When I was doing my undergrad at Chapman University I was an intellectual groupie of a few different professors…and by that I mean that I would fill up my schedule every semester with the classes these specific professors had available because I would learn so much from them. One professor in particular was a former Broadway dancer turned sociology professor named Dr. Barney McGrane and I took classes from him such as Social Psychology, Sociology of Death and Dying, and Meditation just to name a few. He also hosted weekend meditation retreats for his students at a monastery down in San Diego that were life changing.
At the top of class one day he had us settle in, get out a pen and paper, and without picking up our pen we had to write for five minutes straight. He said it didn’t matter what came out onto the paper and we were not going to share it with anyone; it was incredibly difficult. We did this exercise a few more times throughout the semester and it wasn’t until someone gave me the book The Artist’s Way that it was really explained to me. The Artist’s Way if you’re not familiar is a book by Julia Cameron that I have both read and given as gifts to people over the years and believe is really helpful for budding artists or really any human, artist or not, to get clear about visions.
Julia refers to these journal scribbles as Morning Pages: “Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages–they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page…and then do three more pages tomorrow.”
I’m not sure if Dr. McGrane borrowed the basic principle from Cameron but I always felt like the exercise was similar. I found that Morning Pages lead to other forms of writing and reflection and for the past decade I have done them almost every morning. I also write stories, anecdotes, quotes, and other relevant things about my day in my journal. I actually started journaling in elementary school. Not every day or really even every month but consistently throughout my life. My sister did as well and my mother had a rule that we weren’t allowed to read each other’s journals and my mother respected both of us enough to allow our journals to be private from her as well. And it is, unless I choose otherwise, for my eyes only. I have also been lucky to be in relationships with people who have respected my journal as sacred and if they wanted to know something about what was going on with me they would ask me instead of reading my journal.
As someone who’s mind gets boggled down with everything from inconsequential things to major life changes, journaling has really helped me manage what’s inside my head. When my friends found out that I had started writing a journal, they were very encouraging and recommended I looked into companies such as Office Monster, where I can buy more supplies to journal with. Pens, pencils and highlighters are just some of my essentials that allow me to write down everything the way I want. If you are like me and have so many thoughts and ideas, writing everything down makes it so much easier. And you can refer to it later on. There’s nothing worse than having a great idea and forgetting it in just a few minutes.
I live in New York City and there’s so much energy and I have so many thoughts and feelings that circulate and when I get them out of my mind and body and down on paper I am relieved of them. They are for referencing later if I choose or sometimes never to read again. I work out relationships, feelings, finances, and plans on paper without any judgment or anyone else’s knowledge. Really and truly for my eyes only.
Be wise with your journal: do not leave it around because other people aren’t necessarily as respectful as my mother or my partners have been. A close friend of mine documented her affair on her husband in a journal and he found it. Lock them up if you need to, or burn the pages after you write them if need be. You could also keep your journal on your laptop so that it can be password protected. Some people find the actual writing therapeutic, but others won’t mind typing it out and so this is a viable option for them. This would also provide the opportunity to print it out so that you have a hard copy as back up. Visit https://www.printivity.com/products/perfect-bound-books/ to learn more about getting things printed. Happy writing, calm writing, stressed out writing, angry and manic writing… it doesn’t matter, but getting it out on paper will make you a little happier, I promise.
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