A-Muse-Ing Inspirations: — by Jeanette M. Pintar
Lesson 7
Wow – weren’t those some great insights about Anger, Shame, and how to deal with Criticism in Chapter 3 of The Artist’s Way? And of course, understanding and accepting Synchronicity in our lives is vital to believing in our own infinite possibilities and achieving the successful fulfillment of our dreams.
If you didn’t already do it while reading the chapter, you might want to write
down The Rules of The Road for Dealing
with Criticism (pages 72-73) on an index card or something else you can refer
back to when needed. I’ve personally
tried several of Ms. Cameron’s suggestions and have found them very helpful.
Also, if you didn’t do the Detective Work as you read, please do the exercise
on pages 73-74. It only takes a few
minutes and you can gain some crucial awareness with it.
Have you adjusted to Morning Pages yet?
Are you finding any benefit to doing them? If not, keep at it! You’re clearing out the clutter that stands
between you and insight, inspiration and Divine Guidance. If you are getting the benefits, keep at it! When something works well, stick with it.
Did you do a date with your Self? Was it
fun? Where did you go?
I hope you’re also doing at least 3 of the 10 tasks at the end of the chapter. Remember these are to help you regain YOU and to help you advance toward your dreams. They may seem unrelated now, but they are helping… if by nothing else, teaching you to open your mind, become aware of your blocks, and help you discover what you really like or are motivated by. That’s important stuff when it comes to making your dreams come true!
Have you used the scratch pad for anything yet? Have you found yourself getting more ideas through out the week or gaining insight to your past? Or just wanting to daydream a bit? Use your scratch pad to help you get it out of your head and onto the page. Another good use for your scratch pad is to jot down ideas for future dates with your Self. You know the ones that come up in the back of your mind… “Oh, I’d really to see that movie.” Or, “One day I’ll try that new little coffee shop downtown.”
OK, now for the big question… What task
did you pick from your Master Plan? DID
YOU DO IT?
Have you been able to pick and carry out at least one task per week from your plan?
If not, why?
Do you need to break the tasks into smaller tasks?
Often, if something looks like it’s too big, too much to do, or requires more than a few minutes of our time, we’ll just keep putting it off. If this is the case, break it down into smaller segments that only take a few minutes to an hour of your time.
For example, if one of your goals is to move into a better place and one of the tasks is packing, packing in and of itself is a HUGE undertaking. Break it down! The first task could be to get some colored permanent markers, packing tape, and a bunch of banker’s/file boxes from the office store. Banker’s boxes are the perfect size, hold a good amount without being too heavy, easy to label, stack, and store, and won’t take too long to fill.
The next task could be to sort packing tasks by room, and assign them a color of marker for easier identification later on. IE: Kitchen = red, Bathroom = blue, Living Room = yellow, Bedroom = purple, etc. This will help you organize it into a more manageable work flow, and set it up to make UN-packing at your new place much easier.
Follow that with the task of organizing each room into separate groups of
things to pack. For instance, in the
bedroom, pack winter shirts, pack winter pants, and pack winter shoes are all
individual tasks. (You won’t need your winter clothes right now, why not pack
them up already?)
Another task could be to sort your clothes and put anything that doesn’t fit into one box to give away. Delivering that box to a charity is the next task. You could have a task of putting clothes that need fixing into their own box, with a follow up task of getting them repaired. (The latter can be done before or after the move. At least they’re all in one place and not taking up useless space in your closet.)
By breaking it down, you eliminate the stress and feelings of being overwhelmed and you can pick up any task almost any where at any time. Packing a banker’s box full of socks takes no time at all and isn’t nearly as daunting as trying to pack your entire closet or your entire home at once.
Way to go, my friend! You’re well on your way to not only advancing yourself toward your dreams, but developing the self awareness and skills that will take you there. Now let’s get on to next week’s assignment!
Week 7 Assignment
Use your scratch pad and day planner! Begin by scheduling the following:
Read The
Artist’s Way—Chapter 4: Recovering A
Sense of Integrity, Pgs 79 – 90.
As you read, look for the main points and underline anything that speaks to you or sounds like it would make a good quote. (If you’re afraid to mess up your book, use pencil, you can erase it later.) Feel free to write down and post some of these quotes around your home and office to keep yourself inspired.
Try the Buried Dreams exercise on
page 86 and the
Pick and do at least 3 of the 10 exercises at the end of the chapter. You can do more! The more you put into doing this, the more of yourself – and your dreams — you will get out of it. Have fun.
Do the Check-In on Page 90.
Schedule, plan and take a date with yourself. Make it something entertaining, fun, relaxing. Make it something you look forward to. Guard your date, make it sacred. You deserve it. Your dreams deserve it.
Write 3 pages of long-hand in your journal daily. Just sit down and let the pen flow across the page. Don’t edit. Don’t fix it. Just write and write and write until you have 3 full pages. It’s best to write in the mornings, but if you can’t do it then, do it whenever you can. The importance of doing these “Morning Pages” is explained in the book.
Pick a task from your Master Plan and do it! Just one little thing will take you that much closer to your dreams. (And yes, it’s OK if you decide to do more than one task per week!)
Good luck! And have fun! It’s OK to get excited and enjoy the process!
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—- © Jeanette M. Pintar
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Muse@sfpnn.com