I wanted The Artist’s Way to be free and, like the twelve-step movement, largely leaderless and self-taught, growing through simplicity and lack of control, performing its expansion through an easy-does-it series of natural, call it seasonal, self-evolving checks and balances.
The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Tenth Anniversary Edition, Page 20
In the fall, I did Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” (AW) as part of a group journey for a community I am a member of1. I focused on it above anything else, as it fit exactly into what I wanted to do at the time; that is to say that I wanted to focus on my healing and had some ideas of different healing tools I wanted to begin experimenting with, which appeared to all be somehow a part of the AW journey. When it was announced within the community, I had a look at what would be involved and realized this would be a great way to get accountability and some kind of structure in my next steps.
So I got my hands on the book2 and read the introduction, while waiting patiently for the first calls3. And then continued through the weeks. The first 4 went smoothly for me, however the teachers in Quebec were on strike in the fall, which put a cog in my wheel4. As a result, I fell out of my routines and struggled to keep up, let alone catch up. Finally, when the winter break began, I stopped completely, knowing I wanted to see if others wanted to continue with the process together. It took longer than intended to set this up, but I am now meeting with 2 people every 3,5-ish weeks.
The thing is, we all (not just my group, but everyone taking part) quickly noticed how so very 1992 the book is. Even my tenth anniversary edition reeks of 1992 America: Christianity being such a dominant theme, that the book almost feels theological; the not-so-subtle victim-blaming in many of the sections; her one-size-fits-all statements showcasing her privilege …
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Despite all of this, the book shows a surprising understanding of healing from trauma, not frequently found in the general public at the time, or even today. It might satisfy my curiosity to see what changes were made between the two editions, but I am not sure I am invested enough to look into it.
Introduction Sections
Sections, plural, because being the tenth edition, there is what I assume is the original intro, following the intro specific to the edition. These were rife with mentions of God and Christian statements. When I first began reading the intro for this post, I saved quotes. The list got long. When I returned to it, I realized I was wasting time, but then sunk cost fallacy made me feel like I had already used that time, so should keep at it; finally, I chose to forget the quotes. They are useful, in terms of noticing just how frequently they show up, as well as to acknowledge important statements.
Remind yourself that to succeed in this course, no god concept is necessary. In fact, many of our commonly held god concepts get in the way. Do not allow semantics to become one more block for you.
When the word God is used in these pages, you may substitute the thought good orderly direction or flow. What we arc talking about is a creative energy. God is useful shorthand for many of us, but so is Goddess, Mind, Universe, Source, and Higher Power…. The point is not what you name it. The point is that you try using it. For many of us, thinking of it as a form of spiritual electricity has been a very useful jumping-off place.
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Do not call it God unless that is comfortable for you. There seems to be no need to name it unless that name is a useful shorthand for what you experience. Do not pretend to believe when you do not. If you remain forever an atheist, agnostic—so be it. You will still be able to experience an altered life through working with these principles.
The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Tenth Anniversary Edition, Page 26
This was a section I really appreciated, when I first read the book in the fall. As I progressed through the book, though, I did find it kind of frustrating, as though Cameron merely threw in these paragraphs, so the non-Christians5 would feel included, but then made zero effort for the rest of the book. Others I spoke to felt the same way. In fact, if I recall, some of the blog posts I found out there seemed to say the same.
But alas! The book was published in 1992. E for Effort, I guess.
Cameron then shares her AW story in the My Own Journey section. If you enjoy reading intro stories, this is a fun section! In fact, it is not dissimilar (though not entirely similar, either) to that of Tara Mohr.
The Basic Principles
One of the tasks we are given in the introduction is to read the Basic Principles once every day. By that point, already fed up of how Christianity is so deeply entwined in the writing, I had an Ecosia6 for an alternative. I ended up finding two blog posts giving alternative basic principle lists7, with the promise of a series on the topic.
After having a look at the Basic Principle alternatives they both shared, I read them to myself for a few days each. Feeling neither truly fit me, I decided to adapt them to fit myself, after one of my friends told me she had adapted them herself. Here is my Basic Principles, heavily inspired by the original and the two other blogs:
- Creativity, being a natural part of life, provides the necessary energy to heal.
- All living things are filled with creative energy, including ourselves.
- When we open ourselves to our creativity, we allow ourselves to access the creativity that is naturally within us and our lives.
- We are inherently creative; creativity is a part of who we are.
- Creativity is life’s gift to us; using our creativity shows gratitude for life and is our gift to humanity.
- Refusing to be creative is counter to our true essence; it is self-defeating, challenges our ability to be healthful and joyful.
- When we allow ourselves to explore our creativity, we energize ourselves to experience love, joy and peace.
- Many gentle and powerful changes can be expected, as we allow ourselves to be creative.
- It is safe to allow ourselves to experience greater and greater creativity.
- Our creative dreams and desires come from within; as we move toward our creative dreams, we move to what is within.
How to Use This Book For Your Creative Recovery
Cameron leans in to the book being a self-led version of the course she had been teaching for some time before publishing. She encourages people to begin by browsing the book to have an idea of what will be covered. Beyond reading the table of contents, I did not do this. I wanted it to come as a surprise for me.
Remembering my grade eight home economics teacher’s introductory exercise, perhaps this is not such a good idea. We were given a worksheet and told to raise our hands when we had finished it; the last step said to ignore every other step and it seems only one or two students had read before completing the sheet. Clearly I have not forgotten it, but I tend to use the lesson in some circumstances but not others; for example, if I buy a clothing rack on wheels (like I did recently), I will not begin putting it together until I have reviewed the instructions. Then again, the way furniture instructions are nowadays, this is not a great example haha but you get the idea!
Cameron explains that each week we will have reading, exercises, tasks and a weekly check-in, on top of the daily (morning, but I like daily) pages and weekly artist date; enough are provided, that Cameron does not expect students to finish all the tasks; she encourages us to do at least half, specifically those that appeal to us most and those we feel the strongest resistance to, leaving the rest. This is supposed to take about an hour a day, maybe a bit more, ranging from 7-10 hours a week.
In my experience in the fall, I did the tasks that I could do in my notebook and left everything else for later-on. The thing is, I am a methodical and thorough person, so this is part of what this second round is about for me. Doing those tasks I did not do in the fall, especially those I am resistant to. My healing is about more than my artist; it is about healing what I lost when experiencing trauma and re-learning what brought me joy, much of which is intrinsically tied to my creativity – even if at the time I thought it had nothing to do with being creative.
What to Expect
In this section, Cameron tells of the rollercoaster of a journey that this process can be. Between defiance & giddiness, explosive anger, grief, alternating resistance & hope, this journey is far from linear and far from comfortable8. But that is just it, isn’t it? There is no way out, but through, when it comes to healing. We know and understand that when it comes to physical healing – I think most of us know that you cannot go from a broken arm, to a fully functional arm in a day – but for emotional wounds, we often expect healing to be instantaneous; I am no exception to this, having tried to ignore my need for healing for some time, hoping I could do the healing once my life was how I wanted it. Except how could I expect that, when healing is exactly what I need to get where I want to be?
It is not an easy process and if you have access to a therapist, I think it could be incredibly helpful to do this process with their guidance. If you have trauma in your past, ensuring they are trauma-informed is incredibly important. If you need help finding an appropriate therapist in your area, please reach out to me; I would be happy to help you how I can; the fact that so many of us have to suffer through it infuriates me to no end.
The Basic Tools
The Morning Pages
As far as Cameron is concerned, this must be done first thing in the morning, before doing anything else. It must be done, no matter how you feel or what is going on in your life and must be 3 pages (though she does not specify the page size – A4 sheets are not the same as a notebook the size of your hand!). She says in the book that she’d been doing them for 10 years at that point.
Now, I do fully support the pages. However, I prefer to call them daily pages, as everyone has a different rhythm of what works. For me, the morning does work, as it clears my mind first thing. For one of my dear friends, the evening is better, to avoid their mind racing in the night. This is the typical prescriptive description, but forget about that, when you are doing it. Do it in a way that fits your rhythm and you are far more likely to keep it up. The point is not to follow her rules, but to reap the benefits. And I truly have found them to be beneficial. Or rather, I should say I did, as I stopped doing pages in the fall and then did them again for the last few weeks of school (my kid’s school) – though I intend to include them in our summer routine, as I have long wanted to teach my kiddo the benefits of journaling!
The process is meant to be stream of consciousness; in other words, write whatever goes through your mind, even if what is going through your mind is “I don’t have anything to write …I don’t know what to say …this is stupid …why am I doing this …is this even useful …” This is a tip that Cameron gives in the book, though I first learned this from Tara Mohr when I did her Playing Big course. The idea is that you write and write and write, until your time period9 or number of pages is up. You can keep going if you so choose, but you can stop, too. By doing this, you are more likely to get to the deeper stuff that you might not have explored for a long time, if ever.
You may have noticed that I said that you should write “until your time period or number of pages is up”. I say this, because sometimes we choose to do a timed free write. Some of my peers, with whom I have been doing the AW journey have found 3 pages to be understandably overwhelming. Setting a timer for 5 or 3 or even one minute could help get over the hurdle of starting, just as saying you will do one page or even half a page. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part. That definitely is for me! However you do it, finding a way to get started is the first step and if an amount of writing is not working, why not start with a timer? Again, the point of doing this process is to reap the benefits, so sometimes we have to adapt to make something more accessible to ourselves.
Often, what you write seems or feels silly, but over time, you can catch on some themes. And this leads to a caveat for the AW: you are not supposed to read your pages back, until you reach the week that has a task to read through your pages (week eight or nine, if I recall), nor are you to let others read them (personally, I wouldn’t want anyone reading them, anyway).
If you do nothing else for this process, daily pages (aka journaling) is a great way to help. The benefits of journaling are well-known and so it is worth a try. Since the pages are meant to be stream of consciousness, I am doing them in that way for the duration of the program, however I do love me a good journal prompt! I have quite the collection that I am saving for after the process. That way if I feel like exploring a specific issue, topic, concern, I can find a prompt and the rest of the time stick to the free write. Or not. I am not there yet, so we will see what happens. Who knows, maybe I will delete the list at some point!
The Artist Date
The other basic tool is the Artist Date. In a nutshell, this is a playdate with yourself and no-one else. Others have done so with others along and if it works for them, then power to them! I was not very good at doing my artist dates, so definitely something I need to work on, for me to be able to give more feedback on it. As a struggling solo mom with cPTSD, I very much struggle to give myself this time. However, logically, I can see how it would be helpful. This is definitely one that I will have to work on this time (great timing, as it is now summer and my kid will be home until school resumes). In fact, with re-learning what brings me joy being an important exploration for me in this chapter of my life, Artist Dates are essential!
The thing is, choosing an Artist Date has been a bit of a struggle for me, which surely does not help with my doing it. Then again, Cameron must have been faced with quite a bit of resistance from her students over the years, as she does go on and on about the objections people have. So clearly I am not alone in this.
Some examples Cameron gives:
- A visit to a great junk store (I am thinking flea market, dollar store, or my favourite, a thrift shop …any Americans able to tell me if I got this right?)
- A solo trip to the beach
- An old movie seen alone together
- A visit to an aquarium
- A visit to an art gallery
- A long country walk
- A solitary expedition to the beach for a sunrise or sunset
- Bowling
Importantly, you need to pay attention to your artist child, as you might find you are trying a tad too hard. “For example, ‘Oh, I hate this serious stuff,’ your artist may exclaim if you persist in taking it only to grown-up places that are culturally edifying and good for it.” Your artist child needs to have fun and play, to be able to benefit from the Artist Dates. Daily pages help us to hear what we need; Artist Dates help us find solutions.
Filling the Well, Stocking the Pond
This section seems to be about noticing. In this day and age, where we go around with headphones in our ears and all the information of the world, games, books, movies, in the palm of our hand, how often do we truly just notice what is happening around us? These days I live in a community, where so much of what I need is within a short walking distance. Sometimes while walking, I am busy reading an article on my phone, sending a text, checking in with my kiddo’s teacher; other times I am lost in my thoughts. Those times I am lost in my thoughts, I am far more likely to notice the leaves changing colour in the fall; a bird calling amongst tree branches; leaves popping out in the spring; families enjoying each other in their yards (all examples of moments I remember as I type). And what a beautiful way to live life! Even if for no other reason, than to exist.
Contract
Finally, here is my very slightly adapted version of Cameron’s contract:
I understand that I am undertaking an intensive, guided encounter with my own creativity creative healing. I commit myself to the twelve-week duration of the course, however long it takes me. I commit to weekly regular reading, daily morning pages, a weekly artist date, and the fulfillment of each week’s chapter’s tasks.
I further understand that this course will raise issues and emotions for me to deal with. I commit myself to excellent self-care—adequate sleep, diet, exercise, and pampering—for the duration of the course.
As I am finishing this course in an effort to benefit from it, not to stress myself through it, I made the contract better reflect this. I intend for this to better allow me to progress in a way that allows me to move through my healing journey in the way that will be the most supportive. Gentleness is key.
Gentleness is key.
What Am I Doing Here?
As the two blogs I mentioned in The Basic Principles section had only posted a handful of times, I quickly began fantasizing about starting my own blog series and attempting to finish it. However, I felt it was not yet time to do that and also was concerned I would not finish the series, kind of like my Voluntourism series, while completely forgetting about post series I have finished, such as when I took part in the Montreal Urban Race (haha). Granted, this post has taken months from starting the draft, until posting (unfortunately, I am not exaggerating). And I am okay with that! cPTSD is not easy to heal from; I go through periods of time, where triggers are holding me back from doing much of anything; it is important to me to be involved in my kiddo’s education; not to mention general overwhelm. If I post once a quarter, then at least I posted!
In the end, I did get together with the others and my intention is to skim (ish) through the chapters I did complete in the fall (my mind is stuck on chapter 9, so around there) and then finish the rest properly. The caveat being that I want to also write about the journey & changes I make in how I engage with the book, as I do find the things Cameron says can get quite problematic in differing ways.
Please remember that, much like everything else I am writing these days, you might find that tomorrow I am already posting about Week 1 and then it takes 3 months to get to Week 2, then maybe another 3 weeks to get to Week 3 and so-on; I will be as consistent with this, as I am with my other writing: consistent on my end, we will see on yours. My intention is to finish this program, which I have found to be incredibly helpful thus far, while also hopefully helping someone, somewhere, to reframe this course to better fit their needs, while maintaining the benefits within.
If I do end up stopping at some point, please forgive me! And let me know if you want more.
As always, it is important for me to be clear that
while this blog currently focuses on my trauma and healing journey,
I AM NOT A THERAPIST, PSYCHOLOGIST, OR ANY OF THAT!
My posts are NOT meant to give advice, but to share my experience. That said, if you are in need of support, please do reach out to me and I will do my best to help you find resources in your area. There is no reason why anyone should struggle, in this day and age.
I am so happy you are here and would love to hear from you!
- What is one small sign you have seen in yourself lately that shows you are making progress, however small?
- Have you done, are you doing, or would you like to do The Artist’s Way and would like to share about that?
- Have you done, are you doing, have you been told about a similar self-led program? Please do share!
- What is one thing you would like to take away from this post?
- I am an affiliate and if you click through and join them, I will receive a small thank you for sharing the link ↩︎
- Is it still getting your hand on it, if it is a digital copy? ↩︎
- The intro call for the do-together and the first call with the 3 people I was grouped with ↩︎
- Not a complaint, they truly deserve better working conditions and always better pay ↩︎
- If you are interested in knowing, I am agnostic ↩︎
- Like having a Google, but they fund tree planting projects – got any other alternative search engine suggestions to share in the comments? ↩︎
- Found on LiLi Kathleen Bright and on The Secular Artist ↩︎
- Her words ↩︎
- I have done timed free writes in the past and do find it is a way to make starting easier, say giving yourself 5 minutes of stream of consciousness writing, then seeing where it goes. ↩︎
Obibini Bruni 