Keeping a journal every day will serve as a way for us to reach clarity in our thoughts. The very act of making the commitment to write daily opens untapped avenues of creativity, and give us a perspective that we might not have considered otherwise.
One of the most instrumental authors to inspire and gather scores of journaling followers is author Julia Cameron through her book The Artist’s Way.
In the book, Cameron advises that the habit of daily journaling is one of the best ways to help artists, writers and other creative people to become even more creative. People from all walks of life, from playwrights to attorneys to housewives have worked through blocks to their creative process. Cameron also advocates that journaling can serve as a path to spirituality and connecting to our deeper selves, the world around us, and to the Creative Power within all of us.
How does it work?
The Artist’s Way approach centers around a 12-week program that the 12 chapters of the book. Each chapter has its own essays, exercises, and tasks that revolve around the two basic principles of practice. These are the Morning Pages and the Artist’s Date. Those who have undertaken the Artist’s Way can either work solo or in a close-knit group. Both approaches work.
Morning Pages
The morning pages are written at the start of each day. These morning pages can be done at any time you are most comfortable journaling. Morning pages involves writing three pages of stream-of-consciousness in your leather journal. This can take 20 minutes or for some, or up to an hour for others. Morning pages are not timed. This daily practice, once started, can be instrumental in pushing through mental blocks and inspiring creativity.
Your morning pages can be about anything that you wish. Being stream-of-consciousness writing, it can seem a bit disjointed or even silly. Nothing is off limits, too boring, too mundane, or too strange to write about. The morning pages are meant for you and no one else. There is no right or wrong way to do the morning pages. Expelling all your daily mind chatter can be instrumental in focusing your attention on the real issues of the day.
The Artist’s Date
The second aspect of the Artist’s Way is the artist’s date. This simply involves going out at some time once each week on your own with no one else tagging along. The artist’s date is intended for you and your inner artist to spend time in solitude and reconnect to your creativity. Taking yourself on an artist’s date might mean taking a trip to a local museum. It might also be a walk in the park to enjoy the changing seasons, trying the lunch buffet at a new ethnic restaurant, or even going to an art store to pick up colored pencils or other art supplies for a new project or to add artistic aspects to your journal.
Writing It All Out
Most of us are aware of the constant assault of technology against handwriting, where we rely on computers or keyboards to communicate or to be creative. The physical act of writing on pen and paper at times can seem like a luxury in time. That’s the beauty of it. Cameron insists that the best way for writing morning pages to work for us is to write them out in longhand. We as humans more deeply connect to both our creativity and our inner sense of well-being through writing our journal entries out longhand. Through reading The Artist’s way, you’ll discover that the practice of daily journaling serves as a creative catalyst.
Note: Julia Cameron has a great website which shares online video sessions on how to implement The Artist’s Way into your own world.