resigned, accepting, comfortable, detached, numb, tolerant,
pleased, or satisfied? What does it mean?
Okay is a blanket word for most of us. It covers all sorts
of squirmy feelings; and it frequently signals a loss. We
officially feel okay, but do we?
At the root of a successful creative recovery is the
commitment to puncture our denial, to stop saying, “It’s
okay” when in fact it’s something else. The morning pages
press us to answer what else.
In my years of watching people work with morning
pages, I have noticed that many tend to neglect or abandon
the pages whenever an unpleasant piece of clarity is about
to emerge. If we are, for example, very, very angry but not
admitting it, then we will be tempted to say we feel “okay
about that.” The morning pages will not allow us to get
away with this evasion. So we tend to avoid them.
Each painting has its own way of evolving.... When the
painting is finished, the subject reveals itself.
WILLIAM BAZIOTESIf we have the creeping feeling that our lover is not being
totally honest with us, the morning pages are liable to bring
this creepy possibility up—and with it, the responsibility for
an unsettling conversation. Rather than face this mess, we
will mess up on doing the morning pages.