My first Artist Date

Today I went on my first Artist Date and it wasn’t what I had planned or ever imagined but it was beautiful and powerful.

Last Sunday I began journeying with two books;

The first is Good Morning, I Love You, a guided gratitude journal with prompts to write first thing in the morning and before you go to sleep at night. The second is The Artist’s Way. Both have gifted me many blessings this past week and today I would love to share one of those with you.

If you are not familiar with The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, it’s a 12-week course delivered in a book designed to help you discover and recover your creative self. There are two main tools that you are asked to do every day and every week respectively for 12 weeks.

We are encouraged to write three pages streaming from our consciousness each morning upon waking. I have been writing in an A4 binder and that’s actually a lot of words, sometimes these pages flow easily and other mornings it’s a struggle. These words don’t have to have any meaning, in fact, that’s the whole idea. This tool has been designed to unlock our ‘writer’s block’ as such and simply allow us to get used to writing. It’s important to go straight into writing upon waking and not after we have scrolled through our phones, checked our emails, or made the kid’s lunches. I do make myself a cup of tea first and enjoy that while writing and entering the day. And I have gotten into the habit of writing in my gratitude journal first and this works for me.

This week I have worked through a trigger that had me a tad rattled, this included lists and a big shift in perspective. I wrote about something I had listened to, I wrote about things that were happening in my week, and lots of things I can’t even remember. Julia doesn’t want us to care about what we write, in fact, she doesn’t want us to read what we write at this stage, and other than referencing some of my pages I think on Monday morning when I wrote what became a blog post I haven’t looked back.

It’s important to note this process is not only for people who want to write, it can be for any artist or anyone wanting to unblock and unlock their creativity. As Julia writes;

“In order to retrieve your creativity, you need to find it.”

The second tool is to take yourself on a solo date each week which invites you to seek inspiration, insight, and guidance. I must say I had a lot of resistance to this one from the get-go. Instantly when I first read about it I went into, I don’t have time for this. Oh great another thing I have to fit into my schedule. I made it into something way bigger than it had to be, trips to the museum, art galleries, and botanical gardens. I even began telling myself I’ll skip this bit and just stick with the morning pages … interesting in itself!

Julia talks about our imposter fighting against these tools, and she introduces us to and refers to our ego as our ‘censor’ who will do everything in its power to keep us safe, just like it’s always been. Thankfully I’m no stranger to this inner voice and am aware of when it begins to wreak havoc, most of the time anyway.

So I was driving home this morning at 8.30 after dropping my daughter off to work and I was having a lovely conversation with myself on why I shouldn’t worry about taking myself on an artist date this week. I got up early, had done my journal & morning pages, did a load of washing, and was working out a plan for the rest of my day, there really wasn’t enough time.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw our local farmer’s markets were on. They are walking distance from our place and I haven’t been there for years. Perfect this is what I can do, I can even walk the dog at the same time. But the excuses started coming thick and fast. It will be a pain to take Ziggy as she will pull and want to walk, there will be other dogs that will distract her and I won’t be able to visit the craft section inside if I have her. You get the idea and I’m sure you’re having plenty of conversations like this all the time.

I got home and decided to take Ziggy for her own walk. We had a lovely time and I indulged in one of my favorite pastimes, taking photos of nature along the way. Here’s today’s bounty.

This does fill my well, which is what an artist date is meant to do, but it’s not taking me out of my comfort zone and giving me the opportunity to potentially receive so much more. This is playing it safe and limiting what is possible. Everything that I’m wanting to move through and beyond.

Dropping Ziggy off at home, I picked up my backpack and took off back up the street toward the Farmer’s Market. Along the way, I walked past a Uniting Church. It’s not a particularly stunning building, but I did notice it and didn’t think much else at the time. Further up the road, I spotted some flowering tree dahlia which I love and this made my heart sing.

I got to the farmers market and walked through completely underwhelmed in about 15mins. There was no craft section as that’s a different market on a different week and the fresh produce just wasn’t doing it for me. Walking away I didn’t feel too much other than a sense that this wasn’t it, there was more to come, but at this stage, I didn’t know what that was. I kept walking.

As I walked past my flowering dahlia smiling and inching closer to the Uniting Church I could hear the music, so I followed the sound and turned the corner. As I got closer there was a sign that said, the entrance was off Whitehorse Road, back around the corner, just where I had come from, so at this moment I had a choice. I could keep walking towards home or I could turn around and walk inside the church. The Service started at 9.45 and this was around 10.15 am. I opened the door and it slammed behind me and I was greeted by an elderly man. I apologized for the noise and told him I just wanted to pop my head in and take a look if that was okay. He said there wasn’t much room as they were still seating people keeping the distance rule in place, but he picked up a chair and offered me a place just inside the door directly opposite the pulpit. The sermon had just begun.

I have never stepped inside a Uniting Church and had no idea who was talking to me. He looked just like a priest from the Catholic Churches I was used to, but he had a lovely warm, and welcoming energy. Older but still energised, a little jaded but still hopeful. The congregation was full of people most likely 70 plus and I definitely felt the youngest at 50. There were no young families or even couples in my age range. This is probably indicative of many churches on any given Sunday morning nowadays. It had certainly been years since I’d attended one.

But I listened, I listened to his words as I have never listened to a sermon/homily before. It was just like in a movie, he was talking directly to me, well maybe not, but at times it felt like it.

He began talking about the city versus the country and how the churches of the past were such a prominent part of a city or town, not only in stature but in riches and respect. Once the pews were overflowing and the Sunday school was humming. But times have changed, not just because of the pandemic but these changes have been occurring for decades. Society no longer seeks safety inside the grand cathedral walls it’s seeking a new way, a new pathway toward finding faith.

He told stories of nomads who created their own churches on mountaintops. Altars were created in the simplest of forms. Today we can learn from these nomads who found their connection to God, source, higher being, or whoever resonates with you because it’s not within the walls of a church or in the safety of a congregation that faith is found, it can be found anywhere and now more than ever we need to be open to change.

What can we learn from the nomads, he asked? How can we embrace the change?

He said it’s about giving permission. Permission to ourselves and to others that we can do things differently.

It’s about letting go of the old and inviting in the new. Keeping what resonates and letting go of what no longer serves us.

Don’t focus on all the negatives and the shame that at times can shroud us, the church, and the religion but welcome in the new.

We have created a legacy and it might not be in the form we imagined or envisaged but it’s still there to be shared with whomever is willing to receive it.

And just like that he finished, the music started and I left. I had come to receive what I needed and left the rest I didn’t need behind.

This is the gift of empowerment, the gift of following the signs, and the posts, and trusting in the process.

I surrendered to knowing that something more was just around the corner, I just had to be willing and brave to see what it was.

And for that, I am eternally grateful.

I am grateful that I pushed through the resistance and allowed myself to explore, play and follow along.

On a side note while I was listening to the sermon my Mum sent me a message via Instagram. This is what she sent me and again I receive it as a sign that I am on the right path. I have no idea what’s at the end, but I’m so excited to be taking baby steps of discovery each and every day.

Much love, Sarah xxx