Thu, 30 Aug 2007 13:54:39 +0000
You’re thinking, I’m tired of just working and not doing anything creative. I want to do Art, be it writing, photography, visual art, music, or dance, or anything that excites the artist within.
Why is it so hard to begin? Why is it so hard to maintain the process once you do begin? Why do you do some artistic process for years, then give it up for decades?
For those who come to me for writing coaching, and within my own process of being a writer and visual artist, I see again and again that art is also an emotional/spiritual/psychological issue, not just a practical one. We all have blocks to the creative process. Oftentimes, I coach people as much about these blocks as the writing process itself. Taking art on as a spiritual process is crucial.
Over a one year period, I sent out newsletters to clients covering these spiritual issues…as well as more global spiritual concerns. They became the book Yes, this journey is absolutely necessary.
The book covers the spiritual process of becoming an artist. How do I handle leaving behind the mindset of work as a 9 to 5 endeavor done for other people? How do I deal with the transition? What about holding sacred the organic process of becoming an artist? What are the spiritual and emotional issues about finding your voice? What is your voice?
For me, it wasn’t an easy transition; actually it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, and I’ve done some difficult things. I wrote the book because I wanted to share what I learned through those rough times.
Each chapter is centered around a spiritual/creative theme, such as Building Self Esteem, Letting Go of the Past, and Following Your Authentic Path. Following our creative process is much as spiritual issue as a practical one.
To give an example: I began work with a client this week who said she felt scattered in her writing. We talked and we realized she wasn’t just emotionally scattered, it was also a physical scattering. The first step was to get all of her writing in one folder, be it on the computer, or a folder in her filing cabinet. We must tell our inner artist through action that we’re taking her seriously, that we’re honoring her, that we believe she’s sacred.
The client also wanted the writing subject matter to be sacred, but wasn’t sure what she meant by that. We started by making her writing space sacred.
She was advised to take her home workstation and: 1) Find and put up posters of writers she admired — in this way she could engage the writer archetype, and know many had come before her and were her guides in this process; 2) Buy a small plant for her desk — as the plant grew so did her writing practice. I had mine for 10 years, a vine that grew all around my office; 3)Find and organize all of her journals and put them on a bookshelf by her workstation, to represent books she’s already written to support her on her way and 4.) Buy a candle that represents the divine light in her work, light the candle when she starts writing for the day, and blow it out when she’s finished.
Yes, this journey provides such sacred guidance, not just for writers, but for anyone going through the sometimes turbulent transition of finding their authentic path.