The Artist’s Way – Just East Of Crazy Land

Lately my husband and I have been on a theology kick and read to each other before bed…until we get totally confused, inspired or one of us ends up drooling on the pillow (usually me!)…It’s been really interesting, and definitely gives us something new to talk about beyond how’s work and what did the kids do at school today.

Tonight we were reading about freedom, and it made me ponder what it really means to make a free choice, and how it relates to the stifling danger of perfectionism in writing…as perfectionism leads to the inability to make definitive choices and complete things. (Yes, being writing-obsessed, I manage to relate pretty much everything back to blogging…just ask my husband).

Anyway, the author described the misconception of freedom as the ability to make an endless succession of choices, without any of them ever being permanent and definitive. The idea that having options equals freedom, and the more options, the more free you are. “But why not?” you might ask…”Doesn’t that sound good?” The thing is to apply this idea and see where it leads. Here are some examples of how it changes, sometimes subconsciously, how we make decisions:

“I’m not going to choose what to study, because that way I can choose to study anything at all. I’m keeping my career options open.” Yes, and your empty wallet…Being open to the possibility of all jobs but having no job = unemployment, not freedom.

“I’m not going to choose someone to marry, because that way I can marry anyone at all…I’ll be so free.” Or so lonely and jaded, because it takes one real heart to love you and keep you warm at night, not several billion theoretical ones.

“I’m not going to post anything on my blog (ah, finally, blogging!) until I have something perfect. As long as it’s in my draft box, I have the freedom to keep changing it. It won’t be permanent.” Ah, yes, that horrific word….permanent! We are so afraid of it. It implies commitment, confidence, strength, endurance…yikes!

But tell me, is having a draft box full of unexplored possibilities really freedom? Nothing wrong with drafts, but to really mean something and come alive they need to be released, imperfections and all, into the world. You need to say as a writer (or painter, photographer, chef, etc), “This isn’t perfect and I’m ok with that. It’s not perfect but it’s mine and I stand by it. This is me.”

That one irrevocable act of posting your little poem, photo, story or ponderings is a greater expression of true freedom and honesty than that of hoarding your drafts like treasures, choosing to hide them away lest they not shine as brightly in the light of day as you’d like. I think it was Julia Cameron who said that you need to be willing to be a crappy artist in order to become a great one. So be yourself, stand by your work, make a permanent choice to share your work and in that way really own it. Post that thing you’ve been hiding away so jealousy. Chances are what’s closest to your heart will resound in the hearts of others as well.

Today I flipped open “The Artist’s Way” and was struck by these words:

“So do it. If you win, you win. And if you lose, you win.”
It’s always that way with taking risks.
To put it differently, very often a risk is worth taking simply for the sake of taking it. There is something enlivening about expanding our self-definition, and a risk does exactly that. Selecting a challenge and meeting it creates a sense of self-empowerment that becomes the ground for further successful challenges.

These words were really timely for me. I think it’s true that challenges make us more alive, and that constantly avoiding them can become a kind of illness, a debilitating fearfulness that hides us from life, like turtle in its shell.

When we get convinced that things are “just too hard” we start to shrivel up inside. We set up comfort as our ideal but the worship of it makes us miserable. We feel incapable of anything different or new. We isolate ourselves and can become morbid.

Risk helps us break free from this cycle. It’s empowers us to recreate ourselves. Life becomes an adventure as we realize it contains new depths–that we also contain new depths, new possibilities.

It’s been said that each person is a universe unto themselves, and it’s exciting to know that we have unknown vistas to explore within. Maybe there is hidden courage and beauty we were unaware of, or had long forgotten.

Taking a creative risk opens ourselves up to the possibility of new things: our yes opens the door to unimagined blessings. Likely they were waiting for us all along, but required us to open our hearts to receive them.

So today I encourage you to examine yourself with a spirit of openness to new possibilities. What secret call has been sounding in your heart? What risk have you been too afraid to take?

Instead of focusing on the obstacles, which are always larger in our heads, think about how proud and happy you will feel if you take this risk and succeed, or even if you take it and fail. Courage is about facing our fears, instead of hiding from them…it isn’t about not having fears. To face your fears is brave, no matter what the result.

So be emboldened to take a risk, try something new, and break out of your routine. You’ll be surprised by the power within.

Just East Of Crazy Land

Tag: The Artist’s Way

The Power of Risk

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