Morning Pages

Ignatian Spirituality is a way of being contemplative in action. That stance in the world requires that we reflect daily on our experience. As vital as it is to be aware of what it happening in the context in which we live politically, socially and economically, we also need to engage with our inner responses to those events which shape the circumstances of our lives.

Journaling can be one of the most helpful ways to do that.

Sometimes there seems to be so much going on around us and inside of us that it is difficult to become still enough to hear what God wants to say to us. Journaling provides a safe space to consider the effect that relationships, the environment and the changes in our social or family circumstances are having on us emotionally and spiritually. It is a reflective practice of taking time to stop and notice where we find ourselves and how we feel called to respond.

When we are trying to manage family commitments, work or study and the demands of too many things to do in too little time, we can feel frantic with anxiety and then it can be difficult to settle into prayer. One of the journaling exercises which can be surprisingly helpful is one devised by the writer Julia Cameron called “Morning Pages.” When you get up in the morning take fifteen or twenty minutes to simply write in a flow-of-consciousness style everything that is going through your head. Aim to write three pages without stopping. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar or making sense. Just write. Get whatever you are thinking or feeling onto the paper as fast as you can and keep going.

No one else is going to see what you write. It is simply about emptying your mind of the clutter of thoughts, feelings, anxieties and all the ‘noise’ that makes is difficult to sense what our deepest desires and longings are. It is like clearing the pond-scum from the surface of your mind so that you can see more deeply and with more clarity into the well of your experience. The pages are often about quite ordinary things like ‘did I remember to send that e-mail’ or ‘I must look for a gift for my God-daughter’s birthday.’ Getting things out of one’s head and onto paper is a powerful way to stop feeling overwhelmed and stuck.

If we keep going for at least several days writing about all the niggling things which are taking up space in our minds, we will start to feel lighter and to have a greater sense of hope and of possibility. The writing brings a new and bigger sense of perspective. If you are struggling to get quiet enough to be able to hear what God may be wanting to say to you this may be a gateway into your morning prayer time. Sometimes the writing itself moves from the mundane to the really important and becomes itself a form of prayer.
Journaling allows us both to become more tuned in to what God wants us to see both in the external world and in the inner world of our desires, thoughts and feelings. This growing awareness of ourselves and the needs of our environment enables us to act and to make decisions which are more in line with God’s hopes for our lives.