Ten Minute Artist: The Artist Way Edition
Experiencing the Artist Way with Adam Ming
In this edition we discuss Julia Cameron’s international bestseller ‘The Artist Way.’ May it serve as a reminder if you are familiar with the practice and an introduction if this is your first encounter.
I’ve engaged with The Artist Way from the beginning of my adult life so many of the ideas have become second nature to me. I’m currently doing a refresher of the material, this time working off the Artist Way companion workbook. And I wanted to share with you some of the tools and takeaways from the practice.
Because it’s second nature to me, it’s never invited to me that there are artist who work without these tools. I asked my critique group if they’ve heard of or tried any of the practices, and I was genuinely surprised that they haven’t.
What doesn’t surprise me is the number of successful artist who actually have used the practice as some point in my life. At the end of this edition I offer multiple ways for you to try some of the benefits of the practice as well as a chat for questions and for you to share your experiences.
The main premise of Cameron’s work center’s around the belief that….
Art as a spiritual act.
If you’re encountering this for the first time, the Artist Way is an experiantal path, awakening creativity through using it. In it the author posits that art is a spiritual act.
The practices she recommends enable us to build a spiritual radio-kit that amplifies the voice of inspiration. You will declares the author “come into contact with a powerful spiritual force, which some of you may call God, and others merely the muse. Do not allow semitics to block you”.
I believe that part of the success of the Artist Way is due to the way Julia has been able to tackle the connection between creativity and divinity, without getting into the weeds of your personal spiritual practice. To do this she uses God interchangeably with the phrase Good Orderly Direction.
And while I personalise the practice according to my own faith and encourage you to do the same. I will write about it here from the lens of Good Orderly Direction and the Muse.
The author offers 10 basic principles, that you are required to take by faith, for anything that follows to make sense. These are the Principles.
Basic Principles
1. Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy.
2. There is an underlying, in-dwelling, creative force infusing all of life — including ourselves
3. When we put ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator’s creativity within us and our lives.
4. We are, ourselves, creations. And we are in turn, ment to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.
5. Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using Creativity is our gift back to God
6. The refusal to be creative is self will and counter to our true nature.
7. When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to God: good orderly direction
8. As we open ourselves creative channel to the creator’s creativity within, many gentle thoughts powerful changes are to be expected
9. It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity
10. Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move towards our dreams we move towards our divinity.
The artist way centre’s around two primary tools, or practices.
Morning Pages and Artist Dates.
Morning Pages being a tool for transmitting intent. And the Artist Date as a tool for receiving inspiration. And together they develop your intuition.
There are numerous resources that dig deep into the tools and principles of The Artist Way, and that is beyond the scope of this edition. Instead I want to share some of my experience and thoughts from working with the material, as well as specific exercises that you might try related to those experiences.
If you want to dig into Julia Cameron’s work I recommend
Creative Sparks
What follows are 7 Creative Sparks.
Each spark focuses on one aspect of the artist way that has impacted me paired with an action to let you start experiencing the benefits of the practice.
Which are more clarity, a greater sense of creative purpose, & synchronicity (happy coincidences in daily life.
However, Creative Sparks are only available to paid subscribers, if you’d like to support my work, and get 24 Ten Minute Artist Editions a year and a minimum of 120 Creative Sparks to help you build a joyful creative practice. You can do so by clicking the button below.
Here are a collection of creative sparks from this edition. I recommend working through them daily, taking one a day and in order. Starting with the first one today. If you’re not a pause subscriber, I made Day 6 available for free, and you can jump to that to get a sense of what you get in each creative spark.
7. The trouble with Artist Dates, Morning Pages and how to fix them.
If you’d like to share or discuss any aspect of the Artist Way experience, we have a place for it here, chat with newbies and seasoned practitioners…
For a full list of creative sparks you can visit the Ten Minute Artist : Creative Spark Library. Use these sparks to fill those useful pockets of useful time you find during the day. Think of it as little snack of creative joy!