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
