WHO IS THE FIRST PERSON YOU CHECK IN WITH EVERY DAY?

I’m behind. For 2 weeks I’ve written posts after they’re due. Technically, I have not missed a day; but will catch up with one day and two posts. Nightly I’ve surfed for inspiration or handled family stuff only to be too exhausted when ideas sparked. Last night I went to bed resigned to wake up and write about the first thing to come to mind. It would be unfiltered and hopefully be something worth discussing. Then, it hit me…

Before this blog, I did Morning Pages. In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron, heralds the practice of simply writing 3 pages, first thing in the morning, on whatever floats through your mind.

Wake up your creative self. It’s backwards from meditation I’ve tried in that rather than emptying your mind to remain centered, you follow anything wandering by. Isn’t the blog free-flowing? In editing and trying to make a “blogworthy” point, creative flow gets funneled and detoured. Pages open the dam so ideas flood through the gaps in one’s week! The book is only the introduction to living with your creative self.

Check in with the person who matters the most – You! The first thing I do in the morning is roll into my kids’ room relaying our daily plans by adapting that annoying chorus from Rebecca Black’s “Friday”. As the family leader, I need to check in with myself first. Pages allow me to purge my mind onto paper so I focus on what needs to be done that day without losing ideas.

Rewards off the beaten path After surviving crazy last week, that rolled right into this one, followed by another non-stop weekend, I couldn’t see past our plans. When I rerouted while searching for my Artist’s Way books, I found my long-lost Writer’s Idea Book! It wasn’t really lost, more buried in my bookshelf! Evenings trolling for blog topics will no longer be such a futile search!

In one brief morning, Morning Pages brought me out of the brambles and back to the path. I’m relieved by the realization that I can’t ignore that part of me. I can’t blog and do Pages but commit to starting my day with morning bullet points!