i signed The Creativity Contract
Life by design update: The Artist's Way begins
3 weeks ago, I wrote in my last Life Update:
“My first day in the new apartment, I’ll sign the contract and start the course.
So that’s the final update.
After I’m done moving, I’ll officially kickstart The Artist’s Way.
And I promise you - It’ll be transformational.”
It’s now 7 days since I moved in.
And “signing the contract” has been written on my whiteboard from day 1.
But like a classic procrastinator, I’ve been telling myself, “No, it’s not the right time yet. I will do it when….”
Today, I woke up to write the newsletter. I had a rough skeleton of the idea I was going to talk about. But it lacked something. I was feeling uninspired. It was one of those absolutely do not feel like sitting down to write days.
So I changed the plan.
Instead of writing about that topic, I’m going to use this newsletter to finally snap out of my procrastinator monkey mind.
This is a live newsletter.
Right now, I have the book- The Artist’s Way- on my desk. I’m going to start reading from the cover. And I’m going to make it all the way through to the Creativity Contract. Then I’ll sign the contract and end the newsletter.
I’ll pause writing. I’ll go to the book. I’ll read a chapter. And I’ll come back to write.
As you read, you’ll get to know what the book is about, what’s this “Aritst’s Way” of life, and what I'm signing up for.
Worst scenario → You’ll find beautiful ideas
“Insanely great” scenario → You’ll be inspired to sign the contract, too.
Alright, let’s do this.
I’m gonna start reading the first chapter– Introduction.
Will be back.
Introduction
Who’s the author and what’s the book about?
Julia Cameron, the author, writes:
When people ask me what I do, I usually answer, “I’m a writer-director and I teach these creativity workshops.”
In the 1980s, Julia used to host creativity workshops for artists (painters, musicians, novelists, potters, and writers). The goal of these workshops was to use spiritual practices and tools to unblock your creativity.
The transformations people got from her workshops were so incredible that her ideas began to spread.
More and more people (even people who weren’t artists) mailed her, asking for help. And Julia started sending them these educational bundles.
And the transformation stories become even bigger.
50-yr old student who “always wanted to write” used these tools and emerged as a prize-winning playwright.
A judge used them and became a sculptor.
A corporate guy started auditioning and went back to school to get a degree in theatre.
Eventually, when the demand was global, and these ideas were spreading like wildfire, a friend urged Julia to convert everything she taught into a proper book.
That’s how the book was born.
The title of the book is–
The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path To Higher Creativity.
The complete book is a 12-week workshop where Julia coaches you to use spiritual practices to unblock your creativity.
2 words are important here: “Unblock” and “Spiritual”
She says, “I don’t teach people to be creative. I teach people to let themselves be creative.” That’s why the word unblock. Creativity is a natural order and is there within all of us.
And creativity comes from a spiritual source.
There’s some power out there- you can call it God, Nature, or any other name- but that power is what flows through you in the form of creativity. We all have access to it. But we have ourselves put up barriers that block this access.
The goal is to remove the barriers that we have put up. Once removed, creativity will flow through you.
In her words:
I doubt I can convey to you the feeling of the miraculous that I experience as a teacher, witnessing the before and after in the lives of students.
Student’s faces often take on a glow as they contact their creative energies.
In a sense, as we are creative beings, our lives become our work of art.
So that’s the book.
In 12 weeks, this book aims to unblock your creativity. And we use spiritual practises and tools.
This is “The Artist’s Way”.
2 Basic Tools That Unlock Creativity
Communicating With God
Okay, let’s clear this up first- You DO NOT need to believe in God.
Julia beautifully writes- think of “god” as good orderly direction. If you choose, you can believe in any version of your god. But even if you don’t, that’s okay. She says, “Irrespective of what you believe in, implementing these 2 tools will change your life. So keep an open mind.”
So, how do you communicate with god?
How do you access this “good orderly direction” or “spiritual” or “creative” energy?
Julia says you need two tools:
A Transmission tool
A Receiving tool
The transmission tool is to put energy into the system. And a reception tool to receive signals from this spiritual creative energy.
And these are the 2 basic tools.
The transmission tool is called “Morning Pages”, and the receiving tool is called “Artist Dates”.
I’ll go over both of them now.
Just stay with me. It’ll click for you too.
And it’s so beautiful 🥺
Tool 1: Morning Pages
“In order to retrieve your creativity, you need to find it. I ask you to do this by an apparently pointless process I call the morning pages.” - Julia Cameron
Morning Page is the “transmission” tool.
The exercise is: "Every morning, you’ll do 3 pages of pen-and-paper, stream-of-consciousness journaling.”
Let me explain:
You’ll get a diary.
Every morning, you have to write 3 pages by hand in the diary. No digital, pen-and-paper. And this is “stream-of-consciousness” journaling. It means you write what comes to your mind. You DO NOT have to think. Whatever is in your mind needs to come out on paper. Write it raw. Write it freely. Write 3 pages of it.
Here’s a little sneak peek from my diary 👇🏻
Through the morning pages, you start putting energy into the system.
You write down your problems, pain, wins, stories, goals, heartbreaks, everything. It should literally feel like you got energy out of your body and onto the page.
There are so many more benefits of doing this.
But that’s for when you read the book.
No spoilers.
That’s the transmission tool. You “transmit” through your morning pages.
Now it’s the tool for reception.
Tool 2: The Artist Date
“Doing your morning pages, you are sending—notifying yourself and the universe of your dreams, dissatisfactions, hopes. Doing your artist date, you are receiving—opening yourself to insight, inspiration, guidance.” - Julia Cameron
So what is The Artist Date?
Julia writes–
“An artist date is a block of time- perhaps two hours weekly- especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist.
In its most primary form, the artist date is an excursion, a play date that you preplan and defend against all interlopers.
You do not take anyone on this artist date but you and your inner artist, a.k.a. your creative child. That means no lovers, friends, spouses, children—no taggers-on of any stripe.”
And what do you do in The Artist Date?
Julia writes–
“Your inner artist is a child.
Time with a parent matters more than money spent. A visit to a great junk store, a solo trip to the beach, an old movie seen alone together, a visit to an aquarium or an art gallery- they all count.
Remember, it is the time commitment that is sacred. Your child needs your attention.”
When you do these Artist Dates…
You look at Artist Dates as your weekly ritual. You follow your curiosity. You go in search of mystery, wherever your intuition calls you. And you spend time with your artist child.
The more moments of magic you feel in these artist dates, the more images, feelings, and inspirations you will put into your well of creativity.
Then, when you sit down to create and go fishing in your well, there’s an abundance to tap into.
Ideas and energy flow into you.
Once again, there are so many more benefits of doing this. But you can read that from the book.
Together, these two tools (morning pages & artist dates) build the foundations. Once I sign the contract, I will religiously do these spiritual practices for the next 12 weeks (and beyond).
And that makes us ready for the contract!
The Creativity Contract
Final question of the day– What’s this creativity contract?
Julia writes–
“When I am teaching the Artist’s Way, I require students to make a contract with themselves, committing to the work of the course.
Can you give yourself that gift?
Say yes by means of some small ceremony. Buy a nice notebook for your pages; hire your babysitter ahead of time for the weekly artist dates. Read the contract on the preceding page. Amend it, if you like; then sign and date it.
Come back to it when you need encouragement to go on.”
📌 Alright, it’s time!
I’ve been looking forward to this day for 2 months now.
I wrote my contract 2 months ago, but I didn’t sign it because I was moving apartments. Now is the time.
I’m gonna go, sign the contract and come back!
(With lots of butterflies in my stomach…)
🦋🦋🦋
I’ve signed the contract!
Now, over the next 12 weeks…
I’m going to do The Artist’s Way for the 1st time.
Every week- Read one chapter, do exercises, morning pages, artist dates.
Expected Time- 1 hour every day
Here’s the schedule:
WEEK 1 - Recovering a Sense of Safety
WEEK 2 - Recovering a Sense of Identity
WEEK 3 - Recovering a Sense of Power
WEEK 4 - Recovering a Sense of Integrity
WEEK 5 - Recovering a Sense of Possibility
WEEK 6 - Recovering a Sense of Abundance
WEEK 7 - Recovering a Sense of Connection
WEEK 8 - Recovering a Sense of Strength
WEEK 9 - Recovering a Sense of Compassion
WEEK 10 - Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection
WEEK 11 - Recovering a Sense of Autonomy
WEEK 12 - Recovering a Sense of Faith
My “art” is writing. So all the newsletters that come from here will be through the program.
And I can’t tell you how excited I am!
But I’ll stop here.
Any more talking now will just take energy that I’ll pour into the program.
Alright!
That’s it for today’s essay.
I hope these ideas speak to you as powerfully as they speak to me.
I’m sure they will.
And when they do– please use the tools. And tell me stories. I guarantee you’ll have some amazing things to show.
I appreciate you.
Stay tuned, we’re just getting started.
Your traveller friend,
Adi
📌 If you want to go deeper into my journey, I wrote an article about it 👇🏻
👋🏻 Hi I’m Aditya…Thanks for reading!
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