Recovering a Sense of Integrity

Let’s explore The Artist’s Way Chapter 4

Hello Creative Friends!

It’s the last week of the month, which means we’re discussing Chapter 4 of the creative recovery guide The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. No worries if you don’t have the book or you don’t consider yourself an artist (spoiler alert: you might be, even if you don’t claim the title!). I’ll simply share a bit of what I learned from this chapter, and hopefully it will help you begin to explore your creativity or rekindle the dormant creativity wanting to awaken inside of you.

I love to putter in my garden. Who knew?! A look back at my journals reveals someone who loves to nurture and grow stuff.

Chapter 4: Recovering a Sense of Integrity

Have you been writing morning pages along with me? What have you discovered in the process?

This chapter focuses on the transforming power of morning pages and how they reveal ourselves to us. Cameron focuses on how morning pages serve to show us who we are, what we feel, love, and value.

The act of writing our first thoughts without a filter or a reader helps us clarify what we really think and believe about ourselves first and then what we think and believe about the world around us. After four weeks of writing morning pages, Cameron expects that many creators will begin to see changes in their interior life, but also in their exterior life as our inner thoughts, feelings, and desires begins to reveal themselves in how we dress, decorate, collect, and create.

“What you have been doing is wiping the mirror. Each day’s morning pages take a swipe at the blur you have kept between you and your real self. As your image becomes clear, it may surprise you.” Julia Cameron

I found this to be true years ago when I first made my way through the book. This time around, I’ve experienced fewer shifts in my identity as it is now and how I express it. However, I discovered that so many memories from my past are shifting as I write and explore new thoughts about events or experiences that seemed set in my memory. The morning pages and the prompts have revealed some valuable insights into experiences of safety, relationships, art, and creating. It’s been wonderfully revealing.