Courage to Change — My 12-Step Artist’s Way Recovery

Spiritual recovery for creativity

Hi! My name is Jules. I’m an artist.

Entering the rooms of any anonymous group is the first step toward a spiritual awakening. Over the years, I have heard from many people that the first meeting stays with you. No matter if you stay or go, it touches something deep inside you that never goes away.

The Twelve Steps first appeared in 1939 in the book, Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism which is now referred to as the “Big Book.”

Written by Bill W., one founder of A.A., the program is now estimated to have over two million members. Not only has membership in A.A. grown over the years, but also the different varieties of anonymous programs.

In fact, Bill W.’s wife, Lois, started Al-Anon as the twelve-step group for the families of alcoholics.

The steps, traditions, and principles are still the same, for the most part, since its creation. That, in many discussions, is its downfall in modern times, however, the original intention is the same.

Peer support to give hope to others. That connection is the spiritual magic of the program. It allows the addict-alcoholic-codependent not to feel alone. The shared stories provide support and understanding for each other.

My Path to Recovery

My path to recovery is on the Alanon side of the anonymous groups. Alanon, ACA (Adult Children of Alcoholics) and CoDA (CoDependents Anonymous).

Over half my life now, I have been twelve stepping toward awakening the spirit buried under the effects of others’ addictions and my behaviors that enabled them.

Oh, what a journey it's been.

One significant turning point happened during my first 4th step inventory. It was when I received my first synchronicity message from the universe.

At the time, I was also reading You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. An exercise about cleaning our mental closet prompted me to go back and visualize myself as a small girl when I could remember being happy.

In all the writing between the inventory and the exercise, I couldn’t see it.

When I got up the next day, I decided maybe I needed to physically clean my closet to distract myself from all the writing and heavy emotions of the exercises and my 4th step inventory.

I opened the closet door and lying on the floor in plain view was a picture of me at five years old lying on a grassy knoll with a huge smile on my face.

I did not know where it came from or how it got there. But there was the answer to the exercise in plain sight.

From that day forward, Louise Hay and her teachings of affirmations, cleaning our mental closet, and healing our bodies by changing our thoughts, became an integral part of my life.

Even my recent issues with my hips and my knees are spot on with her teachings. Hip problems show fear of major decisions or moving forward and knee problems are about pride, stubborn ego, and fear of giving in.

The Artist’s Way — A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

The most important practice, however, is following The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. The Artist’s Way follows 12 steps, broken down into weeks, with two supporting components. Morning Pages and Artist Dates.

The morning pages are part of my morning coffee time and have been for a little over twenty years now. Written in longhand, morning pages are three 8 x 11 lined pages, filled with jumbled thoughts.

You force yourself to push beyond your training in spelling, sentence structure, grammar, paragraphs, and organized thoughts. It is simply pen to paper, at the moment, writing the words as they flow from your brain to the paper.

It becomes meditation.

Artist’s dates are scheduling time alone, once a week, to doing something fun and relaxing just for yourself. Things that spark your whimsy or imagination. This was difficult for me at first, but now it’s much easier. In fact, I look forward to it.

When I looked at the layout of the twelve weeks as twelve steps, I realized the relevance it has not just to me as an artist but to me as a woman.

The first step in the anonymous programs is about feeling powerless. Many women, at some point in their lives, experience a sense of powerlessness just because they are women. Whether that is at work, in family structure, in politics, in relationships, or any other vast array of areas in society.

However, the first step in The Artist’s Way is recovering a sense of safety. You can feel the empowering difference between I am powerless and I am safe. Feeling safe gives you permission to try new things and move forward.

This is an essential practice for all women.

Same with the rest of the steps. Just imagine if we gave ourselves and other women support and encouragement to recover a sense of identity, power, integrity, possibility, abundance, connection, strength, compassion, self-protection, autonomy, and faith.

We would all step into our potential and rise above the feelings of not enough and powerlessness. We would step forward and create the lives that we dream of and recover our feminine energy within rather than giving it away. Boundaries would come naturally.

“We are trained to self-doubt, to self-scrutiny in the place of self-expression. As a result, most of us try to write too carefully. We try to do it ‘right.’ We try to sound smart. We try, period. Writing goes much better when we don’t work at it so much, when we give ourselves permission to just hang out on the page.” — Julia Cameron

The same goes for all things in our life. We try too hard! Life goes much better when we give ourselves permission to just hang out and recover a sense of who we really are instead of trying to be everything for everybody.

With which one of the twelve steps can you give yourself permission to recover a sense of starting today?

Jules — Top Juggler of part time passions as Miz Mindful — artist, author, writer, Mindset Coach, Solopreneur, Canva Designer, Certified Moonologer, — but you can call me jules!

Owner — Mindful Expressions, Etsy -Coffee, Tea & Hippee and Miz Mindful Designs