Julia Cameron - The Artist's Way (1992)

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There is no such thing as being done with an artistic life. Frustrations and rewards exist at all levels on the path.

Julia Cameron
Creativity occurs in the moment, and in the moment we are timeless.

Julia Cameron
But do you know how old I will be by the time I learn to really play the piano / act / paint / write a decent play?" Yes... the same age you will be if you don't.

Julia Cameron
When we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to God: good, orderly direction.

Julia Cameron
In a sense, as we are creative beings, our lives become our work of art.

Julia Cameron
As we lose our vagueness about ourself, our values, our life situation, we become available to the moment. It is there, in the particular, that we contact the creative self. Art lies in the moment of encounter: we meet our truth and we meet ourselves; we meet ourselves and we meet our self-expression.

Julia Cameron
Creativity requires faith. Faith requires that we relinquish control.

Julia Cameron
No matter what your age or your life path, whether making art is your career or your hobby or your dream, it is not too late or too egotistical or too selfish or too silly to work on your creativity.

Julia Cameron
Stop telling yourself that dreams don't matter, that they are only dreams and that you should be more sensible.

Julia Cameron
Perfectionism has nothing to do with getting it right. It has nothing to do with fixing things. It has nothing to do with standards. Perfectionism is a refusal to let yourself move forward. It is a loop-an obsessive, debilitating closed system that causes you to get stuck in the details of what you are writing or painting or making and to lose sight of the whole.

Julia Cameron
Progress, not perfection, is what we should be asking of ourselves.

Julia Cameron
Never ask whether you can do something. Say instead that you are going to do it, then fasten your seat belt.

Julia Cameron
If you think of the universe as a vast electrical sea in which you are immersed and from which you are formed, opening to your creativity changes you from something bobbing in that sea to a more fully functioning, more conscious, more cooperative part of that ecosystem.

Julia Cameron
What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us.

Julia Cameron
Setting skepticism aside, even briefly, can make for very interesting explorations. It is not necessary that we change any of our beliefs. It is necessary that we examine them.

Julia Cameron
I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.

Julia Cameron
In dance, in composition, in sculpture, the experience is the same: we are more the conduit than the creator of what we express.

Julia Cameron
Creativity flourishes when we have a sense of safety and self-acceptance.

Julia Cameron
All too often, it is audacity and not talent that moves an artist to center stage.

Julia Cameron
We have this idea that we need to be in the mood to write. We don't.

Julia Cameron
The need to be a great artist makes it hard to be an artist. The need to produce a great work of art makes it hard to produce any art at all.

Julia Cameron
As artists, we must learn to be self-nourishing. We must become alert enough to consciously replenish our creative resources as we draw on them.

Julia Cameron
In order to create, we draw from our inner well. This inner well, an artistic reservoir, is ideally like a well stocked fish pond... If we don't give some attention to upkeep, our well is apt to become depleted, stagnant, or blocked... As artists, we must learn to be self nourishing. We must become alert enough to consciously replenish our creative resources as we draw on them - to re-stock the trout pond, so to speak.

Julia Cameron
Enthusiasm is not an emotional state. It is a spiritual commitment, a loving surrender to our creative process. Enthusiasm - from the Greek, filled with God - is an ongoing energy supply tapped into the flow of life itself.

Julia Cameron
Anger is meant to be acted on. It is not meant to be acted out. Anger points the direction. We are meant to use anger as fuel to take the actions we need to move where our anger points us. With a little thought, we can usually translate the message that our anger is sending us.

Julia Cameron