Morning pages are known by many as a way to break through blocks. Highly creative people are gifted with talents that take them in many directions. To the outside observer, their work might appear chaotic like a hurricane or earthquake. All people are creative, but few figure out how to tap into their creative superpower, channel the energy and send it out on a mission.
I’ve known about The Artist’s Way for many years and, being in the writing community, I’ve heard a number of success stories. The Artist’s Way isn’t just another book. It’s a guide that leads you through a twelve-week journey of self discovery. It requires that you write morning pages and take artist’s dates with your creative child. What’s that all about?
Most self-help books spoon out tips, stories and advice without serious calls to action. But The Artist’s Way requires action. It makes sense, though. How else would you ever figure out how to ride a dragon?
Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, says that creativity is like a dragon that we need to ride. It’s full of energy and has lots of power. Our challenge is to figure out a way to stay on that dragon.
I am one who has known this dragon for a long time. I have observed the dragon from the sidelines. I constantly feed it ideas. I’ve devoted my life to the training and education of the dragon. He breathes in and asks for more. He runs about looking for new things to consume. He asks for things to do, but I haven’t yet figured out how to fully harness his energy.
Many of us find that we have squandered our own creative energies by investing disproportionately in the lives, hopes, dreams, and plans of others.
Julia Cameron
Silly me. Creativity isn’t something we own. It isn’t something that can be boxed up and packaged to go. Creativity is shared and it’s spacious. If you try to own it, it slips through your fingers. Creativity happens through relationships among people and things, between a hand, a pen and a paper.
Creativity is a vacuum, a fire and a force. It can drive you and help you transcend to new heights. It’s our a first love that can be matched by no other. It’s our reason for being. We are all here to create. We are all creators.
I thought I could to tame the dragon, but he screamed back with winds of chaos and agitation. It’s insane to tame a life force that’s designed to be free.
“Anyone who faithfully writes morning pages will be led to a connection with a source of wisdom within.”
Julia Cameron
This morning when I finished reading Week One of The Artist’s Way, I went off into research mode trying to figure out if I should follow Julia’s advice to write out the morning pages longhand. I haven’t written longhand on notebook pages for many years! I was hoping to come across some scientific research that would allow me to justify typing my morning pages into Evernote. That’s what Edwin Soriano does, so why can’t I?
I came across a number of testimonials from people who also resisted writing their morning pages by hand, but later found that they were glad that they did. Plus Julia’s voice kept whispering to me that I’d have extra benefits by doing it longhand. So finally I did, late this morning, write my first morning pages longhand. I decided to commit to doing this for the twelve weeks. Who am I to question Julia’s wisdom? She’s been riding the dragon for decades!
After I finished writing my morning pages, I snapped photos of them and put them into a brand new Evernote notebook.
Lots of people who start writing morning pages tout that they never stop. For many, it turns into a longtime habit. At the end of the twelve weeks I can reevaluate and see what I’d like to do from then on. As a writer who has been searching for a means to become more prolific, I expect to be one of those people who adopt morning pages as a new habit.
Do you feel a creative dragon within that’s enticing you to come along for the ride?
