I’m turning to you creatives again, for I feel you understand. I felt like crying this morning when I listened to Julia Cameron being interviewed by Maria Forleo. 

 

Why? I’m still processing the why. Maybe it was her absolute belief in her inner voice that touched me. Perhaps I felt validated, maybe given permission to do my intended work—that is it, to write. I have quoted Cameron since her book The Artist’s Way came out, and today she said this year is its 30th Anniversary. And the book is going strong.

 

She also said that she felt that the power of this covid19 thing cracked people open to their creativity.  

 

Now, isn’t that something? And having her book take off—again is a clue that she’s right. Perhaps staying home for a while allowed people to think and thus tap into their creativity.

 

Because of Cameron’s comments, I felt empowered to ask more of that inner voice, listen more, and give myself permission to take the time to do the Morning Pages, take that walk, and take that Artist’s date. And to ask for guidance. (Her Four Core tools.)

 

I trust my voice, and I do listen. So many times, though, I have felt I was stealing time to write. It is work. It requires energy, and it can be heartbreaking when you think it isn’t wanted in the marketplace. And my energy is needed in other places, like a course I am taking and the feeling that I need to make a living, and family, yard, pets, and the house. I’m sure you can relate.

 

But you go back to your intended work because that’s what you do. 

 

I took Cameron’s Artist’s date to the extreme. I booked a cabin in the forest for two nights next month. (First available time.) For I have been feeling the need for my writer’s retreat that I have taken for a couple of years, and I need nature and the forest.

 

After Cameron’s talk, I took a short walk by myself, not with the dog, for she says then it’s the dog’s walk, not yours. (And having people along isn’t your walk either.) So, I walked up to a house being built a few blocks away. It was open with no workman on the premises, so I went in and walked through the unfinished rooms. Houses in process exude potential—like writing. And the rain came when I was inside the house, but I wasn’t waiting it out. So, I walked home in the rain, and my light pants and tee-shirt became soaked, but my spirit remained high and dry.

 

You Know Better Than That

 

"Books are old-fashioned," my eight-year-old grandson told me this morning.

 

That hurt my heart.

 

Remember #Ray Bradbury's book #Fahrenheit 451, where the fireman burned books, and how the people memorized one book to keep it alive.

Michael Burnett told a similar story at the #National Achiever's Congress in Portland, Oregon.

 

When #Nelson Mandela was in prison," he said, the prisoners had to do hard labor, and that was to break up sandstone rocks. Sunlight on sandstone creates quite a glare, and it is hard on the eyes. Mandela asked the guard if they could have sunglasses to shield their eyes.

 

You know the answer. "No."

 

Later on, when they had nothing to do in their cell, Mandela asked the guard if they could have books to read.

 

"You aren't here to have sunglasses and books," he said. The answer was, "No."

 

So the prisoners devised a plan. They would have a one-on-one, each sharing what they knew with one other, and thus when each prisoner was, at last, released from prison, each was smarter than when they entered it.

 

We are all living books filled with experiences, insights, and garnered wisdom. If we shared it, just think where we would be. I guess that's what the Internet is, but I still want books.

 

We have this extraordinary ability to create beauty, love, and learn. But, come to think of it, animals do too. However, with our two-million-year-old brains—evolutionarily speaking—we are, instead, on the watch for danger.

 

There are fears all around us, internal and external. We hang back, afraid to go for our dreams, afraid to go into uncharted territory, afraid to speak up, and fearful of our shadows. We often think we aren't good enough, loved enough, or intelligent enough.

You know better than that.

 

If you agree, laugh out loud. If not, keep quiet.

 

High five,

Joyce

 

P.S.

"Someday, in the distant future, our grand-children's grand-children will develop a new equivalent of our classrooms. They will spend many hours in front of boxes with fires glowing within. May they have the wisdom to know the difference between light and knowledge." PLATO'S DOCTRINE, 909 Relics of Greek Philosophy. 

 

How's Your Book Coming?

No book? Well, there are other things where the Law of Self-Ordering, (Steven Pressfield’s term), comes into play.

A Self-Ordering Universe?

It's true! It's true1 I've seen it. I've felt it. Pressfeild put this phenomenon into perspective. 

"Books wanna be what they wanna be," wrote Pressfield. "So do albums, entrepreneurial ventures, and statues of David. The process unfolds infallibly. Our symphony-in-the-works evolves into four movements. Our screenplay organizes itself into three acts.

 

                                                                Painting by Jim Warren
 

"If we just keep plugging away at our vision, the Law of Self-Ordering comes to our aid. Work—day-in, day-out exertion and passion, and concentration—produces progress and order. That's a law of the universe."

 

Well said. Well done, Steven.

A Self-Ordering Universe? Think back to the beginning of our planet, primeval ooze covered a goodly portion of our earth. Volcanic eruptions spread red-hot lava over the planet's surface. That lava cooled into rocks. Oxygen molecules and Hydrogen atoms found each other and made water. It's astounding.

 

Once, all plants were conifers, ferns, and lower forms like moss and lichens. All these plants propagated by spores or cones. Then one glorious day, a flower poked its little head out of a bud into glorious sunshine. One little flower then two, and suddenly the earth was awash in flowers. And the wombs of the flowers developed into fruits.

Well done. Good job.

 

                                                Mickey can be a stand-in for a slew of concepts.

We heal without our conscious control, you know, those minor cuts and such, but perhaps our consciousness does have some say so on the grand scale.

And a novel?

It's Self-Ordering too. It will have its way with you, characters will pop in and leave, it will take you into places you've never thought about. It seems to have some direction. This is astounding.

Applaud the the great order of the Universe. 

 

P.S. Yeah!  The links to my books worked. Keep scrolling to next blog post.