Julia Cameron Live

Prosperity is Free

Julia Cameron — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:37:49 +0000

Setting aside your skepticism for a moment, make a list of ten actions you could take, right now, that you suspect might make you feel more prosperous– and that cost nothing.

Example:

1. Taking a walk in nature

2. Going for a run and taking a long, hot shower afterward

3. Cooking soup using leftovers I have in the house

4. Cleaning– really cleaning– the bathroom, and lighting the candle that I’ve always “saved” for special occasions

5. Calling my friend Laura in Chicago

Etc.

There are many actions we can take every day that will give us a sense of true prosperity. Choose one action from your list and notice how you feel after you have done it.

Begin Where You Are

Julia Cameron — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:24:43 +0000

The first step toward accomplishing any creative goal is always doable, and often simple. We assume that to make a movie we need to move to L.A., get an agent, attach a star, raise millions of dollars. But when we approach it this way, we are unlikely to begin at all. Each step seems impossible. We like living in Milwaukee. We don’t want to leave our family and friend and go to L.A. where we don’t know anyone. We don’t know any agents, we don’t have access to millions of dollars, and we don’t have Meryl Streep’s number. So we can’t begin then, can we?

Of course we can. The first step is not dramatic. It is not out of our reach. If we have never made a movie, we can start by watching movies in the genre we are attracted to. We can take a filmmaking class at the local college. We can read books on the process. We can search out people in our community who have made movies before or who know someone who has. We can ask for advice. And a screenplay is written a page at a time, a word at a time, wherever we are.

A screenplay can be written on our porch in Milwaukee just as easily as–and possibly more easily than– on a beach in L.A.

What could you begin, today, right where you are?

Affirmative Prayer

Julia Cameron — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:40:33 +0000

A prayer of gratitude is a prayer of celebration. We count our blessings. Rather than pray in entreaty, “Guide me and guard me,” we pray with conviction, “I am guided and guarded.” We do not need to beg for our good; we need only notice it, accept it and affirm it. We might pray, “Thank you for my serenity,” rather than “Please grant me serenity.” Affirmative prayers assume our requests are already fulfilled. Affirmative prayers assume our right to a divine dowry. We stake our claim as the beloved child of the universe. Of course God will gift us with, “Yes.”

It takes practice to gain ease and comfort with affirmative prayers. For many of us, affirmative prayer is a radical act, presuming as it does that we are on good footing with God.

We are.

Positivity vs Negativity

Julia Cameron — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:01:09 +0000

Listing the many ways that God has helped us to prosper leads to an ongoing belief in prosperity. Focusing on the positive, we come to expect further positives. Conversely, if we focus on the negative, we will find ourselves anticipating negativity. The choice is up to us which way we want to view our reality. Our glass can be seen as half full or half empty. If we choose optimism and see our glass as half full, we will very soon see it brimming over with goodness.

Receptivity

Julia Cameron — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:08:12 +0000

We think we must “be inspired” to create art and that this inspiration must have an emotional force to it. That is not my experience. I have done some of my best work from what was essentially a neutral position, not unlike a court stenographer. When I was striving to “get something down” rather than to “think something up,” I seemed to be on to something. I think this is where the notion of service can enter. We can make art in the service of something, and that spirit of service gives us a workable humility that allows us to hear our cues.

There is a listening receptivity that allows us to make art as a non-premeditated response. Another way to put it might be to say that art is less about throwing a ball than it is about catching the ball. Life tosses us the ball. We catch it and toss it back. We are receptive and responsive. We are in the moment– but it’s all pretty casual.

The “Magic Teacher”

Julia Cameron — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:14:34 +0000

I’d like to say a word or two about having a “magic teacher.” For the most part, I think such figures are fantasy, a little like having a personal Obi-Wan Kenobi. On the other hand, humans do what they can for each other. Most of us can cite a teacher who made a difference. It’s easy to believe that teacher was some kind of creative fairy godmother or Merlin figure, but the “magic” actually lies within you. You are the one who learns regular work hours. You are the one who taps into the creative flow or does not. The most brilliant screenwriting teacher cannot write your screenplay for you. Your painting instructor doesn’t dip your brush into the paint. At best, a fine teacher is the floor sample for their own tool kit. They not only know how to use a creative hoe, they do use it.

Have you had a “magic teacher”? What did they unlock that was already within you?

Unlimited Supply

Julia Cameron — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:28:13 +0000

The power of the word is real, whether or not you are conscious of it. Your own words are the bricks and mortar of the dreams you want to realize. Behind every word flows energy. -Sonia Choquette

The Universe responds to my dreams and needs. There is a unity flowing through all things. This unity is responsive to our needs. Unity responds and reacts to our positive spoken word. We are co-creative beings, working with and within a larger whole. We embrace and contain this source, which embraces and contains us. Drawing upon this inner source, we have an unlimited supply.

By Teaching I Learn

Julia Cameron — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:05:00 +0000

I first learned that I should teach as I was out on a walk. It was 1980 or 1981. I was praying for a sense of direction and I heard, “teach.” I was shocked. I wanted a creative idea, and teaching seemed punitive to me. I called a girlfriend up, distraught.

“I’m praying for my next creative action,” I told her, “and I keep getting told to teach.”

“I’ll call you right back,” my girlfriend said. And, fifteen minutes later, my phone rang.

“Congratulations,” said my friend. “You’re now on the faculty of the New York Feminist Art Institute. Your first class convenes Thursday.”

And so, that Thursday, I met with a room full of blocked artists. Over twelve weeks time, I taught them what I knew about unblocking. Sure enough, they tried the tools and they became unblocked. This was truly exciting to me. I agreed to teach the class again.

I could never have known that what was being birthed would ten years later be published as The Artist’s Way.

Also amazing to me was the impact that teaching had on my own work. I discovered that as I taught unblocking, I myself became further and further unblocked. Rather than undoing my work, as mythology might tell us, teaching helped me to work more freely.

This has continued to be true for all the years, all the classes, and all the books that have transpired since.

No matter how many times I teach the tools, I always find it exciting. Every class is unique, yet they all respond to the basic Artist’s Way toolkit.

It’s thrilling to me that I have been invited to teach in Holland next month. It’s like planting a garden–I know that my students will blossom.

http://www.blizevents.com/nl/reserveren/event/75/Julia-Cameron-workshop2012

Cherishing

Julia Cameron — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:15:01 +0000

All who would win must share it. Happiness was born a twin. -Lord Byron

Sometimes we are less a person than a place for those we love. Our hearts are the hearts sought by the lonely.

I offer those I love the steadiness of my companionship when times grow difficult and dark. Recognizing that my familiar presence offers comfort and dignity to those I cherish, I stand my ground, rooted in the love between us. As my beloveds undergo difficult passages, I walk beside them. I offer compassion, humor, honor for their strength. I am a loving witness. I am steadfast, loyal and strong for those I love.

Today I celebrate my role as a companion to those I love. I offer witness and good cheer. I light the steady lamp of compassionate attention. My heart is a lantern guide for those I love.

Joy

Julia Cameron — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:22:28 +0000

We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment– the only moment there is for us to be alive. Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity. We need only to be awake; alive in the present moment. -Thich Nhat Hanh

I welcome joy as my spiritual companion.

I invite joy to bless my life. I welcome joy to my heart. Asceticism, hardship, grandiosity– these are enemies, not the handmaidens of spiritual growth. Gentleness, opening attention– these are the gardening tools which best encourage growth. In every moment I can choose between will and willingness, between determination and fructification. As I allow myself to be rendered gently fruitful, I become fluid from moment to moment. The harshness of my experience slips away. Spirituality requires vulnerability and openness. As I still myself rather than steel myself, I hear evermore clearly the quiet promptings of inner growth. As I follow the lead which joy sets in my life, I am gently, safely and surely led.