Man can learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown. — Claude Bernard We have been spending some time in this chapter going deeper into our dark memories of the losses that our artist self has endured. From our long ago baby steps that were shamed or thwarted, to more recent attempts … Read more
Surround yourself with people who respect and wish you well. — Claudia Black To recover our inner artist, we must face the scars that block us. As if we are trees, we remember and grieve where the hopeful young sapling’s limbs of potential were damaged by the ice storms of criticism, broken by aloof (perhaps … Read more
Solitude, Outer Hebrides © Pamela BoneEmpty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty hearts can do that. — Norman Vincent Peale Can I confess something to you? I have to admit I am having a little difficulty psyching myself up to come here and write about this, this week. Like many of you are finding, … Read more
We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. — Kenji Miyazawa Welcome back, as we travel some of the darker pathways of Chapter Eight, Recovering a Sense of Strength. How have you been doing? Were you able to work with some of the challenges from last week, specifically any teachers or … Read more
We have no friends. We have no enemies. We have only teachers. — Anonymous proverb As we begin to explore our artistic yearnings, we are going to run into challenges and difficulties. Because we are “in recovery,” our tender egos can easily want to abandon everything and send our artist self back into hiding again. … Read more
Success is bounding from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill Just because our creativity is (I believe with all my heart) guided and sourced from the Divine, this does not mean that the road is always easy, without bumps and potholes. In fact, sometimes, there will be chasms! To be … Read more
Sorrow © Brenda BowenAdversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are. — Arthur GoldenToday we start Chapter Eight, Recovering a Sense of Strength. I want to let you know that we are back in a … Read more
Imagination needs moodling – long, inefficient happy idling, dawdling and puttering. — Brenda Ueland Some very important discussions were sparked by yesterday’s post about the morning pages. I hope you’ll check them out! Meantime, we are concluding our work in Chapter Seven. Before we say goodbye to this chapter, Julia asks us to check in: … Read more
We cannot escape fear. We can only transform it into a companion that accompanies us on all our exciting adventures.— Susan Jeffers We have arrived at the end of Chapter Seven and will be doing some exercises to celebrate and solidify our work here. This chapter has been about re-establishing our personal, intimate sense of … Read more
Sometimes you’ve got to let everything go – purge yourself. Whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you’re free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.— Tina Turner As we finish up Chapter Seven, we are on an archaeological dig, discovering long-buried parts of ourselves we may … Read more