What we really want to do is what we are meant to do,” writes Julia. Why do I so often deny myself the luxury to do what it is I want to do? Each time I sat down to write I took note of an internal objections and negative beliefs the subconscious mind blurts out. One reoccurring blurt was “I should be working” – even though I was writing, it felt like I wasn’t work because it wasn’t paid work.

The Artist’s Way | Julia Cameron Live The Artist’s Way | Julia Cameron Live

I often focus on the done – the book only when it gets the deal, the columns being published, the podcast being praised when it’s launched. I had ignored the doing, the writing, the recording and learning that all these dream projects contained. I’d skipped over process and progress, straight into perfection. There is no longer a fantasy of what could, would or should be with this person, no longer an addiction to the fantasy. What angers us can also guide us if it is acted upon, it can help us say no, speak up, or create in response to something that has been stirred within us – anger is an invitation to take action. We can also fall into asking what’s the point and berating ourselves for only just starting, worrying that everyone is so much further ahead, we will never quite catch up. Instead of ‘why me’ I needed to ask what next. I needed to see the potential of these endings and what could be opened up in their place – a fresh start, a shake-up of my routine, and push from complacency.Each time I tell myself I will run and then I take action and do it, I am building self-respect, which comes from doing the work. A resounding message throughout the chapters has been that it’s important to experiment with what works for you.

The Artist’s Way at 30: Alicia Keys, Pete Townshend and the The Artist’s Way at 30: Alicia Keys, Pete Townshend and the

The Artist's Way Workbook is an indispensable book for anyone following the path to creativity laid out in The Artist's Way. I learned what can only be learned through going inward, even if that means looking like you’re doing nothing from the outside. I’ve also learned that the goal is not the point, it’s the running. Once I reached 5km, the treadmill did not evaporate – opportunity to keep running, keep taking strides remained. I now have autonomy with my time and a capacity for paying attention to something else, something delightful, something that I feel truly connected to. Maybe even that book proposal. Week 3: Anger and jealousy are a map Tasked with asking myself what next steps I am evading, I realised I had to make decision about a trip to New York City I had talked about since the beginning of the year. Money, timing, and fear all got in the way, but the next step was to decide, so I booked the flight.I can easily put things into the “impossible” category, but as this week explored, often something is impossible only because we are looking too ahead or too narrowly at the things we desire. I open up the first test podcast and begin to stumble through the editing software I have no experience with. I judge it as bad, unworkable, and un-shareable – I still have a long way to go with my perfectionism it seems. Week 8: Real change occurs in tiny increments I’ve spent been five years of inspecting how other people are creative and yet I haven’t written that book I wanted to write, or launched that podcast I wanted to launch. I can’t linger on that point for too long without spiralling.

The Artist’s Way Everything I learned from (finally) completing The Artist’s Way

Working out my dreams, desires and delights is still a work in progress, but from this week’s readings I know I need time, space and quiet to become clear on those – and that often means saying no to others or to our own expectations and too-rigid plans. I expect to hit the ground running immediately, but I can hear a familiar voice inside my mind telling me this has been a mistake, that I can’t afford to be here financially, that I’ve taken a wrong turn and I should focus on finding a job, a real job. This week, my artist date was to go to The Moth storytelling event solo, and I was in awe of how strangers got up on stage and told a story with no notes and full hearts. They were funny, touching, imperfect and the embodiment of the question in this chapter: “What would you do if you didn’t have to do it perfectly?”Just over 30 years ago, Julia Cameron’s agent gave her the immortally bad advice that no one was going to be interested in a book about creativity. “What on earth are you doing?” the agent demanded. When we are clear about who we are and what we are doing, the energy flows freely and we experience no strain,” writes Julia. Very often audacity, not talent, makes one person an artist and another a shadow artist – hiding in the shadows, afraid to step out and expose the dream to the light, fearful that it will disintegrate to the torch. It didn’t feel like enough to simply write for my own sake, as if there has to be some other external recipient of the words rather than my own contentedness in writing them. It can difficult to say no, especially to people we love, but it’s an important practice. “Many recovering creatives sabotage themselves most frequently by making nice,” as Julia writes.

The Artist’s Way Workbook (UK 2020) | Julia Cameron Live

My high expectations and lofty plans often mean that I want to leap over the small, incremental steps and dive straight into the impossible tasks. “The need to produce a great work of art makes it hard to produce at all,” she writes. I want to watch for what delights me, I want to be alive to joy, I want to pay attention, I want to experiment and see if Julia Cameron’s resounding message is true.Rather than a tool for vanity, exercise teaches us about the rewards of the process, not the outcome. From the ground below, my neighbor walks her Yorkie and hears my fading screams. She shields her eyes from the sun and stares at my disappearing body as it ascends to the heavens. Sighing, she shakes her head and turns to the tiny, crusty dog.