These 7 Benefits of Writing Can Change Your Life

Do you know that something as easy as jotting down a page or two in the early hours of the day can help you experience the magical benefits of writing?

Writing first thing in the morning is a great practice that can change you as a person, and your other areas in life. But it has a positive influence on your health too.

Here’s why in a nutshell:

– simplicity: the real power lies in the simplest of things. It’s just that people tend to complicate them;
– habit: being consistent in something creates the chains of a habit and that is stronger than any other behavior. It makes you more disciplined, you start thinking more rationally and make sacrifices in order to stick to the habit;
– morning: morning pages are done in the best and most magical and productive time of the day, which makes them even more helpful;
– writing: another element that makes this simple practice so successful. The process of writing itself is self-healing, relaxing, inspiring and creative.

Here are the health benefits of writing in the morning:

7 Life-Changing Benefits of Writing

1. You reduce stress.

You can complain to the pages about everything that bothers you. This way you let your negative energy out and are more relaxed and calm during the whole day.

2. You empty your mind.

One of the reasons why we’re not in a great condition is because our minds are always full of so many unnecessary thoughts – all our plans, things we want to do, what happened yesterday, what others are thinking and saying, and basically every little issue is stuck in our head and prevents us from being present and enjoying the moment.

But that can be solved by letting it all out by putting pen to paper.

Once we write it down, we’re ready to embrace the new day with clarity. And to thus take smarter decisions, stay focused and be more productive.

3. Less anxiety.

In time you become less nervous in general. Another one of the health benefits of writing in a journal.

4. It makes you happier.

Putting your dreams in writing is quite encouraging and optimistic, and listing positive affirmations and why today is going to be a great day makes you feel great and make the best of it.

5. It leads to better thinking.

Morning pages make you use both the left side of your brain (the rational one) and the right one (where creativity is).

When combined, you brain becomes more powerful and you generate ideas, think of ways to solve your problems in life, organize the thoughts in your head, start understanding yourself and the world better.

6. You sleep better.

The clearer mind, deep realizations, inspiration and awareness that the morning pages bring help you sleep better at night too.

7. You improve your memory.

By writing about your thoughts, assessing the previous day and your life in general, sharing your fears and worries and planning out your day, you work on improving your memory. Soon you’ll be able to focus better and won’t be forgetting stuff.

So if you haven’t been doing this exercise yet, now you know why you should give it a try and what the benefits of writing daily are. Here’s how to get started even if you’re busy.

How to Get Started with The Morning Pages Exercise

1. Realize that time can’t be found, it’s created.

If something’s important to you, you make time for it no matter what.

If you think about your last few days, you’ll see that you spent a lot of time in unproductive activities, lazy habits, and just doing nothing, but you still said no to other stuff because you didn’t have time for it.

2. It’s all about prioritizing.

If you really want to improve yourself, start your day with a smile, early and with a powerful morning routine, and want to awake the creative genius inside and come up with new ideas, then you’ll make the morning pages practice one of the top priorities in your day.

3. Include it in your to-do list.

Write it down so that you won’t forget. Also, highlight it and make it one of your most important tasks for the day.

4. Get up earlier.

Writing 3 pages takes 10-15 minutes. You can write less, of course. But even if you’re doing it slowly, you can just get up 10-15 minutes earlier and dedicate that time to journaling your thoughts.

It’s a compromise that costs you nothing, but which becomes so beneficial in time.

5. Prepare the night before.

If you want to have a quick morning routine before you go out, and don’t really want to waste any time, then just do everything you need to do in the evening so that in the morning you’ll just grab the pen/laptop and start writing.

The simplest thing is to have a reminder, to have your alarm set, to put your notebook/laptop by your bed, and to even jot down some ideas on what to write about.

So that’s how you make time for this beautiful exercise. Being busy won’t be an excuse anymore. Now, let’s see how to actually start doing it so you can experience all the benefits of writing:

How to Start Writing Your Morning Pages and Waste No Time

You’ve decided to try this exercise and experience all the benefits of writing daily, and have prepared for it. Then you got up early, ready to begin.

But then you stop simply because you don’t know how to start writing.

One of the best things about this exercise is that you don’t need to know anything, to be able to write or to be an expert in something. You simply sit down and write about whatever comes to mind.

But some people still struggle with finding the right word to start with.

Unfortunately, there’s no right word. There’s no perfect way to start. That resilience, however, appears simply because starting is the hardest part.

But it doesn’t need to be.

Here’s how to start:

• let go of all you know about writing;
• know that you’re doing it for yourself – no one else is going to see it, unless you decide otherwise;
• you can just write down your daily tasks, what you were dreaming about the night before, what excites you, etc.

But if you’re looking for an exact sentence to start with that will give you the momentum to keep writing great stuff and make the best out of your morning pages, here’s one:

“Today is a new opportunity. It’s given to me and I can spend it however I want. I’m grateful for that.
And I decide to make every moment count by being productive, being kind to others and to myself, and by doing only stuff that matters.
I’m going to be positive and open-minded, to take chances, to be aware of my goals and to enjoy the day.”

I think that’s a good start.

And even if you write just this short text every morning for the next few days, you’ll still feel better and will be able to add some of yours after some time.

Then, in two weeks, you’ll be freely writing 3 pages without any hesitation or effort.

What do you think?

Any other ideas to develop this one habit all successful people share and start doing it daily to experience the benefits of writing?