an artist's way

image found at "quietly beautiful blog"

There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. ~Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith

i sit down to post today and i think, i am all dried up. there is nothing postworthy inside me and i would be better servicing readers with silence. this may be true, but i am not letting myself off that easy yet.

in contrast, i have decided it is better to follow the "morning pages" theory of julia cameron's "the artist's way" in order to address this block. i absolutely loved that book. it opened my heart and mind in ways i hadn't dreamed possible and it was done with the simple technique of writing. each time i let some of my inner thoughts out, the premise claims, i am making room for new thoughts and ideas to filter in. in my heart i have found this to be true.

i started writing when i was first attempting to stop using meth. my words were jumbled mostly, and wrought with an intensity i didn't know i had then. i was full of ideas of how things should be, and what plans i might have for my future. i am not actually following any of these ideas really, but what did happen was that i made room for the idea of being clena into my psyche. prior to that point, i was stuck in my addiction and couldn't think my way out of a paper bag, let alone think my way through telling myself no when i was having a craving or urge to use, not to mention butting up against the day to day difficulties of life.

as i counsel with people to quit smoking, or make other changes in their lives, often i will bring up "the artist's way" and the journaling process. by moving our thoughts through us and "un-sticking" them, we open up lost parts of ourselves. at least that's what happened for me. i have been posting from my head as of late, and not been willing to take chances on speaking from my heart. this has changed my posting, it has affected my committment, and no dotodubt my personal growth as well. i absolutely love the freedom that writing has given me.

today's sound choice is simply red with a live version of "you make me feel brand new" recorded in vina del mar chile in february. i have had the privelige of being in vina del mar in the 1990's. life was very different then, but i remember being filled with awe at this coastal city and the power of the ocean's limitlessness.