If You’re Looking To Ignite Your Creativity, Look No Further Than This Book

Creativity requires work to be done

“I have run out of ideas to write about”, I moaned to myself.

As a content creator, coming up with creative ideas regularly is a task. You often feel you have nothing new to write about.

You believe that your “creativity well” has dried up.

Does this sound familiar?

That is because every artist feels the same way. It is part of the process. Looking for the solution to my creative block, I came upon “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron.

The book’s tagline read, “A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity.”

As I wanted to explore both my spiritual and creative side, I decided to give it a try. And it did not disappoint!

Here is how the book can help you ignite your creativity.

Most Important Idea From The Book

Morning Pages

The book strongly advises to do your Morning Pages.

Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream-of-consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning.

They are, as author Julia Cameron puts it, “spiritual windshield wipers.” To quote her further,

“Once we get those muddy, maddening, confusing thoughts [nebulous worries, jitters, and preoccupations] on the page, we face our day with clearer eyes.”

Most people shudder when they learn about the idea of writing 3 pages of writing every morning.

When I told my sister about the Morning Pages, her response was,

“What do we write 3 pages of every day?”

It is something most people are worried about.

But don’t worry, Julia has provided numerous tasks at the end of each chapter that act as great prompts to write.

Some of my favourite prompts from the book:

• Imaginary Lives: If you had 5 other lives to lead, what would you do in each of them? You might be a scuba diver, a painter, a healer, a coach, a musician, a psychologist, a scientist, a painter. Whatever occurs to you, jot it down. Don’t overthink this exercise. Try to pick one from your list and then do it this week. For instance, if you put down singer, can you pick a guitar?
• Describe your childhood room: If you wish you may sketch this room. What was your favourite thing about it? What is your favourite thing about your room now? Nothing? Well, get something you like in there- maybe something from that old room.
• Describe 5 traits you like in yourself as a child.
• List 5 people you wish you had met who are dead. Now, list 5 people who are dead whom you’d like to hang out with for a while in eternity. What traits do you find in these people that you can look for in your friends?
• Creation: Bake something. Creativity does not have to always involve capital-A art. Very often, the act of cooking something can help you cook something up in another creative mode.
• New Childhood: What might you have been if you’d had perfect nurturing? Write a page of this fantasy childhood. What were you given? Can you reparent yourself in that direction now?

How The Exercise Helped Me?

Since I started doing my Morning Pages regularly, I have noticed a surge of creativity.

Ideas bubble and form in my head all of a sudden.

Doing the Morning Pages consistently played a major role in this. As the author says, if you are doing the Morning pages, they are working for you.

Coupled with the tasks provided at the end, they force you to get creative and dig deep into your psyche.

Our Psyche is its own Milky Way. You never know what may emerge if you dig deep enough. — Shashwat

My Favourite Quotes From The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

“The Universe is prodigal in its support. We are miserly in what we accept.”

“Every loss must always be seen as potential gain; its all in the framing.”

“Listening to the siren song of more, we are deaf to the still small voice waiting in our soul to whisper, ‘You’re enough.”

“Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace, and power in it.”

“The trick is to metabolize pain as energy. Learn, when hit by loss, to ask the right question: “What next?” instead of “Why me?”

“Progress, not perfection, is what we should be asking of ourselves.”

“Leap, and the net will appear.”

How To Get The Most Out of The Book?

If the lessons from the book aren’t applied, the time spent reading the book is wasted.

When I first started reading the book, I was in a hurry to finish it.

By the time I reached Week 4 (The book is divided into 12 weeks), I realised I was just rushing through the book. I was only reading the chapters and skipping the tasks when in reality, the tasks are more important than the chapters themselves!

So to change that, I stopped rushing through the chapters and instead read each chapter through the week and then do the tasks and tasks in each chapter.

This helped me more than merely reading the book.

So, the best way to make the most of this book is to go through each chapter slowly, soaking it all in, and doing all the tasks in your Morning Pages.

Even if you don’t read the entire book, make sure to complete all the (+Tasks) at the end of each chapter.

However, I highly recommend reading the book for the articulate and soothing writing.

Are you ready to reclaim your creativity?

I am rooting for you. :)