Bliss Habits Book Club: The Artist’s Way, Week Two

Welcome to Tuesdays with Chel.

“Trusting our creativity is new behavior for many of us. It may feel quite threatening initially, not only to us but also to our intimates. We may feel—and look—erratic. This erraticism is a normal part of getting unstuck, pulling free from the muck that has blocked us. It is important to remember that at first flush, going sane feels just like going crazy.”
– Julia Cameron

Welcome to the Bliss Habits Book Club! For the next several weeks, we’ll be discussing and working our way through The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron.

This week, we’re discussing Chapter/Week Two. Next Tuesday we’ll be starting to discuss Capter/Week Three.

It seems like this week was all about three big “C”s of being creative (or just being sane in general):

– Self-CARE
– avoiding the “CRAZYMAKERS”
and
– CONFIDENCE

First, and foremost: self-care.

This is a big block for a LOT of us. It’s still something I work on daily, even though I know, *scientifically*, that self-care is not only good for me, but for the world around me. It’s all those neurons in our brains. Basically, when we’re feeling good and taking care of ourselves, new connections are physically sparking and forming in our brains. These connections literally change the physical makeup of our brains. And the “stronger” our brains are, the better we are able to be, whether it’s when we sit down at our easel to paint or when we are taking care of the people we love.

We serve no one by being run down or feeling low, or even worse- both of those things. Yet, most creative types will tell you those are fairly common experiences. We call it “creative block”.

Cameron writes:

“Creativity flourishes when we have a sense of safety and self-acceptance. The essential element in nurturing our creativity lies in nurturing ourselves. Through self-nurturance … our creativity will unfold. Paths will appear for us.”

So what’s “self-nurturance?” That differs for everyone. The bottom line is, it’s crucial to this process.

“Draw a sacred circle around your recovery. Give yourself the gift of faith. Trust that you are on the right track. You are… Your artist, like a small child, is happiest when feeling a sense of security. Be very careful to safeguard your newly recovering artist…” – Julia Cameron

The “small child” reference definitely sparked something in me- I immediately thought of a photo of myself as a child. Maybe the whole idea of “safeguarding my creative recovery” didn’t hit home, but the idea of protecting that little girl and her ability to be happy and create definitely sunk in. Now every time I think of the work I am doing associated with this book, I see that image in my mind and I *get* it, I get why I am doing all of this.

“Be particularly alert to any suggestion that you have become selfish or differet. (These are red-alert words for us. They are attempts to leverage us back into our old ways for the sake of someone else’s comfort, not our own.)” – Julia Cameron

And this is where the second “C” comes in: Crazymakers.

This section was *very* interesting to me. Several years ago when I was first getting into psychology and neuroscience, I was very interested in the idea of “emotional vampires”. If you’re not familiar with that term- an emotional vampire is basically anyone who sucks the positive energy out of you. Being around them is draining, and you realize that they don’t often add to your life, but take a lot from it. “Emotional vampires” are pretty much the same thing as Cameron’s “Crazymakers”.

“Crazymakers are those personalities that create storm centers… they acquire that status by feeding on the life energies of those around them. … Crazymakers expect special treatment.  Crazymakers discount your reality. … Crazymakers create dramas—but seldom where they belong. Crazymakers hate schedules—except their own. In the hands of a crazymaker, time is a primary tool for abuse. If you claim a certain block of time as your own, your crazymaker will find a way to fight you for that time, to mysteriously need things (meaning you) just when you need to be alone and focused on the task at hand. Crazymakers hate order. Chaos serves their purposes. When you begin to establish a place that serves you and your creativity, your crazymaker will abruptly invade that space with projects of his/her own.”

(and, my favorite):

“Crazymakers deny that they are crazymakers.” – Julia Cameron

Okay, who *doesn’t* know a whole bunch of crazymakers? It’s like a zombie epidemic, if you think about it. But how on earth do we maintain a normal human existence and avoid these emotional zombies? It’s a difficult balancing act, because often the “crazymaker” is someone that we just can’t drop out of lives.

And, often, the “crazymaker” is something WE create, as well. I’ll admit to it- often when I sit down to create, I’m suddenly distracted by 1,0000000000 different things. And they all feel CRUCIAL to survival. I really do struggle with that.

Cameron writes:

“Often, creativity is blocked by our falling in with other people’s plans for us. We want to set aside time for our creative work, but we feel we should do something else instead. As blocked creatives, we focus not on our responsibilities to ourselves, but on our responsibilities to others. We tend to think such behavior makes us good people. It doesn’t. It makes us frustrated people.”

I think the key here is awareness. Knowing what’s happening, seeing the cycle start, and being aware enough about to recognize it’s happening and maybe even avoid the situation if possible.

I hate to say this, but I will: knowing “crazymakers” and being around young children can be very similar experiences. Children need things, they need YOUR attention, they often can’t wait, etc. And one thing I have learned about being creative AND being a mom is this: sometimes just SURRENDERING to it is the answer. If chaos is whirling up, and you are somehow involved, I believe it’s better to just do what it takes to manage the situation and get out rather than say “well, there’s all this stuff brewing and I’m totally distracted, but maybe I’ll just pull out my paints ANYWAY and try to focus and be creative right now.” Don’t do it! Deal with the situation at hand either by tending to it (a child) or extricating yourself (emotional vampire drama). Your creativity shouldn’t be subject to that sort of distraction.

So I think a big aspect of “self-care”, at least for me, is about creating boundaries as well as art. As I make my way through this book, I’m starting to realize that creativity is a lot more than sitting down and actually making something, it’s also about forming our everyday lives and thought processes towards creativity, as well. And that makes so much sense to me- it’s like turning on a faucet and expecting water to pour out even if the plumbing isn’t properly hooked up. In order for the creativity to flow, the “creative plumbing” needs to be installed and then properly maintained.

But what it’s we’re not plumbers? How do we even start constructing that complicated system to get the creativity flowing?

That’s where the “creative confidence” part comes in.

Cameron writes:

“Trusting our creativity is new behavior for many of us. … As we gain strength, so will some of the attacks of self-doubt.  As long as we were blocked, we often felt that it was arrogance and self-will to speak of ourselves as creative artists. The truth is that it was self-will to refuse to acknowledge our creativity … we could proceed to righteously ignore our creativity and never have to take the risks of fulfilling it.“

This resonated with me. It sort of reminded me of some middle age guy, sitting around and reminiscing about the “good old days” or whatever. Living where we do, we hear a lot of that sort of conversation, especially if we go out to eat dinner earlier in the evening. I always think about how depressing it is to have truly believed that the best time of your life is either high school (gack!) or some other unreachable time/space. The best part of our lives should always be *this* moment.

But then I kinda feel like a hedonist for even writing that. Even though I know it’s not true, at some point in time it became ingrained in me that hard work = drudgery = honorable life. (Or something similar…)

Cameron writes:

“Perhaps the greatest barrier for any of us as we look for an expanded life is our own deeply held skepticism…. We still doubt that it’s okay for us to be creative. … In creative recovery, it is not necessary that we change any of our beliefs. It is necessary that we examine them. Setting skepticism aside, even briefly, can make for very interesting explorations.”

I LOVE this idea. I love the idea of exploring something, especially a complicated and deeply seeded belief (no matter how wrong), before conquering it. This perspective makes this whole process seem not only more achievable, but actually something I will stick with in the long run.

“As your recovery progresses, … you will learn that it is actually easier to write than not write, paint than not paint, and so forth. You will learn to enjoy the process of being a creative channel and to surrender your need to control the result. You will discover the joy of practicing your creativity. The process, not the product, will become your focus.” – Julia Cameron

In wrapping up, Cameron urges a general awareness- awareness about how we can practice more self-care, awareness about the “crazymakers” in our lives, and awareness about our own doubts and beliefs about not only our creativity but all the things that come *with* creativity.

“Begin, this week, to consciously practice opening your mind. … The truth of a life really has little to do with its quality. The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention. … The reward for attention is always healing.” – Julia Cameron

As usual, there are a few exercises and suggestions at the end of this week’s text. I will be posting those daily on the Bliss Habits Facebook page, and you can use them as either prompts or a tool for discussion. I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please feel free to leave some comments here or link us up on your own blog.

The discussion is continued on Facebook, as well. Please join us.

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Chel Micheline is a mixed-media artist, curator, writer, and avid gardener/reader/swimmer who lives in Southwest Florida with her husband and daughter. When Chel’s not making art or pondering the Bliss Habits, she’s blogging at gingerblue.com (come say hi!) or posting new things in the gingerblue etsy shop.