MY MORNING MINDFULNESS STORY

She looked at me and said, “I see writing...a lot of writing.”

I was like, “No, no, no, no, you must have it wrong. Look again. I’m an artist. Maybe you meant painting or drawing.”

This is pretty much verbatim how the tarot card reading went a few years ago.  I left the reading thinking, “That was a load of crap. She has no idea what she’s doing.”

Well, about six months after that reading, I took a sip of my coffee and closed my daily journal, a new routine I began after reading An Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.  The light-bulb turned on, bright in my head – a daily journal…. CRAP!  She did know what she was doing!

It’s been 2 years now and I’m still learning what living mindfully & peacefully means to me.  I don’t know if I’ll ever stop learning, but I’m making slow and steady progress.  My daily journal has become part of my Morning Mindfulness routine, which helps me prioritize peacefulness and gratitude, navigate through mindset blocks and find focus & clarity. It even helped me move from the Corporate world to doing what I love!

Sounds great, right?  Peacefulness, calm, clarity, focus, presence…

I would love for everyone to have this in their life, so I created these shortcuts to my Morning Mindfulness.

This is how it works for me….

I get up in the morning at least 20 minutes before everyone else.  I make the coffee (coffee is my cardinal rule - I do not function well without my coffee).  I even have a sign in my kitchen that says, “Coffee First You People Later”, so it’s that serious!

I then find my journal and pen.  The only way to journal for this is with a pen and notebook. Typing negates this entire process because our finger will always find that backspace key and typing engages our conscious mind rather than our subconscious mind.  The goal of a morning journal isn’t to analyze and labor over thought.  It’s to allow thoughts to come easily and unedited from mind to paper.  I even treat myself to a nice journal with a colorful cover so I look forward to writing each day. 

Rule #1 is always pen and paper.

Every day I find my journal and pen and I go to someplace where I’m at ease, which is my most comfortable, relaxing and inspiring spot given the weather.  I say “given the weather” because my favorite spot is outside on the patio.  If the weather isn’t great, I have my next best spots inside.  Cozy, comfy and inspired helps me settle in, but you do you. It may be in the middle of a busy kitchen. Find some place and time that works for you.

Rule #2 is to find a comfortable, relaxing, inspirational spot.

Next, I take a minute or two to appreciate the quiet, the morning and what’s around me.  I like to think of my journaling as a form of active meditation.   If you meditate, go for it…it’s great a journal with meditation, but it’s not required.  I open my journal and I write for three pages.  Why three pages?  Well, I have found that there is some weird magic to three pages. Initially, I set out to do three pages on the advice of Julia Cameron who wrote The Artist’s Way, but now it’s because of the magic.

Before I go into the magic, let me be honest about the three pages.  When I first started, I really and truly resented the three pages.  It seemed so very long…too long. I just didn’t have the patience for it.  I got antsy and I started to cheat the system. 

“She didn’t say how big I had to write, so I’ll write really big.”

“She didn’t say I couldn’t skip a line, so I skipped a line, sometimes two…”

“She didn’t say how big the three pages should be, so I got smaller and smaller journals.”

Eventually I realized the only thing I was cheating was me. Today, my journal is about 7 inches x 10 inches. Now for the magic! I write for three pages because I’ve found that the magic always seems to happen on page three.  An idea, a breakthrough, the calm I was hoping for or that one thing that must move to the top of my to do list is inevitably on page three of my daily journal. 

Rule #3 is to write for three pages.

What to write is the easy part.  First, let me tell you this is absolutely not a flashback to that diary you wrote in middle school documenting what happened the day before.  It’s also not writing fiction that you think will appear on the top of the best seller list.  It is something that no one but you will likely ever read, so let your writing be unedited and whatever comes to mind.

Rule #4 is to never edit, criticize or judge what you write on these three pages.

This is active journaling with a goal of becoming (fill in the blank)….more present, more calm, organized, grateful, unafraid, aware…..You can accomplish so much in this exercise.  I’ve included a list of ideas for what to write about with goals in mind (see the chart on page 3…ha!  See!  Even here the magic is on Page 3!).  Pick and choose what you want to do.  I recommend that you begin with and practice the most basic active journaling (which is how I started).  Write what you observe.  What do you hear? (Maybe the AC fan just stopped surprising you with how much more quiet morning can be before everyone wakes up.)   How do you feel?  (Maybe you feel grateful for how cool it is outside that morning. Maybe you feel tired that particular day. Just be careful about complaints.  Sometimes they go nowhere and waste this precious time.)  What do you see?  (Maybe there is a squirrel jumping from branch to branch. As I’m writing this, there are two months doing a beautiful weaving dance around my hydrangeas.)  You’ll have plenty to write and this helps you to become more observant, more present in the here and now.

Rule #5 is to begin and let your thoughts flow from mind to pen to paper.

My early journals were filled with mundane observations like about how my dog sniffed the grass and always seemed to walk the same path only to find her spot right next to me.  I didn’t judge or cross anything out in my journal.  I just kept writing until I got to page 3.  Sometimes I don’t want to stop for another page or two and I let that happen when it does. 

Discipline and routine are what gets us through the days when struggle knocks on our door and we’re already tired.  I call this activity Morning Mindfulness because I do this every morning.  I believe that what you do in the morning shows priority and has a greater chance of becoming habit.  On the occasion when I miss a few days of morning mindfulness, I usually start to realize that my mind is more cluttered.  So, if possible, try to do this in the morning, every morning.  I read somewhere that it takes 90 days to create a habit, so give it a try for 90 days and see how you feel.  Now that I’ve just pushed mornings on you, I will say that mindfulness journaling has helped me at any time of day when I’ve needed it.

Advice #1 is to incorporate journaling into your mornings so it becomes a disciplined routine.

The question I get most often is how I do this with a busy family.  Well, getting up before everyone to start it is the key.  You don’t need to finish before they wake up, you just need to start.  When kids wake up and find you with no TV on, no phone and quietly writing, they learn quickly that it is your time and that when you finish (in about 20 minutes), you’re all theirs.  Initially, my kids (and husband) would interrupt me and I would tell them what I was doing.  Then they would sometimes forget and ask me a lot of questions, which I would politely ignore because I already told them what I was doing.  During this period of adjustment, I have to admit that my journals would switch mid way into my 3 pages to say, “The house is waking up.” Then I would go on and on about the noises they made, the questions they asked or the good morning hug they gave (yes please!) and how that made me feel. Eventually, it sunk in that I get my time in the morning.

Advice #2 is to get started before anyone wakes up and your family will learn it’s your time.

So, go carve out your time!  I’m so excited for you to work this into your day.  It really has been gold to me.  And if you have some breakthrough because of this, I’d love to hear it.  You can always send me an email or DM on Instagram. 

P.S. If you want some help getting started, I created a one page free resource for you with prompts to journal toward gratitude & patience, mindfulness & presence, manifestations, mindset shifts & affirmations.