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How To Start Your Day Off Right

  • October 15, 2018
  • By Samantha Kozy
  • 0 Comments
How To Start Your Day Off Right

If you were to walk into one of my creative writing classes I’ve taught over the past few years, you would see a group of 30 or so teenagers with journals out on their desks, phones put away (hopefully–I try my best), and pencils gliding along the pages of their notebook for the first five minutes of every class. They’re doing what’s called a morning page.

“Morning Pages” are based on a suggestions from the brilliant book called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. She suggests taking time to start your day by clearing what’s on your mind out onto the page so you can have a more productive, creative day.

Morning pages look different for everyone. There’s no right or wrong way to do a morning page. Sometimes it may just be a list of all the things you need to do in a day. Other times, you may take stock of what’s going on in your life or what’s bothering you. Or my personal favorite way to start the day…your morning page may be a reflection about what you are grateful for.

Today, I am grateful for:

  1. My loving, compassionate husband.
  2. My baby. I haven’t even met you, but already love you more than I can put into words.
  3. My body. While I experience the pain of contractions each and every day, it has still managed to do the most miraculous thing in the world by growing this baby.
  4. My supportive parents and sisters.
  5. The comfortable home I live in.

While I was going through simple act of writing down that list, there was no space left in my mind to focus on worries or anxieties. And it took me less than five minutes to do. Just taking a few quiet minutes to reflect before the day gets going can have a tremendous impact on the course of the rest of your day.

I have students who have come back to me years later telling me they still keep up with their journal writing. This makes me so happy because not only do these kids have lasting documentation of what was going on and how they were feeling in their lives, they have a strategy for self-soothing, and hopefully easy access to more productivity and creation in their daily lives.

Wherever you are right now, take a couple of minutes to write down on a piece of paper (or even in a note on your phone) at least one thing you’re grateful for. Feel free to go for more!

***Bonus points if you have a person on your list and you share with them your gratitude. You never know how much someone in your life may need to know that they matter to you and to this world.

Outfit Details:

// Black and White Stripe // Old Navy // This is a non-maternity shirt that will be great for transitioning to breastfeeding because of the button down top. It’s really soft and stretchy. I think I’m going to snag it in a few more colors. Sized up (a size or two) for the bump wearing a large; I would have probably gotten a small or medium pre-pregnancy.

// Heritage Green // Old Navy // Also non-maternity! Wearing a size medium and this is still zipping over my bump even at 8 months pregnant! It’s lightweight, which is fine with me since I’m operating with an internal heater these days, haha! I would have done a small in this pre-pregnancy.

// Target // Wearing a size 6 (pre-pregnancy size). These are so comfortable!

// Target // The ones I’m wearing are sold out! These are the best ever, so hopefully they restock at some point, but is another pair that’s similar! I think these fit pretty true to size.

By Samantha Kozy, October 15, 2018

Samantha Kozy

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