Q&A Session With Resistance (or, Who are we to...?)

Back in February I stumbled upon a passage in Julia Cameron's book, The Sound of Paper, that posed the question:

"If I found myself and my thoughts interesting, what might I try?"

One of the answers I ventured was penning the framework for creative living that's been surfacing over and over in my journal for the past seven years, for creating a life of intention and choice and alignment and joy.

The call to structure and capture this framework is coming in loud and clear these days. Of course this means that resistance, in its quest to protect me, is coming in loud and clear too:

"Do you really have it in you to do this? It takes time and energy. You're tired. It's probably easier not to start."

"Don't do it, there are trolls and mean people out there. If you publish your thoughts they will say mean things and it will break your heart. Do you really want your heart broken? Keep it to yourself. It's safer."

And the classic:

"Who are you to write a framework about creative living? You have no authority on the subject.”

About that last one...

Yesterday I was sifting through some old files and found the draft for a February post where I first wrote about Ms Cameron's question and admitted my desire to capture my framework for creative living. Apparently I'd originally written a second part to my reflection – a second, powerful part that didn't get published on the blog:

"Who do I think I am to do this [pen a framework for creative living]?"

Turns out I had several answers:

I am a person who truly believes in the power of choice and that we can create a life of alignment.

I am a person whose journalling practice has been producing and outlining a particular framework for the past seven years.

I am a person who practices the framework – albeit not always consciously, lives it and discovers its challenges, joys and nuances as she goes along.

I am a person who dislikes self-help clichés yet knows that sometimes things become cliché because they hold a kernel of truth.

I am a person who believes we have our own answers within, sometimes we just need a little prompting to ask ourselves the questions.

I am a person who has nothing to lose in penning this framework except her own time and effort, but has a lot to gain in clarity.

BAM!

Stephanie, 1. Resistance, 0.

Onward, I say.

.:.

Who are YOU to...?

Following Ms Cameron's prompt, the next time your resistance asks you who you are to do something, try answering it.

"I am a person who..."

Write down your answers. It's pretty powerful.

In spirit of discovery,

Stephanie

♥

What might you try?

"It is an interesting question: 'If I found myself and my thoughts interesting, what might I try?' We might discover we have a novel brewing that we have been too shy to unwrap. We might discover that we have a raft of paintings that are going unpainted lest we be 'dull.' We might discover that we are not putting to the page our one-woman show or our idea for a documentary film. If I were interesting, why, I might try any number of things."

~ Julia Cameron, The Sound of Paper

.:.

"If I found myself and my thoughts interesting, what might I try?"

I might try penning the framework for creative living that's been surfacing over and over in my journal for the past seven years, for creating a life of intention and choice and alignment and joy.

I might try sharing the digital artwork and photography I've been producing this winter in fits of blissful creative flow.

© 2018 Stephanie Guimond, Oranges, iPhoneography

I might try exploring the merits of creativity and other intangibles in the workplace, particularly in the field of productivity and project management. I might even try sharing my findings.

I might try writing about my art, especially the pieces produced intuitively, the ones I cannot really explain.

.:.

If you found yourself and your thoughts interesting, what might YOU try?

Tell me.