The Artist’s Way: Week 3

Jon and I are now in week 3 of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. If you’re interested: week 1 / week 2

Childhood

Childhood is a recurring theme throughout this week’s lessons and exercises. Not surprising, since it was a time when most of us were free to pursue our creative instincts — that brief, glorious window before we were made to quit daydreaming.

Of course these days I think childhood creativity suffers a different fate: it gets repackaged and instrumentalised through so many STEAM ennrichment lessons. Yes, that’s STEM plus Arts, believe it or not…

Doing the exercises, I realise I’ve had such a wonderful childhood. I was given both freedom AND love, a rare balance considering many parents either ignore or smother you.

I shared a room with my brother and we listened to Beastie Boys CDs together; I kept pet caterpillars under the bed; I rambled around my neighbourhood barking with dogs; my parents took us to the zoo on weekends; my grandma made me luncheon meat sandwiches to eat while we curled up on the sofa and watched the Mrs Fong (Fang Tai) cooking show together. In short, I never felt I had anything to prove.

My childhood Eden came to an end when I got fat in secondary school. I could not avoid being noticed; my weight was an invitation for ridicule. So I hid from the world, and I suppose part of me is hiding still.

My favourite Artist’s Way exercise is listing 5 favourite childhood foods and acquiring at least 1 of them. Mine are: Hiro chocolate cake, Tasty biscuit, the aforementioned luncheon meat sandwich, my grandma’s fried rice, and Capri-Sun…

Growth

I particularly liked the section on growth.

Growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. […] You will lie dormant sometimes. Do not be discouraged. Think of it as resting.

This week certainly began as one of those “two steps back” weeks. All of a sudden, it was Thursday and “I still haven’t done anything this week!”.

But really, when I think about it, I have accomplished quite a lot.

For a start, I’ve been enjoying my slow work on my book. This savour is new to me, having worked for so long on content farms. I like it a lot more than accomplishing work quickly but without pleasure.

I’ve also been cooking a lot — every day, in fact. I’ve been on cooking kicks before, but this time round it feels a lot more sustainable. All it entails, really, is dumping veggies and broth in a slow cooker, or scrambling eggs, or boiling pasta for a jar of sauce. That’s all. So I needn’t even be home to do this.

I’ve been cycling and going for yoga regularly too. On Tuesday Jon and I went for a walk along the Rail Corridor, and I became addicted to walking. Unfortunately my plantar fasciitis flared up, so I do the next best thing: cycling at an extremely sedate pace, gulping big lungfuls of purified air whenever I cycle through a bunch of trees.

Week 3 check-in

Morning pages: 7/7

Artist date: I also indulged in a window shopping trip to Popular Bookstore, where I picked out oil pastels, a sketchbook, a new journal, and a new whiteboard. Without even buying these things, I was so energised that I started drawing in my journal the next day. I haven’t sketched for at least 5 years. When I drew things around the house, it was like seeing these mundane objects for the first time.

Issues this week: Maybe it’s all the Deliveroo, but the urge to give my work setup a makeover has struck once again. I am bored with freelance writing; I wish to do physical labour, to be working class…

The book is going well, I think. It has morphed slightly from a personal finance book into, well, Walden exegesis. I have reread the book and assembled the material into categories. What remains now is to write the actual words. I am in no hurry, though. I actually want to make this process last.

It is nice to have a book to write, I must say. It’s like a crush — sustaining — something your mind can wander to when you have a few minutes of free time. It surely beats wandering to your phone to check your email.