Fun finds from this week's artist date
This week I wanted to celebrate the milestone of hitting one full month of The Artist’s Way course! Wow that was fast, but definitely worth the hard work. I partly owe it to my Artist’s Way group for keeping me accountable each week to go through each chapter, complete the morning pages, and go on an artist date. I remember when I attempted the Artist’s Way course on my own 5 years ago and I never even got past the first chapter. I was overwhelmed by the daily morning pages and didn’t really see the value of the course at the time. This is why I highly recommend joining an Artist Way group because you meet every week to review the chapter and recap the week. Everyone is doing the course together and no one has more insight than anyone else- it’s truly a supportive group that helps keep me accountable. It’s been an amazing opportunity to hear everyone’s weekly recap and feelings and they always give me more insight into the past chapter than I did just going in solo. One month down, two more to go!
Week 4 of The Artist’s Way course highlights honoring our feelings without brushing them off as “I’m okay!”, the importance of solitude by also filtering out all of the usual external noise to be more in tune to those inner feelings, and revisiting what we loved doing from childhood. I enjoyed this chapter because it validated a lot of what I currently struggle with. I often put my own emotions and opinions aside to accommodate others. Whatever makes things less awkward in the room, I’ll gladly stuff my real feelings in the junk drawer-equivalent pocket of a suitcase that’s full of trash like old receipts and candy wrappers. This chapter calls out those actions and asks for us to be more aware of when it’s happening and be more authentic to ourselves. I especially felt called out when she addressed those who say “Nothing is really happening to me” through the course. I just mentioned something similar about the previous week, but in reality, it means a lot of growth is happening so fast, that it appears to look nonexistent. Everyone processes differently through this self work.
I still committed to all of my morning pages everyday this past week. Sometimes I break up the routine and get other chores out of the way before starting the pages. I can emphasize enough how these pages have helped me recall my dreams. Sometimes I’ll randomly remember more as I’m writing, it’s amazing how that can happen. I would have never given my dreams the time of day unless I felt it was something easy to remember and significant. Recalling dreams could be a possible indicator to show I’m “paying attention” and to send more good signals and direction my way (PLEASE…).
I decided to browse a fun store for this week’s artist date. I had an appointment a few cities over and across the street was a World Market. Usually I’m in a hurry to get to my next destination or task and never go in, but this time I decided to take some quality time and look around. I got so caught up in the international food section that I didn’t even bother looking in the other aisles. It’s been years since I’ve visited this particular World Market. I was shocked at the enormous selection and towers of fun foreign snacks. It was especially a nice treat to go there by myself because I didn’t have the pressure of feeling rushed by someone else. It’s one of my favorite things to browse an overstimulating shop by myself and this trip did not disappoint!