The cheapest form of therapy

I recently finished up my entire morning pages journal and happily bought myself a fresh edition to begin my pages for 2022. It’s a practice I did on and off for a few years but now it’s rare for me to go more than 3 days without stream-of-consciousness writing. I first learned of the idea through Julia Camerons’ work and although some of her creative process ideas were not for me, the pages were a perfect fit. She encourages anyone seeking a creative path to write 3 pages of long-hand writing every morning. In her words:

They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and
synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put
three pages of anything on the page...and then do three more pages tomorrow.

A little background

Before starting Momentora, I had a green journal my best friend gifted me on my wedding and I used it every day for an entire year. I found myself writing mostly about challenges, problems, what ifs, and mostly negative thoughts for the first page or so. I’d write about how hard it was to relocate, the familiar things I missed about home, faults I saw in myself and others, and all the inner grumblings of the day.

Slowly as the pages progressed, my writing shifted towards possibilities, ideas, gratitude, and mind mapping. I don’t believe this was a coincidence. It happened because my daily writing helped me clear out the fog in my mind and reach fresh perspectives by the time I neared the second and third pages. I felt more centered and gave myself time to work through challenges and any repetitive thoughts.

Why it works with thought logging

I can understand free-style writing might be a hard pass for some and that’s totally fine. A lot of times people look for a prompt (I’ve shared some below!) to help them get started with putting the pen to the page. But if you’ve never tried morning pages before, I do encourage you to give it a try this season to see where it takes you!

The reason I referred to it as a the cheapest form of therapy is because as a former clinician, I remember the kinds of “aha” moments my clients would have when they pursued journaling on their own to work through their challenges. Therapy can cost anywhere between $120-$300 or more per session so it’s a great idea to try journaling strategies if therapy is out of budget. I don’t believe it replaces the importance and need for therapy at different life stages but it is a great start!

One of the most common cognitive behavioral interventions involves “thought logging” where you think back to a single event you want to process, slow it way down, describe it on paper, and then write the most accurate memory you can conjure up about how you felt, what you thought, and how it made you respond/react to the event. You can go further in the process by writing out the evidence suggesting the thought is true alongside evidence to push back against the thought for possibilities it may be untrue or inaccurate.

Although thought logging is best done with a clinician, you can still benefit from the process by writing out your thoughts through the morning pages model.

Getting started

All you need to begin is a journal of any kind. I personally love using tru red notebooks because of their college ruled lines and excellent paper quality. You can date your entries if you’d like. There is no need to read your pages after you’ve written them and in fact, Julia Cameron encourages people not to read them much at all. They are simply a place to throw out all that’s fogging up in your mind so you can reach better heights. If you need prompts to get started, here are a few ideas: