Changing Your Routine and The Artist's Way

We are blowing through March in a hurry.  My wintering season is waning, a season where I intentionally slowed down to nurture myself and in my 13th yearsof writing, changed up my routine. Maybe you feel you need something new to light you up also.

 It began with the decision to take the seminal writing book The Artist Way and really commit to the craft of it and the 12-week course. I am now on week 9. I have finished 60+ Morning Pages (3 notebook pages written long-hand, every morning.) You may have picked up this book or done morning pages, even taken an artistic date. or two. But the power of it is the consistency of devoting time to yourself to spill what's in your reptilian brain and retrain yourself to put your creativity and yourself above all else.

1. There is no wrong way to do it, except not to do it. Knowing there are no mistakes is freeing. I cross things out, use stream-of-conscious style, review my previous day, and my gleanings on what was helpful. I mope, give myself room to dream, and hold a mirror up to observing myself as a creative person.

2. The silly things and odd exercises the book asks you to do daily DO matter. These include writing, an affirmation each day, reading/reciting the BASIC PRINCIPLES every morning, (I don't do them again at night, but it's suggested.), create a "safety circle graphic" showing your creative boundaries. Inside your circle you write what you need to protect and name people who support you. Outside the circle boundary name things and people you must be self-protective around. (I find these change--some people go on the edges of the boundary.)  Make up your own mantra and affirmations. 

3. Keep your artistic date with yourself every week, even if it is small. I began my Artist Dates in a big way, signing up for a 2-hour watercolor class at The Franklin Park Conservatory. It was easy as all the materials were given to us. The instructor gave us notes and lists for su...