Monday 5 September 2011

Week 2, Day 1 — My Favourite Things

I read Chapter 2 of The Artist's Way before going to bed last night and spent most of it cringing.  Crazymakers are back in my life!

No, crazymakers aren't like vampires who create zombies.  Crazymakers are people who drain you, people who create drama, people who are expert blamers and have no respect for schedules or order.  The reason I cringe is because I recognise I went through a protracted period of being a crazymaker myself.  Now that's not such a shameful thing:  Julia Cameron recognises that everyone is a crazymaker at some point.  I think what makes me cringe is the fact that I went through my particular period at a time when I was retraining as a life coach and counselling skills practitioner and should have known better!!

I decided when I got up this morning not to get drawn on this task straight away.  It's one I want to think about properly and come back to, as I acknowledge there are several areas of my life that would benefit from being clutter busted right now to create space and order.  Instead, I decided to indulge in the task that asks you to make a list of twenty things you enjoy doing.

So (to borrow a lyric), these are a few of My Favourite Things:

  1. Enjoying good coffee
  2. Writing letters
  3. Writing stories
  4. Listening to acoustic music
  5. Watching live theatre
  6. Performing live theatre
  7. Taking photographs and capturing memories
  8. Freshly baked bread with butter and herbs
  9. Getting lost in an absorbing book
  10. Reading to people
  11. Singing at the top of my lungs
  12. Letting chocolate melt in my mouth
  13. Ice-cream!
  14. Baking cookies
  15. Walking in the park or city (depending on the weather and my mood)
  16. Trips to the seaside
  17. Going to the movies
  18. Exploring places I haven't been before
  19. Walking barefoot
  20. Learning new things 

Those are the first things that came to me; I'm sure I've missed something obvious!  I then had to identify when I last let myself do these things.  I've done quite a few of them recently, and some of them I do regularly, so that's probably a good thing.  One I haven't done in over two years is go to the seaside, and that's something I miss a lot.  I like walking on the beach and feeling refreshed by the sea air, then having a treat such as a fish supper or an ice-cream to finish the day off.  It's not as easy to do now that I don't have a car, although not impossible if I put my planning head on and take the train down the coast.  I sense a future Artist's Date in the making...

I've picked my goals for this week and know which I'm going to try and squeeze into any windows of opportunity that arise.  Wish me luck!

K

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