Renewal

March 23 2024

I haven't been writing, in fact, I haven't written for over a year now. I had so many health issues, the focus was on figuring out what was wrong and working on the solution. Now that I'm doing better, I'm returning to writing. Now my question is how to get back on the treadmill, bandwagon, course. I turned to a book I purchased years ago in 2010, The Complete Artist's Way by Julie Cameron. I was in a hurry back then and skipped the introduction so this time I started from the very beginning. Lo and behold, I had no idea this was three of her books combined. It pays to read the intro! I've gone about halfway through this set of books. I've never completed reading all three. I've started on the way and stopped a couple of times. That's the new goal, read and work through all three books.

The second thing I learned from the introduction is that she's emphasizing using "creativity as a spiritual practice". I'm not sure I realized that before. I like the idea. I like expanding the idea of God to be larger, more encompassing of life and how we perceive it. I'm currently dismayed by organized religion. I find all of them to be limiting. Most of them seem to be about social interaction not about fulfilling spiritualistic meaning. I'm excited to get started again. I'm thinking renewal.

I had forgotten about 'morning pages'. Totally forgotten them. Obviously, I abandoned them some time ago. Now I am back to it. The first day felt like a revelation. I got the three pages done and went on with my day. I took a walk and came back determined to find a getaway we could afford right now to get out of this dreary cold weather. We just came back from one spectacular two-week vacation so we felt we couldn't afford another one. But the cloudy skies and cold weather felt daunting. I got depressed. My aches and pains returned due to the cold. It snowed. Time to start anew.

That's where I hope this journey with The Artist's Way helps me rejuvenate. After that walk I found a stay in Las Vegas that we could manage. Ten days in more warmth and sunshine. Vegas is not my favorite place to visit due to the crowds and constant movement. I prefer calm and quiet. It's been years since we've been there. It's probably a whole new place now. The book is too big and heavy to take along, but I can do morning pages consistently. That's what I'm going to do. Morning pages, every day. I'm also writing by hand. I stopped a long time ago due to arthritis. I've found a different way to hold the pen that doesn't hurt and I'm slowing down. Writing doesn't have to be a frenzy. It can be more of a lyrical movement.

I think the morning pages will be a type of meditation, a better way to begin the day. Lately I've begun the day by checking email, then Facebook, then the news. Wow, the news, don't get me started. What a horrible way to begin the day. What do they call it now? Doom scrolling. So much of it isn't what I call news anyway. The headlines indicate people I've never heard of and things that aren't newsworthy. Social media has watered down our news to nothingness. Mindless reports of tedious everyday items, repeatedly. Meditation seems to be a much better way to begin the day. I think I'm going to like the morning pages this time. Here's to the beginning.