Artist's Way Journal - Week Three, Day One, and End of Week Two--Check In

Okay, I managed to write on my blog seven days in a row.  I wrote in my leather journal six days, missing one in the middle of the week.  The experience was a good one for me, because it got me back to a "mandatory" daily journal-write.  I'd been getting pretty lax with it--very sloppy.  I was good about daily journaling before, and this came about because of Lent.  Instead of cutting something out, I took something extra on.  (Well, okay, I did try to cut out most sweets, and that worked pretty well, tho I cheated on my birthday, which always falls during Lent.)  

Admittedly these morning pages serve well to unblock by the very act of having to write.  I think it feels good to type.  I had some repetitive stress issues with my hands due to over-use during my several years with a knitting business.  But I still hand-write, and am doing so most every night since starting Artist's Way.  None of the writing felt stupid--I have done this for long enough to realise this all comes to some good.  And much of the writing had to do with questions in the book, so I did my best to answer as many as I felt I could.  

I didn't encounter any real surprises in the writing.  Just felt good that I was writing more often again.  There is something about filling up pages that is satisfying to me.  I'm hoping to fill the entire little leather journal by the time the 12 weeks are up.  

My Artist Date, as I said before, was a combined effort:  taking DS to the Lego event, and taking time out by myself to take photos and enjoy the creations of others, all the while eager to see how my own photos turned out.  And, yesterday I went to church, which was good, as I miss going more often than I used to.  The stand-in vicar is a lovely man--tall with big framed glasses and short grey hair, and a Southern accent.  He has Parkinson's, and had a procedure done to alleviate the shaking, and it has worked well.  As it was what Grace Episcopal Church calls First Sunday, the kids went up to sit around the vicar while he told the homily.  And this guy is a great story teller.  This time it was about St. Francis of Assisi, and he told it well.  After church people collected outside to have their pets blessed, which is always fun to see.  Especially to see this tall Southern man hold a little hamster in his hands as he blessed it.  Not to mention the proud look on the face of the little girl who brought the hamster.  There were lots of dogs, a couple of cats, and no guppies.   

Anyway, I went to Grace by myself, and in a way it was an Artist's Date for me.  Very reviving, and this is one of the points made in #7 regarding making a Life Pie, each piece representing sic different parts of your life:  Spirituality, exercise, play, work, friends, and romance/adventure, with the purpose of seeing where you are lopsided in your pie.  So yesterday was a spiritual recharge.  

(Another recharge is seeing Obama leading the polls, at least for the time being--but I won't go there.)

So, my so-called Artist Dates felt good, both of them.  This week I need to take a more "official" one.  Wonder what I'll do?

I don't know that there were any significant issues that arose this week.  Nothing out of the ordinary, at least.  I feel pulled by the usual issues--the kids and school, and the anxiety relating to that, the economy, the direction the markets are taking, disbelief re. Palin's presence at the debate (but, again, I won't go there), my worry about DS and his symptoms of dry mouth and what that might mean, my DD and her unhappiness at not really having made friends yet at school, and so on.  I'm still a little cluttered to have dug deep enough at this point.  

So now I head into Week Three--Recovering a Sense of Power.  And I see that the first sug-heading is "Anger."  Am I ready to head into that direction?  I really don't know, but I do know that head into it I will.  

Deep breath.  Find that place of release, that point of having achieved a full breath.  Tomorrow, Pilates.  A new sessions for my class, and maybe some new people to teach.  That in itself is an adventure.

--R