Dear friends,
Welcome back to our weekly check-in!
This week, we’re discussing chapter 7 of The Artist’s Way — it’s hard to believe we’ve made our way firmly into the second half of Julia Cameron’s program! This week, we’re discussing the recovery of our sense of connection. Julia takes us on a deep dive into our own perfectionism, ability to take risks, and jealousy — all very strong emotions that have much to do with our own openness and ability to connect to ourselves and to our own creativity.
Preparations for Elena’s 30th birthday party!
We’ve found that our experience with our morning pages has been fairly similar over the past week — our pages have been getting longer, we’re both feeling more excited about completing our pages every day, and we’re both finding that if we don’t do our pages, we end up far more grumpy as the day progresses. An indication that we ought to be prioritizing our morning pages, for our own sake and for the sake of those around us!
Joy’s singular haiku, as we discuss with great amusement.
Both of us found ourselves focusing on Julia’s reflections on jealousy in this chapter, particularly when it comes to the kinds of jealousy that can develop among women (which certainly isn’t the way we wish it was, but does tend to ring true in our experience all the same). In a world that frequently pits women against each other, the manifestation of a complex and often subconscious form of jealousy is hardly uncommon. We grapple with this kind of jealousy in today’s check-in, and consider together how this tricky emotion might stand in the way of our ability to stay in touch and develop the connection we have with our inner artists.
And, if you haven’t yet had a chance to work your way through the exercises on jealousy in the text of chapter 7, we’d highly recommend them. You might find them quite revealing — we certainly did!
And, Elena’s artist’s date: lush imagery from Sofia Coppola’s latest film.
Also on the agenda for this week: the tale of how Joy got stuck in a coffee shop bathroom for over an hour, Elena’s 30th birthday, our stabs at taking our inner artists on dates, and much, much more.
Time to check in!
How has your week been? Did you do your morning pages? Do they feel different this week than they did last week? And what did you do for your artist’s date, if you managed to sneak one in? What on earth makes it so difficult to take time for ourselves?! As always, we’re seeking inspiration!!
Much love and talk soon,
Elena & Joy
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