0399174214 (SH) by Julia Cameron

Author:Julia Cameron
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-03-28T10:20:16+00:00

TASK

Name a Believing Mirror

A person who mirrors us back to ourselves as creative, capable, and expansive is one of the best allies in fighting the perfectionist. Who in your life is a believing mirror? Who in your life would say it is more important to try than to be perfect? Is there more than one person? Allow yourself to enlist a believing mirror’s support in your endeavor.

Asking for Help

You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

—ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

Many of us were highly accomplished in our careers. We made partner in our law firms; we made CEO in our corporations; we were granted tenure by our universities. In retirement, these stamps of approval can actually become a trap. They prevent us from moving into new territory because they tell us we are too accomplished to ask for help—even if we do need help. In this way, the accolades we have achieved in our careers can sometimes become blocks to further accomplishment. It is for this reason that the spiritual tool kit I prescribe is purposefully uncomplicated. The tools, deceptively simple, spur us in new directions, and they suggest what we need help with—and the steps we can take to reach out for that help.

Most blocked creatives have an active addiction to anxiety. They play the game of “What if . . .” “What if I commit creativity and it is ill-received?” Note that this thinking indulges only in negative fantasy. It does not fantasize, “What if I commit creativity and it is well-received?”

“I’ll look like a fool,” the beginning artist fears. Ashamed before they begin, blocked creatives do not realize that the dream they are trying to turn away from will continue to haunt them.

Many of us harbor a youthful dream that we bury and tell ourselves we have outgrown. But we do not really outgrow our dreams, and when we work with Morning Pages, we often find our dreams come rushing back. The good news is that with our dreams also often comes the power to accomplish them.

Sometimes our dreams seem so far out of reach that we discount them before we begin. But if we are willing to look for supportive mentors and are able to recognize them when we meet them, we will move ahead. We just have to find the courage to speak up and ask for help.

“It doesn’t matter how we speak up,” my friend Jean says, “it just matters that we do it. We might be scared to ask for help, but we just have to get the words out somehow. It doesn’t matter how. It certainly doesn’t have to be perfect.”

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice.

—WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN

The more passionate we are about our dream, the more pressure we may put on it. My friend Damien, a retired architect, has long had a dream of being a filmmaker, but it seems out of reach, even precious to him. Because he has put the idea on such

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