Let’s Get this BOOK PARTY started with our 1st Book Selection! 🎉📚🥳📚🎉
Welcome to the Study, Savor, & Support Each Other CHAT! 🎉📚🥳📚🎉
In last week’s Post, I announced that I would be using my Substack CHAT to host a group for Writers, Artists, & Creatives like us, to have deep conversations about the Books that we choose, so we can implement what we learn, and unearth our truest, most Authentic Selves.
Yes, we will Study, Savor, & Support Each Other in our Creative Pursuits…
But this will NOT be some uber-serious, stuffy exercise.
Every week, we will take one Chapter and do a deep dive to STUDY the practical methods that are recommended to support our minds, bodies, and/or emotions, to pursue the Creative work that we choose.
And I’ll provide Journal Prompts to help us in our private journaling, so we can put the knowledge that we’ve gained into practice.
Having said that, I’m also a firm believer that self-improvement should not be too serious or boring.
We can use fun & humor to build sustainable habits.
And we should SAVOR the experience!
We should enjoy our Creative Journey, in the present moment, no matter how much progress we’ve made!
So I propose that we focus on SUPPORTING each other!
Let’s:
- Have fun together;
- Share our triumphs;
- Vent from time to time — we’re human after all!
- Take a lighthearted approach to journaling;
- Grow the CREATIVE GENIUS inside all of us! 💐🌺🌷🌸🌹🌻🌼
Let’s SHARE OUR WORK!
Yes, there’s power in allowing our True Self to be seen!
- With no pressure to perform or pretend to be farther along when we’re not.
- That means sharing drafts, if we’re comfortable.
- Sharing unfinished, imperfect work.
- Whatever we feel we need to share, we can share, to be supported by other Creatives who “get it.”
And, when our work’s finally finished, we can share our Final Posts, Notes, Music, Art, whatever we’re proud of, so that we can Like, Comment, and/or Restack each others’ work.
This is how we can come together, to grow through our own individual efforts, and feel the support of a kind & supportive Creative Community, too.
If that sounds good to you, then please join us & say hello!
Join Marisa Victus’s subscriber chat
Available in the Substack app and on web
To start, we’ll be practicing THE ARTIST’S WAY by Julia Cameron.
If you’re not familiar with Julia Cameron’s book then you’re in for a real treat.
This is the 12-week Program for Journaling & Artist’s Dates that Elizabeth Gilbert has praised so much, she’s said, “Without The Artist’s Way, there would have been no Eat, Pray, Love” — Elizabeth’s global sensation that went from being a NYT bestselling book, to being a Julia Roberts movie. It’s the seed that sprouted Elizabeth’s lifelong Creative Career!
If this practice was able to help fortify Elizabeth’s mindset, to be brave enough to share her writing with the world and live a monumentally successful and fulfilling Creative Life, on her own terms, then…
Why not try it for ourselves?
That’s my thinking: “If it’s good enough for her, if it’s worked for her, why not try it, to see if it can help us to be true to our Creative Self?”
We’ve got nothing to lose, and so much to gain.
It’s part of our Evolutionary Programming.
Yes, we cannot be Human and not-be-Creative!
We are hard-wired for creativity.
Nature made sure of that.
Otherwise, our species wouldn’t have evolved.
We wouldn’t have survived if we weren’t able to create: Tools. Language. Stories.
Indeed, what is an Artist? A human who creates.
That’s the only criteria.
Making money — while preferable — is not a requirement.
Being “Perfect” is not required, either.
In fact, in the INTRODUCTION to The Artist’s Way, I absolutely love how Julia Cameron tells us her own story:
In the most authentic way, she makes no effort to hide the fact that she struggled with alcoholism, to the point that she became concerned she might not be able to experience the same level of creative success if she quit drinking. As if her creative power might disappear.
But she was brave and did it anyway.
She became sober and — with the help of her Morning Pages — she found she could Unblock the inner dialogue that was keeping her in her own way.
I love how this proves none of us have to be “perfect” to be successful creatively.
And it’s precisely the messiness that’s in our Morning Pages that can free our creativity and enliven our spirit.
Yes, We are all capable of Creativity — regardless of Our Personal Beliefs
A Note:
I know from reading some reviews of Julia Cameron’s work that her personal belief in God has made others shy away from trying her program in the past.
Indeed, JC gave her book this subtitle — The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity.
However, in the edition that I have, she also emphasizes that believing in “God” is not required or expected for her 12-week program to work.
She says, “Do not call it God unless that is comfortable for you.”
She recommends substituting the word “God” for whatever resonates with us personally, whether that’s “flow” or “Mind” or “Source” or “Universe.”
Or, she says, if none of those apply — “if you remain forever an atheist, agnostic — so be it.”
In this way, I think she opens the door for Believers and Non-Believers alike to be open to trying her creative practices, to see what resonates with us as individuals, and let go of the rest.
This is important to me because I want everyone in the Chat to know that they are welcome to participate however they would like, to honor their own personal beliefs.
What matters most is that we come together to STUDY, SAVOR, and SUPPORT Each Other on our unique creative journeys.
I resonate most with the Connection we can all feel, to ourselves and to other people when we create and share our creations.
It’s amazing to
Envision words or art or music in the privacy of our minds;
Craft them with our hearts, hands, and words;
Share them with the world; and
Feel that amazing feeling of understanding and empathy that’s possible when other people are touched by what we create.
It’s like a little bridge that connects us, when others see themselves reflected in you.
And so healing when we see ourselves reflected in them.
Plus, I love the idea of helping each other to be brave — to get over our Limiting Beliefs, so we can all be our Authentic Self.
I don’t know about anyone else, but for me when it comes to living authentically, it’s about damn time! 🤣
So, if that sounds good to you, please join us in the CHAT!
Join Marisa Victus’s subscriber chat
Available in the Substack app and on web
Pull up a seat & come to our comfy & cozy Creative CHAT!
Here’s to the Creative CHAT for me & you! 🎉📚🥳📚🎉
Please Note:
For anyone who does not wish to participate in the Study, Savor, & Support each other CHAT, no problemo!
I will still publish my Newsletter, M&Ms, Sing-Along Storytime, Music, Videos, Science Fiction writing, & more!
If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to send me a DM.
Have a fantastic weekend!
The Creative in me honors & respects the Creative in each of you,
Marisa
If you love to learn about the science of self-improvement, please Subscribe to my YouTube Channel and signup for my free Substack Newsletter.
Together, we’ll explore all the ways that we can 10x our life — mind, body, & soul.
We’ll learn the scientific, physiological, and psychological reasons why we are the way that we are, and combine that understanding with simple, active practices that will:
• Enliven our emotions & creativity;
• Enhance our efficiency & productivity;
• Foster a greater depth of Self;
• Build the Secure Attachment that we need to develop a Growth Mindset; and,
• Reprogram our minds to pivot from the Sympathetic Nervous System to the Parasympathetic Nervous System when we need it to, more often than not.
I’ve planned so many exciting & fun things to share with you (in addition to music!) and I can’t wait for you to get all the FREE goodies I’ve prepared for you.
We CAN do this, TOGETHER!
Are you serious about self-improvement & want to have unstoppable self-belief?
Then SUBSCRIBE TO MY FREE SUBSTACK and entrain your brain the quick & easy way, with my daily Mindset & Meditation (M&M) practice.
Every day, I write & share 1 handwritten M&M in my “Notes” if you want to grow with me.
To learn how, click this link.
In addition, new Chapters for my serialized science fiction series (THE OBSIDIAN CHRONICLES) are released every weekend, and Subscribers can read the 1st Book in the series for FREE! Just click here (or visit https://marisavictus.substack.com/account) to opt-in + receive my Fiction writing!
Marisa