Isn’t it interesting how we can tell others what to do but not apply that same wisdom to ourselves?
With my writing clients, I often ask, “What are you doing for an artist date?” The artist date comes from Julia Cameron and her best-selling book, The Artist’s Way. An artist date is an intentional setting of healthy boundaries, getting outside the writing space to discover something creative.
My clients tell me about roaming through bookstores, writing morning pages at a quirky coffee shop or choosing a new journal. Many of my clients take day trips to discover more about the area where they live.
Terrific successes for my coaching clients. Not such a good job by their coach. I find it difficult to schedule artist dates or find time for fun in my busy schedule.
Am I too busy? How can I remedy that? We all need time away to reboot the soul and refresh the creative spirit within.
So in 2022, I plan to take more artist dates, consider what is relaxing and creatively important for me. Play a new piece on the piano, banging out chords that help release pressures from a stress-filled day. Walk through crunchy leaves. Stroll through colorful chrysanthemums at a garden store.
Other possibilities might include:
- Leaving the office for an afternoon movie matinee
- Finding a quiet moment on the deck for my garden coloring book
- Looking for a new color of nail polish
- Stopping everything to watch the sun complete its dusky setting
- Finding a new journal or reading through the old one with an attitude of praise
These ideas bring me joy, yet I can also work harder to relax. Isn’t that an oxymoron? Forced relaxation?
After an artist date, I feel more energized to connect sentences into paragraphs, outline chapters and introduce new characters to the world.
Recently, two other writers and I attended the funeral of our friend. It was a sad, beautiful service yet an honor to attend. To remember what a wonderful person she was and offer comfort to her family through our presence.
But after the service and a bountiful Mexican meal, we browsed through the town of Yates Center, KS. There we discovered an old Carnegie library. What a treasure to see the built-in bookcases from 1928, the unique hardware on the tall windows that invited beams of light, the children’s library with its colorful computer keyboard and painted murals. Each of us snapped pictures and snatched a free book to take home.
This day trip involved several hours where we chatted in the car, discovered a new town and fed our creative souls with a vintage library.
The next day, I found renewed vigor for my writing projects. Realized I need more day trips around the area, more opportunities to discover different places and feed my soul. To be more proactive about breaking away, setting boundaries around my creative self.
To discipline myself to do what I ask of my clients — find that special place of inner rest, plan an artist date, discover some place new.
Hope asks accountability of others, but also demands spiritual nourishment of the self. To define that fence around our hearts and find our true selves in the enjoyment of each day. To set healthy boundaries away from the work where we can engage more freely with our physical and emotional world.
When we protect that creative core by moving beyond the usual, we find hope in the processing of a fresh breath.
©2022 RJ Thesman – All Rights Reserved
The book I’m marketing during February will encourage your single mom friends. Check out Just for Today: Hope for Single Moms.
Fun!
Yes, indeed. We need time to play.
Good idea. I just took time out to go to a community-provided meal at Windmill Park and then listen to a community band concert. Delicious steak sandwich! and one song I loved was “Liberty Bell” by John Phillips Sousa. It brought me back to my high school band days and I just had to do a little marching and ‘Clang’ my silent cymbals.