[Jackiejdajda]

The Artist's Way.. Written by Julia Cameron

One of our members is starting the AW and I hope that others can join with us in working through the weeks of the AW..

This from the opening chapter.. page xiii

Through my own experience --- and that of countless others that I have shared --- I have come to believe that creativity is our true nature, that blocks are an unnatural thwarting of a process at once as normal and as miraculous as the blossoming of a flower at the end of a slender green stem. I have found this process of making spiritual contact to be both simple and straightforward..

I always thought of myself as an artist.. and I worked at this since I was a little girl.. But whose idea was it? I wonder..
My mom wanted me to be a commercial artist.. as she was one..
I did as I was told.. I would do a drawing and she would give me money..
Such a lesson.. such a bad bad lesson..

I, in turn, loved embroidery.. I can remember doing a tea towel in school.. I was very young..
It was a glass with a straw.. and I loved it.. and I got a prize for it..

So what Julia Cameron has a person do in the AW is find out where they are creative.. And in turn find out about themselves..

She has Basic Tools..

The Morning Pages..
Three every morning when you wake up.. writing down things that a person can hardly read.. but getting it out..

The Artist Date..
Once a week the person goes off by himself or herself and fills the well.. and the soul.
I took myself to Boston for an Artist Date.. I got on the bus and off I went.. And I know it helped me in my grief work around the relinquishment of my son.. I got pregnant in Boston..

She quotes amazing people in this book..

Page 19

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play of instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.

C. G. Jung..

So ladies and gentlemen who wants to do The Artist Way with us?

Jackie