It was while doing the first chapter of The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron, for the first time, that I came face to face with my issues about affirmations. I didn’t believe in them. Period. I thought they were silly. Then I did this exercise and my attitude changed. Whether or not you already support the idea of affirmations, this exercise could be eye-opening for you. I hope you’ll give it a try.
Julia Cameron on the enemy within:
“An affirmation is a positive statement of (positive) belief, and if we can become one-tenth as good at positive self-talk as we are at negative self-talk, we will notice an enormous change….
When we first start working with affirmations, they may feel dumb. Hokey. Embarrassing. Isn’t this interesting? We can easily, and without embarrassment, bludgeon ourselves with negative affirmations: ‘I’m not gifted enough/not clever enough/not original enough/not young enough…’ But saying nice things about ourselves is notoriously hard to do. It feels pretty awful at first….
Just try picking an affirmation. For example ‘I, _____________ (your name), am a brilliant and prolific potter [painter, poet, or whatever you are].’ Write that ten times in a row. While you are doing that, something very interesting will happen. Your Censor will start to object. ‘Hey, wait a minute. You can’t say all that positive stuff around me.’ Objections will start to pop up like burnt toast. These are your blurts.
Listen to the objections. Look at the ugly, stumpy little blurts…. You will be amazed at the rotten things your subconscious will blurt out. Write them down. These blurts flag your personal negative core beliefs. They hold the key to your freedom in their ugly little claws. Make a list of your personal blurts….
Turn now to your own list of blurts. They are very important to your recovery. Each of them has held you in bondage. Each of them must be dissolved. For example, a blurt that runs, ‘I, Fred, am an untalented phony’ might be converted to the affirmation, ‘I, Fred, am genuinely talented.’
Use your affirmations every morning.”
Jeane here: When I did this exercise I was stunned. While I was attempting to write the original affirmation ten times, I had to pause time and again to write down all the negative self-talk that poured out of me. I ended up with page after page of blurts. So I did the work to turn these negative beliefs into affirmations. And when I was done I had pure gold—a list of positive affirmations that were custom-made for ME. They neutralized all those core negative beliefs I’d been carrying around with me all my life. And I USED them! Every morning I would choose three and write them ten times each. This became a powerful part of my process.
As I write this now, I realize it’s time I did this exercise again—to uncover new blurts (or deeper blurts) residing in my psyche. Let’s try this together, shall we? I hope you’ll join me and then write to me about your experience. You know I’ll be writing about mine!
Love to you all,
Jeane
This article was useful when looking for:
- https://high-road-artist com/8495/wisdom-wednesdays/your-enemy-within-the-artists-way/ (13)
Jeane, so appreciate you sharing this as I am on the first week of the Artist’s Way and have been playing with blurts and affirmations but not taking this part too seriously. Really helps to hear your perspective. Next time I work on affirmations I will approach it in whole new way. Thanks!
That’s great Sylvia. I hope you’ll do this exercise. It made an enormous difference in my life, truly.
Thank you again, Jeane. It seems there is yet another parallel in our journeys. Just this week I committed to doing this process as part of my Mastermind Group. You are giving me a powerful reminder as to the deep value of this process. Thank you. I am now more committed to writing out my affirmations and blurts!
Blessings,
Sheri
Ah, yes, it’s clear we didn’t bump into each other by accident! So glad you’re delving seriously into this process. I’m redoing it, too, as I said. I’m CERTAIN you will find it tremendously powerful, as will I once again. Here’s to the glory of the journey! Delighted our paths have crossed. As Kate always says to me, “Be well; be weller.”
VERY GOOD:)This is a good reminder for ANY practice:) I have had ideas about myself and now see they are limiting with regard to my Qigong practice as well! For me I get to slow down and move with gentle energy instead of pushing as I had learned to with sports in earlier years….our self talk gets tweaked by the movement of time and we get to listen again to what it is NOW lol.
Grace
Yes indeed. Layer after layer of limiting beliefs that we get to mine, sifting out the nuggets of positive belief from the sludge of negativity. A beautiful wondrous process, best achieved through peaceful wanderings and quiet acceptance, I think.
Thank you for the reminders:)
You are very generous and may you be blessed with abundance of openness to creative flow:)
XOXO
Grace
Thank you, Grace. I simply mirror you.
I am grateful that you shared your experience with this artist’s way affirmations! I had quite the same experience, and after weeks of writing my affirmations down 10 times, I felt like a completely different person! it’s true! ALL OF IT! Thanks for sharing! what a wonderful blessing it is to use affirmations when we are hard on our selves! Thank you for taking the courage to share this experience with the blogging world! Enjoy the process and happy creating!
I just started the Artist’s Way and was really interested in hearing someone else’s perspective on blurts and censoring, I have a Book Club that I am definitely going to share this post with, and I even my refer to it on my new blog. I am so happy to have stumbled upon your site. From the brief glance I have taken you seem like an amazing artists with so many beautiful stories to tell, and you an animal lover. I feel that perhaps we are kindred spirits.
Yes I found the exercise to be surprisingly illuminating. Enjoy your Artist’s Way journey. May it change your life as it changed mine.