Chapter 11: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy

I love my job. I think I’ve mentioned that before. I have an almost irrational appreciation for all the things my job affords me… perhaps most significantly, right now, my job gives me freedom. I know, that sounds counter-intuitive. I spent ten years in the trenches of the entrepreneurial world where freedom from the 9-5 was glorified ad nauseum. But I have to say, I love the container of my 9-5. I really like being part of something bigger than myself, with an established history and footprint. And as an artist, I reeeeeeally like that my job gives me the luxury of unhooking my art from my financial “value.”

This is what recovering a sense of autonomy means: my value and the value of my work is not linked to my work’s market value. Money does not validate my credibility—and that can be a hard idea to shake, especially when it is reinforced with my financial stability being dependent on my art. Instead, my credibility is dependent on me—creating what needs to be created, doing the work, painting the painting, drawing the illustration, every day—whether it’s good or not, whether it sells or not.

I underlined more things in this chapter than any other, I think. Chapter 11 might be worth the price of the book, people!

Creativity is a spiritual practice. It is not something that can be perfected, finished and set aside.

So just when you think you’re there, “there” disappears. I love that. The interminable “Now what?” Apparently, that’s normal! 🙂

TASKS

I especially love the tasks that are assigned in this chapter. Julia talks about the importance of sports in a creative life. I’m not very sporty myself but I think the point she makes is really about how important it is to stay connected to our physical bodies! l don’t know about you but I spend an awful lot of time in my head. And it may seem like an appropriate way to be creative–thinking up new ideas and all. But as was the point of Chapter 7, it’s not so much about thinking something up as tapping into the river of things wanting to be created. And the truth is, after being involved in the development of Hopeful World’s Emotional Wisdom class, I can’t ignore my body wisdom! I find that gardening, dancing, yoga, baking, even just walking to work… usually gives me a shot of oxytocin, and some valuable insight.

So… staying connected to your body, nurturing your inner child, protecting your artist from the oogy boogey critics, building an artist’s altar… interestingly, these tasks seem to focus on staying connected to the things that feed your artist. This is how we stay autonomous.

There are some great check-in’s in this chapter too: look back on Chapter 4’s Honest Changes section and take an inventory of what has changed for you and in you since then.

Honestly, there are so many gems in here I might devote some extra posts to some of the activities for this chapter. Stay tuned…

The Artist’s Way Posts

Week 1: Recovering a Sense of Safety
Week 2: Recovering a Sense of Identity
Week 3: Recovering a Sense of Power
Week 4: Recovering a Sense of Integrity
Week 5: Recovering a Sense of Possibility
Week 6: Recovering a Sense of Abundance
Week 7: Recovering a Sense of Connection
Week 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength
Week 9: Recovering a Sense of Compassion
Week 10: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection
Week 11: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy
Week 12: Recovering a Sense of Faith