In today’s reading, Julia Cameron asserts that a practice of writing Morning Pages will ultimately connect the practicioner to a Higher Creative Insight. I personally call this Higher Creative Insight my Intuition. Julia Cameron calls this Higher Creative Insight a type of Spiritual Guidance, which I believe is beyond a type of religious insight. She adds that writing Morning Pages constrains Logic Brain. The Artist Brain can move forward and that it is through Artist Brain that one attains this Higher Creative Insight.

“We move from logic brain to artist brain and from fast to slow, shallow to deep.” Cameron, The Artist’s Way, pg. 14.

Remember that Logic Brain is a rule-oriented, fear-of-anything new type of thinking. Artist Brain is the playful, meandering brain that thrives on creating.

Logic Brain likes safe marks. It would rather copy what someone else has done–make recipe art–than dare to paint something new.

“The only sentences/paintings/sculptures/photographs it likes are ones that it has seen many times before. Safe sentences. Safe paintings. Not exploratory blurts, squiggles, or jottings. Listen to your Censor and it will tell you that everything original is wrong/dangerous/rotten.” Cameron,  pg. 13.

Logic Brain is also the inner voice [the Censor] that continuously warns the creator to be less creative.

“Logic brain is our Censor….Faced with an original sentence, phrase, paint squiggle, it says, ‘What the hell is that? That’s not right!'” Cameron, pg. 13.

Anyone who wants to write, paint, or live more creatively must move beyond the grips of Logic Brain. Writing Morning Pages is a way to do that.

She goes on to say that, in this way, writing Morning Pages is a type of Meditation.

“We move from logic brain to artist brain and from fast to slow, shallow to deep. Management consultants, in pursuit of corporate physical health, have learned to think of meditation primarily as a stress-management technique. Spiritual seekers choose to view the process as a gateway to God. Artists and creativity mavens approve of it as a conduit for higher creative insights.” Cameron, pg. 14.

In addition, writing Morning Pages is a spark that ignites action, and I can attest to the fact that this action impacts every area of one’s life.

“It is very difficult to complain about a situation morning after morning, month after month, without being moved to constructive action.” Cameron, The Artist’s Way, pg. 15.

Today, we will add a new dimension of our study of Cameron’sThe Artist’s Way. Today, we’ll begin to reflect on each day, seeking to understand how working The Artist’s Way is impacting our lives. I began my list on Day 2. I have included a snippet of reflections about that day.

Following is a chart to help you track the coming week–today forward:

[Feel free to just jot this down in a notebook or on your computer].

My Reflections on Tuesday:

Once I began embracing the idea that change was possible, my entire spirit became more positive and more open to new possibilities.

Life happens everyday regardless–We ONLY have the Power to Change Our Attitudes about what is happening in our lives–and our attitudes make a Great Difference.

On Tuesday, we read about how people with Artist Brain are unlike those with Logic Brain. People with Logic Brain are rigid. They plot their lives tightly and stick to their plans. When things do not go according to their plans, they are often thrown for a loop. People with Artist Brain are more flexible–they are better able to cope with the curve balls that life tosses at them.

I had a doctor’s appointment early Tuesday morning, and that was inconvenient for my schedule. I needed to be at home, creating my Artist’s Way video and post to share with people who might depend on them. I dealt with that snag by making my post and video for that day at midnight the day before. Not a great solution, but I met my obligation.

On the other hand, I ONLY paint early in the morning. Because of my appoingment Tuesday morning, I did not paint at all. Rather, I got up and showered and sashayed off for my doctor’s appointment, only to be told that my doctor had left the practice. Bam!!! I had missed my early morning painting time for nothing–it seemed–and I had made other arrangements to be there. I had a choice: 1. Get Mad or 2. Adjust.

I decided to adjust and started back home, but I stopped at the grocery store. As I was pulling into the parking lot, I met a man pulling his mower on a trailer. For a moment, our vehicles blocked each other. We could not avoid each other. That morning, I had written in my Morning Pages that I was upset because my mower had quit coming to take care of my lawn. Voila! Serendipity–The same life that had messed up my day at the doctor’s office had also thrown open the doors and had provided me with a new person to mow my lawn.

Net Gain + My Day was not Ruined After All — and that’s not all. In fact, because I was out at that exact time, I serenipitously found a new mower. But that’s not all.

While the mower was finishing my lawn, the doctor’s office called me and told me to come back and that another doctor in the practice had offered to add me as a new patient. I did return to see that new doctor. He was perfect.

Net Gain +++

And that is still not all: In coming to grips about the nature of Morning Pages–how it is an opportunity to purge what is stagnant inside ourselves, I looked at the mower and thought: “Why not send him home with several bags of canned goods that are taking up my needed cabinet space?”

Net Gain ++++++++It was a win-win. The mower was thrilled, and I had cleared a path in my kitchen.

The great thing about the Artist’s Way program is that you will not be able to apply the principles there without its affecting other areas in your life.

READ: The Basic Tools, pgs. 13-15 of The Artist’s Way

Note: Today is the final day that I’ll provide the entire text for each day’s readings. I’ll continue to provide page numbers and my own observations, but to read the entire text, you will need to buy your own copy of Cameron’s The Artist Way. You need to access your own copy of the book by Day 8, which is July 7.

Following is the text for pages 13-15 of The Artist’s Way:

“It may be useful for you to think of the morning pages as meditation. It may not be the practice of meditation you are [pg. 13] accustomed to. You may, in fact, not be accustomed to meditating at all. The pages may not seem spiritual or even meditative—more like negative and materialistic, actually—but they are a valid form of meditation that gives us insight and helps us effect change in our lives.

“Let’s take a look at what we stand to gain by meditating. There are many ways of thinking about meditation. Scientists speak of it in terms of brain hemispheres and shunting techniques. We move from logic brain to artist brain and from fast to slow, shallow to deep. Management consultants, in pursuit of corporate physical health, have learned to think of meditation primarily as a stress-management technique. Spiritual seekers choose to view the process as a gateway to God. Artists and creativity mavens approve of it as a conduit for higher creative insights.

“All of these notions are true—as far as they go. They do not go far enough. Yes, we will alter our brain hemisphere, lower our stress, discover an inner contact with a creative source, and have many creative insights. Yes, for any one of these reasons, the pursuit is a worthy one. Even taken in combination, however, they are still intellectual constructs for what is primarily an experience of wholeness, rightness, and power.

“We meditate to discover our own identity, our right place in the scheme of the universe. Through meditation, we acquire and eventually acknowledge our connection to an inner power source that has the ability to transform our outer world. In other words, meditation gives us not only the light of insight but also the power for expansive change.

“Insight in and of itself is an intellectual comfort. Power in and of itself is a blind force that can destroy as easily as build. It is only when we consciously learn to link power and light that we begin to feel our rightful identities as creative beings. The Morning Pages allow us to forge this link. They provide us with a spiritual ham-radio set to contact the Creator Within. For this reason, the morning pages are a spiritual practice.

“It is impossible to write Morning Pages for any extended period of time without coming into contact with an unexpected inner power. Although I used them for many years before [pg.14] I realized this, the pages are a pathway to a strong and clear sense of self. They are a trail that we follow into our own interior, where we meet both our own creativity and our creator.

“Morning pages map our own interior. Without them, our dreams may remain terra incognita. I know mine did. Using them, the light of insight is coupled with the power for expansive change. It is very difficult to complain about a situation morning after morning, month after month, without being moved to constructive action. The pages lead us out of despair and into undreamed-of solutions.

“It always comes back to the same necessity: go deep enough and there is a bedrock of truth, how-ever hard.” MAY SARTON

Write 3 Morning Pages. No Editing — Just Write. Let it Flow. Whatever Comes to your mind. Write. Remember: This is not Creative Writing, You Are Simply Emptying Your Mind.

Write your reflections about today’s progress. This can be a quick note or list.