The Artist’s Way Week #7 is all about Tao.
For those of you just tuning in, I have been trudging / flying /stumbling / crawling/ delighting my way through The Artists Way (the breakthrough creativity book by Julia Cameron) for the third time. This week’s theme is “Recovering a Sense of Connection” and that, my friends, is Tao. Strangely, one of the greatest obstacles to creative connection is jealousy. YES: JEALOUSY. It was a favorite saying of an old teacher of mine, “That which you criticize you can not become.” The theory is that jealousy drives a wedge of distance between you and what you want to create. Even more interesting, Jealousy’s first cousin is explained to be Perfectionism. The perfectionism stops you from making things, and, in the wake of being blocked, you grow jealous of others who can create freely. It seemed strange at first, but one exercise of Week #7 asks you to free-write a list answering the question:
“If I did not have to do it perfectly, I would try…”
I urge you to do it. Personally, I was shocked about all the things- oh my list is long!- that I have stopped myself from doing for myself based on a desire to be sure it is perfect first. I have committed to doing every single one (!!!).
