TAW: Recovering a Sense of Power
Good news! Solitude is a source of power! The heart is a source of power!
“The words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels.” - Hazrat Inayat Khan
Chapter 3: Week Three of The Artist's Way: Recovering a Sense of Power
Anger
P. 61- “Anger is meant to be listened to. Anger is a voice, a shout, a plea, a demand. Anger is meant to be respected. Why? Because anger is a map. Anger shows us what our boundaries are. Anger shows us where we want to go. It lets us see where we've been and lets us know when we haven't liked it.... anger is meant to be acted upon. It is not meant to be acted out. Anger points to the direction. We are meant to use anger as fuel to take the actions we need to move where our anger points us. With a little thought, we can usually translate the message that our anger is sending us.” (Cameron)
P. 62 – “Anger is a tool, not a master”. (Cameron)
Anger is an invitation to action.
Synchronicity
P. 64 – Answered prayers are “the hand of God, or good, activated by our own hand when we act in behalf of our truest dreams, when we commit to our own soul… When we answer that call, when we commit to it, we set in motion the principle that C. G. Jung dubbed synchronicity, loosely defined as fortuitous intermeshing of events.” (Cameron)
P. 65 “In my experience, the universe falls in with worthy plans and most especially with festive and expansive ones.” (Cameron)
P. 66 “Understand that the what must come before the how. First choose what you would do. The how usually falls into place of itself.” (Cameron)
P. 66 “We like to pretend it is hard to follow our heart's dreams. The truth is, it is difficult to avoid walking through the many doors that will open. Turn aside your dream and it will come back to you again. Get willing to follow it again and a second mysterious door will swing open… The universe is prodigal in its support.” (Cameron)
“Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.” – Goethe
Shame
P. 67 “shame is a controlling device. Shaming someone is an attempt to prevent the person from behaving in a way that embarrasses us… The act of making art exposes a society to itself. Art brings things to light. It illuminates us. It sheds light on our lingering darkness. It casts a beam into the heart of our own darkness and says, ‘see?’” (Cameron)
P. 68 “Art opens the closets, airs out the cellars and attics. It brings healing. But before a wound can heal it must be seen, and this act of exposing the wound to air and light, the artist’s act, is often reacted to with shaming.” (Cameron)
P 69-70 “Not all criticism is shaming... The criticism that damages is that which disparages, dismisses, ridicules, or condemns it is frequently vicious but vague and difficult to refute. This is the criticism that damages… does this mean no criticism? No. It means learning where and when to seek out right criticism. As artists, we must learn when criticism is appropriate and from whom. Not only the source but the timing is very important here. A first draft is seldom appropriately shown to any but the most gentle and discerning eye. It often takes another artist to see the embryonic work that is trying to sprout. The inexperienced or harsh critical eye, instead of nurturing the shoot of art into being, may shoot it down instead.” (Cameron)
“We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own or to other people's models, learn to be ourselves, and allow our natural channel to open.” - Shakti Gawain
Dealing with criticism
P. 73 - An Exercise: (Cameron)
1. My favorite childhood toy was...
2. My favorite childhood game was...
3. The best movie I ever saw as a kid was...
4. I don't do it much but I enjoy...
5. If I could lighten up a little, I'd let myself...
6. If it weren't too late, I'd...
7. My favorite musical instrument is...
8. The amount of money I spend on treating myself to entertainment each month is...
9. If I weren't so stingy with my artist I'd buy him/ her...
10. Taking time out for myself is...
11. I'm afraid that if I start dreaming...
12. I secretly enjoy reading...
13. If I had had a perfect childhood I'd have grown up to be...
14. If it didn't sound so crazy, I'd write or make a...
15. My parents think artists are...
16. My God thinks artists are...
17. What makes me feel weird about this recovery is...
18. Learning to trust myself is probably...
19. My most cheer-me-up music is...
20. My favorite way to dress is...
My responses:
Because I find it so interesting to get glances into artist’s personal lives, I will share my honest responses here in case they are of interest and hopefully helpful to anyone. <3
1. My favorite childhood toy was my books (does that count?), sketchbooks, the flower press… (*Edit since talking with my Mom: I loved my Calico Creatures, Polly Pocket, and Blue’s Clues stuffed dog when I was younger).
2. My favorite childhood game was Boggle or Scrabble.
3. The best movie I ever saw as a kid was The Sound of Music or the Iron Giant.
4. I don't do it much but I enjoy going out to dance.
5. If I could lighten up a little, I'd let myself… not take words so seriously.
6. If it weren't too late, I'd commit more time to dance. I don’t think it’s too late, I want to learn some classical dances! I’ll be looking into Tango, Salsa, Waltz, etc when I move North..
7. My favorite musical instrument is piano and guitar. Honestly how can I choose?
8. The amount of money I spend on treating myself to entertainment each month is probably 100 bucks on average maybe? Not sure..
9. If I weren't so stingy with my artist I'd buy him/ her a new guitar, and I might for Christmas if no one else does..
10. Taking time out for myself is worth it and highly beneficial.
11. I'm afraid that if I start dreaming, I may have a nightmare.
12. I secretly enjoy reading about plant healing properties, archetypes, magic, channeling and spiritual experiences. (Not so secret! I love learning and talking about this stuff).
13. If I had had a perfect childhood I'd have grown up to be an independent businesswoman running the non-existent (perhaps as of yet) family foundation.
14. If it didn't sound so crazy, I'd write or make a magical realism play of my current concept (Grandmother).
15. My parents think artists are… probably nice and superfluous.
16. My God thinks artists are spiritual beings transmuting energy into matter.
17. What makes me feel weird about this recovery is that I feel like it already has happened, process is so not linear. Luckily, my artist feels very secure and integrated with me because we have practicing our art for years.
18. Learning to trust myself is probably one of the best things that I have ever done for myself.
19. My most cheer-me-up music is ….honestly, probably Drake.
20. My favorite way to dress is... recently, in tights, skirt, sweater, Mary Janes or ballet flats. Makes me feel preppy and hot.
Did my responses make you laugh? Feel free to share your thoughts and/or some of your responses to these prompts in the comments.
Growth
P. 74 – “In this sense, easy does it is actually a modus operandi. It means, ‘easy accomplishes it’. If you will hew to a practice of writing three pages every morning and doing one kind thing for yourself every day, you will begin to notice a slight lightness of heart.” (Cameron)
P. 75 “More than anything else, experiment with solitude. You will need to make a commitment to quiet time. Try to acquire the habit of checking in with yourself.” (Cameron)
Please, be encouraged to take time to check in with your heart. Make this heart-connection a consistent daily practice. Tune in to the heart’s desires. Converse with your heart. This shift has been so healing and guiding for me.
I have been in Minneapolis with my family celebrating two weddings. We are enjoying a beautiful view of trees outside the windows here and each morning I wake up to a view of the sunrise on Lake Waconia. Here’s the sunrise on Sunday morning.
merci,
With re: this: If it didn't sound so crazy, I'd write or make a magical realism play of my current concept (Grandmother). May I please ask you to read this story (its similar to your not crazy at all play concept): https://magical1shot.substack.com/p/being-the-fool
Although I am well aware that doing so (for some odd reason) people assume doing so is tied to witchcraft (admittedly not all witches are wicked) I don't do this in secret because I am a natural witch, and it is interesting: I secretly enjoy reading about plant healing properties, archetypes, magic, channeling and spiritual experiences.