Oh, those Creative Monsters

The first proper post here, and it will likely be the only one in Week 1, as I'm going to be away from the computer for a couple of days, which will bring me into week2. But I will be able to bring my Morning Pages Journal with me, and fully intend to get an Artist's Date in as well. Had never thought of cemeteries as creative spots - although I like to visit them, and my mother just LOVED to visit graveyards - she felt you learnt more about a place there than by talking to the living inhabitants of a town, sometimes. Maybe.

So. Those creative monsters. What I've realised is that even though I thought I'd slain my critic during my 1998 foray into the Artist's Way, what I really succeeded in doing was in convincing him (he must be male, somehow) that it was really safe for me to try a range of new creative activities. - I got away since then with doing a whole load of stuff - leading groups, publishing my poetry, reading in public, gaining qualifications in therapies that really interest me - so many new experiences. So what I wasn't prepared for at all, when I found this group, and said "I might as well start up a Blog, then", to have a howling voice inside telling me that that's "dangerous stuff... scary stuff... people will laugh at you, you'll get it wrong... you won't be able to do it... it will lead to disaster... " Get the picture? So, there are a whole new set of boundaries to be breached, and the critic this time around needs to learn that it's ok for me to try ANYTHING, not just the things that are almost safe.

The very strange thing is that all this happened right before I'd even opened the first chapter, about Recovering a Sense of Safety. So it's unfolding as it should. I have a couple of lovely quotes that are holding me. One is in the book: To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. - Joseph Chilton Pearce

Another was sent in an email from a friend: When you come to the end of all the light you know, and it’s time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: Either you will be given something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly. -Edward Teller

And this one, which turned up on the Kaleidosoul website today was about community and encouragement of coming together: We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness. ---Thich Nhat Hanh

Roll on week 2