'Words are a form of action, capable of influencing change.'
(Ingrid Bengis)
Watts Coaching and Consulting Ltd recently moved into new premises at St Peter's Gate in Sunderland and is now listed on the Business Centre's Directory of businesses so please pop in and see me next time you are passing ...
Now that I'm settled in my cosy office with a balcony I am busy working on a six week programme of activities around writing for wellbeing for a local organisation. One of the weeks will be devoted to writing 'Morning Pages' which is a concept that was developed by Julia Cameron in 1994 and made public in her seminal text 'The Artist's Way.' The purpose behind the book is the process of writing morning pages to help the 'artist' recover their creativity. In this definition of 'artist' the intention is that it refers to anybody who has a 'creative block' and is not restricted to our traditional notion of an artist as painter.
The process involved in the 'morning pages' routine is that of entering the routine of writing every morning, long hand, a three-page stream of consciousness. Cameron stresses that you don't need to be a writer to engage in the morning pages routine, the letters do not need to be perfectly formed and neat, nor the spelling, punctuation and grammar perfect. What is important is the process, not the content, in an act that is sometimes called a 'brain drain.'
The pages have no audience, other than yourself, and even then initially you are encouraged not to read them. As Cameron states ' the morning pages are often negative, frequently fragmented, often self-pitying, repetitive, stilted or babyish, angry or bland' (p10). She goes on to confirm that 'all that angry, whiny, petty stuff that you write down in the morning stands between you and your creativity' (p11).
Three pages of whatever comes into your mind is all that is needed and if you can't think of what to write then write 'I can't think what to write' over and over! Commit to the routine and never miss a day. In this way you will remove the clutter from your minds, the barriers to progress, thus 'creating pathways in your consciousness through which the creative forces can operate' (pxiii).
In committing to writing morning pages you are taking the first step to releasing your creative powers, to taking back control of your life and realising the true potential in you. As Emerson wrote 'What lies behind us and what lies in front of us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us.'
To find out more and uncover what lies within you visit -