Kathy describes morning pages from The Artist's Way, emphasizing handwriting, doing three pages first thing, stream-of-consciousness writing, and avoiding rereading to prevent self-editing.
Kathy greets the audience from Erie, Pennsylvania, explains her QuadraSphere handle and caregiving theme, and sets up the livestream's focus on silence, contemplation, and journaling.
Kathy describes morning pages from The Artist's Way, emphasizing handwriting, doing three pages first thing, stream-of-consciousness writing, and avoiding rereading to prevent self-editing.
She explains how morning pages can reframe mindset, retrieve creativity, and provide structure amid caregiving chaos, before transitioning to a closing poem.
Kathy previews other QuadraSphere events, reminds viewers of the value of morning pages, and mentions she'll end with a poem titled 'Guess What, Morning Pages.'
Hello cadre family. Because I'm going to be talking a little bit about silence and contemplation, I thought I'd begin my life with a calm moment of contemplation. Good morning from Northwestern Pennsylvania on the lake, one of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie, and I'm in the city of Erie. And my handle for the Quadra Sphere is Speak Wonder. My theme is harbors and harbor pilots and all the symbolism and allegory that goes with that in the caregiving picture. Thursday, of course, is Caregiver Day. Last week when I was winding down my live, last Thursday, I promised you I would bring you some Tools for the trade of journaling and I journal in a very unorthodox way.
Not that there is a formula or a set way to do it. Not at all. Today we'll talk about morning pages. I'm sitting down on the floor for my live today because behind me you'll see this beautiful art rendering of a lighthouse. I love lighthouses. I love lighthouse paintings. I love original artwork. And this comes from Colorado. One year my husband for Christmas said, here's some cash, go get something that gives you joy and it'll be from me. Now that could be some people could say, well, he could have figured out what brings you joy and gone and purchased it for himself.
But he knew there was this one special artist boutique where I'd been lingering over different artwork. He wanted me to pick the one that spoke most to my soul and it's this one by Diane Osborne of Colorado. I love that the housing below the lighthouse structure is made of wood, almost like a barn structure. I love the drama in the sky. There's little splashes of waves down here in the foreground. You can see the shoreline a bit. Why am I sitting on the floor to show you this picture? A couple of reasons.
One being that here in my tiny house where I rent, my landlord doesn't particularly like nails in the wall for hanging pictures. He'll tolerate those command strips, I think they're called, but even those have a tendency to pull away the paint. And this is a very heavy painting. So I have elected to lean in against my bookcase right under this window, which has an air conditioning unit in it. Okay, that's the first reason it's not on the wall. So I wanted to be at a level with the beautiful artwork to show you.
The second reason is just yesterday I had my five-year-old granddaughter over and She walked into my apartment and immediately I had just put this out for display. It was somewhere else in the house and I decided to lean in against this bookcase that's behind it. At her height, it's perfect height for her and she walked toward it with this sense of wonder on her face and she said, oh ma. I'm walking right to the lighthouse and in her literal five-year-old way of processing, she was using her big imagination and pretending to be in the picture with the lighthouse.
It was such a great moment, such a great moment to see her response. By now, she knows that Oma, this girl, is crazy about lighthouses and boats. I also love maps and she's learning to love maps. She can show me where the roads are on an atlas and where the rivers and bodies of water are. I think it's time to learn North, South, East, West with her. She is a delight. So I determined in that moment yesterday that this is where I would plant myself here on the living room floor for the cadre live today Thursday why is journaling such a hurdle to cross because it is for me sometimes missed live stream I don't think I missed my live stream so I'm going to plug forward is that okay with you guys in fact if you're here in the live could you send me a heart or a comment or tell me where you're watching from because I don't think I missed it.
I did all the things. I did the speed test. I ensured that I have do not disturb all the things a contributor does to get ready to go live. I believe I might have had this message last week so I'm going to power through and if in fact this live didn't carry then I'll reschedule within the next 15 minutes and get back with you. How's that? One thing among many in the cadre is you can pivot and adapt, pivot and adapt, make it work. If it didn't work the first time, that's okay. Pivot, adapt and cope.
This is a mental wellness space and it's a safe place and it's a place of encouragement. Why do I come on Caregiver Day? Because I am a caregiver to my 95-year-old mom. And I relate to the other contributors on this day in a specific personal way. Every day on the Quadrosphere has something great to offer. Harbor Pilots is my theme. My real name is Kathy Joy, and I'm a poet. In fact, I'm going to end today's session with a poem. Journaling. As I posed the question, why is it such a hurdle to get over?
Because it is for me and I'm an author and I love words, I love writing, but I'm not a big fan of journaling. However, now that I've discovered a thing called morning pages, I'm into it. comes from a book called The Artist's Way and it is not within reach right now. I'll probably post it in the conversation stream, even a picture of the book, perhaps to inspire you. It's a lovely book and it devotes a few chapters just to this very thing, Morning Pages. Morning Pages, if you want to try journaling, try this.
I think you'll learn to love it. should be handwritten. There's something in your neural pathway where handwriting releases something in your brain different from hovering your fingers over a keyboard. or texting. Actual handwriting on paper is good for our brains. It should be handwritten and every morning before the clutter, the chaos, if possible, before the day takes a momentum of its own, you should sit and do some morning pages, three pages. And it helps you retrieve your creativity. But in order to retrieve what is creative about you, you need to find it in the first place.
Clear the mental clutter by doing morning pages. There are some rules and they're really kind of fun and easy rules. Three pages every day and stream of consciousness. Did you ever have that in literature class when you were in school? Stream of consciousness is writing whatever comes to your mind. Let that come out of your pen. Longhand only handwriting, as I mentioned, it slows down your thinking and engages different neural pathways. in a good way. Do it first thing in the morning before those daily obligations crowd into your awareness and shape your mindset before the to do list, before packing the lunch, if possible.
You know, any kind of journaling is a discipline and you want to make the discipline of journaling as doable as possible or you won't do it. Here's a core rule. No rereading for at least 8 weeks. This prevents self-editing and therefore it prevents judgment from you, from your inner dialogue. Core rule, write anything, anything, complaints, random thoughts, boredom. All of these are valid. In fact, I looked back, which I'm not supposed to do, but I found a couple of entries where I wrote the same sentence.
over and over and over. One morning I wrote, breathe into the moment. Breathe into the moment. Breathe into the moment. And I say it again, breathe into the moment. Is anybody here? I do not see comments and I don't see heart emojis or anything. But the top left tells me I am live. So I shall plow forward. Breathe into the moment. Breathe into the moment. I know it sounds like a mantra, but again, morning pages are not meant to be refined, finished things or even are they meant to be complete thoughts.
Another thing I've repeated is this one. Why do I keep drinking substandard coffee? Why? I live across the street from a delightful cafe called the Buzz Cafe and they have the most delectable coffee and a great menu. Why am I drinking instant over here across the street? A question I posed in morning pages. Here's something I wrote. The hummingbird is dancing in the air, a feeding frenzy before migrating over the ocean. It's amazing once you start moving your hand across that page. how quickly three pages get completed.
I'm going to take four more minutes and then if this didn't fly I'm going to repeat it. Why does it matter if you're in the caregiving space? Why does it matter to journal? And I came up with some things. It matters because you're exploring your creative side in morning pages in the midst of your daily routine. So you're adjusting your mindset in the middle of the mundane or preemptively before things become rote in your day. Now I know caregiving can be chaotic and unpredictable and unforeseeable things happen so it's not always quote unquote mundane.
However, morning pages can kind of reframe your mindset before you get going into the fullness and possibility and chaos of your day. I will end with a poem titled, Guess What, Morning Pages. Morning pages, a place for dormant dreams as the pen lifts them out and up, rooted yet reaching, ready to emerge, stretching toward daylight. Large dreams reaching from small seeds. Coming up later in the quadra sphere, comedy through the chaos with your girl, Miss Shannon Paul. She's funny, she's relevant, she's honest, she's gritty.
The Menopause Mind with Dr. Cherise is coming up this evening in the quadra sphere. I invite you to go exploring, look in the conversation stream, look at the lives and do the replays. you won't be sorry. And don't forget, morning pages can be a real benefit.
