The Artists Way

The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.

Judging your early artistic efforts is artist abuse.

The refusal to acknowledge our creativity had its payoffs. We could wonder and worry about our arrogance instead of being humble enough to ask help to move through our fear. We could fantasize about art instead of doing the work. We could proceed to righteously ignore our creativity and never have to take the risks of fulfilling it.

If god doesn’t work for you, “blend in the influence of someone who is ever so slightly more amused by you, someone less anal. David Byrne is good, for instance. Gracie Allen is good. Mr Rogers will work.”

- Bird by Bird

By being willing to be a bad artist, you have a chance to BE an artist, and perhaps, over time, a very good one.

Creativity flourishes when we have a sense of safety and self-acceptance.

As your recovery progresses, you will come to experience a more comfortable faith in your creator and your creator within. You will learn that it is actually easier to write than not write, paint than not paint, and so forth. You will learn to enjoy the process of being a creative channel and to surrender your need to control the result. You will d

There will be many times when we won’t look good - to ourselves or anyone else. We need to stop demanding that we do. It is impossible to get better and look good at the same time.