“I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.” – Larry King
For years, I have inconsistently practiced Julia Cameron’s method of Morning Pages– three pages of writing each morning to gain clarity, to center and unravel thoughts. I started doing them consistently for the past year and it has proven to be a worthy investment of 10-20 minutes each day.
She just released her 40th book The Listening Path, The Creative Art of Attention and it came in the mail yesterday. Her basic tools are still the same that she uses in her workshops and that began with her book 25 years ago – The Artist’s Way – Morning Pages, Artists Dates and Walks. When something works, stick with it. Keep it simple, repeat, unfold.
“With Morning Pages, we serve as a witness to our own experience, listening to ourselves each morning and thus clearing the way for further listening throughout the day. With Artist Dates, we listen to the youthful part of ourselves who craves adventure and is full of interesting ideas. And with Walks, we listen to both our environment and to what might be called our higher power or higher self,” states Cameron. “Focused on conscious listening, we become aware of a listening path: a path grounded in what we hear. When we listen, we are led spiritually. Listening for emerging truth, we become increasingly true to ourselves. Honesty becomes our currency. We are given a glimpse of our souls.”
Create rituals, non-negotiable daily practices and habits to hone your attention skills and expand your perspective. Listen. Learn. Change. Always growing, going deeper, returning home to self.
“We can change the world if we change ourselves. We just need to get hold of the old patterns of thinking and dealing with things and start listening to our inner voices and trusting our own superpowers.” – Nina Hagen
