The Artist’s Way: A (re) introduction

Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy. (Basic Principle #1 of The Artist’s Way)

I don’t remember when I first heard about The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. But I know it was definitely back when I didn’t consider myself an artist.

But I tucked it away in my brain. The way you do when something piques your interest and you know it might do you some good, but you don’t take any action. Like hot yoga. Or juicing.

Liz Made Me Do It

Fast-forward to two months ago. I am taking an online “light writing” class taught by the wonderful and brilliant author, transformational life coach, and Oprah columnist, Martha Beck. (An experience worthy of its own blog post or twelve.) During the last class of the course, Martha has soul-bursting conversation with Elizabeth Gilbert (who wrote Eat, Pray, Love and most recently Big Magic) about writing, life and story-telling. When Liz mentions that she couldn’t have written Eat, Pray, Love without The Artist’s Way, I knew I had to dive into this seemingly magical book.

12 Weeks to Creativity

In case you’re not familiar with The Artist’s Way, it is a 12-week program for recovering creatives. Through exercises and activities, it helps writers, artists, painters and makers replace their blocks, fears, procrastination with confidence and productivity. Sound heavenly right?

Heavenly, yes. The Artist’s Way definitely has a spiritual perspective on creativity. Something I shied away from when I first heard about the book and actually leafed through the pages. But having embarked on a spiritual awakening in the past few years myself, it was divine timing that I was able to pick up the book again and read it with a fresh eyes.

Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity. (Basic Principle #10)

My Way

As I work my way through The Artist’s Way, I would love to share my experiences with you on the blog. A log of my creative journey. A way to keep accountable and perhaps inspire you to find out more about this program. I will also share snapshots on my Instagram feed.

Are you doing The Artist’s Way? Leave me a comment and let me know how it’s going!

NEXT TIME: I will talk about the two basic tools of The Artist’s Way —

1. Morning Pages
2. Artist Dates