The Artist's Way, part 2

Today is the second installment of my webinar on Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. This class's assignment was to read the first two weeks of the book, and then discuss the tasks and content in the hour-long web discussion.

In these two chapters, Cameron talks about recovering a sense of safety and identity as creatives. This quote below is hard for me because I've always been impatient. She writes:

Progress, not perfection, is what we should be asking of ourselves. Too far, too fast, and we can undo ourselves. We want to be great--immediately great. Remember that in order to recover as an artist, you must be willing to be a bad artist. Give yourself permission to be a beginner. (29-30)

Here is a great point that I need to constantly remember:

Often, creativity is blocked by our falling in with other people's plans for us. We want to set aside time for creative work, but we feel we should do something else instead.

I need to remember to carve that time and space out for creative work. She also tells of her grandmother in her struggles in life, and ends with:

My grandmother knew what a painful life had taught her: success or failure, 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. (53)

She describes here the little things her grandmother would write about in her letters: "tiger lilies are blooming, the lizard has found that spot of sun, the roses are holding despite the heat." Life is in the details!

Looking forward to reading weeks 3 and 4 during November.