FINDING YOUR CREATIVITY #3
“A mind too active is no mind at all.” Theodore Roethke
There have been times I have been afraid to take a peek inside my mind.It was an endless maze I couldn’t find the exit. With all the things life throws at you, we all have a tendency to hang on to things. We suffer from information overload. Humans were never meant to spend so much time indoors staring at a computer. And, there are always those voices that are always worrying and censoring you. You worry about what you have to do today, worry about what you have to do tomorrow, worry about what you did yesterday. It is an endless cycle. It’s almost like your mind has taken on a life of it’s own with the incessant chattering. It’s probably talking to you right now!
But, the voice doesn’t want to hurt you, in fact, generally it wants to protect you. But, that chatter fills up you mind. To learn to empty your mind, it opens it to all these wonderful new ideas and thoughts.
How to do it?
I believe meditation, exercise and writing your Morning Pages are key. What are The Morning Pages? This comes from the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. It is a basic tool to reclaiming your creativity. Write three pages every morning FIRST THING. You are not writing these to be published, you are writing to empty your mind. There is no right or wrong way to do this, just put pen to paper and write three pages. They don’t even have to make sense. They are not designed to be read again. If you don’t have anything to say, write that you don’t have anything to say. Write affirmations, write out your to-do list. But, put the pen to the paper and write. Writing on a computer is rarely as effective.
You can hear Julia talk about the morning pages in the following video.
So, get paper and a pen and write the three pages first thing in the morning. Trust me, it works!
Next up in this series, Think like a minimalist.
I took a class with Nancy Jambor where she took us through each chapter for 12 weeks. It was amazing!! I call my morning pages my ‘brain dump’ because of not allowing myself to censor what I am writing. I find it so beneficial because as she states in your video above, I usually find the answer to my question by the end of my three pages. I love to hear other people’s experience with Morning Pages. So glad to read your post.
I often have difficulty relaxing and falling asleep. Most of the time it is because of this clutter in my head. My mornings are more like a zombie walking around. I think I shall try this in the morning!
I think I may be one of the few people on this planet who don’t find Cameron’s morning pages routine helpful. Rather than a cleansing mind dump, I found the energy of my day set by whatever I was writing about. So it’s definitely not part of my morning practice.
But I agree with you, finding ways to empty your mind are indeed helpful. I think the Muse likes a clean clear space to visit. 🙂
The best writing advice I ever got was “Get up, pee, write.” And that’s what I do every day. On a keyboard, though.
I like that!
I understand – there is not universal “fix” – and I understand the clean clear space – I’ve been considering a silent retreat for awhile!
Let me know how it goes – I’m having a zombie morning myself!
it is a brain dump – and if you can leave it in the “dump” – all the better