The Artist's Way

Sorry I've been gone-- lots of soul searching, transitions, and critical thinking have left me with little time to read the wonderful excerpts of life you all have wrote, and the time to write about what's going on in the little southern hole I'm digging here. I could go into those transitions a bit, though I think, for brevity's sake, it's a better topic for one on one talks. A quick gloss over's probably best on eye-stamina: alternative anti-depressants, lost love, anger at being a cashier with a Bachelor's degree, co-counseling, failed attempts at being creative, future questions, love for Israel vs. justice, physical rehab, and Chobani. Lots and lots of Chobani (and granola-- don't need to be Berkeley, Michael, I live next to Carrboro, the intentional/hyper-PC/hyper-envirocentric/hyper-human rights communalist capital of North Carolina). If it wasn't so dairy-loaded, I would eat one every single meal, plus snacks (wow, that was such a Whole Foods employee statement).

What I will tell you, though, is that I've been finding some very interesting voices come through my head lately, and don't worry, these are good voices (scratches neck rabidly). I recently started a self-guided course called "The Artist's Way" that is meant to unblock your inner artist/creative guru (dare I say soul?) and make it an integral and sustained part of your life (which I HIGHLY recommend to each and every one of you. Don't matter if you are gonna walk the tightrope between educational progress and support, or if you're gonna go live in a tree; everyone has creativity in them, and a spiritual connection to that side of you will enable such amazing results in your daily work/personal/internal life). Ever since I've started (about two weeks ago), I've begun to see clouds turn into a melody in my head. I've begun to sing and dance with my co-workers. I've begun to find words that I had forgotten on my 11th grade English desk pop up to form a poetic phrase when I see something common. My tone of conversation has swapped heads from a gloomy cynic to a critical eye with a smile. It's been absolutely amazing to see what kind of self-transformation is possible for me when I just picked up a book that speaks to my inner humanity. As I see it, all beings are created creative, smart, and beautiful, so why not unblock the fluff to tap into it?

Here's the website if you're at all into doing this with me, and the author's one that includes videos of how to go about unleashing your inner creativity. The time commitment? 3 pages of stream-of-consciousness writing (aka, you go to a page and write whatever's on your mind, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful) a day, and 2 hours of self-prescribed time with your inner artist (literally a date with yourself only) a week. From there, it is said people think clearer (which I do) and think outside the box as well. The feeling reminds me of being at Colby, when 1-3 hour classes would just captivate my attention, and I would leave the class still feeling amped from all the awesomeness I had just witnessed. Sure, you still have work, but this book has put back how Colby taught me how to work: playfully.

Lemme know if you'd be down to join. I'd love some people to play with in this surreal universe I've stumbled in on.

Has