Beauty and the Gi: Gripping Conversations about Jiu-Jitsu and Life: 77: Writing Morning Pages for High Performance

77: Writing Morning Pages for High Performance

Mar 15, 2020

How are you? That feels like a loaded question this week, in a time of social distancing, uncertainty, and fear about what happens next.

Earlier in the week, I pulled out my journal to write my daily affirmations. We just talked about writing affirmations in Ep 73 of the podcast. It’s part of my daily morning routine. But on Tuesday, the more I wrote, the worse I felt because none of them were ringing true for me.

I got so frustrated that I finally stopped and scribbled, “This is all BS.” Then I just started writing everything that I was feeling inside. It felt so good to have an emotional purge and get it all out in a few pages. It was like a little visit back to my practice of writing morning pages.

Later in the week, I was working on a podcast for a client and they mentioned Morning Pages and Julia Cameron. Julia Cameron is the author of a book called The Artists Way - A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity.

In this book, she walks us through the daily practice of writing morning pages. It’s a simple exercise of just opening up your journal and writing out in longhand, 3 pages of whatever is on your mind. The beauty of this exercise is that there is no wrong way to do it. You just have to do it. You open up your journal and if you feel it, if you think about it, you write it down.

The purpose is that getting these thoughts out of your head on onto the paper opens up space for creativity. Right now, this feels like the morning practice I need to create the focus and clarity I need to perform at a higher level on and off the mat.

What would happen if you walked into your next jiu-jitsu class and your mind was a blank slate? What if you weren’t thinking about what you needed to pick up from the store on the way home, or replaying a frustrating conversation with a co-worker? Would you have more capacity to retain what you were learning? Would you take better notes? Would you recognize the opportunity to actually put into practice what you learned in your next roll? My fellow white belts, would it all finally start to click?

I am committed to a daily practice of writing my morning pages. I’m also going back and re-reading The Artist’s Way by Julie Cameron.

Would you like to join me in getting the distractions out of our heads so we can show up in the world and perform at a higher level?

You can start your writing by answering the question I asked at the top of the episode. How are you?

I will be posting about his weekly in our Beauty and the Gi Gang Facebook group. Join the group if you haven’t already.

Tag us on Instagram @beuatyandthegipodcast and let us know how writing morning pages is impacting you.

Podcasts are one thing that do not require social distancing. Share this podcast or another favorite podcast you have on social media. You taking a minute to do a screenshot and sharing it on social media is the number one way we reach more people with the podcast.

Thanks for listening and we will see you on the mat.