I’m a little bit late with this post, but I’ve been busy. The end of my acting program is coming closer, and we are finishing with a night of one-act plays. Well… actually it’s 4 nights of one act plays. Anyway. We open tomorrow, and I am beyond excited. Well, nervous but excited.
So because of all this craziness I’m a little bit late with my wrap up of week 7 of the artist’s way, but here it is now.
Week 7: Rediscovering a Sense of Connection
CHECK-IN
Have you allowed yourself to daydream a few creative risks?
I’m still working my way through “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle. Ever since starting that book I’ve begun working on staying in the present. Right now I’m focusing on seeing myself as a successful person. I’m a little bit stuck in the “I make $1500 a month” mindset, which doesn’t really work for me. I’m working on developing the courage to believe in myself, and to feel like I have something to contribute to the world. That I have value. For some reason that’s difficult for me to acknowledge.
This last week I worked a lot on goal setting. I’ve come up with 7 goals for myself for the next 3 months, and below each goal I listed
- 5 things I should be doing on a daily basis
- 5 things I should be doing on a weekly basis
and
- 5 things I should be doing on a monthly basis
in order to make those dreams a reality. There is a lot of repetition (for example, each goal included meditation and visualization in the daily category). The exercise also helped me to brainstorm ways to create a bridge between where I am now and where I want to be. This brainstorm made it all seem possible, instead of some type of far-fetched dream.
Are you coddling your artist child with childhood loves?
No, I haven’t been doing this. I’m not sure how to even do this. I guess by doing things that I used to love to do as a child. I’ve just been so busy with the end of school. I will integrate this into next week.
Did you do your artist date this week? Did you use it to take any risks? What did you do? How did it feel?
While I did do my morning pages 13 out of the 14 days this week (I missed a day, oops), I never got an opportunity to go on an Artist’s Date. I think part of it is I’m confused about what constitutes an artist’s date, because I spend time alone with myself all of the time. I’m going to be running a 1/2 marathon on May.5, and in preparation I ran 18.5 k last week. That was an hour and 40 minutes by myself. Is that an artist’s date? Even though I was technically training for something?
Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it?
Actually, I did. I made an error in my schedule at the gym, which resulted in a bunch of drama with my current job as a receptionist (a job that has me frustrated because of the negative energy that I’m slapped in the face with every time I walk through the doors. The members even pick up on it). I feel as though I enter into highs and lows with this job. I’ve been there a year, and so naturally it’s become comfortable. Every time something happens that makes me want to leave, I rationalize that “it’s really not so bad” and I end up talking myself into staying. I’ve probably done this 5 times in the last year. Well this latest incident spurred me into action, and I spent Saturday looking and applying for a variety of jobs. As a result, I have an interview at a local caffe (Caffe Artigiano) on Monday. I would start out as a till staff and then quickly work my way up to a barista position. I think that would be a lot of fun. Plus, I would make more than I make at my current job. The hours are also perfect. The caffe is open 5:30am-9:00pm which means I could work an opening shift, be done at a good time to still go to auditions, and then have time to work on my own projects and spend time with my boyfriend at night. Where do I sleep you ask? I’ll figure that out later.
The synchronicity was that I made a mistake which spurred me into action to attract something different into my life. I think that this has the potential to be very positive.
Were there any other issues this week that you consider significant for your recovery? Describe them?
This week was supposed be about developing a connection between my outer world and inner world. In this way, I think it was a success. I have attracted some things into my life that weren’t there before, and I’ve been feeling especially confident and sure of myself lately.
I’m excited to get started on week 8 (rediscovering a sense of strength)
Yes! I have the same problem, when you spend a lot of time on your own, how can a date on your own (well with your artist) be a novelty? Which reminds me, I have to focus on all this again. X
Kyra Williams 2 comments below this one gave the best advice for both of us. Give it a read. She talked about the artist date is a special time that you specifically need to set aside for yourself. It makes so much sense now.
Have fun and good luck with the play tomorrow and the interview on Monday!
Thank you so much! And I will 🙂
Hi Christine,
Re: Artist Dates – I think the idea behind an artist date is that you plan it in advance. It’s the setting aside of time purely for yourself and your inner artist child to be creative. Try booking a date in your diary for the week ahead and then try to tap into your inner artist child to see what it feels doing. It could be anything from an afternoon spent baking cookies, a cinema visit, browsing in an old bookshop or going iceskating etc. And it could last anything from about an hour to a half a day or longer. The main thing is to try and keep your date with yourself. I used to find that when I’d get busy, I’d eat into my own time first rather than cancel any time with friends. But then, it’s almost like I could feel (and hear!) my inner child’s disappointment and when I did stick to the dates and protect our time together, it gave me such a good feeling afterwards because I felt that I was listening and paying attention to my creative needs. So unfortunately, spending time alone and going for a run on your own isn’t really the same thing. I think you’d get a lot more out of planning a date, something fun and creative and then protecting that time together. It can be weird and a little daunting at first (especially going to a cinema on your own) but now I really love it and it’s given me a huge boost of confidence. Good luck with your end of terms plays!
This was some of the best advice! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this to me. I really appreciate it.
Some fantastic ideas, I will scribble in my notebook and be sure to try in May.
The goal setting exercise? It really works!