Day 1 - Introduction - The Artist's Way

Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist's Way, comes from her willingness to share with others a way of seeing how we are all creatives.  As a person in recovery, she found her GOD, “good orderly direction” through a creative avenue.   In teaching others the HOW to get back to using these creative skills we all come equipped with, she is but a guide to others on their own life journey and discovery of their own creative skills and resources. What I like about her work is the way in which she offers this material.  Her Basic Principles, or more like the Ten Commandments of Creativity, begin to lay the groundwork of her tenants for a creative recovery. For example - Creativity is the natural order of life Life is energy, pure creative energy.  Cameron strongly suggests using her basic tools of  1) morning pages, 2) an artist date, and the 3) creativity contract.

The morning pages are a way to dump the thoughts that flood our brains daily.  They are not to be paid attention too … much like the man behind the curtain in the movie, “the Wizard of Oz.”  They are to be used as a purge of thought, to allow the right brain the freedom of being inhibited with messages that increase doubt, judgment, or resistance, and typically prevent you from any creative exploration.  Once free from these thoughts, exploration can follow curiosity’s hand to see what might be discovered. An Artist Date, is another form of exploration without being contaminated with other overflowing thoughts. It’s just for the creative mind to find the peace in discovering what a person might find from self-nurturance.  And the Creative Contract is an offer of a document to hold your intention in following through in a creative process. An integrity ceremony of sorts or ritual to hold in giving yourself permission to play and explore life. She has structured her book to be a self-guided, 12-week creative recovery journey by reading a chapter each week.  

I encourage you to buy a copy of The Artist's Way for a better understanding of your own creative process.  Whether you're a master artist or beginning artist, this is an excellent book.

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