So that is the week 9 Artist Way report...

I've been rereading my morning pages very slowly and I'm not done yet. Here are the things I've become most aware of by reading what I wrote many weeks ago. The very first thing is I see how there's an ebb and flow. Sometimes, it just feels like I'm there showing up on the page and nothing but boring whining writing is occurring. Then there will be a cycle where lots of insights appear all at once. After seeing the larger cycle I'm making a strong note to myself that what is important is showing up to do the task.
The most often written phrase in my morning pages is "I'm not awake yet" One thing I really like about the morning pages is it stopped me from getting my coffee, turning on the computer, and surfing the internet. It stopped that cycle of waking up by reading and therefore kind of unconsciously absorbing a lot of external information. Most of it was good information, but I feel more in tune with myself by writing morning pages and waking up.
However, I find that on the days that my morning pages seemed the most interesting or more precisely seemed like the tool they are meant to be - it occurred on the days when I'm more awake when I write them. So, I'm shifting the morning pages a little beginning this week. I'm going to try a few things - just to see if I can wake up and be present in my body a little bit more before I write the pages. I still want to do them first thing because they won't get done otherwise - but I am wondering if I could just add a little yoga or breath work before the pages. I'm also thinking I may read something inspiring before sitting down to write my morning pages. Or maybe I just need to write my own purpose statement and affirmations out and have them in a place I can read them before writing my morning pages. I think they are a useful tool, but I'm now at a point where I want to experiment with what is going to give me the best start for my day.

I didn't do an artist date this week. I made the mistake of not making it a priority. I didn't start the week really thinking about the Artist Way or when I was going to do any of it and therefore the artist date slipped by. I'm taking this clay class in Santa Fe and it's really shifted some of my routines enough that I've found I'm having some time management problems.

Time management - since last weekend that has become the next area I really want to focus on. We have almost lived in our new house for 5 months now. I feel unpacked and settled in. I've adjusted my shopping schedule and my other responsibilities to fit with a longer commute time. What I haven't done is create the kind of routines that help me run a household and allow time to do my creative work. I feel like it's time for me to get the routines together and make creative priorities. I started this blog, committed to the Artist's Way, and I'm back with my hands in the clay - but all these things need a proper place in my life instead being as haphazard as they have been for the last several weeks.
I have a life that allows me a lot of free time - but it is easy to waste it and get less done by drifting. I feel like it's time for me to really get serious about how I use my time and what is most important for me to accomplish. This sort of fits with AW, but it's not really a theme for this week - yet it's clearly where I am at.

This was the chapter with creative u-turns. Yes, I've done some of those. I have to admit though that I'm not really so interested in exploring that this week. I did create a daily lump last night that started out as a u-turn symbol but turned into an ouroboros - a snake swallowing it's tail. I thought how fascinating that my soul would speak to me about this in this way. I can't really find the right words to say what this symbol says to me - it's a very visual and visceral experience. I will say that I don't think that making a creative u-turn is such a bad thing. Maybe I've already found the self compassion the Artist Way is having us look for this week.
A few posts back I noted Pema Chodron's quote "Never underestimate the inclination to bolt." I think this is very relevant for creative u-turns. The more aware I become of my own inclinations to bolt the less I seem to make a drastic turn in the opposite direction. So even along this journey of blogging or the AW or my ceramic class I've been more steady - aware of when I want to just abandon it all or when I want to suddenly take up some new direction and I've noted it and stayed in place and found myself happily still on path. So that is the week 9 Artist Way report.......stay tuned because I think this week is my turn for offering an AW inspiration.......