Week 11- Recovering a Sense of Autonomy

The Artist’s Way --

A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity


Recovering a Sense of Autonomy


This week we focus on our artistic autonomy. We examine the ongoing ways in which we must nurture and accept ourselves as artists. We explore the behaviors that can strengthen our spiritual base and, therefore, our creative power. We take a special look at the ways in which success must be handled in order that we not sabotage our freedom.


KEY IDEAS:

Acceptance

I am an artist.
I need to create what wants to be created.
As an artist, my self-respect comes from doing the work.
Success

Creativity is spiritual practice . . . it is not a business.
The stringent requirement of a sustained creative life is the humility to start again, to begin anew.
The Zen of Sports

Blocked creatives are cerebral – move out of the head and into the body via exercise, a moving meditation.
Exercise moves us from stagnation to inspiration, from problem to solution, from self-pity to self-respect.
Building Your Artist’s Altar

The artist child speaks the language of the soul: music, dance, scent, shells . . .


Read Chapter Eleven
Do the Tasks at the end of the chapter
Read “Basic Principles” daily
Read Affirmations daily
Write Morning Pages daily
Go on an Artist’s Date this week