Journalling // Morning Pages
About 10 years ago I read the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron for the first time, one practice from this book has stuck with me since, and really changed my creative outlook and honestly my life.
The ‘Morning Pages.’
One of my favourite journalling exercises, I have done Morning Pages almost daily for the last 10 years, maybe longer.
This exercise requires you to write three full pages in your journal every morning, first thing. You are not to overthink or judge the writing. You are only writing for you. It should be a ‘brain dump.’ Don’t curate. Just write whatever comes to mind and let the words flow.
This has been so freeing for me. I let out my thoughts and emotions onto the page and then I can start the day in a more centred and grounded way. Inspiration and ideas also come sometimes through the pages. Bonus points for reaching for your journal before you pick up your phone in the morning. When I do this, the whole colour of my morning and overall feeling of my day changes dramatically.
When you are feeling a little anxious, flat, overwhelmed - morning pages are unparalleled as a way to regroup.
Try them out and see how they change your life. It may feel like a lot to write at first, but stick with it for at least a week if you’re struggling. Finding an accountability partner is a great idea too.
The Neuroscience of ‘The Morning Pages’ exercise -
What makes Morning Pages so effective isn’t just the act of writing — it’s the timing. In the early morning, the brain is transitioning out of a theta-dominant state (the slow, dream-like brainwave activity of sleep) into alpha and then beta waves. This window is a uniquely receptive one, where the prefrontal cortex — the seat of our inner critic and analytical thinking — is not yet fully online. Writing in this state allows thoughts and feelings to surface more freely, with less self-censorship and judgment. This is why the pages can feel surprisingly raw and honest, and why Julia Cameron insists you write them before doing almost anything else.
Morning Pages also work as a powerful emotional regulation tool. The act of expressive writing has been well studied in psychology and neuroscience — repeatedly shown to reduce cortisol levels and calm the stress response. When we externalise anxious or overwhelming thoughts onto paper, we move them from the emotional centres of the brain (particularly the amygdala) into a more processed, narrative form managed by the prefrontal cortex. In simple terms, we go from feeling our emotions to making sense of them. This is why the pages leave you feeling more grounded and clear — you have quite literally reorganised your inner world.
There is also a creativity dimension worth noting. The default mode network (DMN) — the brain’s system for imagination, self-reflection, and idea generation — is highly active in those early morning moments. Free-form, uncensored writing keeps the DMN engaged in a way that structured, goal-oriented thinking does not. This is where the unexpected ideas and insights come from that many Morning Pages practitioners notice over time. You are not just emptying your mind — you are also, quietly, filling it with something new.