Welcome to Chapter Five of The Artist's Way
And how did you get on with Chapter Four?
Oh my goodness these last couple of weeks have been full of a rotten cold, a chesty cough and finally, the best bit, headaches that are currently delivering shooting pains into my skull. So painful. Just bad luck that I caught a bug? Or, could it be that Iām suffering due to kriya?
In The Artistās Way Julia talks about kriya as, āa Sanskrit word meaning a spiritual emergency or surrender.ā
Julia goes on to say, āWe all know what kriya looks like: it is the bad case of the flu right after youāve broken up with your lover. Itās the rotten head cold and bronchial cough that announces youāve abused your health to meet an unreachable work deadline.ā
This is what happens when youāve learned what you want from your morning pages and ābecome willing to make the changes needed to get itā. Itās when your consciousness has been raised.
But you may also have a tantrum of sorts. Followed by the aforementioned kriya. Iāve definitely had a tantrum or two. Both within my morning pages and physically as the baking tin received the full extent of my wrath.
It was reassuring to read in Chapter Four that this is all normal. Obviously, me being me, I am still sceptical that this is a direct result of The Artistās Way. I still see it as a coincidence and that it is actually a failure on my part. (I know, Iām rolling my eyes as I type.) I think I just canāt believe something seemingly so simple, like writing the morning pages, can have such powerful results.
I should point out that Julia also says that transformation may not always be so dramatic. It may be that change is happening in more subtle ways. But that change will still be happening. It might seem slow to us, or even non-existent. But:
āTravellers on the Artistās Way are seldom aware of the speed of their growth. This is a form of denial that can tempt us to abort the recovery process that āisnāt happeningā to us. Oh yes it is.ā
All I know is that Iām exhausted from many a broken nightās sleep thanks to coughing, from living on paracetamol and from the rollercoaster of emotions where Iām up one minute and significantly down the next.
Iām managing to write my morning pages every day. Sometimes itās at the end of the day. Most of the time itās been in the morning - but never as soon as I open my eyes. I just cannot do it then. Iāve been on two artist dates. Not on my own. Iāve been on my own for years and recently made an effort to be with friends more. I canāt give that up. So I went to see A Midsummer Nightās Dream last week at the RSC in Stratford. It was incredible. Very modern but with the Shakespearian language.
And then I went to another Candlelight string quartet concert. Of course, the date doesn't have to be as fancy as what Iāve done. Often I simply choose a jigsaw puzzle. But not only did I decide to see more of my friends this year I also wanted to do more cultural activities.
(By the way, these Candlelight Concerts are all over the world if you fancy going to one yourself.)
The one thing I havenāt done this week is the reading deprivation. Have you done it? Gone one week without reading? This includes online reading - something Iād have a real problem with, I know. Iāve already decided I wonāt be able to do it. (Again, Iām rolling my eyes.) Maybe I could try it for a day and build up? Iād really love to hear about your experiences doing the reading deprivation.
For the next two weeks, weāll be looking at Chapter Five: Recovering a Sense of Possibility. āYou will explore how you curtail your own possibilities by placing limits on the good you can receive.ā (That sounds like me!)
How are you getting on with the four chapters weāve done so far? Have any had a bigger impact on you?
Just a reminder that commenting on this post is for paid subscribers only and therefore cannot be seen by the rest of the world (join here for 15% off annual plans or contact me if youād like access but donāt have the means to pay at the moment). But we can also chat in Substack Notes - just be aware that Notes isnāt a private space.
Below the paywall is a video about my journaling notes with some further thoughts from Chapter Four.