Julia Cameron Quotes - Page 5

Become willing to see the hand of God and accept it as a friend's offer to help you with what you are doing.

An artist paints, dances, draws, writes, designs, or acts at the expanding edge of consciousness. We press into the unknown rather than the known. This makes life lovely and lively.

As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.

Writing is a combination of being alert to your outer surroundings and alive to your inner reality.

Practice being kind to yourself in small, concrete ways. Look at your refrigerator. Are you feeding yourself nicely? Do you have socdks? An extra set of sheets? What about a new house plant? A thermos for the long drive to work? Allow yourself to pitch out some of your ragged clothes. You don't have to keep everything.

Doubt comes to the door in darkness, pretending to be alone and in need of your compassionate ear. But if you let him in, he'll bring his friends.

Writing is like listening to a melody line in my head. Note by note, it knows where it wants to go. I follow it and lay it down. I can pare it, shape it, and polish it later...My job is to take down the dribs and drabs - to free-associate, if you will, knowing that the associations have their own plans for where we're going with all this.

Far from making me feel different and special, my [spiritual] experiences made me feel the same, ordinary, and interconnected. If I felt more spiritual, everyone else felt more spiritual as well. (276)

You are your own Promised Land, your own new frontier.

When we walk, the two halves of our brains converse.

The essential element in nurturing our creativity lies in nurturing ourselves.

Artists are visionaries. We routinely practice a form of faith, seeing clearly and moving toward a creative goal that shimmers in the distance - often visible to us, but invisible to those around us.

Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise.

Survival lies in sanity, and sanity lies in paying attention...the capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.

When you feel yourself to be in critical condition, you must treat yourself as gently as you would a sick friend.

What payoff are you getting for remaining stuck at this point in your expansion?

There is not one pink flower, or even fifty pink flowers, but hundreds. Snowflakes, of course, are the ultimate exercise in sheer creative glee. No two alike. This creator looks suspiciously like someone who just might send us support for our creative ventures.

The reward for attention is always healing.

Making art has taught me that the tiniest smidgen of progress is something to be cherished.

The creator made us creative. Our creativity is our gift from God. Our use of it is our gift to God. Accepting this bargain is the beginning of true self-acceptance.

Being in the mood to write, like being in the mood to make love, is a luxury that isn't necessary in a long-term relationship. Just as the first caress can lead to a change of heart, the first sentence, however tentative and awkward, can lead to a desire to go just a little further.

We undertake certain spiritual exercises to achieve alignment with the creative energy of the universe.

Any little bit of experimenting in self-nurturance is very frightening for most of us.

Judging your early artistic efforts is artist abuse.

Just as a good rain clears the air, a good writing day clears the psyche.