Week 6: Recovering a Sense of Abundance

I wanna take a minute to do a check in with how this Artists-Way process is going for me. So far, I’ve been totally solid on the morning pages because I was already really in the habit going into this. I have slacked on the artist date for the last couple of weeks. One week…

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Week 5: Recovering a Sense of Possibility

Welcome to Week 5! By this point, the novelty of the book and process has worn off. You may have hit a rhythm with the morning pages. You may still be struggling to make the artist date happen. You may have learned somethings about your internal narrative around life and your desires. But by this…

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I See Light Because I See Shadow

I cannot imagine a God, who created this world, filled with so much diversity, so much light and so much in the deep, to have meant for us to skim the surface, not when the landscape of human experience is so vast and rich. So this is a reminder, as much for me as anyone, do not neglect the shadow.

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Week 4: Recovering a Sense of Integrity

“If you want to work on your art, work on your life.” Chekhov Today marks the start of Week 4 in The Artist’s Way, and this chapter is full of goodness. There are ways to sort of mark your progress in this first month and some wedges to push the door open just a hair…

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Week 3: Recovering a Sense of Power

This week we dive into the underworld, the shadow side. Let me assure you that this work is work that is worth doing. If you can become, at least familiar with, if not comfortable with, the dark side, the hard emotions, the shadow work, the stuff your brain naturally wants to avoid—you become fireproof. It’s an act of bravery. It’s an act of self love. 

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Attention

I smell the ocean on the warm breeze flowing steadily past the skin on my face and arms, which are slightly sticky from the drying salt water. The sun is headed down but the days are long and it will be hours before it sets. There is a seagull walking past, eyeing the abandoned beach…

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Week 2: Recovering a Sense of Identity

Oh my goodness, there is so much to love in this chapter. I am holding back from just putting a transcript of it here! The introduction might be my favorite part: “Going Sane.” I’ve written a lot on my blog about my experiences going sane (aka learning to trust my creativity).  For most of my…

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I am terrified of the silence. 

As children of mothers with depression, we have to teach ourselves how to cry because there is danger in the sadness. It feels like giant cavern that could swallow me whole, a darkness that I might never escape. So I flitter around saying, I’m fine! I’m fine! and going to parties and talking and drinking…

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Week 1: Recovering a Sense of Safety

“Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.” Carl Jung I know I said “Week 1” last week, but I think keeping the chapter numbers aligned with the weeks will help us all to stay on track so…Week 1, Take 2. Whew!…

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I am [after all,] my own muse.

It’s rare that something comes out of my morning pages that I actually care to publish or use in some other piece of work. But this came out a few nights ago. I didn’t get my morning pages done in the morning because I was working on some other things and by 9pm, I was…

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