The Artist's Way (Week Two)

The Artist's Way: Week 2 Tasks

1. Affirmative Reading: Every day, morning and night, get quiet and focused and read the Basic Prinicples to yourself. (See page 3.) Be alert for any attitudinal shifts. Can you see yourself setting aside any skepticism yet?

2. Where does your time go? List your five major activities this week. How much time did you give to each one? Which were what you wanted to do and which were shoulds? How much of your time is spent helping others and ignoring your own desires? Have any of your blocked friends triggered doubts in you?

Take a sheet of paper. Draw a circle. Inside that circle, place topics you need to protect. Place the names of those you find to be supportive. Otuside the circle, place the names of those you must be self-protective around just now. Place this safety map near where you write your morning pages. Use this map to support your autonomy. Add names to the inner and outer spheres as appropriate: "Oh! Derek is somebody I shouldn't talk to about this right now!"

3. List twenty things you enjoy doing (rock climbing, roller-skating, baking pies, making soup, making love, making love again, riding a bike, riding a horse, playing catch, shooting baskets, going for a run, reading poetry, and so forth). When was the last time you let yourself do these things? Next to each entry, place a date. Don't be surprised if it's been years for some of your favorites. That will change. This list is an excellent resource for artist dates.

4. From the list above, write down two favorite things that you've avoided that could be this week's goals. These goals can be small: buy one roll of film and shoot it. Remember, we are trying to win you some autonomy with your time. Look for windows of time just for you, and use them in small creative acts. Get to the record store at lunch hour, even if only for fifteen minutes. Stop looking for big blocks of time when you will be free. Find small bits of time instead.

5. Dip back into Week One and read the affirmations. Note which ones cause the most reaction. Often the one that sounds the most ridiculous is the most significant. Write three chosen affirmations five times each day in your morning pages; be sure to include the affirmations you made yourself from your blurts.

6. Return to the list of imaginary lives from last week. Add five more lives. Again, check to see if you could be doing bits and pieces of these lives in the one you are living now. If you have listed dancer's life, do you let yourself go dancing? If you have listed a monk's life, are you ever allowed to go on a retreat? If you are a scuba diver, is there an aquarium shop you can visit? A day at the lake you could schedule?

7. Life Pie: Draw a circle. Divide it into six pieces of pie. Label one piece spirituality, another exercise, another play, and so on with work, friends, and romance / adventure. Place a dot in each slice at the degree to which you are fulfilled in that area (outer rim indicates great; inner circle, not so great). Connect the dots. This will show you where you are lopsided.

As you begin the course, it is not uncommon for your life pie to look like a tarantula. As recovery progresses, your tarantula may become a mandala. Working with this tool, you will notice that there are areas of your life that feel impoverished and on which you spend little or no time. Use the time tidbits you are finding to alter this.

If your spiritual life is minimal, even a five-minute pit stop into a synagogue or cathedral can restore a sense of wonder. Many of us find that five minutes of drum music can put us in touch with our spiritual core. For others, it's a trip to a greenhouse. The point is that even the slightest attention to our impoverished areas can nurture them.

8. Ten Tiny Changes: List ten changes you'd like to make for yourself, from the significant to the small or vice versa ("get new sheets so I have another set, go to China, paint my kitchen, dump my bitchy friend Alice"). Do it this way:

I would like to ________________________________
I would like to ________________________________

As the morning pages nudge us increasingly into the present, where we pay attention to our current lives, a small shift like a newly painted bathroom can yield a luxuriously large sense of self-care.

 

9. Select one small item and make it a goal for this week.

10. Now do that item.


Saturday Check-In

 

1. How many days this week did you do your morning pages? (We're hoping for seven, remember.) How was the experience for you? How did the morning pages work for you? Describe them (for example, "They felt so stupid. I'd write all these itty-bitty disconnected things that didn't seem to have anything to do with one another or with anything . . ."). Remember, if you are writing morning pages, they are working for you. What were you surprised to find yourself writing about? Answer this question in full on your check-in page. This will be a weekly self-scan of your moods, not your progress. Don't worry if your pages are whiny and trite. Sometimes that's the very best thing for you.

I did all seven. Probably about three of the seven days were a real drag, but I feel proud that I still finished them. I'm not doing them right when I wake up, but I do get those three handwritten pages down.

2. Did you do your artist date this week? Remember that artist dates are a necessary frivolity. What did you do? How did it feel?

My artist date this week was awesome! I picked up food from a restaurant I've always wanted to try but never been able to, then drove to a location that I've long been wanting to go to (Top of the World). I ate there, looking over the county, and just soaked up the atmosphere as the sun set. Being surrounded by other individuals, couples, and families just enjoying being there in that moment was special. I definitely want to go back and I'm glad I spent that solo time with nature but also near people. It was cool.

3. Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant for your recovery? Describe them.

Need to put more time into myself and this practice.

The Artist's Way (Week Three)

The Artist's Way: Detective Work, An Exercise

1. My favorite childhood toy was...I obviously remember my baby doll (who I still have). I don't think I played pretend with her too much, from what I recall. I really like Polly Pockets—the one with the water slide and the heart-shaped one (look on Instagram for recreations). I should ask my mom if she knows of any other childhood toy.

2. My favorite childhood game was...I loved playing Sorry! with my grandma. I also loved playing Yahtzee with her. And Obsession!! I couldn't remember the name at first but then it came back to me. We also played fun kiddy games like Hungry, Hungy Hippos and Don't Break the Ice and Ants in Your Pants. Great times. Mancala was great when played at daycare. I liked it so much, I believe we got a board for at home, too.

3. The best movie I ever saw as a kid was...I remember loving Hercules. I still have that notebook from the one daycare sleepover party. I need to check it out and see what I listed. All the other girls pretty much put Austin Power's, but I was younger, so wasn't really into it then. I liked the Rugrats movie a lot, too. I'm realizing now that so many of those Disney movies I loved and watched growing up were super old! I loved those Disney films that actually came out while I was alive: Aladdin, The Lion King, Toy Story, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tarzan...

4. I don't do it much but I enjoy...creating written stories.

5. If I could lighten up a little, I'd let myself...go out dancing.

7. My favorite musical instrument is...I'm not sure if the drums are for sure my favorite musical instrument, but I do love them, and I do for sure want to learn how to play them!

8. The amount of money I spend on treating myself to entertainment each month is...pretty much just the cost of Netflix and HBO. I'd like to do more live things.

9. If I weren't so stingy with my artist, I'd buy her...a drum kit. Plants.

10. Taking time out for myself is...not something I do often enough. Scrolling mindlessly through my phone doesn't count. I like new experiences, but often, would like to do something that also counts as a skill.

11. I am afraid if I start dreaming...I might not know when to stop. I'm afraid that might dreams might not all mesh my with my family's.

12. I secretly enjoy reading...erotic literature? Nothing else is really "secret." I liked loved reading Twilight when it came out, I guess I don't showcase that info much.

13. If I had had a perfect childhood I'd have grown up to be...self-confident.

14. If it didn't sound so crzy, I'd write or make a...story that helps shift the cultural narrative in this day and age. It would be a guide to a better world.

15. My parents think artists are...inspiring, but out of reach for them. Both parents love to read and write! It's so beautiful. I want for them to create their own work.

16. My God thinks artists are...not meant long for this capitalistic world. They have to defy the odds and somehow keep themselves going despite not being able to spend the time on their craft they wish they could because they are instead wage slaves.

17. What makes me feel weird about this recovery is...what am I going to do with it? Not being sure about if I will create anything after all this.

18. Learning to trust myself is probably...something I absolutely need to do, but will take some time.

19. My most cheer-me-up music is...probably Maroon 5! So good to sing and dance along to. Or maybe some Shania Twain (feels random, but it just came to me - not a huge fan, but know a few of her songs from my childhood and I loved to dance to them).

20. My favorite way to dress is...whatever fits comfortably.


The Artist's Way: Week 3 Tasks

1. Describe your childhood room. If you wish, you may sketch this room. What was your favorite thing about it? What's your favorite thing about your room right now? Nothing? Well, get something you like in there—maybe something from that old childhood room.

2. Describe five traits you like in yourself as a child.
 

3. List five childhood accomplishments, (straight A's in seventh grade, trained the dog, punch out the class bully, short-sheeted the priest's bed).

And a treat: list five favorite childhood foods. Buy yourself one of them this week. Yes, Jell-O with bananas is okay.

4. Habits: Take a look at your habits. Many of them may interfere with your self-nurturing and cause shame. Some of the oddest things are self-destructive. Do you have a habit of watching TV you don't like? Do you have a habit of hanging out with a really boring friend and just killing them (there's an expression!)? Some rotten habits are obvious, overt (drinking too much, smoking, eating instead of writing). List three obvious rotten habits. What's the payoff in continuing them?

Some rotten habits are more subtle (no time to exercise, little time to pray, always helping others, not getting any self-nurturing, hanging out with people who belittle your dreams). List three of your subtle foes. What use do these forms of sabotage have? Be specific.

5. Make a list of friends who nuture you—that's nurture (give you a sense of your own competency and possibility), not enable (give you the message that you will never get it straight without their help). There is a big difference between being helped and being treated as though we are helpless. List three nurturing friends. Which of their traits, particularly, serve you well?

6. Call a friend who treats you like you are a really good and bright person who can accomplish things. Part of your recovery is reaching out for support. This support will be critical as you undertake new risks.

7. Inner Compass: Each of us has an inner compass. This is an instinct that points us toward health. It warns us when we are on dangerous ground, and it tells us when something is safe and good for us. Morning pages are one way to contact it. So are some other artist-brain activities—painting, driving, walking, scrubbing, running. This week, take an hour to follow your inner compass by doing an artist-brain activity and listening to what insights bubble up.

8. List five people you admire. Now, list five people you secretly admire. What traits do these people have that you can cultivate futher in yourself?

 

9. List five people you wish you had met who are dead. Now, list five people who are dead whom you'd like to hang out with for a while in eternity. What traits do you find in these people that you can look for in your friends?

10. Compare the two sets of lists. Take a look at what you really like and really admire—and a look at what you think you should like and admire. Your shoulds might tell you to admire Edison while your heart belongs to Houdini. Go with the Houdini side of you for a while.


Saturday Check-In
 

1. How many days this week did you do your morning pages? How was the experience for you? How did the morning pages work for you? If you skipped a day, why did you skip it?

2. Did you do your artist date this week? (Yes, yes, and it was awful.) What did you do? How did it feel?

3. Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it?

4. Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant for your recovery? Describe them.