Oh, Fall is most certainly in the air. I hope my tomatoes survive the cooler nights. I’m hoping they vine ripen, but ….who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Hopefully it brings things like regular morning pages (just finally got mine done), artist’s dates, and inspirational reading. Are you doing yours? What has been your experience?
We have moved on to Week Six in The Artist’s Way. RECOVERING A SENSE OF ABUNDANCE
This week you tackle a major creative block — money. You are asked to really look at your own ideas around {insert your spiritual belief system here}, money, and creative abundance. The essays will explore ways in which your attitudes limit abundance and luxury in your current life. You will be introduced to counting, a block-busting tool for clarity and right use of funds. This week may feel volatile.
I agree when I’ve gone through this in the past (yes, yes, it’s good to review it), this week has been the hardest for me. That just tells me its the most necessary.
If you do have a copy of The Artist’s Way, please read pages 105 to 112. It will most certainly count as your inspirational reading.
Cameron posted this little poem in the midst of those pages that seems to get at the heart of this part of recovering a sense of abundance.
God likes art
That’s the part
My parents would ignore.
God likes art,
And I make art.
That’s what God likes me for!
Now it’s time for an exercise in counting.
For the next week you will be discovering how you spend your money. Buy a small pocket notepad and write down every nickle you spend. It doesn’t matter what it is for, how tiny the purchase, how petty the amount. Petty cash is still cash.
Each day, date a page and count — what you bought, what you spent, where your money went, whether it was for groceries, lunch in a diner, a cab ride, subway or bus fares, or a loan to your brother. Be meticulous. Be thorough. And be nonjudgmental. This is an exercise in self observation — not self-flagellation.
You may want to continue this practice for a full month or longer. It will teach you what you value in terms of your spending. Often our spending differs from our real values. We fritter away cash on things we don’t’ cherish and deny ourselves those things we do. For many of us, counting is a necessary prelude to learning creative luxury.
Money Madness, an Exercise
Complete the following phrases.
1. People with money are
2. Money makes people
3. I’d have more money if
4. My dad thought money was
5. My mom always thought money would
6. In my family, money caused
7. Money equals
8. If I had money, I’d
9. If I could afford it, I’d
10. If I had some money, I’d
11. I’m afraid that if I had money I would
12. Money is
13. Money causes
14. Having money is not
15. In order to have more money, I’d need to
16. When I have money, I usually
17. I think money
18. If I weren’t so cheap I’d
19. People think money
20. Being broke tells me
**********
And now your moment of Writing Zen:
“True life is lived when tiny changes occur”. ~Leo Tolstoy.
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What did you Write today?
~Casz
Casondra Brewster
Moderator/Founder
Sno Valley Writes!
Helping Writers Reach New Literary Peaks Since 2008
http://www.snovalleywrites.org
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“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~ Lord Byron