The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

So I finished it! Only took me a year. Well, actually more like 20 years and a year. I received this book as a gift from a friend years ago. Probably for my birthday, actually our birthday, cause our birthdays were one day apart. She wrote me an encouraging inscription in the front, about inspiration and transformation and great endeavors of flight. You see even then, twenty years ago, I was trying to figure myself out, who I was, who I wanted to be, where I saw my place in this world. But my friend also drew me a picture of a Phoenix rising from the ashes. It looks a bit more like a UFO over a campfire, but I know better. The transformation, the one ending to make room for a new beginning, the constant striving to be something more than myself. That was what she was wishing for me.

It took me 20 years to finally get through this book, and once I picked it up (for real) it then took me a whole year to work my way through it. There’s sooo much to it, and I think instinctively I knew that all those years ago and wasn’t sure I was ready for it. Looking back, I’m sure I wasn’t ready yet. Every chapter, almost every page has one more Aha! moment for me. Everything’s been clicking in to place easier with this book. And although I have to admit I haven’t done the tasks at the end of each chapter. I have been reading through them, and even if not physically doing them, I am taking time to mentally think them through. Also, I’m probably going to read through this one again. There’s just so much to digest it’s impossible to get it all the first time through.

And, if I’m being honest, I have a confession to make: I’ve been reading this one in the bathroom. This is probably a big contributor to why it took me a whole year to work my way through it, but I tend to get my best thinking done in the bathroom. Truly! (Why am I telling you this? Why am I even going there?) But it did give me the opportunity to move through it at a slower pace than I usually read. Sometimes I’d only get through a paragraph or two. Sometimes it’d be a page or two. It gave me a chance to re-read parts that I hadn’t gotten the time before, or even if I just forgot exactly where I had left off, I’d wind up rereading parts a few times sometimes, which honestly was really helpful. Cause sometimes, it takes a few times to really get a concept. (maybe this is why I had so many Aha! moments?)

For those who are unfamiliar with The Artist’s Way, it’s based on the author’s, Julia Cameron, 12 week course about “discovering and recovering your creative self.” There was a chapter for each week and it basically guides you through remembering and reclaiming all the creative things you love to do that perhaps you put by the wayside for one reason or another. She ties this creativity very closely to spirituality. Not religion, but spirituality, spiritual-ness, basically getting closer with the universe, the Creator, God, whatever you want to call it. She discusses obstacles that may have gotten in the way through the years of us realizing our true creative potential. And she offers ideas and exercises to do to rediscover, remember what truly makes us happy and speaks to our creative selves. And essentially these creative pursuits that make us happy will sort of lead us to our bliss. She doesn’t call it this but I feel like this is where she was going with it. And through the exercises and tasks she presents, she offers a path to lead us towards the Law of Attraction. And I think a lot of us are searching for this, or at least something that resembles it. We all want things to be better and are searching for a way to get there. We’ve heard of the Law of Attraction, but don’t really feel like we’ve got the tools to get us there. At least that’s how I’ve felt. And the Artist’s Way presents a bunch of concrete tasks to do that will help put you on the path of feeling better about things, on a more positive path. If like-attracts-like, then don’t you want what you’re thinking and feeling to be more positive? To be happier with where you’re at or where you’re going? She gives you many concrete things you can do right now to help you get there.

What’s nice is she doesn’t use really fluff language, or abstract ideas which can turn a lot of people off. She doesn’t use terms like bliss, or even Law of Attraction. She doesn’t sound like some woo woo weird guru person who’s just spitting out a bunch of BS. But I did get some very useful and tangible ideas to do to help me in my quest to be in a better mental place. And really I think that’s where we all want to be, especially right now, we want to be in a better place mentally.

So, two main takeaways that I got from this that I’ve been doing (or trying to do) are the Morning Pages, and walking every day. The funny thing is only one of these was on her list of main takeaways she wanted you to get.

So first the Morning Pages: she wants you to write (handwrite, mind you) three full pages, first thing in the morning, about whatever. About anything. She says it’s not as important what you write, just that you write. So, (another confession), I’m not doing it exactly like that. I’m typing them, not handwriting (which means I try to type a full page, single spaced, at the default font and size – which for me is Calibri, 11). Second, I’m not doing them very first thing in the morning, I’m writing them when I sit down at my desk at work first thing. Her thought was you write them when you first wake up in the morning, and your unconscious sort of comes into play a bit more, cause you’re not quite awake. I was having a hard time with this because, well, I wasn’t quite awake yet: my fingers weren’t holding the pen that well yet, and I’m so not used to handwriting anymore that my brain was going faster than my pen. It just wasn’t working for me. I figure it’s better to write at some point than get it exactly right. I know I’d probably be getting much more out of it if I wrote them the way she suggests, but I do feel that I’m at least getting something out of it. When I sit down to work (and it is a 9-5 desk job) when I do my morning pages then, I can get out of my head all the crap that’s swirling around in there. You know the stuff. The why didn’t I’s? and I should have’s? All the negative stuff that’s usually running on repeat in my head all day to the point where it’s actually distracting and keeps me from doing my job. But when I write it down, it’s almost like I gave it to someone else to deal with, and then I can get on with my day. It doesn’t always go this smoothly, and it doesn’t always completely silence the running commentary in my head, but it helps.

So the other thing she suggests is to take yourself on a weekly Artist Date. She meant take yourself to do something you like to do that you don’t normally, and go yourself: see a show, go to a museum, check out an exhibit. These are all great, but when I started this, I didn’t have a lot of extra money sitting around, and also where I’m located there wasn’t much to go check out, so I just started taking myself on a daily walk. Well, almost daily, it usually wound up being more like 3-5 days a week. I’d listen to an audiobook. I love to read, and so this actually works better for me than music, It gave me a chance to get out of my head and listen to someone else’s story. What was funny, is that one of the final chapters in the book is about doing some form of physical exercise on a more daily basis. Walking, running, swimming, biking, whatever. And I’m already doing that! I did sort of fall off the bandwagon with the whole pandemic. People aren’t being quite as conscientious of each other where I’m at so going out even for a walk, even being outside, was just too stressful. So I stopped, but I’m really getting antsy at this point, so I’ve been trying to talk myself into walking again, but haven’t been able to yet. I want to try and make it every day during the week. If I can make it part of my routine, then it won’t feel like a chore. Plus, when I was walking I actually started to look forward to it, hopefully I will again.

I’m curious for those who have read it:

• What parts spoke to you?
• Have you started, tried, done any of the exercises and have you found them beneficial?
• Where there any parts that you thought, “Nope, you’ve lost me. That’s just too far out of my comfort zone and there’s absolutely no way I’m doing THAT!?”
• For those who thought it all was just a bit too much, what else have you read that you felt better about? Why?

*Image at top can be found at buzzfeed.