I was fortunate to meet creativity guru Julia Cameron in London at the weekend. She was running a two day creativity workshop with Alternatives based on her book the Artist’s Way.  It was a wonderful experience to meet her in person and to meet other “closet creatives” who have found the book a useful way to unleash a little more of their creativity.  It was interesting to note at a workshop of over 100 people that many people share the same obstacles to creativity such as lack of belief in our own creative abilities, too many other pressures on our time, listening to our inner critic, lack of inspiration etc. etc…………

One of the participants made the very funny statement:  ”My problem is not so much that I have an inner critic, it’s more that I have an inner accountant!” Many of the participants could relate to this comment and it is with this obstacle in mind that Julia Cameron has written her latest book called The prosperous heart: creating a life of ‘enough’ together with her business manager Emma Lively, which I have just purchased since the weekend.  I  have found the 12 week programme of the Artist’s Way a very helpful format and this new book follows the same 12 step format.  I have always believed that everyone lies somewhere along the creativity spectrum and we can all learn to express our creativity in different ways. If you listen to your inner accountant too often, you are denying yourself the chance of finding the flow and happiness which come from being utterly absorbed in a creative pursuit.

If you were unable to see Julia Cameron in person at the weekend please take a look at this great article and interview by Julie Hall from Women Unlimited.  

The interview is part of a great new series on Women Unlimited TV in which Julie Hall conducts interviews with inspiring women – they are worth checking out.  Enjoy the article and interview: 

Julie Hall interviewing Julia Cameron

Julia Cameron is the author of the Artist’s Way. Written 20 years ago, it is the defining book for those interested in exploring their creativity.  It’s estimated that over 4 million people have read the book  and Julia still teaches the 12 week programme in her home town of Santa Fe.   You can find out more about Julia and her new programme at www.juliacameronlive.com 

The inspiration for the book was Julia’s boyfriend (now husband!). He was a writer but he was blocked and having problems writing. She wrote the book to help him overcome this creative block.

Overcoming creative blocks

Although Julia never had writers block, she found that she wasn’t writing freely either. She was conscious of striving for perfection during the writing process. She was also drinking to try and enable her to write more freely but found that writing and drinking don’t mix. Alcohol opened a window then slammed it shut.

She found it better to write without alcohol. She also stopped trying to ‘control’ the writing so her work would be without ego. This enabled her to be an open tool for inspiration and writing to move through her.

Morning pages

Morning pages are a tool to help you unblock your creativity. Julia calls them a western version of meditation.  Every morning spend 20 minutes writing your thoughts down – write down whatever comes into your head/you are thinking about.

The benefits of doing morning pages are that you will release any thoughts/problems you are holding inside. It also helps to miniaturise your inner sensor (which is usually your negative internal voice), then enable you to ignore it as you keep writing. This then becomes a transportable life skill which can be used anywhere and in any situation. Nobody can be fearless, but you can be taught to push past it. Morning pages will help you to do this.

Why is creativity important in business?

Everyone can be creative. Traditionally, artists have talked of ideas/inspiration coming straight from God. We don’t tend to say that so much these days but that is an artist’s experience of inspiration – a higher power striving to get our ideas out to the world

The ideas and tools raised in the book also work for business people. Business is a creative arena and using morning pages gives you a safe place to vent issues and frustration and gives you the opportunity to explore ideas.

Other tools to help open up creativity:

Artists Date

You should try to go on an ‘artist’s date’ once a week. It’s a solo expedition to do something fun and enchanting. Your morning pages will help you to recognise your like’s and dislikes, as well as those things/activities you want to do more or less of.

When you go on an Artists Date you enable yourself to turn the dial to help you receive inspiration and  you’ll find that your synchronicity improves too.

An artist’s date could be something simple like a visit to a children’s bookstore, fabric store or a meal in a new restaurant.  You don’t have to expose yourself to art. You can get inspiration from any environment.

Don’t work at it – it should be enjoyable. The idea is plan ahead of time and woo yourself, so that you learn to love yourself a bit more.

Walking

Walking is an enormously powerful tool and helps people to integrate the inspiration gained from morning pages and the artist’s date. You can literally get into the body through walking.

Walk at least twice a week for 20 minutes. You’ll often find that you set out with a problem but come back with a solution.

Explore your own creativity

Julia has just launched a new website: www.juliacameronlive.com  which is for people who can’t study with Julie personally and covers her 12 week programme.

Filmed in her home the programme includes video lessons, a forum and a vibrant community.  A broad mix of people are involved, as anyone’s life can become enlivened by embracing the creative side of themselves.  Her course/book is about transition –everyone tells her that the book has changed their life.

For those who say creativity isn’t important Julia thinks this is what people tell themselves to talk themselves out of their dreams.   There are enormous benefits to tapping into your own creativity – it makes people more cheerful and literally enlightened, as if they have been lit up from inside

Julia’s main tips for exploring creativity are to do your morning pages regularly. Surprisingly, she also suggests accounting! Not the most creative activity you might think, but money should be channelled to your greatest joys. To ensure you have enough money, don’t spend blindly.  Simple accounting will highlight where you are spending your money. For example, you love the theatre but never have enough money. Your accounting may show that you are spending £4 a day in Starbucks. Forgo that coffee and save the money for a theatre ticket.

Prosperous Heart

Julia’s new book with Emma Lively is about individuals who depend on a sense of abundance with a connection to the divine and not with a paycheck. This 12 week programme helps people to explore their feelings towards debt, money and abundance.

Thank you to Julie Hall from Women Unlimited for permission to publish this article and interview.

Posted on 2nd November 2012