The key difference in my life after The Artist’s Way was that I had to buy a pocket calendar that I carry with me everywhere.  This small change has made my life infinitely better and has made me feel happier.  I can’t imagine my life without this small tool.

Why? Because I have to schedule my life around what I want to do.  I do not keep track of anything in this calendar except my leisure activities.  Work, responsibilities, requirements, chores, and anything else of the sort are not makred in my calendar.  Every weekend (or Monday if I’m lazy) I go online and decide what activities I will try to do in the upcoming week.

Marking something in my calendar doesn’t mean I’ll definitely do that activity.  I’m perfectly fine with crossing out an activity when the flow of life leads me to some other choice.  The bottom line is that my activities have become so important to me and I have so many, that I would not be able to keep track of them without the calendar.  No activity is too small or too unimportant to mark.  Yes, my calendar contains a list of terrible reality tv shows on MTV or VH1 that I hope to watch.  Since getting this calendar I have never fallen back on the excuses that I’m too busy or too poor to do what I really want to do.  Instead, I just go out and do it.

When I pick a jury for a trial, the judge always asks each potential juror what his or her hobbies are.  More often than not people say that they don’t have hobby or that their hobbies are work, their children, gambling, drinking alcohol, or fishing.  I’m not sure why everyone says fishing.  I think they’re just sheep in a herd who follow the leader.  Anyway, these answers make me really sad.  I always think that if I were called to jury duty, I’d have some good answers to that question.  I highly recommend a pocket calendar to everyone, if for no other reason than to be more interesting at jury duty. 

Just as an example, here’s my calendar for this week:

Monday:
18:00 Nap
22:00 Ms. Rap Supreme on Vh1
23:00 The Hills on MTV
23:30 The Paper on MTV

Tuesday:
18:00 Go to the Library
19:00 Work on My Altered Book
20:00 Write My Novel
21:00 Go to the Gym

Wednesday:
19:15 Buddhist Wishfulfilling Jewel Puja
22:00 South Park on Comedy Central

Thursday:
19:30 Introductory Buddhist Meditation Class
22:00 Write My Novel

Friday:
17:30 Buddhist Heart Jewel Puja
19:30 Violin Concert
22:00 Go to a Club?

Saturday:
15:30 Create Artist Trading Cards
19:30 Buddhist Red Tara Practice
22:00 Fetish Party

Sunday:
10:00 Buddhist Meditation and Prayers
12:00 Go to the Beach
16:00 Nap
19:00 Work on My Altered Book
20:00 Write My Novel
21:00 Gym
22:00 Viva Hollywood on Vh1

By “quitting”, I don’t mean giving up on the theories or practice of the Artist Dates.  I mean that I am not going to continue working through each chapter and doing the morning pages. 

I think this is a GREAT book.  I have already recommended it to several people because this book really changed the way I see myself and changed what I’m doing with my life.  I had a constant negative monologue playing in my head that I never heard until I started doing the morning pages, and I rarely did anything that I enjoy until I started going on Artist Dates.

However, I’ve gotten bogged down in the details of the book and the exercises.  Now, it’s like there’s a section of my brain devoted to The Artist’s Way of thinking.  I no longer need the book to help me do it.  I even had to get a tiny calendar for my purse because I realized I needed to schedule my life around the activities I enjoy, rather than telling myself I’m “too busy” to enjoy life.

My therapist talked about when people “proficiency” college classes, meaning they take a test and get credit for the class without ever having taken the class.  I did this in college in the form of CLEP tests, which enabled me to graduate from college in two and a half years while saving thousands of dollars.  My therapist suggested perhaps I have reached a level of proficiency with The Artist’s Way.  It’s hard for me to believe that, but I’m going to go with it and see where it takes me.

I still recommend this book to everyone.  The Artist’s Way completely changed my life for the better.  I find that I am overall happier because of the things that I have learned from the book.  I told my therapist that I wished she had been more forceful in suggesting the book to me because I realized that I could have been a lot happier, a lot earlier, had I started this book when she first suggested it to me.

You’re supposed to go on dates with your inner child/artist called Artist Dates as part of The Artist’s Way.  This basically involves setting time aside for yourself to do something you want to.  For my first Artist’s Date, I decided to watch the film Drawing Restraint 9.  It is directed by and stars Matthew Barney, who I think is a genius.  Björk did the music and also co-stars.  The film is all about bizarre scenes on a Japanese whaling ship.  There is a lot of Shinto symbolism, and little dialogue.  The music and imagery was awesome, and I loved the interactions between the characters.  I loved this film, even though the reviews online said the work was extremely pretentious and was like a music video, only less interesting and slower.  I don’t care.  I loved it.  It’s been a few years since I’ve watched a movie alone, so this was a good experience.  I shut the blinds, and curled up on the couch alone in my bathrobe, and relaxed.  It was kind of long though (around two hours).

As far as an Artist Date goes, this was a good one, although I think maybe in the future I’ll do something that’s more date-like.  This didn’t feel like so much of a “date” because it didn’t involve going out.  Also, I’d like to do something that is not isolated from other people.  One of the cardinal rules of Artist Dates is that you must do the activity alone, and I plan to uphold that rule.  Nevertheless, I think it would be good to go alone to a place where there are people, such as a museum, bookstore, theater, festival, etc.  Perhaps next time I will choose an activity like one of those.  Author Julia Cameron is right in The Artist’s Way when she says we will try to find ways to get out of the Artist Dates.  I totally began having cold feet about my Artist Date this morning, but I’m glad I forced myself to go through with it.  Here’s to hoping next week is easier.

Today I started reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.  It was a book recommended to me by my therapist to help me with my creative endeavors.  The book supposedly helps you find and unblock your natural creativity.  So far I’ve skimmed into Chapter 2, and I’m impressed.  As I was reading along my own negativity popped up, but the book addressed all the issues as the arose.

Tomorrow will be my first day of morning pages, and later this month I am scheduled to meet with a group of people who are also reading and completing The Artist’s Way.  I really think this book will help me find my creative side and help me to improve my motivation and quiet that little voice in my head that says I can’t.

Now I just need to plan my Artist’s Dates, but I’m feeling a little lost about that.  I hate to admit it, but I think I might have to Google for ideas on this one.