Every couple of months, I finish a notebook full of my morning pages. Julia Cameron encourages the practice of writing morning pages first thing each morning. The three pages of long-hand writing is as a way to release emotion and clear the decks for the start of the new day. Over the years, I’ve written morning pages with varying degrees of regularity. Recently, I’ve been much more faithful to the practice thanks to a couple of motivators, including my colorful pens.

One thing I love about morning pages is the freedom of knowing that no one will ever have to read my daily purge. Some days, my self-pity, anger, frustration, or general crankiness with the world get so boring to write that I laugh out loud at myself. Even if the predictability of my emotional patterns makes me cringe, giving myself permission to vent what I’m feeling alchemizes the experience. It may take a couple of days – or longer if an intractable issue – but the daily writing shifts something in my heart. To learn more about the power of writing to heal, check out the work of James Pennebaker.

The day that I complete a morning pages notebook is especially joyful. Not only do I have a sense of accomplishment in writing every day for those 56 days, but I also get to have a fire! My ritual of releasing the writing into the flames deepens the transformative power of morning pages. This month, I burned my pages in the cold, dark of pre-dawn and felt warmed by my burning pages.

We have a few more weeks of deepening darkness, which offers us many blessings. I’ll be writing about the gifts of darkness around the solstice. Until then, may you find healing and warmth in any way that they come to you.

Hugs and blessings, my friends,

Libby