The Artist’s Way: Week Five
Overview:
This was a fun week for me. Julia Cameron wrote about possibility, and the way the universe works to conspire with you (not against you) to give you what you ask for. She says that we are the ones who set our own limits - another form of self-sabotage.
She goes on to say that we find the answers we search for in morning pages. Also, she recommends that artists need alone time, otherwise we lose ourselves in doing things for others.
Thoughts:
I’ve personally had many experiences where I ask the universe for something and I get what I asked for. It is true and it will work for you too. You can’t just sit back and wait for something to happen - it’s not like asking to win the lottery. You have to work hard for what you want and what you believe in. It’s the passion and the intention that’s important.
If it’s important enough to work hard to get, the universe will open doors you never knew existed when you ask for help. It’s amazing how it works, but remember this phrase from your childhood?
“Be careful what you ask for - you might just get it”.
In my experience, it was always used by a parent or an elder trying to use the phrase to reprimand me or teach me a lesson, but the universe is the greatest teacher of all. You may not always see the answer right away, but the universe works in mysterious ways. You need to be open to receive and use your intuition to tell when the time has come.
I’ve also seen the opposite happen - you’ve seen people who are very negative, or always going on about all the bad things that always happen to them. This negativity feeds into a bad cycle - you go round and around, never getting ahead, never believing in miracles and never looking at the bright side or the silver lining. You always seem to have bad things happen because that is all you’ve trained your mind to look for. So when something good has happened, you don’t even recognize it and you don’t open the door when it’s offered.
Julia Cameron also states that artists need alone time. (Especially if you’re a people pleaser). When you start dedicating all your time to others, you get left on the back burner, and eventually, you burn out.
I do agree with this, but I also think alone time is not just for artists. I think it should be for everyone. When I was younger, all I wanted was to be around other people all the time. I didn’t like feeling lonely and wanted the company of others. Now that I have three kids and a husband, I crave that alone time all the time. And the problem is, I don’t get it. It’s very rare when I can find an hour or so during the week to be completely alone. This is why I force myself to wake up early in the morning before the kids get up.
Morning Pages
My experience:
I completed my morning pages every day this week, except for Saturday. I fell back in love with morning pages again, but it was a bad habit that made it happen. I have been getting into the routine of lighting a fall scented candle and watching fall planning videos at the same time as doing my morning pages.
Now, the reason it’s a bad habit is because I’m consuming media while I’m writing.
When writing morning pages, you should write in solitude.
I’m ultimately trying to multitask and neither task is getting my full attention.
Despite these reasons, I’ve fallen back in love. It is a morning routine that I have begun to look forward to and sometimes I even day dream about writing during the day.
I have been able to get up earlier than my kids for the most part, and complete my morning pages before they get up which makes me happy. Now that my husband is back at work, my morning routine should become easier once more - it won’t be as hard to get up at 5:00am. I adore that quiet morning time when everyone else is still in bed.
Artist Date
My experience:
Again, I did not complete an Artist Date this week. I was super busy again with family things and errands. While I don’t want this to be an on-going excuse, I do still want to take time for me and spend time with my family doing valuable activities. I will aim for some time during the quieter week to take my Artist Date.
Tasks
My Experience:
I did six out of the ten tasks this week. Some of the tasks were to collect image files. Instead of doing that, I simply wrote them down because it was more time and cost effective. I did enjoy the exercises this week. I still finished super early, but I allowed myself until Sunday to follow up with the check-in. I wanted to wait until the last day of the week to ensure I could accurately do the follow-up with my morning pages.
Conclusion
I think going forward, I would like to pace myself through the tasks a bit more slowly. I like doing them early because it feels like I can “get them out of the way”, but then when it comes time to do the check-in, video check-in and blog, I sometimes forget how I felt doing the tasks.
Remember, there’s a reason that we’re doing these tasks - it’s to help us discover our block and get it out of there! I want to be intentional with my notes and journaling and really understand how I feel when I do each task. Perhaps I could allocate one task to each day of the week, and then use my morning pages the next day to discuss how it mad eye feel. If I use this technique in a later chapter, I will be sure to let you know!
Thanks for reading and we’ll see you again next week at the end of Week 6!
❤️Sandra
