The Foundation: Morning Pages & Artist Dates

My new contemplative The Artist’s Way book group | Week 0.5 [Bonus Pre Week]

Welcome back to The Artist’s Way group of my own dreams.

I was planning to jump straight into Week 1 this week then I stopped myself. I realised there was no way I could move on without going deeper into Julia Cameron’s two foundational tools. Because really, these tools are the course.

Julia writes:

“A lasting creative awakening requires the consistent use of both.”

She’s talking about Morning Pages and Artist Dates.

Simple in theory… deceptively challenging in practice. And deeply transformative if you actually do them.

Morning Pages

If you’ve heard of The Artist’s Way, you’ve probably heard of Morning Pages.

Three handwritten pages, every morning, first thing. No topic. No structure. No self criticism. Just write. Julia calls this a “brain drain,” and I love that description.

She writes:

“These daily morning meanderings are not meant to be art. Or even writing.”

Complaining. Rambling. Repeating yourself. Writing nonsense. Writing “I don’t know what to write” fifty times if necessary.

The point is not to produce something good, the point is to stop censoring yourself.

This stream-of-consciousness writing has been part of my life ever since I first worked through The Artist’s Way in 2007. Not every day, and there have been long stretches when I barely journaled at all, but I keep coming back to it.

Because it works.

Sometimes I wake up with thoughts buzzing so loudly in my head that writing them down feels like opening a pressure valve. Other times, Morning Pages reveal things I didn’t even know I was thinking.

Julia says no one should read your Morning Pages, not even you, for the first eight weeks or so.

Julia writes:

“The morning pages are the primary tool of creative recovery.”

They help us notice the voice of the inner critic, and this made me think immediately of Marion Rose’s Inner Loving Presence Process.

In Marion’s process, you write the harsh inner thoughts in one column, then in another column, you respond from an Inner Loving Presence, perhaps an Inner Loving Mother, Father, Partner, Teacher, or Guide. In this context, perhaps an Inner Loving Art Teacher, or an Inner Loving Editor.

What would the most loving, healing response be? This can be incredibly healing.

Imagine writing:

“I’m terrible at this.”

“This is stupid.”

“No one cares what I have to say.”

And then answering from love. That kind of inner reparenting can be deeply healing.

If you’re doing this course with sincerity, Morning Pages really are essential. Start tomorrow morning, use a new journal or scrap paper, but begin.

Artist Dates

If Morning Pages are the clearing out, Artist Dates are the filling up.

Julia says:

“Think of this combination of tools in terms of a radio receiver and transmitter… Doing your morning pages, you are sending… Doing your artist date, you are receiving.”

I love that.

An Artist Date is a block of time set aside to nurture your creative consciousness. A play date with yourself… a date with your inner artist.

It might look like:

• a walk on the beach
• wandering through a nursery
• an old movie
• time in a library
• journalling in a coffee shop
• live music
• a poetry reading
• browsing a fabric shop

Anything that sparks curiosity, delight, wonder, beauty. And yes, Julia is quite firm about one thing: go alone.

I suspect this is the part many mothers will resist most, because we’ve become so used to our time belonging to everyone else. Arranging childcare so you can spend two hours alone doing something joyful and “unproductive” can feel wildly indulgent.

And yet… that may be exactly why it matters.

I honestly think this practice alone could be transformational for many mothers. How many mothers do you know who regularly spend time alone doing something purely for pleasure?

Julia says that if you avoid Artist Dates, it may be fear of self-intimacy.

She writes:

“In order to have a real relationship with our creativity, we must take the time and care to cultivate it.”

Yes. Creativity needs feeding… so do we.

This Week’s Invitation

Before we begin Week 1, here are three simple invitations:

• Read the Introduction to The Artist’s Way if you haven’t yet.
• Start your Morning Pages. Three handwritten pages every morning.
• Take yourself on an Artist Date this week. Go somewhere beautiful or interesting, preferably alone.

If you’re joining me for this journey, I’d love to know.

Leave a comment below and tell me where you’re reading from, whether you’ve worked through The Artist’s Way before, and what you hope to find over the next twelve weeks.

I’ll see you next Thursday for Week 1.

With love,