Therapeutic Journaling | How To Process Your Emotions with Anytime Pages
Hey Muses! If you're watching this video, you're probably trying to figure out how to process some tough feelings, or you have a great big life quandary you're trying to figure out.
By the end of this video, you'll know the in's and out's of a really simple but powerful journaling process that I absolutely love for just those situations: when you've got shit to process, and you've got things to figure out.
Watch the video below, or read on for the transcript.
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So if you've been with me the past couple of videos, you know I have been talking a lot about my decade long groundhog day hell and how, exactly, I got out of it.
In my early groundhog day years I was referred to a book that many, many creatives have touted was "the thing" that got them unstuck in their lives. And that book is called "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron.
It's a wonderful book, and I still recommend it as a resource.
But did it get me out of my groundhog's day hell?
No.
Does it have some amazing tools in it?
Yes.
One of those tools is what Julia Cameron calls "Morning Pages." And I'm gonna tell you a little bit more about those in a minute.
Fast forward to the later years of my groundhog day hell, and I signed up for a course called "Write Into Light," which was a new writing course taught by one of my favorite life coaches, Martha Beck. She is renowned for her work and has written many amazing books. And this was her first time diving into teaching writing, but not necessarily how to write, but how to use writing as a tool for healing and, for lack of a better word, enlightenment. The class was absolutely incredible.
And for those of you keeping track: yes, taking this class was part of what set me on the course to choosing to start writing thirty minutes every weekday. And that commitment is what ultimately got me out of my groundhog day hell.
And then, long story short, that wonderful course "Write Into Light" gave me even more tools to add to my morning pages toolbelt. And that toolbelt is what I want to share with you today.
Because what I call "Anytime Pages" can be your secret weapon to help you process difficult emotions and experiences, problem solve, and experience deep self-exploration and discovery.
How do I know it's that powerful? Because I still use this tool to this day, and I coach my clients to use it regularly. Now it's your turn to learn this really simple but powerful journaling process. So let's get to it.
So first of all, to understand this process you need to understand where it comes from: Julia Cameron's Morning Pages. This is a practice she describes in depth in her book "The Artist's Way." And it's basically a journaling exercise that you're supposed to do every morning first thing when you wake up. You pick up a pen, you pick up some paper, and you write until either twenty minutes have gone by, or you have filled three pages completely, whichever comes first. And the idea is that you're writing stream of consciousness that whole time so you're never stopping writing. You keep writing on the page, "I don't know what to write I don't know what to write," until stuff starts coming out of you. And the idea is that by making this a consistent practice in your life, first thing every morning, and just letting your brain clear the clutter and just brain vomit onto the page, over time you'll experience more clarity because you're able to process stuff that comes up, and you'll be able to focus better. And, as many people who use this practice habitually can say, they have huge "aha" moments the longer they engage in this habit.
That being said, I have multiple chronic illnesses and struggle with a history of trauma, and devoting that much of my morning to writing by hand every single day, that ultimately is not a sustainable practice for me. "A," it's very painful for me to write by hand that long, let alone without taking breaks, and also I have over time come to a different kind of morning routine that really helps me get ready for my day. I don't necessarily... The way my brain works, doing morning pages every day just doesn't work. So instead I adjust it slightly based on what I learned in Martha' Beck's "Write Into Light" course. And I use it instead as a targeted journaling tool that I use if and when I need it, instead of every day as a habit.
So the first thing you need to decide when you're about to do Anytime Pages for the first time, is whether or not you're going to write by hand (with a pen or a pencil on paper), or if you're gonna type. This is hard because so many people who are proponents of morning pages are avid that you have to do it by hand, and I understand where that comes from. Because there is something very somatic about writing by hand, and that can lead to much more profound insights just because of the way your brain is connecting to your hand while you write. And it also forces you to slow down a little bit and think about things more. Whereas if you can type really fast, you might be typing so fast you might be typing so fast you're not actually engaging with what you are typing.
So I recommend that you try both ways for starting out and learn what works best for you. And if you, like me, struggle with chronic pain and doing it by hand just effin' hurts, don't do it that way. Type. It's okay. You might have to maybe increase the amount of time you write by just a little bit, but it really should be okay as long as you're really engaging with the words that you are typing, and really trying to create that somatic experience of the writing through typing instead of hand writing.
You've picked your medium, and now we need to talk about something called, "writing stream of consciousness." I mentioned this earlier in describing Julia Cameron's original morning pages. Writing stream of consciousness is the idea that (and I'm gonna to use the analogy of writing by hand here 'cause that's the easiest way to explain it), you press your pen to the paper and the pen does not come off the page until the timer goes off, and you keep the pen moving. So if you were typing, you would need to keep your fingers typing. And so even if you're drawing a blank, you can write, "I'm drawing a blank."
You just need to keep writing until more stuff comes up.
So now let's do a really shallow dive into what on Earth you're actually writing stream of consciousness about. If you're watching this video, you, you saw the title. It's probably 'cause you're trying to process something, you're trying to figure something out. So that is the thing you want to write stream of consciousness about. You want to dive as deep into it and develop as much understanding of the problem (or the feeling, or the situation), you just want to peel back all the layers and get as deep as you can until you start experiencing some "aha" moments. And I'm going to get to that in a minute, because the next part of this process after picking your medium, and writing stream of consciousness, is about timing how long you're writing.
In the meantime, I was always one of those pen and paper nerds who were just obsessed with new journals. I would get so many new journals and I would write in them maybe five days, and then never write in them again. So many journals. If you were like me and your history is littered with barely started journals, let me know in the comments below.
All right, so the next step is setting a time for twenty minutes.
For Julia Cameron's original morning pages, you either stopped when twenty minutes were up, or if you had stream of consciousness filled three entire pages. Whichever came first, that's when you would stop.
As someone with chronic pain, I could never fill up three pages. It just... [GROAN] Ow! So I always stuck with the twenty minute timer.
And this is something that you have to experience for yourself, but something magical happens at around the fifteen minute mark of writing stream of consciousness. Usually by that time you have vomited enough information out of your head onto the page, or onto your computer, that you have clarity. And the stuff that's really under the surface driving the situation or driving the feeling, whatever nugget of gold there is for you to discover, finally starts becoming visible around the fifteen minute mark. And that's why you keep going until twenty minutes, because usually you can completely unearth that nugget of gold by the time twenty minutes comes up.
So I have a client in my Accountability Muse coaching membership right now. And on a previous workshop ('cause I teach a workshop inside the membership every month), on a previous workshop I had a journaling exercise like this, but with a very specific prompt that was related to that workshop. And I timed it and I made my clients do the journaling exercise life during the workshop. And one of my clients immediately was annoyed with me. She's like, "Ugh. I don't want to, but I know it's gonna help." And low and behold, just by making it part of the workshop and a part of the live experience so she was encouraged to engage and really do it right then and there... ('Cause I was setting a timer and I was doing it with them actually.) By the end we all had amazing insights about the topic at hand, and it was so powerful. And she was like, "Yeah. I hated it. But around fifteen minutes, magic happened."
So it can happen to you, too.
You'll get used to this process the more you do it, and you might discover that twenty-two minutes is your sweet spot, twenty-five minutes is your sweet spot. I would not push it more than thirty minutes maximum. Somewhere between twenty and thirty minutes is probably your sweet spot.
And if you're typing, it might be closer to thirty minutes than twenty, because it takes longer to engage that somatic experience in the brain.
If you really engage in the process and write stream of consciousness about what's bothering you without stopping, somewhere around the fifteen to twenty minute mark you are something about what you're dealing with that is gonna help you move forward and it is incredible.
That might be all you need. Depending on what you're dealing with, you might only need to do one session and you're good. But for other things, larger feelings, larger experiences, bigger dilemmas, you might have to repeat this process.
And I would say definitely always give yourself a break after doing one twenty to thirty minute session. At least an hour if not two, if not a whole day (maybe come back to it the next day).
But then what you do when you need to come back a second time, you read through what you wrote in the previous writing session and as you're reading you just circle the things that really stick out to you and strike a chord with you. And then when you're done you go back and you look at all the things that struck a chord with you, and you pick the one that resonates the most with you - that just feels like there's more gold to be had there. And you take that nugget and that becomes your new prompt for your next writing session.
And you start with that, and you set a timer for twenty to thirty minutes, and you go.
You can rinse and repeat this process as many times as you need to (but remember: taking breaks in between), to discover what you need to discover to either process, or heal, or move forward.
So there you have it. The simple yet powerful journaling process I like to call "Anytime Pages."
(Because if you didn't get it from that name, you can use this anytime. It doesn't have to be first thing when you wake up in the morning like Julia Cameron recommends for morning pages. That's a different thing. And if you're really interested in morning pages specifically, feel free to let me know in the comments and I can do a specific video on that.)
But right now I just want you to understand Anytime Pages as a tool you can use any time to help you process, solve problems, explore yourself, and just find the nuggets of gold that are waiting underneath the surface for you to discover so you can grow and move forward.
When you do this exercise, if you have any big aha's and are comfortable sharing, please come back to this video and share your aha's in the comments. I would love to hear about them.
So today we touched a little bit on how just the right amount of time can be magical in helping you get unstuck. How somewhere in that fifteen to twenty minute mark of writing stream of consciousness you start to uncover golden nuggets or aha's that help you move forward.
If you're interested in some more wibbly wobbly timey wimey magic, I highly recommend checking out my free Masterclass that I call "Butt In Chair Time." It's my super weapon against procrastination and resistance, and it also utilized the magic of setting a timer in a very specific, purposeful way. You can get access to the Masterclass for free by clicking here and signing up with your name and email address.
If you liked this video, hit that like button and be sure to subscribe and share it with someone you know. Because I think we could all use this kind of super weapon in our back pocket for when we need it, especially during times like these.
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