After buying this book and letting it sit on my bookshelf for 6+ months, I am finally committing to doing The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. For those unfamiliar, The Artist’s Way is a 12-week, self-guided program focused on artistic creative recovery. The book teaches techniques and provides exercises to help you gain self-confidence in harnessing your creative talents and skills.
This book is for creatives of all types–writers, painters, graphic designers, poets, potters, photographers–but really, this book is for everyone. Creativity is not a special skill that only the most talented and gifted people get to access. One of the guiding principles of this book is that creativity is a natural order of life, and there is an underlying creative force in all living things, including you!
My main goal is to connect with my creativity on a deeper level and explore where my creativity and spiritually intersect. I started this journey on the first day of Leo season and have decided to document my process here on my Substack!
The Artist’s Way is a lot, and it can feel really daunting to commit to it for 12 weeks. Julia is quite dogmatic strict about writing three pages every morning (called the morning pages), completing the reflection exercises at the end of every chapter (called tasks), and taking yourself on an artist’s date once a week to connect with your inner artist.
I’ve seen a lot of Substack articles, YouTube videos, and podcasts on the idea of the “bare minimum” Artist’s Way. In other words, releasing the guilt around doing everything perfectly and making it work for you and your life. Whether it’s skipping morning pages, adjusting the 12-week timeline, or just reading the weekly chapter.
However, in my opinion, reading The Artist’s Way isn’t the same as doing The Artist’s Way. So, I’m going to give it an honest effort, do the morning pages, work through the tasks, and make the time for an artist date…but I will give myself grace and make adjustments along the way if I need to (and NOT guilt trip myself over it). After all, I am doing this to reconnect with myself, my creativity, and my spirituality…it doesn’t make sense to bully myself over not doing it perfectly.
Note to perfectionist Taylor: you aren't being graded on this.
The purpose of this series–other than holding me accountable–is to share my weekly thoughts and reflections, quotes and passages that really hit, tea on my artist dates, and my favorite tasks for you to try, too.
If you’ve been wanting to do The Artist’s Way yourself, this is your sign to follow along (and be my accountability buddy☺)
Week 1: Recovering a Sense of Safety (TL;DR)
The first week opens a safe space for exploring one’s inner beliefs about being an artist. These beliefs are often ingrained in our minds from an early age, often from a parent, teacher, or other person of influence. Perhaps you were interested in art as a child, you were told that artists make no money, aren’t successful, or are druggie degenerates. Maybe you received a harsh piece of criticism or even experienced trauma.
Whatever the origin, we allow ourselves to stay blocked because it’s safer that way. Fear of your own creativity is simply fear of the unknown. It’s easier and safer to stay blocked, because what would happen if you allowed your artist to express itself? What would other people think? How could your life change?
These core negative beliefs are expressed through your Censor–this is what Julia calls the little voice in your head that’s your biggest critic. It speaks in blurts, like you’re not talented enough to be an artist or you’ll never make enough money to support yourself as an artist. Julia encourages you to take note of these blurts, and rework them into positive affirmations.
Our early experiences, the root of the negative core beliefs, lead to a life as a shadow artist. A shadow artist is an artist who is ignorant or avoidant of their true identity. They often gravitate towards other artists to live vicariously through their experiences, but cannot yet claim their own artistry. Shadow artists often work adjacent to art but not in the art itself, like art therapy or marketing, because it seems like a more “acceptable” career.
Shadow artists can have what astrologers would call a Chiron wound, meaning they can help others see their artistry and inner creativity, but cannot help themselves. Shadow artists are unable to see they possess the creativity they admire so much, and are afraid to take themselves seriously.
Quotes and Passages I Loved
Just… this entire page. I love the fish pond analogy!
This Week’s Tasks
My favorite task from this week is called Imaginary Lives.
If you had five other lives to lead, what would you do in each of them? Whatever occurs to you, jot it down. Don’t overthink this exercise.
The point of these lives is to have fun in them–more fun than you might be having in this one. Look over your list and select one. Then do it this week. For instance, if you put down country singer, can you pick up a guitar? If you dream of being a cowhand, what about some horseback riding?
For my imaginary lives, and in no particular order, I would be a…
Chef & Restaurateur: make amazing food and cocktails, curate an incredible dining experience
Rockstar: have an amazing voice, be able to play every instrument, wear cute outfits, and perform in front of my adoring fans!
Farmer: have lots of animals and crops, spend time outside, learn from nature
Veterinarian: spend time with animals and make their lives better
Journalist: serve as editor-in-chief of a chic and respected magazine, report on cool topics, be thought-provoking and influential!
This exercise was really fun to dream up and reflect on why exactly I am drawn to each of these lives, and I could identify the threads between my imaginary lives and my values/purpose in this life! Give it a try this week.
This Week’s Artist Date
The beauty of the artist date is that they can be basically anything, as long as it engages your senses and is intentional. I chose a simple date inspired by this week’s reading: draw a picture of my Censor.
It’s funny… my Censor isn’t a ugly monster, she’s an effortlessly chic it-girl who I am sooo jealous of! She has an amazing style and everything she owns is from vintage shops in Paris. Her hair is gorgeous. She owns a flip phone and smokes cigarettes. Most importantly, she isn’t scared of sharing her art and creative vision with the world, and she has endless opportunities available to her because she isn’t afraid of being seen. Ugh.
My Censor doesn’t tell me nasty things like that I’m talentless and no one loves me. Instead, she makes me feel like I’m wasting my talents and skills by hiding my work. She looks at my work and says, “you call that art?” because nothing I could make is ever as cool as hers. Ultimately, she’s a reminder that comparison and jealousy are ugly ugly ugly and I shouldn’t buy into it!
So for this date, I curled up on the couch with my pens and sketchbook, drew a few versions of this it-girl, and cut my favorite one out to display above my desk. Now she is always looking down at me. LOL
Song of the Week
Been jammin' to this all week despite my husband calling it a "commercial song” lmao
Love that you are documenting this! I recently started doing The Artist's Way as part of a book club. It definitely feels like A LOT but the more tasks you do and the more you abide by the recommendations, the more you get out of it. Wishing you the best! ♡