One Hundred Day Creative Challenge: Day 28 Recovering a Sense of Possibility
LESSON FOUR: REPLACE ‘NO WAY!’ WITH ‘MAYBE.’
Julia Cameron calls finding our creative voice and following its guidance, ‘Finding the River’ in her book The Artist’s Way.
When we begin to recover our sense of possibility we find ourselves saying, “You could still do this or it might be fun to do that …’
It can still be scary process. We have begun to hope, and we have feared that hope.
Cameron says, we acquire a sense of movement, a current of change in our lives. This current, or river, is a flow of grace moving us to our right livelihood, companions, destiny.
We startle ourselves by saying yes instead of no to opportunities.
As we begin to pry ourselves loose from our old self-concepts, we find that our new emerging self may enjoy all sorts of bizarre adventures.
This newly positive attitude is the beginning of trust.
We need to shake a few trees to make things happen. This is ‘doing the footwork’, but it seldom pays off in a linear fashion. It seems to work more like we shake the apple tree and the universe delivers oranges.
Cameron tells us that she has seen many recovering creatives do all the footwork, become internally clear and focused about dreams and delights, take a few steps in the direction of the dream—only to have the universe fling open an unsuspected door. Learning to accept this generosity is one of the central tasks of creative recovery.
Nitty Gritty:
This is what faith is. I’ve had a few unsuspected doors open and close this year. I’ve been surprised, disappointed, excited and had a few bizarre adventures, and have seen some glimpses of possibilities for 2016. I’ve taken a few baby steps towards creative recovery.
Today I got a blessing out of the blue from a friend who offered me the gift of a place to hold a retreat in a beautiful part of our country. This was a blessing I never expected. I took a peek through a creative door last week and it’s amazing how friends and contacts, without me asking or seeking them out, were prompted to flow in their own spirituality and help me open the doors wider.
This is how we recover our sense of possibility. We turn our ‘No ways!’ into ‘Maybes’. We go with the flow and begin to hope despite the fear. I’m trusting that God has spoken to me and I’m finding the me I’m supposed to be. Are you?
Often people attempt to live their lives backwards, they try to have more things or more money in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are then do what you need to do in order to have what you want. Margaret Young
