Julia Cameron shows in her best-seller book “The Artist’s Way. A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity” how thru practical exercises, we can liberate our creativity, nurture our artist child and produce work by the hand of the Great Creator inside us.

Who would think that creativity is directly related to your spiritual path? And why is it common to hear that an artist is blocked?

The artist can’t solve the block only by looking at the blank page or canvas, or worse, by forcing himself to create out of struggle.

As Julia Cameron explains in her best-seller book “The Artist’s Way,” the person must go inside himself/herself and work out the fear, anxiety, insecurity, self-doubt, and lack of confidence obstructing his/her work. If you don’t solve your internal issues, it will be difficult for you to create.

And how can this be accomplished? The author gives a person two “pivotal tools” to unblock and recover creativity: the morning pages and the artist date. Anyone, not only artists can use them, and as Cameron explains, we all have creativity; it’s in our blood.

The book “The Artist’s Way” –on its 25th edition– is a 12 weeks course with practical tasks that will “raise issues and emotions” and will require the participant to “commit to excellent self-care (adequate sleep, diet, exercise, and pampering) for the duration of the program” –the book states.

The Morning Pages as a way of meditation

The author explains that morning pages are “three pages of long handwriting strictly stream-of-consciousness.” Look at this exercise as a brain drain since it’s one of its functions –she adds.

“Morning pages are meant to be, simply, an act of moving the hand across the page and writing down whatever comes to mind. Nothing is too petty, too silly, too stupid, or too weird to be included.”

“Nobody is allowed to read your morning pages except you. And you shouldn’t even read them yourself for the first eight weeks or so.”

“The morning pages are often negative, frequently fragmented, often self-pitying, repetitive, stilted or babyish, angry or bland –even silly sounding. Good!”

Why is this exercise crucial? Because done as the first activity after you wake up is considered –as the author states –an act of prayer, a meditation. On the pages, you will vent all your problems, worries, fears, doubts, and everything that bothers you.

She clarifies:

“All that angry, whiny, petty stuff that you write down in the morning stands between you and your creativity. Worrying about the job, the laundry, the funny knock in the car, the weird look in your lover’s eye – this stuff eddies through our subconscious and muddies your days. Get it on the page.”

Also, the morning pages put the negative inner Negative Censor at bay. How? As Cameron says, there is no way to do the morning pages wrong. Meanwhile, the Censor is diminished since there is nothing to be criticized.

Buy The Book Now!

 

 

“The Censor inside will lose power. You learn to evade the Censor. Because there is no wrong way to write the morning pages, the Censor’s opinion doesn’t count. Let you censor rattle on (and it will).”

“The point is to stop taking the Censor as the voice of reason and learn to hear it for the blocking device that it is. Morning pages will help you do this.” – the book affirms

This daily exercise of consciousness and getting inside us –thru the morning pages– will eventually transform our lives. There will be an impact by being aware and letting out our difficulties and the universe “listening.”

“Morning pages provide us with a spiritual ham-radio set to contact the Creator Within. For this reason, morning pages are a spiritual practice.” 

“It’s impossible to write morning pages for any extended period of time without coming into contact with an unexpected inner power.”

“Morning pages are a pathway to a strong and clear sense of self. They are a trail that we follow into our own interior, where we meet both our own creativity and our Creator.” – Cameron says

And significant, morning pages also “can lead into undreamed solutions.” Out of nowhere, when you do this exercise, you can find a solution you never thought about. The author explains that morning pages are good for guidance and insight.

More about the morning pages the book shows:

• They are not negotiable. Never skip or skimp on them
• They will teach you that your mood doesn’t matter
• They will guide you to stop judging and just let yourself write
• They will feed your artist child
• They will allow you to detach and get beyond your Negative Censor

An Artist Date: a way to play and receive

An artist date is a block of time, usually two hours, that you plan every week to nurture your inner artist.

“It’s an excursion, a play date that you pre-plan and defend against all interlopers. You do not take anyone on this artist date but you and your inner artist, also known as your creative child. That means no lovers, friends, spouses, children –no taggers– on of any stripe.” –the author comments

Cameron insists that it’s a date with you and for you. It may be scary initially, and you may resist doing it, but it is a vital exercise to recover your creativity.

“Your artist needs to be taken out, pampered, and listened to. There are many ways to evade this commitment. No one said the date needed to involve elaborate expenses.”

“A visit to a great junk store, a solo trip to a beach, an old movie seen alone together, a visit to an aquarium or art gallery –these cost time, not money.” –she illustrates.

By being with yourself alone, you will let the inner artist –a child, according to the author– express and guide you. For this to happen, you must be alone and at a play for it to surface.

“Spending time in solitude with your own artist child is essential, it’s self-nurturing. A long country walk, a solitary expedition to the beach for a sunrise or sunset, a sortie out to a strange church to hear gospel music, an ethnic neighborhood to taste foreign sights and sounds –your artist may enjoy any of these.”   

To Cameron, morning pages and artist dates are two crucial elements to unblocking an artist. She sees them as two ways of communication: as a radio receiver and a radio transmitter.

With morning pages, you send a signal, a prayer, and with artist dates, you receive input, solutions, and inspiration from your inner Creator.

“To have a real relationship with our creativity, we must take the time and care to cultivate it. Our creativity will use this time [artist date] to confront us, to confide in us, to bond with us, and to plan.”  

“The Artist’s Way” is a comprehensive book with more exercises to help you regain your creative juices.

Buy The Book Now!