I am super happy to welcome my friend Ali Baker to Create Your World today! Part of Ali’s work is about unleashing your creativity and today she is talking about her experience with Julia Cameron’s awesome program/book The Artist’s Way. Make sure you check out Ali here.
If you’re ready to unleash YOUR creativity, this beautiful and soul-ful Meet Your Inner Goddess course might be just what you need.
And now on to Ali’s thoughts on creativity!
At the beginning of the year I took some time to consider my goals and dreams for 2015 and wanted to find a general creative course to help me write more and feel more creative.
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron has sat on my bookshelf for several years, barely opened before I’ve dismissed it with: ‘I haven’t got time to do that.’
Anyway the time was right and rather than pay lots of dollars for an online course, I decided to take the book off the shelf and read it. I’d found what I needed and it had been sitting there waiting patiently for me to open my eyes.
The course is a twelve week self-directed program with only two have to do’s – the Morning Pages and a weekly Artist’s Date.
Yes the Morning Pages are something else to incorporate into your day but it’s time for yourself, to be quiet and let the detritus of the subconscious mind empty without censorship onto the page. It’s an opportunity to explore and you don’t need to be a writer.
We have choices. This is the other course requirement: to choose an artist’s date. To do something for and by yourself which will inspire you. The idea is that by actively looking after yourself and valuing yourself enough, you indulge the inner artist like a child with some creative play.
The result? Your sense of wellbeing is boosted and you may create or do something you’re proud of.
Some of my dates have included visiting an art exhibition, buying nice smelling candles, pencil crayons and pastels, driving an unknown road to see where it took me, spending an hour in a bookshop reading walking guides and parking on the side of the road to draw in charcoal a row of trees I pass most days and have wanted to do for months.
Organizing artist dates has been harder for me than getting up at 6.15 to scrawl the morning pages. According to Ms Cameron this is because; ‘it is far easier to get people to do the extra work of the morning pages than it is to get them to do the assigned play of an artist date. Fun is scary.’
Revelations like this occur throughout. I’ve understood how and why I’ve blocked my creativity over the years through the essays and simple tasks, which easily and quickly explore old beliefs. The biggest take away for me is self belief in my abilities which comes from turning up regularly, taking action consistently and nurturing myself often.
• Do you allow yourself time to be creative?
• Are you excited or scared by playing as an adult?
• How do you express yourself creatively?
The first step is acknowledging our creative selves and that we are all artists.
I am happy to talk and help anybody interested in knowing more about the course or who wants to explore their creativity.
Ali
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Ali Baker is a writer, coach and organiser of women’s retreats on how to be wild, creative and intuitive. She loves feeding her creative soul with dancing, yoga, making things, nature, wild swimming and flower essences. Having walked the Camino in 2013 she is currently writing a book about her experiences. For inspiration visit her blog at www.ali-baker.com “Follow the arrows of your heart…”
