morning pages and other great habits

It is so easy to let habits go by the wayside, even when you know how greatly they benefit you and the way you approach life and the world and the challenges within. A habit I have allowed to become a rarity rather than a ritual is that of Morning Pages.

There is nothing I have found so freeing as relinquishing my struggles and fears and joys and gratitude to ink and paper, but I have found it hard to want to sit quietly with my thoughts for half an hour when I could instead sit with Tom and a cup of tea. There are only so many hours in the day, and instead of looking at how I spend my time and adjusting to allow for all those things I so greatly love and benefit from, I simply chose one instead of the other. I made Morning Pages a rare task usually assigned to a boring bus ride or a particularly difficult interaction I need to get off my chest. Morning Pages became a bandaid for times in need and overlooked when I didn't feel too greatly overwhelmed.

Tom, who has noticed his need for more mindfulness and greater self-care throughout this past year of changes and stresses, was instantly drawn to these ideas. I am consistently surprised by his desire to create better habits and be more mindful of his approach to stress and also to joy. We are more alike in some ways than I could have ever predicted.

He was drawn to the first of the five most particularly, I think, because it was so outside of his norm. I write constantly and always use it as a tool to process my thoughts when my mind seems to be teeming with many. We agreed to sit every night and write freely for three sides of paper. I was really pleased to be getting back into daily free writing and to have someone to hold me accountable, he was interested in the experiment, as is his nature, and wanted to see for himself if this process holds any weight to your wellbeing and general happiness. I think he was surprised.