We are all creative beings. However, we don’t all believe we are creative. In my case, any belief in my artistic or creative ability was shattered in school when I was dismissed by my art teacher as artistically incompetent due to my inability to draw a human figure in correct proportion. I didn’t question this judgement but instead lived many years with the thought that I’m just not creative. I had a distorted and very narrow view as to what it means to be creative.
A turning point came when I found the book ‘The Artist’s Way‘ by Julia Cameron. I was attracted by the cover which described the book as ‘A Course in Discovering and Recovering your Creative Self’. The book doesn’t fail in its promise! If you are ready, it takes you on a journey of self-discovery over the course of 12 weeks. It’s a spiritual journey that helps you to discover (or rediscover) your creative self and instead of teaching you how to become an artist, it teaches you how to ‘allow’ your creative self to emerge and be expressed.
There is a focus for every week with a variety of exercises to complete. Like anything worthwhile, you get out of it what you put in. For me, the ritual of the ‘morning pages’ were a gateway into parts of my soul that I had not connected with before. They helped to free me up from my old limiting story about not being creative. Committing to my morning pages without having to get them ‘right’ or ‘be creative’ was very freeing.
The second key practice suggested in the book is the ‘artist date’ ie a block of time that you set aside each week to nurture your creative consciousness. You get to play! Decide how you want to spend your weekly date with your inner artist. You become more courageous as you allow yourself to experience a variety of artistic and creative endeavours that you previously thought were only for other people. Giving yourself this time opens you up to insight, inspiration and guidance.
The Artist’s Way offers you the opportunity to take a spiritual journey to discover your hidden creative talents. It is for artists and non-artists alike. This is one of those books that is potentially life-changing. It certainly was for me and I highly recommend it.
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso