldn’t benefit from a journaling technique. Career decisions, relocation, problems with family or friends – they’re all potential material for Morning Pages or an ongoing daily journal if you’re looking for inspiration or clarity on your deeper feelings.

This week, pick an issue and go for it. Commit to either three Morning Pages daily for a week or to keep an emotional/creative journal throughout each day until the next I Am Fab rolls around. Watch out for resistance and the classic excuses, eg no time, I’ll do it later, one page will do … I’ve heard them all (and given them a good run myself – just because I love writing does not mean I’m immune from resistance). You never know, you might just find yourself loving this technique and keeping it up on a regular basis. Or you might adapt it in a totally different way.

What’s important is giving it the space to do it properly in the first place, so Morning Pages can work their unique charm in freeing up blocked psyches. Julia Cameron’s been doing this for 20 years and specialises in working with professionals who suffer from writer’s block, so I think we can trust that she knows what she’s talking about. Do yourself a favour and get the paper party started. You’ll be in celebrated company. So as the auteur Jean Cocteau famously said, “We writers are fabulous creatures!”

While we're on the subject of creativity, here's an inspiring short film film – Mankind Is No Island – shot entirely on video camera phone, using typography and simple imagery, that's just won the first prize at the Tropfest short film festival in New York.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrDxe9gK8Gk

If you're looking for IAF archives, they now have a new home, as AOL has closed down its blog hosting. You can now go to Fab Central on the link below and catch up with all the archived entries.

Click through to the Coach Fabulous advice column archive by going to http://coachfabulous.blogspot.com. For alert emails on new postings, email subscribe@iamfabulous.co.uk. The I Am Fabulous archives can now be found at http://fabcentral.blogspot.com. All material ©2008 Alison Porter. No article may be reproduced in full or in part without the express permission of the author.