- Every morning Write 3 Pages of Morning Pages, Every Day, 7 Days a Week, Non-Negotiable !!!
- Do not reread these pages or allow anyone else to read them.
- Be sure to work with your affirmations of choice and your blurts at the end of each day's morning pages.
- Convert all blurts into positive affirmations.
- Take yourself on an Artist Date. You will do this Every Week for the duration ofthe course. A sample Artist Date: Take $5 and go to Walmart, and buy silly things like gold star stickers, tiny dinosaurs, postcards, sparkly sequins, glue, crayons... You might give yourself a gold star on your envelope each day you write !! or put it on your Artist's Way book ??? something ???
- Time Travel: List three old enemies of your creative self-worth. Please be as specific as possible in doing this exercise. Your historic monsters are the building blocks of your core negative beliefs.(that rotten teacher from 5th grade count, and the rotten thing she said to you does matter. Put that teacher down!) This is your Monster Hall of Fame. More monsters will come to you as you work through your recovery. It is always necessary to acknowledge creative inuries and grieve them. Otherwise, they become creative scar tissue and block your growth.
- Time Travel: Select and write out one horror story from your Monster Hall of Fame. You do not need to write long or much, but do jot down whatever details come back to you--the room you were in, the way people looked at you, the way you felt, what your parent said or didn't say when you told about it. Include whatever bothered you about the incident: You may draw a sketch of your old monster or to clip out an mage that evokes the incident for you.. Cartoon trashing your monster, or at least draw a nice red X through it.
- Write a letter to the editor in your defense. Mail it to yourself. It is agreat fun to write this letter in the voice of your worunded artist child: "To whom it may concer: Sister Ann Rita is a jerk and has pig eyes and I can too paint and spell !!!"
- Time Travel: List three old champions of your creative self-worth. This is your hallof champions, those who wish you and your creativity well. Be specific. Every encouraging word counts. Even if you disbelieve a compliment, record it. It may well be true. If your are stuck for compliments, go back through your time-travel log and look for positive memories. When, where, and why did you feel good abput yourself? Who gave you affirmation?
- Additionally, you may wish to write the compliment out and decorate it!! Post it near where you do your Morning Pages or on the dashboard of your car. Anywhere you want !!!
- Time Travel: Select and write out one happy piece of encouragement. Write a thank-you letter. Mail it to yourself or to the long-lost mentor.
- Imaginary Lives: If you had five other lives to elad, what would you do in each of them? I would be a pilot, cowboy, rancher, a psychic, monk, scuba diver, dancer, teacher, soap-opera star, etc. etc. etc... Whatever occurs to you, jot it down. Do not overthink this exercise. The point of these lives is to have fun in them--more fun than you might be having in this one. Look over your list and select one. Then do this week. For example: if you put down country singer, can you picka quitar? If you dream of being a cowboy, can you do some horseback riding?
- In working with affirmations and blurts, very often injuries and monsters swim back to us. Add these to your list as they occur to you..Work iwth each blurt individually. Trun each negative into an affirmative positive.
- Take your artist for a walk, the two of you. A brisk 20 min walk can dramatically alter consciousness.
WEEKLY CHECK - IN :
You will do check-ins every week. If your are running your creative week Sunday to Sunday, do your check-ins each Saturday. Remember that this Recover is Yours. What you think is important, and it will become increasingly interesting to you as you progress. You may want to do check-ins in your Morning Pages. It's best to answer by hand and allow about 20 min to respond. The purpose of Check-Ins is to give you a journal of your creative journey. It is my hope that you will later share the tools with others and in doing so find our own notes invaluable: "Yes, I was mad in week four. I loved week five. etc..."
- How many days this week did you do your Morning Pages? 7 out of 7 ??? How was the experience for you?
- Did you do your Artist Date this week? Artist Dates can be remarkably difficult to allow yourself. What did you do? How did it feel??
- Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant for your recovery? Describe them.
