On this week’s episode of Creative Space, we’re diving into Chapter 3 of Julia Cameron’s seminal book on creativity, “The Artist’s Way.” The focus for this week is “Recovering a Sense of Power,” and it’s all about letting go of previously accepted limits and experimenting with spiritual open mindedness.
There is so much to cover but there are three core principles we’ll talk about: Anger, Synchronicity, and Shame.
My favorite quote from this chapter: “Never ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seatbelt. The most remarkable things follow."
If you’re interested in reading "The Artist’s Way" and/or following along with the podcast as you complete the work, you can purchase it here.
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Jennifer Logue:
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Creative Space, a podcast where we explore, learn and grow in creativity together. I'm your host, jennifer Loog, and just as a reminder for the next few weeks, we're going to be doing something different. On the podcast, I'm doing the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron for the first time. Last week we talked about Chapter 2, recovering a Sense of Identity, and this week we're diving into Week 3, recovering a Sense of Power. Okay, I just gotta say I had some pretty powerful shifts this week and as I reread the summary to this chapter, maybe this is why this week may find you dealing with unaccustomed bursts of energy and sharp peaks of anger, joy and grief. You are coming into your power as the illusory hold of your previously accepted limits is shaken. You will be asked to consciously experiment with spiritual open-mindedness.
Jennifer Logue:
Now Julia Cameron covers a lot of topics in this chapter and I'm going to dive into three of them anger, synchronicity and shame. She describes anger as fuel, and yet we deny the urge to get angry, since we're nice people, or we try to be. We deny it, we bury it, we block it, yada, yada, yada. But we should be listening to our anger. And she calls anger, a map that shows us where our boundaries are and where we want to go. It's not meant to be acted out, but acted upon. Anger should lead us to act in the direction we want to go. Now I don't get angry angry normally I do get frustrated, though. So I'm using that as my map. Paying attention to those uncomfortable feelings and looking beneath the surface is helping me discover what I really want and get unstuck.
Jennifer Logue:
Next we talk about synchronicity, and this is really wild. What is it? First of all, basically, it's an answered prayer. We wanted something and we get it. Here's an example. I have this desire to start working with producers on songs again, and within the span of a week, two reached out to me to collaborate. I also was talking to a friend recently about how I wanted to do more photography work again. I find that visual mediums help my writing. Then, at a painting class last night, I got a photography job out of nowhere.
Jennifer Logue:
Cameron has a great quote we are much more afraid that there might be a God than we are that there might not be. Many of you might just say all those things that happened to me are coincidences, but I believe synchronicity is the hand of God showing us the best path forward in our lives, and when that path is scary. My favorite quote in this section is this never ask whether you can do something. Say instead that you are doing it and fasten your seatbelt. The most remarkable things follow.
Jennifer Logue:
The next topic that really hit home for me is shame. Cameron calls it the reason many of us get bogged down by fear before taking the action, and that is the story of my life, and I never realized that shame could be the underlying cause of that fear. And a lot of times that shame comes from childhood. For artists who are made to feel ashamed as children, this could be damaging enough to keep us from making our art. We don't even need a bad review to discourage us. Oftentimes this deeply rooted childhood shame stops us before we even begin or see something to completion, and this was a really powerful truth for me in the book. I hope it resonates with you.
Jennifer Logue:
But all in all, I'm feeling the blocks lifting from doing this work, blocks that I didn't even realize I had. Lately. I'm feeling braver than I've ever felt, but in a grounded, secure way, which is cool. The morning pages are a drag some mornings. I'm not going to lie, but I'm sticking with them some mornings. That are wonderful. It's kind of like squats. You don't always want to do them, but your butt will thank you later. So that's all I have for this episode of Creative Space. Next week we'll be diving into chapter four of the Artist's Way Recovering a Sense of Integrity. If you're interested in checking out the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron and doing the work on your own, I've linked to it in the show notes. My name is Jennifer Loge. I appreciate you taking the time to listen to Creative Space Until next time From the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.