Last Wednesday night I attended a Meet-up group in Minneapolis to re-focus on an excellent tool for uncovering energy and passion, The Artist’s Way. This is a meet-up I helped launch over a year ago. I’m happy to see that Amy Egenberger of Spirit Out Coaching is keeping it going strong.
Over the course of the evening eight of us responded to creativity-focused questions. It became vibrantly clear to me that I’m more than ready to immerse myself in the twelve chapter program once again. This will be my 6th time. What’s in it for me? It forces me to commit time and energy to Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan’s basic tools of writing morning pages every day – and reaping the benefits of this action. And, whether or not I’m able to follow through on each week’s artist’s date, at least I’ll seriously consider what will nurture me as I forge through the week.
It occurred to me, as we sat around the table sipping tea, while doodling my answers that instead of thinking of the artist’s date as an obligation, I could consider it an invitation to be wowed. I wrote: go on my artist’s dates with the intention to be inspired. One of Cameron’s basic tools is to take your self, alone, on an artist’s date each week. I tend to choose things that I do anyway, for instance walk the dog on the wooded nearby trail, or watch a movie. But Cameron urges the reader to do something different and daring. So, this time round I’m going to put ‘inspired time’ on my calendar and see more art in the Twin Cities all year long. And when I go – I’ll go with the intention to be inspired.
Each time I undertake the journey this book offers, my connection with my own inner artist deepens. It is a rich gift to be inspired.
