I would like to introduce my favorite book, “The Artist’s Way”.
And because this book is so practical, I also would like to share my experience in concern with this book.
What is “The Artist’s Way”?
“The Artist’s Way” was first published in 1992, it’s about 30 years ago.
This book is written by Julia Cameron who is an American writer. She is the author of more than forty books.
I started to read this book by Japanese translation and after a while, I bought the English original version, and now I use both the original and Japanese versions.
The Japanese title is very different from the original title. The Japanese title is “zutto yaritakattakoto o yarinasai” which means “Do what you’ve always wanted to do ”
Its Japanese title is very different from the original title, but I think this Japanese title expresses the essence of this book.
Because this book encourages us to be active people.
How did I know this book?
I got to know this book by the influence of my favorite YouTuber, Atsuhiko Nakata who is one of the most influential Japanese YouTuber. In his main channel “NAKATA University”, he has introduced a similar book by the same author. Then I got interested in the book he introduced. And after searching the book, I found a similar and more basic book. It was “The Artist’s Way”.
The book below is introduced by Mr.Nakata.
The Main Message
This book’s main message is like this.
--we are all creative--and with the use of a few simple tools, we can all become more creative.
How is this book?
There are 12 lessons in this book.
And you should do 1 lesson a week.
So you need 12 weeks to complete all lessons in this book.
There are many various tasks.
And I found 2 types of tasks.
Type of tasks
-
The writing task
-
The act without writing task
I will show each example of these types.
The writing task
At first, I will show the example of “The writing task”.
like this.
"write a letter from you at 80 years old to you at the current age."
The act without writing task
And next, I will show the example of “The act without writing task”,
"make a collage."
this is my collage.
I bought 10 used magazines from the book store.
And I picked pictures up from those magazines, and I cut them and I pasted them on newspaper.
These all pictures reflect my life or my interests.
You can see Stonehenge, Eron Mask, Drai Rama, Mountain climber, Sadaharu Oh who is the greatest baseball player in Japan, and so on.
I always feel fun to see this collage in my room. Because these pictures can remind me of fun memories or fun images.
The Basic Tools
And in this book, besides many various tasks, There are two basic tools below.
・The Morning Pages
・The Artist Date
Through all lessons, you should use these basic tools every week or every day.
The Morning Pages
“The Morning Pages” is like a diary. You should write 3 pages in A4 size note as the first thing that you do in the morning.
But it’s hard to write 3 pages for me in the morning. I have no such time in the morning.
So I decided to write for 30 minutes. I can write 1 or 2 pages in 30 minutes.
Anyway, you should write stream-of-consciousness on pages.
You should write everything that you imagine in your mind.
If you have any worries or anxieties, you should write them all down on the morning pages.
And after finished morning pages, your brain might be empty,
In the case of me, After finishing the morning pages it makes me feel that energy is filled.
The Artist Date
And I will show another basic tool, the artist date.
The artist date is spending at least two hours a week for yourself.
You can do anything that you want to do.
But it must be fun for you.
Going to the museum, Going shopping at a favorite store, Walking around without a goal, Taking Yoga class, all could be the artist date.
My Artist Dates
I am going to show my activities as artist dates.
I went to the mountain to hike and looked at Mt fuji from the mountain I climbed, it was a very nice view.
And I sang a Beatles song with a guitar.
Both activities are that I used to do at a younger age. but the occasion to do those activities decrease little by little after began to work, after getting married, after having a child, after increasing needs to take care of elderly parents.
Through my artist dates, I found myself, and I got to know how I used to be.
After I finished lessons
Now I have completed all lessons, So I am thinking of one thing.
It’s this. My mindset has changed.
This is a quote from this book.
treating yourself like a precious object will make you strong.
this mantra teaches me a very important thing.
Before starting the artist’s way, I was busy with my career and other people\'s needs, so I had a little bit forgotten myself. But now, I think it is the most important thing to nurture myself.
and I believe that if I can nurture myself, I might make a good influence on my familiar people.
The artist’s way is a journey.
Although I have finished all lessons of this book, the artist’s way would never end.
The artist’s way is a journey to myself.
And I hope to continue this journey until the end of my life.
For my journey, I’ve got special tools from this book.
They are the morning pages and the artist date.
Now I have the confidence to continue this journey because I have these strong tools.
Conclusion
Thank you very much for reading my story about the artist’s day.
You can also watch the video about this blog.
