and what a great problem it is to have

Thank you all for the comments you've left. I had absolutely no idea when I began this blog what having comments would feel like and it certainly has been an unexpected thrill. Tonight I spent some time traveling around to blogs - most of them are blogs that are also participating in the The Artist Way group. I feel a bit overwhelmed and overstimulated and it's all morphing together in a really yummy way like I've got a stomach full of creative inspiration to digest.

(Here's my problem - and what a great problem it is to have because it means I am alive and creating)- if I do this blog/artistway/ writing thing too late at night I can't wind down and go to sleep. I end up thinking about what I'll write in my blog, where I want to visit and leave a comment, how I wish I could change a comment I left because I suddenly thought of a better way to say it. Then when you add in the thoughts about the artist's way and those new creative promptings about what to do make and explore - well I end up feeling - MANIC. I don't like parties or art openings for this reason. After it is over I don't know how to turn it all off and go to sleep. This last week has been a challenge for me to find balance and get some sleep. I think sometimes I resist the creative urges in me because I am afraid of getting too out of control. And in my case that mostly means staying up too late. Eventually there is a crash because the body can't take all the pressure.

I see there is another side to all of this too. I see how my critic begins to work overtime. Trying to make me perfect, to be nice, and say it just exactly right. Either I procrastinate and get stuck on STUCK or I have to battle with the inner critic as I stick my neck out and go for my dreams. Stuck is no place I want to be. I've done that. Sometimes it includes some small spurts of creative movement and then I throw on the brakes. Please, let me figure out a way to be slow and steady and make progress. That is all I ask. So here I am trying to write a post before bed as a wind down for the day, as a way to see if I can just make progress. I'm saying to myself and my critic, here is a baby step - an entry into my blog -it may not be perfect or say everything I may have to say - but it's a step and now it's off to sleep. This is my affirmation (This first week in the AW Cameron is encouraging us to create positive affirmations for our each of our negative beliefs). I can be creative, stimulated by LIFE and get adequate sleep. Maybe it's even more clear to say "I create and therefore I sleep!"