Chapter 12: Recovering a Sense of Faith & 12 lessons I've Learned From The Artist's Way
And so, our journey through The Artist's Way comes to an end...
Welcome to the twelfth and final post of my 12-week series dedicated to exploring creativity and artistic identity through Julia Cameron’s 1994 course The Artist’s Way!
This series of posts will always remain a free and safe space for discussion and reflection wherever you are in your artistic journey. Thank you for completing the course alongside me, joining in from the future, and making it through 3 months of insights and reflections. It’s been a pleasure to explore and evolve alongside you <3
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In Chapter 12, we acknowledge how far we have come and look forward to all that awaits us in the future.
In this final chapter, we acknowledge the inherently mysterious spiritual heart of creativity. We address the fact that creativity requires receptivity and profound trust — capacties we have developed through our work in this course. We set our creative aims and take a special look at last minute sabotage. We renew our commitment to the use of the tools.
Reflecting on Chapter 12
Wow. We’re here.
We made it through three months of self-reflection, artistic growth, and creative challenges. Three months of facing our greatest fears and acknowledging them with strength and compassion. Three months of morning pages and artist dates and prioritising our artistic pursuits despite all the doubts that reared their ugly heads along the way.
I’m so incredibly proud of us :’)
The Artist’s Way came to me during a time of incredible personal and creative upheaval. Internally, I felt disconnected from myself and my values. Creatively, I felt disconnected from my craft. In truth, I hadn’t written in months. I called myself a writer and a poet, and yet the labels felt misplaced. I felt misplaced.
This has been a journey of forgiveness, understanding, recognition, and growth. I am not the same artist I was three months ago. I am not the same person.
My life has changed in ways that I simply would not have expected. For example, I now wake up at 6 am most days and unfurl from my dreamscapes slowly and intentionally. Commiting to the morning pages has also changed how I greet a blank page and a new day — I don’t see a future without them.
I’ve come to terms with many of my self-doubts and self-sabotaging habits; the self-awareness I have gained through this journey is no small feat. I have so much still to learn, and so much still to overcome, but I feel ready for the journey ahead.
The Artist’s Way coaxed me out of a dire creative rut, and for that, I am truly grateful. I hope you have enjoyed reading these reflections each week, or even found comfort in a stranger sharing their journey with you. These reflections will always be here for us to return to. This journey can never be undone.
And so, it seems only fitting that I end this journey with 12 of my favourite lessons from The Artist’s Way — one for each chapter <3
“The process will be imperfect, choppy, uncomfortable. It will come with its highs and lows. The purpose of the journey is to cultivate a consistent practice and sense of creative self-worth; progress is far more important than perfection.” — Chapter 1
“I am learning to create artistic boundaries where there previously were none. I am practicing introspection where comparison has become muscle memory. I am creating that sacred circle around my artistic recovery.” — Chapter 2
“I will be more productive when coaxed than when bullied
I will be more productive when coaxed than when bullied
I will be more productive when coaxed than when bullied
I will be more productive when coaxed than when bullied!” — Chapter 3
“I learned several lessons this week, but of particular importance was this: there is a clear line between artistic appreciation and consumption. The way we interact with art is just as revealing as the art itself.” — Chapter 4
“One of the core messages in this chapter (and one that I wholeheartedly believe in) is that by depriving yourself of your creativity, you are then, in turn, also depriving the world. Your work is a gift meant to be received by those who need it. By holding back and denying your inner artist, you are smothering a small, precious beacon of hope.” — Chapter 5
“Creation is antonymic to passivity; you cannot simply wish yourself a better writer/embroider/carpenter/dancer and expect you will magically gain the skills of a well-practised artist. Cultivating the necessary skills in your craft is the pre-requisite, reward comes in the form of opportunity, synchronicities, community, and, if it’s what you so desire, remuneration.” — Chapter 6
“Perfectionism is fear of failure. It is fear of the discomfort that accompanies genuine growth. It is a refusal to let yourself play — a refusal to acknowledge your humanity.” — Chapter 7
“It is human to check the clock, but not to live within it.” — Chapter 8
“At some point, we need to take a step back, acknowledge how afraid we are, and just. begin. Beginning becomes our artistic rebellion. It also becomes one of our greatest acts of self-love.” — Chapter 9
“Denying ourselves the opportunity to create, to fail, to learn, to be, is far more hurtful than anything anyone could say to us about our work.” — Chapter 10
“Maybe this year, all you do is find the courage to begin anew.” — Chapter 11
You are here. You have made it. This is the full circle moment you were waiting for, you were doubting you could reach. Let this be proof of your fortitude. Let this be proof of your faith. And let it be known that you were always capable of this, from the very very beginning.
Forever yours in faith,
Caitlin ❧
(pssst. a return to monthly letters awaits. a new era is unfurling. my lips are sealed. for now….)