Reddit Reddit reviews The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

We found 41 Reddit comments about The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
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41 Reddit comments about The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity:

u/hobbitspice · 17 pointsr/LifeAfterNarcissism

We are two peas in a pod here.

Much like what you've described, I too have also chosen the hardest route possible, while trying to maintain some semblance of my own personality. No matter what, there's a plaguing feeling that I need to feel hardship in order to feel accomplished.

I wanted to be a photographer for my entire young adult life. For years, I spent time out in a park nearby our home, with a course catalog to an art school where I would later be accepted. Only a week before I was supposed to attend, my NMom drove so hard into me with guilt and anxiety about my chosen profession, that I caved and went into the traditional academia. I later graduated on a path to law school, but dodged that bullet and am now headfirst into a creative career. Still, I'm not exactly where I want to be with it.

I just said to my partner today, in the midst of a grief-crying, that I feel as though I've left myself behind a long time ago. I've taken on positions that make me, purposely, anxious and frustrated because that's the only emotion that makes me feel like I've made any progress. In my family, if there is no struggle, there is no achievement.

Recently, I've been working through a book called "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron (http://www.amazon.com/The-Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421464). If you aren't an artistic type, don't worry – this book transcends the techniques of art and really drills down into some of the core feelings behind childhood guilt, shaming, gaslighting, and how to begin treating yourself with unconditional love.

It sounds nuts, but her voice throughout this book resembles the type of mother that I always wanted. One who supports me in my creativity, and nourishes my thinking instead of sabotages it.

Although I'm far from recovery, it has REALLY helped me gain a new perspective on who I am, what I enjoy, and that pain is not a prerequisite to happiness. That said, I'm having a terrible day today, so know that settling into your true self for the first time in your life will come in stops and starts.

Let me know if you end up buying the book. I would love to cheer you on as you go!

u/polymonic · 11 pointsr/Songwriting

Some suggestions:

  • Spend some time working on instrumentals
  • Try writing a piece where it's okay to have 2 lines
  • Give Object Writing a try
  • Check out Writing Better Lyrics
  • Work through The Artist's Way
  • Continually make shitty writing every day. Occasionally something amazing will happen.
u/Metal-Phoenix · 10 pointsr/learnart

I used to be an art zero, had the worst stick figures on the planet and I've had several shows in galleries. I knew someone who's hands permanently shook but was a kick ass painter and you'd wonder if other people were safe when she used an x-acto knife..

You need three things:

  1. A mentor who can give you tips. That or youtube.

  2. Practice. My god, the practice. I went through an art degree... oil painting? 1 painting a week... for 16 weeks. For two semesters (32 weeks total). Shoot a roll of film and develop it a week for 3 semesters (48 weeks). Drawing, 2 semesters, 3 drawings a week. Lots of practice.

  3. Critique. I cannot emphasize enough how important a good critique is for helping you grow as an artist. Start posting to /r/ArtCrit

    Additionally, your inner artist like a child. A child, to reach it's maximum potential, must always be challenged, must always play (that's a child's job), must be protected from the assholes of the world, and must not be given false, positive encouragement (they need to be told when they're not doing well enough... no trophies for the losers). You must practice. Don't ask your friends and family for art advice or critique. Ever. People who don't support you should not see your art. (Read The Artist's Way, Art & Fear, and The Art Spirit)

    Ninja edit: Do not be afraid to use projectors and lightboxes until you get a firmer grasp on proportions and compositions.
u/wellinkedbox · 5 pointsr/Journaling

I think the only way that your life can change is if you identify at least one thing that need changing. Yes, other possibilities for change can happen beyond that but you have to have a jumping off point. Otherwise you're just standing in a dark room screaming CHANGE MY LIFE. It's not really going to work.

Book I would recommend:
The Artist's Way

u/bdust · 4 pointsr/somethingimade

Hey, you. Please, please read The Artist's Way. It changed my life. I will even send you one of my extra copies, if you don't have the money to spare.

u/throwpillo · 4 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

Not exactly what you asked for, but it'll change your life. 12-week process to dial you into to your creativity...

https://www.amazon.com/Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421464

... and here's some ideas.

https://www.google.com/search?q=rumi+poems

https://www.google.com/search?q=hafiz+poems

https://www.google.com/search?q=therapeutic+metaphors

u/2tinypoodles · 3 pointsr/raisedbynarcissists

Hi there!

I am also an AoNM, and an aspiring novelist. I struggled with the same block about writing for a LONG time -- in fact, I've really only gotten past in in the last few months, but I am now almost 80k words into a novel which I have been trying to write for years, and expect to have a complete first draft within a few weeks.

I'm honestly a little embarrassed to be recommending this, but do you know what finally helped me get over the block? This book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421464

I will be the first one to tell you that it can be cheezy, and preachy, and that it places a much greater importance on God or a 'creative spiritual power' than I, as an atheist, was really comfortable with, but bear with me.

The basic tenants are that you keep a stream-of-consciousness diary every day, to get all the anxiety and stuff out of your way, and have an 'artist's date' each week, to get used to setting time aside for yourself regardless of what is going on. But it is full of essays about letting go of perfectionism and the overly critical voice in your head, of acknowledging the injuries other people have done to you in the past which make it impossible for you to create freely, and has lots of exercises to help you do that. It's hard to describe well, I feel, and I was extremely skeptical of it at first, but I can't ignore how very much it helped me once I really gave it a chance.

u/neodiogenes · 3 pointsr/Art

"The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron is kind of a classic.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421464

u/Vuddah · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

For more details on a type of writing that helped me through the end of my first deep relationship, check out this book.

Personally, it really helped me organize my mind through a rough time.

u/polynomials · 3 pointsr/Poetry

For getting over writer's block, I strongly suggest doing morning pages like in this book. (A lot of helpful stuff is in this book, I strongly recommend giving it a read, but if there's nothing else you take from this book, it should be this, I'd say)

https://www.amazon.com/Artists-Way-Spiritual-Higher-Creativity/dp/1585421464

Basically, buy yourself a little journal. Every morning, fill three pages in it by hand, it should take around a half hour to do. Doesn't matter what it is. Write literally anything that comes to mind no matter how pointless or foolish or self-concerned or nonsensical you think it is. The point here is just to fill 3 pages with whatever is in your mind. I have even heard of people who have on certain days simply filled all three pages with just cursing, like "FUCK YOU" over and over again. Sometimes that's just how you feel.

Then, and here is they key, do NOT read it. Don't throw it away, but don't read it, either. Part of the point is to write without judging whether what you have written is good or bad. Make sure you do it consistently. It works best when you keep to it every morning.

A lot of people will tell you that the best way to get over writer's block is to start writing something, anything. And, this exercise done consistently I think you'll find will clear your mind of the unhelpful thoughts cluttering up your mind, later for when you want to express yourself. I find myself thinking, "Oh I already thought about that," or "I'm tired of harping on that, I'd like to think about something else now." Or sometimes by needing to fill the three pages, it forces you to think about something preoccupying you in a new way, and you feel encouraged by your fresh perspective.

u/darkofmoon · 2 pointsr/Screenwriting

Force yourself to write for a set amount of time a day-- don't wait for inspiration to strike.

That being said, continue to fill your creative well-- with art, movies, experiencing life.

Sorry, such a brief comment, but check out The Artists Way-- it's an amazing book that may help you to dispel "writer's block" :) http://www.amazon.com/The-Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421464

u/jmacdoogs · 2 pointsr/Advice

Become your own artist, Try reading The Artists Way It may not be the short-term solution that you were looking for but I can attest to the long term help you will receive.

u/admorobo · 2 pointsr/suggestmeabook

While it deals with creative laziness moreso than physical laziness, Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way is a really interesting book that addresses becoming more creatively/artistically motivated, which I think can certainly transfer over into physical/psychological motivation as well.

u/loose_spaghetti · 2 pointsr/NoStupidQuestions

It sounds a little cheesy, but when I have the discipline to do it The Artist's Way really helps.

u/Cpt_Atown · 2 pointsr/IWantToLearn

Check out the book "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron

u/beast-freak · 2 pointsr/BipolarReddit

I really like [The Artist's Way] (https://www.amazon.com/Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421464) by Julia Cameron. In essence it consists of a morning ritual of thirty minutes of free-form writing and also doing something for yourself every week (an artist's date)

Both Julia's parents were manic-depressives (in the bad old days) and she was an alcoholic and drug addict, married and divorced from a famous guy, and hospitalized with a nervous breakdown before cleaning herself up. The book grew out of her efforts to heal herself.



It didn't make me an artist but I liked the ritual and found it quite relaxing — it also made me realize how badly I treat myself, something I am still dealing with. I had thought I would go through my journals — perhaps on a weekly basis — and rewrite some of the stuff but in the end I found it was enough to simply let all the thoughts go, simply writing them down (taking a brain dump) was relaxing enough.

Edit: I realize you are also interested in mood tracking, this could also easily be included.

u/resober · 2 pointsr/REDDITORSINRECOVERY

Let me know when you figure it out....I literally don't enjoy anything but reading, video games, sex, and playing with my son without chemicals. After years of abusing myself I barely enjoy those things a lot of the time and I'll spend hours psyching myself up to read a book or play a video game only to find out my time is up. And then 'I don't do anything.'

And I can't stay sober longer than a week. This isn't the only reason--a big reason is that drugs literally just are shoved in my hand due to my job. But if I actually enjoyed doing something, anything, I would be happier and it would be easier to just say no.

I think for now just go to meetings and don't be too hard on yourself, you come back gradually. That's what I'm doing and hoping for. Longer you're sober the closer you get to the person you used to be that liked all that stuff without any help. We've been running the other direction for a long time.

(p.s. check this out, it's helped me before
http://www.amazon.com/The-Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421464

TL; DR: We're not going to enjoy stuff until we're sober for a while. Everything sucks in the beginning. Stick it out. You aren't alone.

u/julsey414 · 2 pointsr/getdisciplined

Seeing as you have a lot of good replies already I want to say first I've been there. And I also wand to recommend reading and following "the artists way". It's a great way to help get you to feel unstuck. The Artist's Way https://www.amazon.com/dp/1585421464/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_HklDxbCBE1W2D

u/pier25 · 2 pointsr/escribir

El mejor consejo que leí para aprender a controlar el crítico interno fue en el libro The Artist's way.

La autora recomienda escribir todos los días algo que ella llama the morning pages, tres páginas de escritura libre acerca de cualquier cosa que te venga a la mente. Si no te viene nada a la mente simplemente llena 3 páginas con "no se me ocurre nada". No importa lo que hagas después con esas páginas. Las puedes quemar o tirar a la basura. Lo importante es acostumbrarse a escribir con seguridad.

Otro libro muy interesante relacionado con el arte se llama Art and Fear. Hay un pasaje que no tiene desperdicio relacionado con el crítico interno.

> The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot -- albeit a perfect one -- to get an "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes -- the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

u/yourbasicgeek · 1 pointr/writing

Oh! You absolutely should read The Artist's Way. Among the habits Julia Cameron gets you to create is "morning pages," that is, write 3 pages first thing, every single morning. I followed that advice for three or four years, and it made a difference in my creativity.

What you write about doesn't matter, it really doesn't. My morning pages rambled on everything from what to cook for dinner today to being mad at my boss to "oh no what am I going to write about for work" (...in which case I discovered that I regularly explained to myself exactly how I'd solve that problem). If I really had nothing to write about I'd write, "I have no idea why I am writing this when I have absolutely nothing to write about." Except that was boring, and I found something to write about ("Let's describe the tree outside the window, because what the hell").

Once you realize that you don't have to write "about" something, that you can just write -- particularly if nobody is reading this -- it's rather freeing. It takes the "oh it must be meaningful and important!" out of your creativity. Which, naturally, makes it a lot easier to be creative.

u/CloudDrone · 1 pointr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

Yeah, man. Look, I hope you didn't think I was being too harsh. I tried to make constructive criticism.

I will say this: I really appreciate hearing when artists try things that are different and out of the ordinary. Its necessary, and I will always support artists who try things differently more than artists who tread the same tired waters in a more polished way.

Yes, you could use some practice in the application of your ideas. But I hope this will be a fire under your ass a little to focus in on taking the little elements that you like about what you do, and find a way to do them better. That's where the true magic happens as an artist.

I'm reading a book right now called "So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love" by Cal Newport.

The main idea of the book is breaking down the idea of being motivated to do what you do based on passion, and how that's an idea that can be dangerous. He says we can think about our work in two ways. There is the passion mindset, and the craftsman mindset.

  • In the passion mindset, our focus is on what value our work will bring us.

  • In the craftsman mindset, our focus is on what value we can bring to our work.

    The passion mindset leads us to find more heartbreak and creative blocks in our workflow because of our expectations for the kind of feelings and value we perceive our work to be adding to our life.

    The craftsman mindset however, is much more fulfilling, realistic, and helpful in the long run. Our minds become not consumed with the grandiose ideas of how amazing our work is, and instead are focused on how we can improve them. This ultimately leads to a point where our work is undoubtedly much more full of value, because of all the energy we put into giving our work value. We can't help but feel the value in our work. We don't have to rely on vague abstractions of passion and trying to stay optimistic with our work, because we know exactly how much work we put into it.

    I have found this to be especially true, and there are a lot of other theories and things I've found along the way that support it too.

    The book mentions Ira Glass's Famous quote on advice for beginners. The idea that we've got to just keep working and learning and improving and not focus on how good our work is. Here's a really nicely animated version of the short speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1oZhEIrer4

    Then there's the famous 10,000 hour idea from Malcom Gladwell's book Outliers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_%28book%29) The idea that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a master. I always take that with a grain of salt, but there is something to it. I generally take it though that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberately working on getting better to become a true master. 10,000 hours of casual playing will make you a master at casual playing. Like Kenny G. (who I still consider a master, by the way. He's the best at what he does, even if what he does is fucking simple)

    Another of my favorites is the story from the book "Art & Fear" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961454733/lifeclever-20?tag=lifeclever-20) about the pottery teacher who turned one semester class into an experiment. He split the class into two halves. One half were told they would be graded on only one pot that they could spend all semester working on, and the other class were told they would be graded on the amount of pots they created. The long story short is that the side of the class who took all semester working on one pot had inferior pots than the side of the class who wasn't graded on the quality of work, but by the quantity they produced. The side who made a lot of pots gave themselves so many opportunities to learn from their mistakes simply because they gave themselves the freedom to make them. Once you do something so many times, little changes each time mean you find a better method. There is only so much you can do to improve when the approach hasn't been practiced, and all the fundamental skills haven't been repeated over and over.

    Something that can help us to keep in this mindset is from one of my favorite books "The Artists Way" by Julia Cameron (http://www.amazon.com/The-Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421464) She suggests a practice to help artists work through creative blocks by a process of freewriting with a pen and paper, a practice she recommends for every kind of artist. She suggest starting every single day out with writing 3 pages of longhand writing without stopping. The only rule is to not stop. You write and write, even if you have to repeat stupid things over and over because you can't think of anything else. You come up with ways to keep yourself from stopping by writing about your day, or your grocery list, or saying "this is stupid" over and over. Anything to keep you from stopping. It gets the juices out and you keep going and going, and going. You practice getting over the fear of making the mistakes. You are practicing your art. Free expression where there are no mistakes. You practice coming up with ways to keep going. Then when you are done with the three pages, you close up the notebook and you don't read over it. You are done with the pages and you move on with your day. There is no reason to look over what you wrote since you are not critiquing what you wrote. The process is about getting over creative blocks and creatively acting without hesitation. I've found this practice to be invaluable.

    Some advice that started to help me was to not spend too much time on each of my songs deliberating over details, until I was good enough where it was hurting the final product to not dive in deeper. I also don't listen to my tracks over after finishing. Instead, when I finish a song, or make a recording. I listen to it and set it aside and begin working on something else. After at least a day, or sometimes more, I listen to it with a notepad and take notes as objectively as I can, and try to find ways in which I would have improved on the song. Things I could have done better or approached differently. If its a couple of small things, I might fix them right there, but if its a bunch of bigger things, I just appreciate that I learned a lot from that song and try to incorporate what I learned into a new song to practice it.

    All of these all point toward the same thing, and I hope you find some of the advice useful if you try it out. I'm not telling you this because I think your music sucks, but because I think you have what it takes because of how you are trying things outside of the ordinary.

    My ideas to all artists: Abandon thoughts of your work being brilliant. Focus on keeping moving. Let yourself make terrible music. Learn from your mistakes without getting down on yourself. One finished song that you had to think creatively to get to work even though it sucked, is a better use of your time than 20 unfinished alright ideas sitting as loops. If you do like making lots of loops, export them as audio loops and churn them out like an assembly line. Don't deliberate on every move when your time would be better spend actively working through a block. In art, mistakes is where magic happens. Hone in on your mistakes and see if you can let them dictate the direction of where your song goes. Focus on improving your skills instead of feeling good about being an artist.

    I hope this wasn't just a bunch of gibberish. Let me know what you think about this kind of stuff if you're interested. I'm always down to talk about it when I can't be making music.
u/famousgoddess · 1 pointr/whattoreadwhen

The Artists' Way by Julia Cameron. A spiritual approach of being an artist.

u/duppyconquerer · 1 pointr/stopdrinking

I was a writer while I was drinking, and drinking was an important part of my "writing process" (ie, drink enough to quiet the angry critic voices, and then write as much as possible before becoming too sloshed to make sense). I actually took a long break from writing when I got sober, because I knew I needed to be nice to myself and I didn't know how to do that while writing.

Eventually I was ready to try again, and I found the Artist's Way helpful. It's kind of fruity, but it does help you to figure out a healthy creative process for yourself. The author is sober, so she knows where we're coming from.

Are you doing NaNoWriMo? I'm underemployed right now and really have no excuse not to...

u/mfinkgallery · 1 pointr/painting

I highly recommend reading/re-reading "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron - it's full of tips on how to find/broaden your path as an artist. By the way- one of the great things about creating art of course is that it's a discovery process...there are no "rules."



u/tianas_knife · 1 pointr/getdisciplined

The Artist's Way did good for me. Specifically the Morning Pages.
Basically, the free-writing got me to the point where I was quite secure in my ability to bullshit on page, giving me confidence in essays. Plus it helped me puke out ideas and thoughts that contributed to my essay writing.

u/bgirlapostle · 1 pointr/writing
u/absoluke_pitch · 1 pointr/singing

I think you're refusing to make the creative leap necessary to create music. It will be bad at first, but writing lots of bad melodies is a necessary stage. It's not something you find, but something you create. Here's a video and a book that may help you. https://youtu.be/RDyg_41QF1w
https://www.amazon.com/Artists-Way-Spiritual-Higher-Creativity/dp/1585421464#customerReviews

u/Hazcat3 · 1 pointr/tipofmytongue

Published much earlier but might have been republished in 2012: The Artists' Way by Julia Cameron

u/Mind0fWinter · 1 pointr/infp

I have the exact same problem in my life. I grew up thinking I'd one day be able to take hold of all those cool movie-ideas I had and make them real. Still hasn't happened, and it aches deep down. Sometime I feel like I'm not even a failure because I never really tried. I feel like if only I'd let myself try, I might be amazing at something and discover my real passion. That's all I really want in life...to find my passion. I discovered this program at Barnes and Noble and I'm on Week 1 right now. There's this tool in there called the "morning pages" that seriously does seem to work. It's been hyped quite a bit, so I decided to try it and settle its claims to praise: The Artist's Way: A course in recovering and discovering your creative self

u/CatChowGirl · 1 pointr/getdisciplined

You should read the Artist's Way, it's about exactly what you're feeling!

The author has helped dozens of people gradually rebuild their creative spirit from being crushed (due to parents, work, failure) through guided daily journaling, exercises, steps, and explanations about all the barriers that will get in one's way.

The book definitely has flaws and is not the only book you need to be actionable in creating something, but I think it's a good one for building and strengthening your creative foundation.

Best of luck!

u/darknessvisible · 1 pointr/books
u/nastylittleman · 1 pointr/NoStupidQuestions

A lot of people swear by The Artist's Way.

u/baes90 · 1 pointr/gamegrumps

If I had to hazard a guess on Dan's book since the way of the artist isn't a thing, I would figure it was this book.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393722724&sr=8-1&keywords=the+artists+way

u/jkersey · 1 pointr/LifeProTips

I would recommend working through The Artist's Way. It has some "self help" kind of stuff, but most of it is about rekindling and embracing artistic creativity.

u/Selavy · 1 pointr/INTP

I totally agree with you! I also think that creating something is one of the most beautiful things in the world...
but live/society have its ways and so most of us do not believe or follow through with these creative thoughts (even though deep within we know this is what we want to do...)
I am/was in the same situation as you are.
BUT
and that is the good thing, there are ways to change this situation.
One book was already mentioned here and I want to recommend another one to you.
It is called 'The Artist's Way'
(http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Way-Spiritual-Creativity-Anniversary/dp/1585421464)
It is a 12 week 'course' in order to get back on track.
It caught my attention when another one typed as INTP mentioned it in an interview, who is actually successful in the music industry.
I only completed a third of the book by now, but the changes are already immense.

So I can really recommend it to every struggling artist!

as an addition:
have you ever listened to the speech of john cleese about creativity?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9rtmxJrKwc
this one is very good as a starter and taught me a lot about the creative process.


u/lifeisfractal · 1 pointr/AskWomen

I:

  • Went to therapy
  • Finished the Artist's Way
  • Moved into a better apartment
  • Found a better job
  • Hung out with all of my wonderful friends
  • Spent time doing fun stuff that makes me feel good

    I know it's a cliche, but when my life is jam-packed with wonderful and important people and things to do, I'm much less likely to make room for a guy who's anything less than wonderful. I also have so many things in my life that make me feel good about being alive that I don't feel the need to latch onto any warm body for validation. It's hard to make HUGE changes in the way you relate to men immediately, but it's something that can definitely be done bit-by-bit over time. The most important step in the process, IMO, is learning to feel complete without attention from men.
u/akamerer · 1 pointr/selfimprovement

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron is one of my favorites.

u/fractalfrenzy · 1 pointr/gamedev

The ability to realistically render an image with paper and pencil does not make one an artist. Being an artist is about tapping into your creativity and giving in whatever form it may take. May I recommend two things:

Procesing a programming language for creating art! Allow my to plug my own portfolio for some examples.

And this book The Artist's Way which is a workbook for tapping into your own creativity and to stop censoring yourself!

Your photography is your art! Whatever medium comes natural to you, practice it everyday and hone it into a talent uniquely yours.