Who Are You Today?

I read about Julia Cameron's Morning Pages about a year ago and I kept telling myself I should start doing them but I never got in the hang of it. I told myself to do a Morning Page again last night and miraculously got up this morning and did one while I ate breakfast.

I call my Morning Pages "I Am..." pages because I'm trying to focus on today and what I need to do today rather than worry about the future. I was also inspired by the subtitle of Bene Brown's, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let go of who you think you are supposed to be and embrace who you are. That sentence has been going through my head ever since I read it. It's become a mantra for me.

Whether you do Morning Pages or "I Am..." Pages its extremely important to spend some time with yourself each day. In fact, its a required step of being Sane & Satisfied.

I believe the only reason we are unhappy is because we try so hard to be what we think we ought to be or what we think other people think we should be. But that's crap! How can I be anyone but who I am right now? I don't have a doctorate in physics but I'm pretty sure that humans can't be more than what they are at any given moment. So why do we try so hard for something that is physically impossible?!?!

I'll tell you why: because we keep being duped. Every year another 12 Step plan comes out that promises to make us stronger, smarter, thinner, richer. Telling people, "You are who you are and there's nothing to change that but through hard work, sweat and tears" doesn't make people a whole lot of money. But it's the truth.

Know yourself, listen to yourself, stop comparing yourself to others and you will always be the best you can be.

How to Do an "I Am..." Page

If you know how to write your thoughts down on paper and doodle than you know how to do an I Am... Page. There is no right or wrong way to do this but here are some tips to get you started.

1. Take a 12x12 inch sheet of card stock and cut into fourths so you have 4 pieces of 6x6 inch paper. Set three pages aside to use for later. You will only need one page right now.
2. Take a moment to quiet your mind and focus on what you are feeling at this moment.
3. Use markers or colored pencils or whatever writing instrument you have and decorate your page. To get your creative juices flowing you can start by writing the date at the top and doodling around it.
4. Next, journal about what you feeling right now, what your day looks like, what you want to accomplish today, what you are focusing on today. Try to keep it short but don't think too hard. When you start to think too hard about what you are writing those pesky Supposed To's pop up. But you aren't interested in what you are supposed to be like today. You only care about what you ARE today.
5. Last, simply finish decorating or doodling to fill the page as you wish. I find it's easier to write first and then doodle based on what I wrote about.

The great thing about focusing on who you are right now and knowing and embracing yourself is that it's a lot easier to combat those people in our lives who try to lead us off track.

You can also fasten your pages together to make a book and review it throughout the year.

Happy Journaling