Nicola Vincent says about her week 8 experiences with volcanos setting the pace:

“Beware what you wish for…” somebody wise once said and, in the most extreme case of synchronicity I’ve ever experienced, I’ve found this to be true over the last fortnight.

Let me explain…

Week Eight deals with another creative block: time.  Somehow I never seem to have enough time to do everything I want to do, (sound familiar?), and as I’ve progressed with my Morning Pages over the last two months it has become increasingly clear that this is a growing problem.  I feel overwhelmed most of the time and, although it’s great to be involved in lots of different projects, could I really say I was enjoying my life?  Where was the fun?  I was too tired, too frazzled, to look for it.

So, mid-way through Week Six, I booked a three-night break to Barcelona; a place where I once stayed for a few weeks when I was younger and more care-free.  Maybe I wanted to recapture that feeling of being lighter, more relaxed.  As I got on the plane, I knew in my heart of hearts, however, that three days wasn’t going to be enough.  I needed more time to myself; some quality down-time.

I’m sure you’ve worked out what happened next.  Less than twelve hours after I checked into my hotel, an ash cloud brought flights to the UK to a halt.  My three night break became a ten day holiday and involved a manic (and, at times, very stressful) journey home via Paris.

I’m not making light of it.  Realising, however resourceful and savvy I like to think I am, that I couldn’t get home was not a pleasant experience.  I’m severely out of pocket and I’ve been completely worn out since I got back trying to catch up, (thank goodness for the Bank Holiday weekend!), but here’s the thing:  somewhere in those ten days, I met up with my younger self again.  I rediscovered how much I truly love being in Europe, just wandering the streets, eating tortilla (or falafel, in the case of Paris) and being free of all those ‘to do’ lists and nagging anxieties that disturb my peace of mind in my normal life.

(Am I really one of those blocked creative-types who, according to Julia Cameron, “have an active addiction to anxiety”?)

When I finally got home, I read Weeks Seven and Eight in one sitting.  They are probably, however, the chapters that most deeply resonated with me.  Week Seven told me to kick my perfectionism habit into touch.  Week Eight taught me that now I need to take my goals seriously and start to ‘fill in the form’.

My enforced holiday forced me to slow down and re-evaluate.  I remembered what it is I really want to do with my life.  The Artist’s Way told me loudly and in no uncertain terms to just Get On With It.  I’ve promised myself that they’ll be no more “low-grade pain” and I’ll embrace what JC calls “the drudgery of small and simple steps in the right direction.”

Here’s to a future with more time, more fun, and more of all the things I truly want to do!

Deborah Macaulay on saying it how it is:

Week 8 of the artist’s Way and my enthusiasm in waning.  That is me all over though I tend to go charging in full throttle and then wear myself out or rather the boredom sets in.  This week I’m feeling bored with me.  I have a feeling of apathy; I want to write that masterpiece now.  I want to skip the mp’s, the first, second, third drafts of my programme, my book, I want to just write reel it all off and for it to be perfect.   Plus there is the washing to do, the ironing to do, the kids to feed blahblahblah.  I have thought if only I had a cleaner, a gardener, someone to do the ironing, if the kids went to boarding school, If I was someone else I could write but being ‘me’ I must  just be fooling myself, I’m just deluded …..I have way too many other things to do then write.   I have found 101 reasons to be doing anything but creating my masterpiece or rather I have been thinking about doing 101 things other than my masterpiece.  This week I have spent dreaming.   I keep telling myself that if I haven’t created anything worthwhile by now then it just ‘aint gonna happen’.  Although this week has been about strength I’m actually feeling a bit wibbly wobbly like a jelly.  I’m scared what if I’m not creative enough.  What if I’m just not enough?  What if I can’t write? My morning pages seem to be drying up it is taking me a lot longer to write the 3 pages and my artist’s dates are getting rather boring too.  I think this coming week I need to nurture myself and treat myself with love and kindness. Maybe I will double up on my dates.

Here is a quote that I like;

Be really whole and all things will come to you (Lao-Tzu)

To be whole I need to write, I need to create.  I just know it…. I feel it burning within.

I know this post sounds so negative and it really does go against all that I have been studying about the mind and the power of our thoughts.   Yet it is how I am feeling so it is just about being honest although I really am working on turning this around and I am looking forward to having a better week with week 9. I will be working this week with affirmations and lots of walking my dog meditation to get me centred and hopefully my creative juices flowing.

Have a great week 9 everyone x

Deb Macaulay .