The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Can you believe that I’ve been referencing The Artist’s Way for over six months and hadn’t even read it?! This author is the person who introduced Morning Pages to the world; I think it’s safe to say that morning pages have changed my life.  When I saw that this book was one of the Kindle Deals of the Day a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t resist buying it.

The format of this book lends itself to take you on a journey to unleash your creative powers.  It’s broken into weeks, with lessons on the topics that Cameron believes will help artists find their own voice, along with practice exercises and daily affirmations.  This is the kind of stuff that I LOVE.

The first couple of chapters outline Morning Pages and the Artist’s Date.  If you’re new around here, morning pages are daily journaling exercises.  There aren’t any rules or expectations, other than to write three pages in your journal every day.  It’s a daily brain dump that has helped me so much.  Artist’s Dates are ways to connect with your inner artist – it could mean a quick excursion to a bookstore or an art exhibit — anything that helps you remember why you love what you do. The remainder of the book is spent recovering your blocked artist.  The topics include Recovering a Sense of Safety, Recovering a Sense of Abundance, Recovering a Sense of Compassion, etc.

I read the whole book, but I haven’t done any of the exercises or really used the book as it was meant.  I was most interested in the chapter on Recovering a Sense of Strength, in which she discusses the lack of time as an excuse.  Lordy knows that I use that one for everything.  I’ve been trying to track my time to help me find little holes in my day to fill with activities that are important to me.  As parents of children, we all know that we can’t depend on those holes… they always get filled up in one way or another!

I probably won’t ever go through this book and use it as intended, but I am so happy that I have it.  It’s sprinkled with inspirational quotes and I love how she takes a nonjudgmental, but no-excuses-allowed approach.  She genuinely believes that we all have an artist inside of us – the trick is figuring out how to coax it out of its hiding place to play.