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Day 356: “The Artist’s Way” and Open Creative Valves

Posted on July 25, 2019

Back when I was in high school, a friend of mine interested me to an interesting book called “The Artist’s Way.” In it, author Julia Cameron designed a workshop of sorts–on paper–where one could work through their creative blocks. I was inspired by the book when I heard about it, but was busy with other things, so I didn’t read it at the time.

Fast forward a couple years, and I was looking to grow and expand. I became a huge fan of the Self-Help section at the bookstore. Somewhere in there, I was reminded of “The Artist’s Way,” which I began reading and working through.

“The Artist’s Way” is an actual 12-week course in a book. The author asks that you not only read through each weekly chapter and finish exercises, but that you also commit to the following:

  • Hand-writing three pages of stream of consciousness each morning when you get up.
  • Taking yourself each week on an inspiring outing of some sort.

I took to this first suggestion–labelled by Cameron as “The Morning Pages”—with complete dedication. Over the years, I have mostly kept up this practice. I attribute to it my ability to instantly and consistently “channel” my creative thoughts, whether I am writing piano music, writing for this blog, writing at the cafe, or writing lyrics.

In fact, I consider this book one of the most impactful in my personal development.

I am able to bring forth my thoughts, my creativity, etc, without censoring myself. I completely trust that my creativity is there. I have total faith in it. Certainly there may be times where my faith has wavered in other regards, but not when it comes creating in the first place.

I cultivated this ability deliberately, starting with when I decided to work through “The Artist’s Way” and take on the morning pages ritual.

I thought about this today because the ability to get out of your own way creatively is truly essential for us creatives!

I may have some more getting out of my way to do, but it sure is nice to know that the creative valves are always open and ready pour through rich creative energy 🙂

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