Morning Pages

The last letter talked about love. God loves you because you exist. I love you because you exist. You still exist, so I still love you. Nice, clean logic there. Now it's time to tell you about a fun technique called morning pages. I learned about morning pages from the book The Artists Way by Julia Cameron.

How do morning pages work? Easy. Sit down and write 3 pages. It works best in the morning - surprise, surprise. When school starts, though, you might experiment a little with the time. The time of day isn't nearly as important as writing. So if evenings work better, write in the evenings. Call them goodnight pages instead. But sit down and write. The only rule is that you write at least 3 pages. 1 side of paper equals 1 page. Front and back counts as 2 pages.

Write down whatever pops into your head. Do not filter or discard thoughts. Write them down. Not relevant? Totally different topic? Write it down. The writing doesn't have to make sense. No one is going to read it. This is completely private. It stays between you and God. Angry? Thoughts of revenge? Write it down. Excited and what to share it? Write it down. Sad? Write it down. Hear the rain on the roof? Write it down. Whatever pops into your head - write it down.

Ignore spelling and grammar. Don't go back and "fix" stuff. I ramble a lot while writing. Actually, I drift into my head and forget to write. I'm trying to say that there is no wrong way of doing this - as long as you write 3 pages.

This is called stream of consciousness writing. The topic doesn't matter. Don't bother with paragraphs. Start writing and go until you fill 3 pages. Personally, I prefer typing. So I use a web site called 750 words. Try it for a month and see if you like it.

Three pages engages your subconscious mind. It engages your spirit. You know, the spirit that God created in His image? It's where your deepest desires live. It's your heart. It's in your spirit that you connect with God.

The Holy Spirit lives inside you. See that Spirit again? Guess where He is. Yep, in your spirit. When you connect with your spirit - your heart, you connect with the Holy Spirit. He connects you with God. Know what? That's what God wants.

Morning pages are just one way of connecting with God. He enjoys your company, just like I do. And for the same reason - He loves you because you exist. The Bible talks about casting all our cares on Jesus. Morning pages are a great way to start. Let it all out. God already knows about the sadness, happiness, anger, fear, and love inside of you. Even with all of that, you exist. And the only reason He loves you is because you exist. So tell Him all of those feelings.

You and I hold our feelings in. We hide away the ones that hurt. That hurt, the pain, it stops us from connecting with God. When you let it out, when you yell at Him and put all of that anger on Him, He takes it. He takes it and moves it out of the way. And what's left is Him. When the voice in your head stops talking, you can hear His voice. I want you to hear that voice. Because I can never love you as much as He does. And I want you to know that you're loved.

The Artists Way describes morning pages as a way of jump starting creativity. You are way creative. That is a quality that God has definitely given you in abundance. He is a creator. He created this entire universe. All of those cool laws of mathematics - He wrote them. You are made in His image. When you connect with God, He brings out that wonderful quality in You. His creativity flows through you. And that makes you happy. I like it when you're happy. God likes it when you're happy.

I love you.