I found that by having worked through The Artist’s Way, I learned so many important things about myself. In fact, it was The Artist’s Way that laid the groundwork for being able to quickly and successfully complete Dr John Demartini’s method for determining my highest values.

Doing this work in tandem made my life’s calling become very obvious to me.

I attribute The Artist’s Way to leading me to develop a deeper understanding of myself and what is most meaningful to me.

The task seemed daunting at first. My wildest dream was to build a rural retreat to help people discover and unlock their unique gifts and talents. Yet, I was getting stuck on the ‘how’. Questions such as these were haunting me: Where will I get the money to buy the land and set up the retreat? Where will it be located? I’ve got no experience in building or managing such a facility. Is this something I can base a new life on? What do I need to study to give me the skills that I need?

I was determined to live my life calling. Instead of letting these nagging questions deter me, I began to focus on the practicalities of life and the things I knew I loved.

I started by considering where I’d like to wake up on my ideal day. I knew the type of landscape that uplifted me and the architecture that I felt most at home in. So I began to imagine and write in detail about my ideal home. I included the time of day and the temperature I preferred; who I’d wake up with; what I would eat for breakfast and other meals throughout the day; the people that I enjoyed spending time with and those that inspired me; even the pets I adored.

By creating this new framework, my ideal day began to take shape and started to breathe. Not only did it feel real, it felt tangible and achievable.

When it came time to ‘colour in’ the parts of my day with the type of work I would be doing, ‘trying on’ these roles became much easier and less intimidating.

I was excited about what my new life could be.

A couple of example exercises include:

• Open your closet. Throw out, hand on, or donate one low-self-worth outfit (you know the outfit). Make space for the new
• Make a list of friends who nurture you. Which of their traits particularly serve you well?
• Take yourself to a sacred space – a church, synagogue, library, grove of trees – and allow yourself to savour the silence and healing solitude
• Buy yourself a wonderful pair of socks, one wonderful pair of gloves – one wonderfully comforting self-loving something
• Wear your favourite item of clothing for no special occasion
• Make a list of the things you love
• List five people you can talk to about your dreams and with whom you feel supported to dream and then plan

Drawing on the exercises above, I eliminated the things from my life that I didn’t enjoy. I minimised the time spent with people who didn’t make me feel good about myself. I gave away clothes that weren’t flattering or were uncomfortable to wear. I donated objects that harboured bad memories.

By doing so, I instantly felt more upbeat. I felt a sense of liberation, so I continued to apply Julia Cameron’s methodology to all aspects of my life.

The result? I’d finally created ‘space’ for the things that did reflect me, as well as the emotions that I’d been suppressing. Old, familiar and painful feelings I’d battled with my entire life began to surface. Emotions which included fear, anxiety, guilt, sadness and grief.

Fortunately, The Artist’s Way had forewarned me about the emotional pyrotechnics I might experience. Be prepared, Julia says, for bursts of tears and laughter. A certain giddiness may accompany sudden stabs of loss.

Julia explains this is because two crosscurrents are at work: the old you is leaving and grieving, while the new you celebrates and grows strong. As with any rupture, she says, there is both tension and relief. Long-seated depression breaks up like an ice floe. Long-frozen feelings thaw, melt, cascade, flood, and often overrun their container (you). You may find yourself feeling volatile and changeable, she says. You are.

Rather than avoid them, I embraced the idea that the emotions I was experiencing needed to be acknowledged and felt. I was able to get in touch with, process and finally release my fears, anxiety, guilt and sadness by doing The Morning Pages, which are the prescribed homework from The Artist’s Way. (For more information on The Morning Pages refer to the section below which discusses Julia Cameron’s influence on Chapter 6 of My Story)

The Artist’s Way gave me the freedom to begin expressing myself fully so I could build a life that I loved.

The reason?  According to Julia Cameron it was because I didn’t have an intimate relationship with myself. Instead, I was living life centred around pleasing others and as a result I’d lost touch with my innermost needs, desires and hopes. By removing all the distractions and noise from my life I’d created an enormous void.

In order to overcome the feelings of emptiness I’d created, Julia encouraged me to schedule blocks of time by myself dedicated to being fully present with myself so that I could listen to, get to know and nurture my wants and dreams. In other words, I needed to begin to develop a real relationship with myself.

As a way of kindling the relationship, she suggests doing things like exploring a great junk store, making a solo trip to the beach, watching an old movie, visiting an aquarium or art gallery. Like any relationship, she says, it will take time and care to cultivate.

The following exercises from The Artist’s Way also helped me discover and rediscover activities and places that I didn’t even know I liked, let alone loved, as well as new and preferred ways of doing things:

• List twenty things you enjoy doing. Do two of things from the list of twenty things you enjoy doing this week
• If you had five other lives to lead, what would you do in each of them? Incorporate bits and pieces from one these lives into your life this week
• List five hobbies that sound fun
• List five classes that sound fun
• List five things you personally would never do that sound fun
• List five skills that would be fun to have
• List five things you used to enjoy doing
• List five silly things you would like to try once

Working through The Artist’s Way taught me important things about myself and helped me free up time to pursue the things I discovered or rediscovered that I loved.

Within a few weeks of incorporating these practices into my life, I noticed that I could think more clearly. I developed more of a sense of myself. My inner voice began to emerge.

The biggest surprise was that the structure of my day had begun to look a lot more like that of my ‘ideal’ day (refer to Chapter 2 of My Story).

Negative beliefs are exactly that: beliefs, not facts, Julia explains. For example, the world was never flat although everyone believed it was. You are not dumb, crazy, egomaniacal, grandiose, or silly, she says, just because you falsely believe yourself to be.

Julia’s theory is that our core negative beliefs stem from fear – usually fear of the unknown. She believes that we create some pretty awful notions about what could happen based on our core fears. Rather than find out, she says, we decide to stay blocked because we feel safer that way.  Julia believes that this is seldom a conscious decision. It is more often an unconscious response to internalised negative beliefs.

Our core negative belief’s, she explains, continue to undermine us if not confronted. She believes our work is to uncover our negative beliefs and discard them. Her book, The Artist’s Way, is a resource that is designed to do just that.

Julia says, the exercises contained within The Artist’s Way help us uncover and work through our perceived limitations and beliefs over and over again. Each time, from a new angle and at a different level. They are designed to teach the logical brain to stand aside and let the creative side of the brain play.

By taking this approach, she says, the exercises elicit information from our unconscious about what it is we might consciously enjoy and allow us to gently explore these concepts. Julia believes that by doing so we begin to create new pathways into our consciousness and powerful changes begin to occur.

For an over thinker, people pleaser, perfectionist such as myself, working through the exercises in The Artist’s Way had a two-fold effect. It provided me with the tools to help me identify and dispel my fears and the limitations I’d imposed on myself. It also helped me uncover, rediscover and begin to align myself with my deepest longings.

The result? I began to recognise and own my unique talents. I became aware of my very particular likes, dislikes and tastes. I discovered new and preferred ways of doing things. The Artist’s Way helped me create the space and gave me permission to consider what I wanted and needed. As a consequence, I found decision making easier. My inner voice, identity and individuality began to emerge and I began to create boundaries. My life began to flow more easily.

The more I developed trust in myself and the process, my confidence grew.

Julia believes we like to pretend it is hard to follow our heart’s dreams. The truth is, she says, it is difficult to avoid walking through the many doors that will open. Turn aside your dream and it will come back to you again. Get willing to follow it again, she says, and a second mysterious door will swing open.

Julia says that if you take a small step in the direction of a dream, watch the synchronous doors fly open. Seeing, after all, is believing, she explains.

As each idea comes to us we must in good faith clear away our inner barriers, she says. Then on an outer level, take the concrete steps necessary to trigger our synchronous good.

Once you decided you are doing something, fasten your seat belt, Julia says. The most remarkable things follow.

I’d completedThe Artist’s Way three times. Each time it activated subtle yet immense change in my life. I found The Artist Way to be so powerful that I’ve continued to apply Julia’s methodologies to my life on a daily basis.

For me, The Artist Way opened up a whole new way of thinking and being. I found that as I moved away from acting on what my logical mind believed to be the right thing to do and instead took steps towards discovering and embracing my dreams and desires, the more synchronous my life became.

The result? My life now flows and unfolds more easily. Opportunities have begun to open up without the need to exert any effort. I now find myself in situations and circumstances that I never could have orchestrated, like being directed to the right information and support I needed to create this website. Or the serendipitous holiday I refer to in Chapter 4 of My Story.

Here is a miraculous example of a long held desire coming to fruition on my holiday:

Prior to leaving for the USA, the one place that I longed to visit was Fallingwater, the iconic home by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. However, my logical brain took over and instead of fulfilling my heart’s desire I began to consider visiting the places that everyone raves about – LA, New York and San Francisco. Because of its proximity in relation to those cities, I discounted the possibility of experiencing Fallingwater altogether.

Imagine my surprise when my plans to spend Christmas in New York with family were unexpectedly cancelled and I was invited to spend the festive season with an American family (who I’d recently met) at their home in Pennsylvania, the same state in which Fallingwater is located. My Christmas present from them was a tour of this famous home. Fallingwater was more incredible than I dreamed it would be and poof that the impossible really is possible.

By living life The Artist’s Way, synchronicity and meaningful coincidences have become a way of life.

The first exercise involves practising what Julia Cameron calls the Morning Pages – three pages of longhand writing, written the moment I woke up as she instructs. I also found writing Morning Pages therapeutic whenever something was bothering me, no matter what time of day.

Julia describes Morning Pages as a ‘brain dump’. What you write is not meant to sound intelligent, she says. Nobody is allowed to read what you have written, except you (and even then Julia prefers you not to read them for at least the first two months). The point of the exercise, she says, is to capture your stream of consciousness by writing down whatever comes to mind.

It is very difficult to complain about a situation morning after morning, month after month, without being moved to constructive action, she says. Julia believes Morning Pages lead us out of despair and into undreamed-of solutions.

Because there is no wrong way to write Morning Pages, this exercise gave me the freedom to fully express myself for the first time.  I complained and whined about my worries, concerns, dissatisfactions and fears. I also poured out my deepest longings, hopes and dreams. I found that by putting my thoughts, desires and problems down on paper (without looking for a solution) stopped them from churning around in my mind. This practise allowed me to be more present and begin to live more in the moment.

The second exercise is what Julia Cameron calls the Artist’s Date – a defined period of time that I set aside each week during which I allowed myself to freely explore activities I’d always wanted to try or go on excursions that I felt drawn to. Essentially, an Artist’s Date is playdate with myself, by myself. Julia believes going on an Artist’s Date alone is essential.

I found that by immersing myself in activities just for pleasure, rather than doing something out of guilt, obligation, or the need to achieve, I became lost in the moment and my problems and fears dissolved.

Engaging with these processes in tandem proved to be very powerful. Julia Cameron says Morning Pages acquaint us with what we think and what we think we need. We identify problem areas and concerns on the page, she says.  e complain, enumerate, identify, isolate, fret. This, she says, is step one. The Artists Date, step two, opens us up to begin to hear solutions.

I’ve discovered that the more I continue to incorporate both these practices into my life the more I am able to put my problems aside, process my emotions and build an intimate relationship with myself. By understanding my needs and desires, I make better decisions because I’m focused on my wellbeing not what is the most logical, practical, or the sensible thing to do.

As a result, life flows more smoothly and has led to a deep sense of self-trust. Julia Cameron’s practices have allowed me to finally let go and enjoy each moment that life has to bring.