by Intention InspiredWeek 8, Day 7 of The Artist's Way
Today, let's work with what we have rather than languish in complaints about what we don't have.
FILLING THE FORM (continued)
Creativity requires activity, and this is not good news to most of us.
It makes us responsible, and we tend to hate that. You mean I have to do something in order to feel better?
Yes. And most of us hate to do something when we can obsess about something else instead. One of our favorite things to do—instead of our art—is to contemplate the odds.
As a rule of thumb, the odds are what we use to procrastinate about doing what comes next.
This is our addiction to anxiety in lieu of action. Once you catch on to this, the jig is up. Watch yourself for a week and notice the way you will pick up an anxious thought, almost like a joint, to blow off—or at least delay—your next creative action.
Most blocked creatives have an active addiction to anxiety.
We prefer the low-grade pain and occasional heart-stopping panic attack to the drudgery of small and simple daily steps in the right direction.
Filling the form means that we must work with what we have rather than languish in complaints over what we have not. As a director, I have noticed that the actors who get work are the actors who work—whether they are working or not.
Small actions lead us to the larger movements in our creative lives.
What can you do, right now, in your life as it is currently constituted? Do that thing.
Take one small daily action instead of indulging in the big questions. When we allow ourselves to wallow in the big questions, we fail to find the small answers. What we are talking about here is a concept of change grounded in respect—respect for where we are as well as where we wish to go. We are looking not to grand strokes of change—although they may come—but instead to the act of creatively husbanding all that is in the present: this job, this house, this relationship.
(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 123 – 124)
Read today's affirmation out loud with vigor and delight:
I accept where I am and move forward.
I am responsible for my own creativity and I am willing to take action in order to cultivate it.
I will not let my addiction to anxiety prevent me from taking small daily steps toward my creative goals.
I will respect my current circumstances and use them to my advantage.
I take small actions that will lead to larger movements in my creative journey.
download printable affirmation card
ARTIST DATE
Use your Artist Day this week and schedule time for you to take action on a project that inspires you.
“No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.”
– AGNES DE MILLE
What are you excited to play with today?
Share in the comments below👇 or in The Artist's Way private community comments.
