Let's be on our way

I have read the first chapters of The Artist's Way (basic principles and basic tools) and the required work is as follows:

• Read the forthcoming week's chapter on Sunday;
• Get up half an hour early each day to write 'morning pages';
• Try and complete about half of each week's writing exercises, choosing the ones that appeal and repel most strongly;
• Go on an 'artist's date';
• Perform a written audit at the end of each week of progress;
• Total time commitment of 7-10 hours a week.

All of which looks very straightforward. 

And then I recalled this section from the introduction:

"Working with this process, I see a certain amount of defiance and giddiness in the first few weeks.  This entry stage is followed closely by explosive anger in the course's midsection.  The anger is followed by grief, then alternating waves of resistance and hope.  This peaks-and-valleys phase of growth becomes a series of expansions and contractions, a birthing process in which students experience intense elation and defensive skepticism.

This choppy growth phase is followed by a strong urge to abandon the process and return to life as we know it.  In other words, a bargaining period.  People are often tempted to abandon the course a this point.  I call this a creative U-turn.  Re-commitment to the process next triggers the free-fall of a major ego surrender.  Following this, the final phase of the course is characterized by a new sense of self marked by increased autonomy, resilience, expectancy and excitement - as well as by the capacity to make and execute concrete creative plans."

Which doesn't sound at all straightforward.

Comments

[Dewey]

I never experienced any sort of emotional reaction doing The Artist's Way. I did feel a surge of creativity, but certainly no anger or giddiness.

[Jill]

I think it depends how much you've considered the creative process in your own situation. If you have some sense of your own "best practices" to enhance creativity, you probably won't encounter much internal resistance. If you've never thought about it to any extent, you're likely to run up against some barriers of which you were previously unaware.

[Sandra]

I can see that for those who feel that their creativity has been blocked by negative reactions from family and friends, getting past the internalised message of 'I'm no good' and realising it's not true, might generate anger. For me, I'm pretty sure that that is not going to be the case. But I do anticipate barriers about writing down stuff that isn't 'nice'. For me, nice is both moral code and mission statement. Where it conflicts with the real world/truth will be my battle ground I predict.

[Amy]

It's been nearly six years since I did the Artist's Way, and I found it so helpful that I think I'm going to do it again. I did resist some of the material, so now that I've had six years to accept it, I'm ready for Round Two!

I'm not exaggerating when I say that the morning pages changed my life and kept me on track more often than I can count. That being said, they take me way longer than 1/2 hour--it takes 1 hour on a good day; 1 1/2 most days.