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Hello and welcome, darlings! Today I’m going to lay out my thoughts on one of the best things I’ve pushed myself to do in a long time. I’ve recently finished week 3 of 12 in The Artists’ Way, and so much good has come of this so far that I didn’t want to wait until I finished the course to let you in on it.
As such, I’ve decided to do four check-ins during my journey in Julia Cameron’s course. Post week three, post week six, post week nine, and after the final week!
What is The Artists Way?
The Artists’ Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity is a course created by Julia Cameron to help people rediscover their repressed creativity. This course was first released in 1992, so considering that it’s still widely used almost thirty years later, it’s safe to say that Cameron was onto something.
The course is broken down into twelve weeks, and each week you read the corresponding chapter in the book. The program focuses on two primary habits: daily morning pages, and a weekly artist date.
With that being said, yes, I have been writing my daily morning pages for over three weeks now. My mornings previously involved reading, yoga, or let’s be honest, scrolling social media. Doing these morning pages instead has been liberating. I have something to focus on instead of wondering what to do before it’s time to get ready for work, and I get to do a brain dump before I leave.
What’s a brain dump? Well, there’s no set rule about how to do your morning pages, just that it should be free-written. I literally write the words that I’m thinking, so that’s my brain dump. Doing this first thing after pouring my coffee allows me to clear my mind and start the day without a million things going through it.
The artist date on the other hand is a weekly event that you do totally by yourself. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you do something to indulge your creative self. Maybe you sit in a coffee shop and do some pleasure reading, or you go to the dollar store and grab some craft supplies, or you go for a walk and take some photos in nature. Just do something totally alone that feeds your soul.
Who could avail of The Artists Way?
Literally anybody. The course is geared toward those looking to discover or rediscover their creative self, and at some point in time we all had a creative self. Maybe a parent or a teacher stamped your inner artist out of you at a young age and pushed a “practical” hobby on you, but at one point in time, your notebook was covered in doodles.
The morning pages in particular would be a great way to figure out what sort of creative lives inside you. You don’t need to begin the course knowing what you’re hoping to get from it. The beauty of being open to the concepts in this course is that the universe may give you just about anything in return.
There is a significant spiritual aspect to the course, and Cameron definitely uses the word God to describe that, but she also points out that “God” in this situation need not be a religious word. Much like how Jen Sincero’s You are a Badass uses “Source Energy” and other similar analogies, “God” essentially means the energy around us in the world. It’s an invisible super power that we’re relearning how to tap into and avail of.
Post week three, what have I learned?
So very much. I’m forever thankful that my soon-to-be mother-in-law asked me if I wanted to try The Artists’ Way with her.
While three weeks isn’t enough to form a habit per see, getting up and doing my morning pages is barley even a thought anymore. It’s becoming automatic. And sure, there are some days I’d rather sleep in, but I’ll still go do the pages once I’m up and have my coffee.
The readings have shown me various ways to examine my childhood and to start seeing how and why my creative self needed to be rediscovered. It’s much like actual therapy in that Cameron is giving you a roadmap to figuring out when you “learned” that you needed to focus on other things, and once you figure that out you can then work on unlearning that.
Following The Artists’ Way is basically helping me to tear down my excuses, one at a time. I started Shut Up Write Now because I was sick of getting in my own way, and I feel like this course is helping me to stick to my guns and stop self-sabotaging.
If I’m feeling this positive about it after three weeks, I can’t fucking wait to give you all my next update after week six.
Would I recommend you try The Artists’ Way?
Well if that isn’t obvious, let me emphatically state: YES.
Meditating, practising yoga, using essential oils; all of these things do your soul good. But this course… it helps you dig up what you’ve been missing, and it’s like working on a puzzle. The box your puzzle came in has been moved around a lot, and you’ve been convinced that some pieces were missing, but… what if they’re not?
My marbles may still be missing, but my puzzle pieces are nearer to me than I once thought.
Soon, the bigger picture will come together— one piece at a time.