I wanted to change my status on Facebook but there wasn’t a place to announce that I’m dating myself. Yes, that’s right, I’ve started going on dates with myself. They’re ‘artists dates.’
I started a 12 week course at the beginning of the year called “The Artist’s Way.” It’s a course to find higher creativity. It’s not just for artists as we think about artists…painters, musicians, sculptures…it’s for the artists in all of us.
It’s for mothers who want to be more creative with their children, teachers who want to inspire their students, lawyers who want to have new passion doing justice and anyone interested in practicing the art of creative living.
My intent in starting this creative and spiritual journey was to get unstuck from my beliefs and insecurities about my writing and speaking. I have goals that require me to believe in myself. My inner censor speaks louder at times than my inner artist and that isn’t working for me anymore.
This course is opening me up to my creativity which is moving me towards my creator. I’m learning that when we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to God.
Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way started the course out with two non-negotiable practices that must be followed to enter into this course:
- Morning pages
- Weekly artists dates
These are the 2 basic tools that must be accomplished without fail to engage in the course.
Morning pages are three pages of long-hand writing, strictly stream-of-consciousness. There is no wrong way to do morning pages. First thing in the morning putting your hand to a page is a HUGE tool of creative recovery. Julia Says, “All that angry, whiny, petty stuff that you write down in the morning stands between you and your creativity. Worrying about the job, the laundry, the funny knock in the car, the weird look in your lovers eye-this stuff eddies through our subconscious and muddies our days. Get it on the page.”
We’ve got our logic brain (our censor) that likes things to be in straight lines and in order and quite frankly the one that gets in the way of our creativity. And we’ve got the artists brain, our inventor, our child, the creative side of us. Morning pages teaches the logic brain to stand aside and let the artist brain play. I’m doing pretty good with these…haven’t missed a day.
The other non-negotiable practice is the artist date. An artist date is a block of time, two hours a week, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist. The artist date is an excursion, a play date that you preplan and defend against all distractions. You don’t take anyone else on your artist date but your inner artist, a.k.a. your creative child. Your artist (the creative part of you trying to break out) needs to be taken out, pampered and listened to. Julia says, Your artist is a child. Time spent with a parent matters more than monies spent. A visit to a great junk store, a solo trip to the beach, an old movie seen alone together, a visit to an art gallery. Spending time in solitude with your artist child is essential to self-nurturing. A long country walk, watching a sunrise or sunset… you get the picture. As artists (we are all artists) we must learn and practice regularly, self-nurturing, filling back up.
These two practices speak to me and have been “easy” for me because I believe in them completely! I have preached journaling and self-care for years. However, focusing on these two things and practicing them without fail is making a difference in me that I can already see.
My artists is playing the piano again, she visited a art gallery this weekend and played classical music on her car radio all day. She’s making lists of places she wants to go and things she wants to do that she hasn’t thought about in years! She is thinking about things to write about that she’s excited to share instead of feeling pressure to write. My artist is listening more to that small voice inside of her that is full of creativity. It’s pretty exciting.
I hope if you see me out on a date with myself, you’ll say hello. And I also hope that you’ll be inspired to find the creative artist in yourself that wants to play and go on a date too.
With love,
Letha
