Not for the Faint of HeART

As I continue to live The Artist’s Way, my focus this month is on chapter 4, “Recovering a Sense of Integrity.”  Julia Cameron says, “This [month] may find you grabbling with changing self-definition. The essays, tasks, and exercises are designed to catapult you into productive introspection and integration of new self-awareness.” She goes on to say, “Warning: Do not skip the tool of reading deprivation!” 

What I've been reading

Say, what? I don’t remember the tool of reading deprivation from when I did The Artist’s Way three years ago! I guess I skipped that part... 

Julia also says, “It is a paradox that by emptying our lives of distractions we are actually filling the well. Without distractions, we are once again thrust into the sensory world.”

Well, call me a rebel, but I need to read! I need a little distraction now and again. Otherwise, the “sensory world” is too much for me and I become over stimulated to the point where I faint. Literally. 

Just last week, after an extremely stressful day at my office job, I passed out. Thankfully, I was at home and my husband caught me as my knees began to buckle. Fainting happened so suddenly. One minute I was conscious. Overwhelmed, but conscious. The next thing I knew I was lying on the floor, rubbing my temple, asking, “What happen?”

I turned to my trusty copy of Louise L. Hay’s book, You Can Heal Your Life. In the middle is a reference to the mental patterns that cause dis-ease. Louise lists the probable cause of fainting as, “Fear. Can’t cope. Blacking out.”  Her recommended new thought pattern, or affirmation, for fainting is, “I have the power and strength and knowledge to handle everything in my life.”

Living an artistic life is not for the faint of heart. As artists we often have to be relentless, fear-facing, risk taking, trail blazers. I know a lot of artists and no two careers are the same. These are different times that call for different, creative, approaches to life and art. What used to work doesn’t any more. What might work needs to be tested. At times, it’s scary. But if thinking, behaving, living, and creating different than we used to wasn’t scary, we would not know that we are on the right path, living The Artist’s Way.