Recovering a Sense of Integrity… Alison Jackson challenges our notions of integrity and ‘reality’ in her TED talk.
In this week’s Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron challenges our honesty to ourselves – are you in denial? “Creativity is not grounded in fantasy, it’s grounded in reality – the focused, well-observed or specifically imagined. As we lose our vagueness about ourselves, our values, our life situation, we become available to the moment. It is there, in the particular that we contact the creative self.”
She also asks us to dig deep and look for buried pleasures, hidden dreams. One of the exercises in the chapter is to simply list;
List 5 hobbies that sound fun;
- skiing
- climbing
- sailing
- rally driving
- extreme ironing
List 5 classes that sound fun:
- creative photography (with Martin Grahame-Dunn)
- Anthony Robbins – leadership & wealth mastery
- pole dancing for fitness (yes, it really exists!)
- flamenco dancing
- singing lessons with Rada
List 5 things that you would personally never do that sound fun:
- jump out of an aeroplane
- act in an ‘X’ rated film
- pole dance in a club
- sing in an opera
- go to the annual tomato fight in that mad town in Italy
List 5 skills that would be fun to have:
- fantastic piano playing skills – Theonius Monk style
- able to persuade anyone to do anything
- able to take centre stage in all situations, no flinching or fluffing
- performance – able to sing, dance & act
- culinary skills – master chef-ess
List 5 things you used to enjoy doing:
- horse riding
- scuba diving
- archery
- ballroom dancing
- roller & ice skating
6. List 5 silly things you would like to try once:
- now that would be telling!…
And this week’s piece de resistance – Reading Deprivation. I already wrote about it over on Room on the Edge.
For my Artist’s Date, seeing as I didn’t do it last week, I’m going to restart playing The Prosperity Game, buying art as if I were a new collector.
And the tasks, which are adding up fast as I’m behind with some of the previous weeks;
- Environment – describe your ideal environment.
- Time Travel: describe yourself at 80. Now write a letter from you at 80 to you now.
- Time Travel: remember yourself at 8. Write a letter from yourself at 8 to you now. What would you tell yourself?
- Environment: Is there any room in your home that you could make into a secret, private space for yourself – a dream area? It should be decorated for fun and not as an office. This is to help you centre on the fact that creativity is a spiritual, not an ego, issue.
- Use your life pie (Wk1) to review your growth. List ongoing self-nurturing toys you could buy your artist – books on tape, magazine subscriptions, theatre tickets, a bowling ball…
- Write your own Artist’s Prayer. Use it every day for a week.
- An Extended Artists Date – plan a small vacation for yourself. (get ready to execute it).
- Open your closet – throw out or hand on or donate one low self-worth outfit. Make space for the new.
- Look at one situation in your life that you feel you should change but haven’t yet. What is the payoff for staying stuck?
- If you break your reading deprivation, write about how you did it. In a tantrum? A slipup? A binge? How do you feel about it? Why?
Tasks carried over from Week 2: Identity:
- 2/2. Make a Safety Map to support your autonomy.
- 2/4. Goal: do something you like doing: ‘doing collage’ and ‘creating new pathways and maps’
and Week 1: Safety:
- 1/5. Write a letter to the editor in your defense. Mail it to yourself. I still haven’t done this yet. oops oops
- 1/7. Select & write out one happy piece of encouragement. Write a thank-you letter. Mail it. Still in progress… oops