Getting into the creative Christmas spirit this year. I've started creating cards to send out to friends and family... little individual baubles...
I invite you to create too... send me a picture of yours.
The Artist's Way Week 12
So... Week 12 and our creative cluster has made it to the last week of The Artist's Way. Gosh what a journey of learning and growth this book is to work through. This week's topic; Recovering a Sense of Faith.
This week starting out on our Week 12 journey, I was journaling on task 1 (I was starting to do a doodle on the topic - write down any resistance, angers, and fears, you have about going on from here) - when the news came through from the terror attacks on Paris. So my journal today is for faith and art and prayers for our world.
John Lennon singing Imagine is always inspiring to me, and particularly today after hearing about Paris.
Synchronicity From Week 12 - Chapter one... each of us has an inner dream that we can unfold if we will just have the courage to admit what it is. And the faith to trust our own admission.
Have you ever recorded your own voice? Perhaps you are used to it and do it regularly. However, if you are like me and are not used to it, iphone has a setting where you can use voice memos... have a go and do your creative affirmations. Julia says this week, most of us are used to the negative affirmations we give ourselves daily, yet if we suggest using positive affirmations we struggle. She has a point. Those little negative messages our brain churns over can be quite a downer until we learn how to become mindful to them, and not play into them.
I am coming to the end of the 2015 Artist's Way journey with my creative cluster group. We started out on the 14th August and have doubled up on a few weeks - we found that we needed a couple of extra weeks, to absorb and explore, various chapters in the book.
The next journey will be Walking in This World and Finding Water - the sequels to The Artist's Way. If you have thought about working through The Artist's Way book, I offer group sessions, skype sessions, and one to one sessions for support, during the process - give me a call.
The Artist's Way Week 11
Week 11 - Recovering a Sense of Autonomy.
The weeks seemed to have flown past and here we are at the end of Week 11 and only a week to go. There is so much to this book, while it is called The Artist's Way, it is a deep look at your interior life and is not just about creativity.
Acceptance.
"I must learn that as an artist my credibility lies with me, God and my work. In other words, if I have a poem to write, I need to write that poem - whether it will sell or not.As an artist, I must be very careful to surround myself with people who nurture my artist - not people who overly domesticate it for my own good. Certain friendships will kick off my artistic imagination and others will deaden it." Julia Cameron
The Zen of Sports
"What we are after here, is a moving meditation. This means one where the act of motion puts us into the now and helps us to stop spinning. Twenty minutes a day is sufficient. The goal is to connect to a world outside of us, to lose the obsessive self-focus of self-exploration, and simply, explore. One quickly notes that when the mind is focussed on other, the self often comes into a far more accurate focus." Julia Cameron
One of the members from our creative cluster suggested we try Urban Tribal Belly Dance for an artist's date. I'd never heard of it before, but as I love dance, I was more than willing. In the video above, you can see a demonstration by Wildcard Belly Dance Tribe. It's great fun (and a lot harder than I thought it was going to be - and no we didn't try the swords!)
Building your Artist's Altar.
This is my artist's altar for this week... it changes from time to time. Artwork on the wall: On the Sand - has Thich Nhat Hanh quotes from a talk on relationships.
"Many blocked creatives grew up in punitively religious homes. For us to stay happily and easily creative, we need to heal from this, becoming spiritually centred through creative rituals of our own. A spiritual room or even a spiritual corner is an excellent way to do this." Julia Cameron
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