Checking in: Week 4 - Recovering a Sense of Integrity

Morning Pages
6/7 I have been very consistent with them —just skipped one because the day got on going, and I never got to write them.

Artist Date
Ironically to what the author says, I did rent a movie (two actually), and it’s the first time I do this for an artist date. I hadn’t watched movies in a while like I used to, so it has felt good to be watching movies again —which I love. Moreover, I stumbled upon an accidental artist date, plus I did a bunch of activities (instead of reading) that could be considered as AD.

Synchronicity
It’s happening all the time, and I feel I should write them down. I think I’m getting so accustomed to so many synchronicities that I’m failing to acknowledge them consciously.

Other Issues
I slipped a couple times about reading, when I was searching for some information, and I caught myself immersing into the biographies of Henri Matisse and of Simone De Beauvoir. Otherwise, I was good. I skimmed to read only work-related emails; I didn’t even read a magazine article; I completely gave up 43T for a week and, even though I was tempted to check on my profile page, I didn’t at all. I wish I had that kind of self-discipline with other aspects of my life, such as my eating habits, for instance, which have been at almost an all-time low.
I did get to do a few things that I normally don’t because I don’t allot the time to them. I actually did a few activities that were in the TAW list, such as: sew curtains, rewire a lamp, watercolor, mend, learn French (unsuccessfully, tho, due to technicalities). Besides, some friends had me over for brunch to their countryside cottage, and so I would advise them on how to plant their veggie patch. I also enjoyed some quality time with my brother who visited briefly from Toronto. We had a long chat, then lunch, then a movie —we both agreed not a very good one—, and then one of the most glorious sunsets of the year on my way home. I didn’t have my camera with me, so I just had to enjoy it from the car window. Gorgeous!
However, I don’t feel I took full advantage of this week-long reading/computer deprivation because I indulged on watching many movies, so a lot of my hours went there. But at least I saw the advantage of allotting less time particularly to computer time; so that one will see its share of time slots dramatically reduced.
The changes are coming two steps forward, one step backwards, but they’re happening. I’m letting it flow, and I’m working to make things happen.

Some quotes taken from the author Julia Cameron

• “If you want to work on your art, work on your life.” —Chekhov
• “As we clarify our perceptions, we lose our misconceptions.”
• “[...] change we have set in motion through our own hand [...]”
• “Creativity is grounded [not in fantasy but] in reality, in the particular, the focused, the well observed or specifically imagined.”
• “We become available to the moment.”
• “[...] experience the freedom of solitude [...]”
• “Be prepared for bursts of tears and of laughter [...] bursts of spontaneous singing, dancing, running.”
• “Just keep walking.”
• “You are no longer stuck, but you cannot tell where you are going.”
• “Our willingness swings this inner door open.”
• “Use your morning pages —or part of them— for written affirmation of your progress.”
• “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.”
• “We often cannot hear our own inner voice, the voice of our artist’s inspiration, above the static.”
• “We gobble the words of others rather than digest our own thoughts and feelings, rather than cook up something of our own.”

See more progress on: Complete "The Artist's Way"