I'm starting to go through the book, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. It is a 12 week self study "course in discovering and recovering your creative self". I have gone through the first few chapters before, and I did have more ideas flowing out of me than usual. I have a bad habit of starting things that work, and then quitting them instead of realizing I need to continue doing those things to get the results that I want. (Phew, that was wordy.)
I find a few basic exercises introduced in the beginning of the book very helpful. This is just a basic, basic rundown that barely skims the surface. The first one is "morning pages". This is simply writing down your stream of consciousness or "brain drain" on 3 full pages every morning. It's not necessarily writing that will turn into a finished product, but it helps us to get past our "censor". The negative voice in our head that says, "you're not an artist", or "whatever you create in kitsch", "you don't have time" and so on and so on. (Trust me, it really works.)
Another essential element is the artist date. A time once a week (for 2 hours or so) for you alone to nurture your inner artist. Whether it's gardening, visiting a thrift store or gallery, taking a long nature walk; do something that nurtures your creative side. It may seem like an obvious thing to do, but it's amazing how we tell ourselves we don't have time to pursue such endeavors. It is the second part to the basic foundation to rediscovering our creativity.
More to come later...
No comments:
Post a Comment