Using the Obsidian app to “do” Morning Pages

Keeping track of my album collection was the first "use case" I came up with when I started dabbling with the Obsidian app. My second "use case" involves integrating Obsidian into a writerly "habit" I've kept up with, on-and-off, for several years. That writerly "habit" is called Morning Pages. This summer I wanted to get back into this "habit." I was very "religious" about this pursuit it in that, without compromise, sitting and writing became a part of my morning routine all summer long. As my summer came to an end I started to think about about how to bring the "habit" into the morning routine I would be creating as the school year began. I'm 3 weeks into the new school year and have continued with this very important "habit" of writing.

I thought it might be interesting to write about how I am using the Obisidian app with my Morning Pages "habit." Specifically, I want to share how I am leveraging the app's awesome 'back linking' power, along with the organizational structure of the Zettelkasten entry, to create something that is working really well for me.

Monday through Thursday

Each morning, Monday through Thursday, I sit and write my Morning Pages in the Obsidian app, while eating breakfast. I use the organizational structure of the Zettelkasten entry to create each of these notes so I know the year, month, day, and time I started each entry. At the end of each entry I include the hashtag #morningpages as a reference. The power of 'back linking' comes into play as I move from the Monday entry to the Tuesday entry. When I am finished writing the Tuesday entry of my Morning Pages I go back to the Monday entry and 'back link' the Tuesday's entry to it; as seen in this screen shot. I do this the rest of the week, after finishing each entry; Tuesday's entry gets a link to Wednesday's, Wednesday's gets a link to Thursday's. My reasons for 'back linking' will become clear as I move into a brief description of what I do with these entries at the end of the week.

Golden Line Fridays

On Friday I create a Zettelkasten entry titled: Golden Line Friday. I number it as well; this past week's entry was titled: Golden Line Friday 11. Next, I split the screen and pull up the Monday entry so it is alongside (to the left) of the Golden Line Friday entry. I then use the power of Obsidian's 'back linking' to re-read/move through each daily entry while copy/pasting "Golden Lines" that stand out to me, from each day of the week, into the Golden Line Friday entry. I put "Golden LInes" into the new entry for varying reasons ranging from historical (a quick snapshot of where my mind was at each day that particular week) to generative (potential ideas to expand upon at a later date). This screen shot shows what Golden Line Friday looks like on my iPad Pro's screen. Having the link to the next day's entry at the bottom of each entry allows me to flow this reflective practice seamlessly.

Note that I hashtag this document #morningpages and #goldenlinefriday and I 'back link' it (the "Golden Line Friday" entry) to a document titled: Golden Lines Dashboard. This dashboard, seen in the screen shot below, is where I keep a record of all of my Golden Line Friday entries, for quick reference.