Mornin' Pages: What Again?
One of the benefits of working on the play in San Francisco is the wonderful group of new people I have added to my life. I can honestly say I have affection for every one of the cast and crew, and my life is vastly enriched by them. And one of those people, the actor playing Myrrh, the role I played a year ago, is starting an Artist's Way group, which I am going to join.
If you remember, The Artist's Way is the book about creative/spiritual practice from which I originally lifted the ritual (oft neglected) of the Morning Page. Well, if I'm going to be joining a group to go through the exercises in the book again - something I did once before several years ago, and which led me to, amongst other things, go ahead and dye my hair a bright color - then I need to resume the practice of doing a Morning Page.
Now I've already decided to break the rules. The rules are you have to do the morning page first thing in the morning before you do anything else, and you have to do it on paper with a writing implement in hand: typing it on the computer is not allowed. On the other hand, I hate writing things by hand, and I often have something I need to do immediately in the morning, usually because I have slept as long as possible before rising. If the goal is to write daily, to clear the clutter, free the mind, and let the writing come, and doing it here on the computer is going to get me over the hurdle and get me writing, then maybe this is okay.
Or maybe I should do both. After all, there is something to be said for painful discipline. I went to a Zen meditation class on Sunday, something I'd never done before, I was surprised by how much physical pain is involved in sitting still with good posture. We did three sessions of seated meditation, in twenty-five minute increments, and three sessions of walking meditation in five minute increments. I found staying in the moment wasn't the hard part, it was taking the pain in my mid-back. Evidently it takes a lot of core strength to meditate. Who knew?
One of my objections to the hand-written morning pages is my hand cramps. But one of the things I got out of my hand written morning pages, back when I was taking that class, was sketches and doodles. Still, on the whole, I'd rather have the typed version, I say more, say it more freely, and feel more connected to the words when I type them than when I write them. Is that strange?
I suppose I should start with re-reading the book. Yes. That's definitely what I should do. And, you know, make time for these morning pages. Anyway, here is one.
If you remember, The Artist's Way is the book about creative/spiritual practice from which I originally lifted the ritual (oft neglected) of the Morning Page. Well, if I'm going to be joining a group to go through the exercises in the book again - something I did once before several years ago, and which led me to, amongst other things, go ahead and dye my hair a bright color - then I need to resume the practice of doing a Morning Page.
Now I've already decided to break the rules. The rules are you have to do the morning page first thing in the morning before you do anything else, and you have to do it on paper with a writing implement in hand: typing it on the computer is not allowed. On the other hand, I hate writing things by hand, and I often have something I need to do immediately in the morning, usually because I have slept as long as possible before rising. If the goal is to write daily, to clear the clutter, free the mind, and let the writing come, and doing it here on the computer is going to get me over the hurdle and get me writing, then maybe this is okay.
Or maybe I should do both. After all, there is something to be said for painful discipline. I went to a Zen meditation class on Sunday, something I'd never done before, I was surprised by how much physical pain is involved in sitting still with good posture. We did three sessions of seated meditation, in twenty-five minute increments, and three sessions of walking meditation in five minute increments. I found staying in the moment wasn't the hard part, it was taking the pain in my mid-back. Evidently it takes a lot of core strength to meditate. Who knew?
One of my objections to the hand-written morning pages is my hand cramps. But one of the things I got out of my hand written morning pages, back when I was taking that class, was sketches and doodles. Still, on the whole, I'd rather have the typed version, I say more, say it more freely, and feel more connected to the words when I type them than when I write them. Is that strange?
I suppose I should start with re-reading the book. Yes. That's definitely what I should do. And, you know, make time for these morning pages. Anyway, here is one.