As a writer, it can be fairly easy to succumb to the dreaded phase of creative block in my process. When the ideas flow, they feel light and airy, and the words leave my mind with little to no effort. And when they don't, I can easily find myself staring at my laptop, both overwhelmed and underwhelmed by the blank page in front of me. Filling the blank space with words no longer feels like second nature, and where there once was ease, there is suddenly resistance. Whether it’s due to burnout or the ideas are just not as free-flowing as I'm accustomed to, brain fog is real. However, through trial and error, I have learned that it is very possible to access creativity by exercising those areas of the mind.
I never thought the answer to not being able to write could be more writing, but there is something there in that recipe. Through journaling, I have been able to free myself from the confines of mental blocks, find my center, release anxious thoughts, and discover answers to questions I didn't know I had. Recently, I have taken journaling a step further by moving away from guided journaling and embracing flow even more through the practice of morning pages.
What Are Morning Pages?
For those of you unfamiliar with what morning pages are, it consists of writing three pages in a stream of consciousness. No rhyme or reason, just writing your thoughts by putting pen to paper and thereby offering you a release. The concept of morning pages got its origin from author Julia Cameron and her book The Artist’s Way. In it, she described how utilizing the tool has transformed her ability to create. Although her solution was given in the context of being a writer, creativity flows in and out of our lives in a plethora of ways. You don't have to be a painter or a musician to be creative.
Creativity is everywhere. It finds us as we create solutions for problems we may encounter in our life, love, and work just like it does when we're thinking of composition in the next photo we take. Bottom line, morning pages are an outlet for decluttering your mind while also helping you connect to your creativity which in turn speaks to your inner child in a nurturing way.
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The Difference Between Journaling and Morning Pages as a Daily Practice
For people who might already be into traditional journaling, you might be wondering what the difference between journaling and morning pages is. While both practices can be done daily and act as tools for catharsis, morning pages hold a deeper purpose, and the practice is done in a more ritualistic way. Morning pages is a practice that is structured, as you do it daily, it acts as a means to spark your creative process, and isn’t bound by feelings. Instead, morning pages are more focused on the mind and clearing what’s in it. As Cameron said in her book, the intention behind morning pages as a daily practice is to “sweep our consciousness clean.”
Journaling, however, is often done more sporadically with the intent to write out your feelings. Journaling can cross over into morning pages territory but is often less rigid in frequency and length. Conversely, morning pages are written every morning and are generally three pages in length.
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Prompts for Writing Daily Morning Pages
So, what do you write in your morning pages? It is encouraged to take time in the morning to sit and write down your thoughts for three pages with a pen to paper. The beauty of writing morning pages daily is that you begin your day with clarity and creativity. There is no specific guideline about what you have to write about. However, for people who might find themselves stalled on where to begin, prompts for writing morning pages might be helpful to start.
If you want to start writing morning pages but don’t know how to begin your practice, here are 10 prompts for morning pages to get you started:
- Do you believe your dreams speak to you? If so, what have yours been saying to you lately?
- What are you currently most grateful for in your life?
- If gratitude is something you're just adopting, what was the journey to gratitude like?
- Name 5-7 things you love about yourself and your life.
- Name the things you feel neutral about in regard to yourself and your life.
- What are things that you absolutely don’t like about yourself or your life?
- Is pleasure something you allow yourself to feel freely? What are some ways you give yourself pleasure?
- Where are you right now and what are things about your surroundings that make you feel safe?
- Are there things about yourself or your life that you haven’t forgiven yourself for yet? Why or why not?
- What is a word that defines your life right now? In turn, what are some lessons you’re currently learning or relearning?
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Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak