Reflections on The Artist’s Way, Week 11: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy
This is the eleventh post in a series on The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book and a self-study program developed by Julia Cameron in the 1990s. I’m looking back on Week 11: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy.
I’ve worked through the process of The Artist’s Way a few times now. Twice on my own and once with a group (what Cameron calls a Creative Cluster). Each time I worked through the process, there was a different set of challenges that came up. I did my best to face them with patience and courage.
This aligns with my belief that as we move through new stages in our lives, we will be called to clear out deeper baggage.
When I need to, I let myself pause to do healing, to reflect and take care of myself. I make quiet space for myself and connect with the world when I need to. But I stay cautious of wanting to ‘fix myself’ in place, of hiding out. I get outside, play, and let the world be my mirror.
‘This week is focus on our artistic autonomy. We examine the ongoing ways in which we must nurture and accept ourselves as artists. We explore the behaviours that can strengthen our spiritual base and, therefore, our creative power.’
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, Week 11
Acceptance
As artists and individuals, we may be looking outside ourselves for acceptance. Our friends, colleagues, and families may or may not provide this for us. The deepest acceptance comes from inside, where we give ourselves permission to be ourselves.
‘As an artist, my self-respect comes from doing the work. Once performance at a time, one gig at a time, one painting at a time.’
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, Week 11
Acceptance of ourselves, what we like, what we don’t, and everything in between gives us the foundation to a good and authentic life.
We imagine completing the one great painting, film, project, and then stepping into the moment that will change everything.
We think we’re seeking the lights and the applause, but eventually, we realise it’s the slow and steady steps that really matter.
We work for the chance to get up and keep going, to pick up the paintbrush again, scout the new location, and have a wordless conversation with a close collaborator. It’s these behind the scenes moments that make up the artist’s life. We put the award on a shelf or forget about the loss, then resume a life that feels right.
‘To a large degree my life is my art, and when it gets dull, so does my work.’
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, Week 11
As an artist, I seek novelty. I want to feel alive. I want every day to feel like my first.
I want my mornings to be easy and slow and my afternoons to gently expand. My creative energy lifts as the evenings arrive and it’s important to make the most of it. I want each day to close like the final scene of a movie. The sun drops and the lessons of the day wash over me.
I get tired of being the same person, so I become someone new. I reinvent myself for no good reason except I want to. Hearing a new song becomes learning to play a new instrument becomes selling everything I own and moving to another country. In the process, I become more myself. I am less the idea of who I thought I should be, and more who I should have always been.
‘There is a connection between self-nurturing and self-respect. If I allow myself to be bullied and cowed by other people’s urges for me to be more normal or more nice, I sell myself out.’
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, Week 11
Sometimes the people closest to us don’t want to see us change. Why should I be forced to grieve the loss of someone I thought I knew?
Other times, people watch us with curiosity or envy. Why does she seem to keep growing why I stay the same?
We step out in a new dress, a new hairstyle, a new way of being. When we share a new skill or showcase talent, we make ourselves vulnerable to the opinions of others.
Success
‘Creativity is spiritual practice. It is not something that can be perfected, finished, and set aside. It is my experience that we reach plateaus of creative attainment only to have a certain restlessness set in. Yes, we are successful. Yes, we have made it, but … ’
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, Week 11
We get what we want, what then? As we step into higher versions of ourselves, we go through cycles of excitement and disappointment, wanting and receiving, reaching out and hiding away.
‘The stringent requirement of a sustained creative life is the humility to start again, to begin anew.’
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, Week 11
At some point, I decided success was the opportunity to keep going, keep exploring, keep playing, always growing. Life is its own reward.
I focus on the steps and take pleasure in the doing.
The Zen of Sports
‘Most blocked creatives are cerebral beings. We think of all the things we want to do but can’t. Early in recovery, we next think of all the tings we want to do but don’t. In order to effect a real recovery, one that lasts, we need to move out of the head ind into a body of work. To do this, we must first of all move into the body.’
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, Week 11
I enjoy the physical part of painting.
I like walking to the art supply store and flipping through the racks of stretched canvas. I like hearing the paint tubes flip open and watching the paint make drippy marks on the floor of my studio. I like rotating the canvas, taking a few steps back, and wondering if I should try it this way instead of that.
‘What we are after here is a moving meditation. This means one where the action of motion puts us into the now and helps us to stop spinning.’
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, Week 11
Cameron suggests we find ways to ‘connect to a world outside of us, to lose the obsessive self-focus of self-exploration and, simply, explore.’ Through running, swimming, cycling, and walking, we are given perspective, problem-solving, and a release from logic. We can get out of our heads and into our bodies.
Building Your Artist’s Altar
Cameron suggests we surround ourselves with beautiful things and experiences.
‘Small rituals, self-devised, are good for the soul. Burning incense while reading affirmations or writing them, lighting a candle, dancing to drum music, holding a smooth rock and listening to Gregorian chant—all of these tactile, physical techniques reinforce spiritual growth.’
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, Week 11
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