Morning

A new way to begin

acrylic paint pen, oil pastel - Cynthia Berg 03/28/25

Hello there. Good morning.

I had a birthday this week. Not an exciting one like 50 or 60. Just a regular old 57. I avoided overthinking the number. Years are getting to be like pounds on the scale - bored of looking at them and trying to interpret greater meaning.

I do tend to reflect on the past year around my birthday. Yet I JUST went through that kind of annual review a few months ago when we all joined a new year together.

I recently made a short list of things that ease my anxiety (because I seem to forget). Spending less time online is high up on the list. This may be why I’m not showing up here as often as I used to (intend to). No apologies, because when I spend less time here, you spend a little less time here too. So I hope you are getting on with IRL things that ease your pain and bring you joy.

The other thing that stands out on my list is artmaking. I find it SO soothing. But it, too, can come with a little frustration or unmet expectations or self doubt. It’s a package deal. Requires time, materials, risk-taking.

So I’m trying a new thing - a morning pages kind of thing. It’s going to be a ritual that begins without words, yet ON words. Alongside my morning coffee, I’ll do a little drawing (or whatever I feel like creating) on the pages of a book (one I have no intentions of reading).

There will be coffee, as mentioned. Also some kind of soothing, ambient music. Also a cat sleeping nearby. Also my cart full of easy-in-easy-out art supplies (nothing that needs a lot of preparing or cleaning up).

And I won’t get too fussy about it. Because there’s plenty of fussing around to fill up the rest of my day.

I need a new way to begin my days - without email, without spreadsheets, without social media, without tv or the news. So this feels like a worthy experiment.

And if I have a few minutes before I need to run my bath and cook my eggs, I will drop a little snap here and there (instagram), so you know I’m getting on with it. If you decide to launch a new beginning of sorts, I’d love to hear about it and follow along.

(Later) Popping my morning adventures in Notes - find the tab on my home page and follow along. Let me know if anyone wants to join a collaborative Chat and do a morning pages practice together.

xoxo