The Right to Write by Julia Cameron has been my constant companion over the past few months. It’s a perfect fit for my purse while waiting for friends or appointments. Practically every page is dog-eared, underlined, or asterisked. Several weeks ago, I shared this post on Morning Pages as a result.
Today, I’m sharing a tool called Evening Notes. After all, not every one is a morning person, right?
It goes something like this: Ten minutes before you fall asleep, jot down a few simple sentences about your day. Julia uses this as her example:
“Today was productive but uphill. I seemed to be fighting a depression but I took good actions anyhow. I’m really stewing over my friendship with Michael. I wonder what better can be done on the project at work…”
From these sentences, extract a single question to consider before falling asleep. Julia chose What can I do about the project at work?
Simply pose the question and don’t worry about the answer. Thanks to our brilliantly and divinely designed minds (thank You, God) many of our answers begin to emerge at some point.
I’ve experienced similar circumstances when doing something “mindless” like walking, taking a shower, or taking my dog out for a potty break. Ideas and answers to questions long forgotten find their way to the surface when least expected. No doubt, a different part of the brain is at work here and it’s awe-inspiring when it happens.
Julia Cameron encourages those who try this tool to be alert, to notice and tabulate small, positive changes or answers.
Practicing both Morning Pages and Evening Notes is optimal but on those mornings when even a third cup of liquid caffeine refuses to rally a creative bone, it’s nice to know we have an evening option.
How about you? Are you a morning person? Do you tend to write more in the mornings or evenings?
You wrote this one just for me, didn't you Cathy? "Not a morning person" would be my middle name if I were allowed to have such a long one!
I like the suggestion of writing down your thoughts before going to bed. Not sure about taking a simple question to ponder though. I'd probably wake up in the middle of the night. That seems to be a pattern lately and I don't want to encourage it.
Maybe writing down my thoughts before heading to bed will let my mind let them go. Then I can deal with it the next morning when I wake up!
You wrote this one just for me, didn't you Cathy? "Not a morning person" would be my middle name if I were allowed to have such a long one!
I like the suggestion of writing down your thoughts before going to bed. Not sure about taking a simple question to ponder though. I'd probably wake up in the middle of the night. That seems to be a pattern lately and I don't want to encourage it.
Maybe writing down my thoughts before heading to bed will let my mind let them go. Then I can deal with it the next morning when I wake up!
Ha! You're funny, Ellen. 🙂 I like your suggestion of writing the thoughts down and seeing how the answers emerge in the coming days. We need to do whatever works best for us!
I look forward to catching up with you very soon. 🙂
This is an interesting idea. Wonder how many answers would come simply because we've pricked our brain before bed. Though I can tend to stew about things I'm worried about, so I'm trying not to think about it before bed…
I stew too, Ginger. 🙁
It helps me to write things down before bedtime but I've not yet tried posing a question. Plan to give it a try over the next several days.
Thanks for taking the time to share! Have a blessed weekend.
I have always written things down before bedtime but I've never posed a question regarding those thoughts. Writing my thoughts down at night seems to help me rest.I will try asking a question tonight.
We could've come up with a lot of questions the week of BR, Dee Dee! ha!
Let me know how Evening Notes work for you. 🙂 Love ya!