The Artist’s Way – Week 3 – Recovering a Sense of Power

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!” If only things were easier done than said in the face of adversity. Life doesn’t come with rainbows and unicorns. Shit happens. Somewhere along the journey, we deal with emotional outbursts (i.e. anger, joy, sadness). Though we may not be able to control external factors when things go south, we can take control of our own life with better boundaries.

Last week’s theme was about ‘Recovering a Sense of Identity’. This week, we’ll delve deeper into recovering a sense of power by experimenting with synchronicity and the spiritual openness of your soul as well as dealing with criticism and emotional outbursts. 

 

Before We Start: Week 2 Checklist

Did you get the chance to recover a sense of identity in week 2? Identifying ‘Poisonous Comrades’ and ‘Crazy Makers’ can be an eye opener in the process of recovering your creative self. Being able to move through a barrage of noise by side stepping skepticism and breaking through barriers built by fears can feel liberating. Let’s go through the checklist of the previous week:

• How many days did you do your Morning Pages? How did that feel?
• Did you take yourself out on an Artist Date? What did you do and how did that feel? 
• Describe the other things that are relevant to your recovery (if any).

Anger 

Ever been so angry about a situation that you could feel your blood boil? I got so angry that I became angry because I got angry. Then I rolled around like ‘Pickle Rick’ and got angry for not resolving the issue like a grown ass person. You should see my partner’s face when I unleash the great fury of rage when I get hangry. He calls me spitfire, and describes me as a squinting panda seconds away from flipping tables. That’s the point where I tell myself: “Giiiiiiiirl! Hold. Your. Tits!”  

Anger is a very uncomfortable feeling that doesn’t dissipate quickly and can do harm to yourself as well as your relationship with others. But what if we could put this emotion to good use? It’s easier to act upon anger rather than to just listen to it. Anger should be used as a fuel to take action and bring us to where we need to be. Anger is not the action itself, but it’s an invitation to act; it tells you that it’s time to think for and choose yourself for your own good. Take time to observe your anger: what made you angry? Understand your anger: why did you get angry? Be compassionate and use your anger as your compass: where do you set your boundaries? Once you know your boundaries, you can communicate your boundaries clearly before you call yourself spitfire and start flipping tables too. 

Synchronicity

“Synchronicity is the coming together of inner and outer events in a way that cannot be explained by cause and effect and that is meaningful to the observer”
– C.G. Jung

Cameron refers synchronicity to a higher harmonic voice that augments your inner creative self. Sometimes, the magic starts when you start doing things instead of only dreaming about it.
Accept that there’s a possibility that the Universe will support you and your creative self. Instead of wondering whether or not you should do something, just do it. Don’t let fear nor failure get the best of you. Whatever it is you think you can do, keep doing it and watch the power of synchronicity when you persevere. 

Shame 

Shame creeps in when it comes to creating art. Shame can be triggered by another individual and can also be a result of a failure to meet expectations of oneself. The creation of art is a process of exposing your vulnerable self and sometimes it tells shameful secrets and darker thoughts that you might not want to share. As a result, the art piece might not be completed and you might even end up not caring about your art at all as a form of self-defense. 

Learn to become selective about when and how you show your art. Use affirmations to maintain a healthy level of certainty about your work (e.g.: ‘you’re a good artist’, ‘you’re doing well’, ‘it’s good that you did the work’, et cetera). Ultimately, the antidote to shame is self-praise and self-love; practice self-care and be kind to you mind, body, and soul. Be patient with the artist self and remind yourself of the successes rather than the failures and remember that you will heal. 

Criticism

To obtain critical pointers to improve your creative self, we must learn to deal with criticism. Criticism sucks! But it isn’t always bad and useless; it’s just the way the message is being relayed that can be hurtful.

Pointers on dealing with criticism:

1. Bite the bullet and hear it out;
2. Take notes on the things that bother you;
3. Take notes on the useful parts;
4. Show yourself some compassion and remind yourself of the positive feedback;
5. Keep in mind that, at times, the creation of bad art is a prerequisite to creating good art;
6. Is the criticism reopening old wounds? 
7. Write down points that which defends your work and acknowledge any helpful points from the criticism;
8. Return to your work and commit yourself into doing something creative;
9. Creativity is the only medicine against criticism, so get yourself to do something creative. 

Week 3 Exercises to Recover a Sense of Power

• Your Room
  Describe or draw your room from when you were a child. What did you like the most from that room? What do you like the most from your current room? If there’s nothing, then do something about it to change that.
• Child Self
  Describe 5 characteristics that you like about your child self. 
• Childhood Accomplishments
  Make a list of 5 accomplishments from your childhood and a list of five things you like to eat when you were a child. Buy one or more of these things for yourself this week. 
• Bad Habits
  Take a close look at your (subtle) bad habits and write them down. Describe the details on the purpose of these subtle forms of self-sabotage.
• Supportive Friends
  Make a list of friends who support you all the way. Which characteristics do you find particularly unique? 
• Search Support
  Call a friend who treats you right. A part of your recovery is to search support, which will be crucial when you take risks in your artistic explorations. 
• Inner Compass
  We all have an inner compass, an instinct that will lead you the way to a healthy life. The morning pages ritual is one of those things that maintain your inner compass. Take an hour of this week to devote to your inner compass, follow your artistic brain and look at the insights that will appear. 
• Most Admired People
  Make a list of 5 people you admire. What characteristics of them would you like to cultivate in yourself? 
• People I Wish I Could’ve Met
  Make a list of 5 deceased people who you would like to meet. 
  What characteristics of these people do you look for in your friends?
• Most Admired People vs People I Wish I Could’ve Met 
  Compare both lists and look at what you really like. Then look at what you think you should like. Sometimes you’ll find out that you have a different list on things that you should like as compared to the things that you actually like. What you think you want doesn’t always match with what you actually need. Sometimes you need to make room for your heart to speak.
  
  

Next: [ Week 4 ] – Recovering a Sense of Integrity

Thanks for reading!
This article captures what I consider to be the highlights of the book and articles that helped me gain understanding of the subject matter, and should only be treated as such. If you enjoyed this article, hit the follow button for more articles and summaries.

Cameron, J. (2017). The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity(12th Edition ed.). New York: J.P. Tarcher/Putnam.