On the Power of The Artist’s Way

How this magical process brought me back into community, reignited my creative spark and transformed my life.

I started off along The Artist’s Way over a decade ago.

If you’ve never heard of it, The Artist’s Way is a 12 week programme that gets people back in touch with their inner drive and creativity. Like many others before me, I was intrigued by the promise of getting out of a low patch annd unlocking more of my potential. The author, Julia Cameron, is a screenwriter, author and all round legend whose work has had an incredible impact on many souls from all sorts of backgrounds including, but definitely not limited to, artists and creatives.

I only got halfway through before I meandered off the path. I think at the time it was the mention of God in her book that bothered me, but looking back I probably wasn’t quite ready to embrace the seismic change that this powerful book can bring. I carried on with the morning pages, a daily journalling practice from the book, but I found the other exercises a bit overwhelming and I left it to gather dust on the bookshelf.

Fast forward to 2024 and after years of navigating significant changes, especially the physical and emotional upheaval of menopause and a post-COVID professional shakeup, I was ready for transformation. Enter the wonderful Jo Pearson, meditation teacher and breath work facilitator extraordinaire, who invited a small group of us to journey together through the 12 week programme. I didn’t know at the time, but this would become one of the more powerful catalysts for change I’ve ever experienced.

Journeying Together Changed Everything

There was something particularly magical about moving through The Artist’s Way in community, especially as our group spanned people from theirs twenties to their sixties plus, so we all got to witness others going through this transformation in very different phases of life and it seemed to have the same incredible effect on everyone.

We met online weekly, discussing our Artists Dates, breakthroughs, challenges and responses to the prompts provided in the pages of the workbook. The accountability and support was invaluable which helped to keep me on track and our WhatsApp group became a treasure trove of encouragement sprinkled with inspiring videos, funny memes, thoughtful reflections and other words of wisdom that I still return to now.

I even found a different approach to the G word… in Julia’s book she mentions that you can think of ‘God’ as ‘Good Orderly Direction’ or anything else that resonates as a positive energetic force in your life. Thanks to my daily Vedic knowledge and meditation practice, God these days to me is not a mean judgey old white man on a cloud… thank god for that!

Healing Old Stories Through Creativity

One of the biggest surprises of the process came from revisiting an old story that I’d long forgotten but that had actually had an outsized effect on my creative life. I’d had a disheartening experience with an art teacher in 6th form who decided that some of us in class weren’t ‘good enough’. I internalised that story and failed the class, a very difficult thing for someone obsessed with perfection and whose love language was academic achievement. At the time I think I skated over it and just accepted that I was ‘bad at art’ and got on with other things.

Doing The Artist’s Way however made me realise that I never grieved that loss. I loved art as a child, forever making, painting, sewing and crafting and I felt bereft that I lost all that time to a person who definitely wasn’t worth listening to! (I can also reflect back on this now and suspect she was probably going through menopause or some other overwhelming journey and can appreciate how a bunch of bored wisecracking teens might be a tad frustrating to deal with at that time!).

The Artist’s Way opened the door back open and week by week I totally fell in love with playfulness and creativity again. Experimenting with different techniques and materials, making and not aiming for perfection, enjoying mediums coming together and playing with forms and textures. I had permission to create just for me and something major shifted.

From Creative Facilitator to Creative Being

While I have always worked in creative fields - fashion, design, events, publishing - my role was usually to facilitate others creativity and supporting their visions, while keeping my own on the back burner. But as Julia Cameron writes, once you complete The Artist’s Way, your life will begin to rearrange itself around your creative calling and she’s right!

This process opened me up to the possibility of centring art and creativity in my life and I decided to make a brave move.

I applied to the Postgraduate Creative Arts Therapy programme at Whitecliffe and after a lengthy process and more than a few nerves, I had the honour of being offered a place. It’s a programme that blends psychological depth and intellectual rigour with embodied arts-based practices, which is a dream combo for someone like me.

This was not anything I ever imagined or planned for, but the universe took my hand during The Artist’s Way process and led me towards my future. Creativity has become not just something I do but something I live into everyday and I’m carrying this into my coaching practice too, so that I bring an extra level of creativity into the support that I can offer women who are navigating transitions, big and small, with more curiosity, imagination and presence.

Creativity is a Core Nutrient

Creativity isn’t a nice to have or an optional extra, it is a basic human need which The Artist’s Way helped me to reconnect with and embody in a very practical way. Our ancestors painted caves, told stories and sang songs, not for money, fame or praise, but because making meaning of our experiences is part of what it means to be alive. Creativity helps us to make sense of our experiences, navigate uncertainty and connects us with something larger than ourselves. And for women in transition, it is one of the most powerful tools we have.

My Top 5 Takeaways from The Artist’s Way

1. Morning Pages are daily medicine - they clear out the mental clutter and help to discover greater clarity

2. Artists Dates are divine pleasures - topping up on inspiration and taking time out for ourselves can only be a good thing

3. Creativity helps to develop new stories - because we need help escaping from the old ones that leave us trapped

4. Accountability and community matter - change doesn’t happen in isolation, so gathering a group of like-minded soul to do this work helps

5. Permission is powerful - you don’t need to be ‘good at art’ to do The Artist’s Way, all you need to do is let yourself be open to the process

Ready to Rekindle Your Creativity?

If you’re standing on the edge of a threshold or transition - whether its midlife, career changes, grief, burnout or a creative block - I highly recommend The Artist’s Way and if you can find a group to do it with, even better! You definitely don’t have to be an artist, you just have to be willing to let go and follow your inner curiosity. The rest will unfold as you journey your way through.

And if you’d like some support or an accountability partner, I have coaching slots available from July onwards. Get in touch at rose@vesselwellbeing.com and get ready to prepare for your next journey.