On being an artist: two books by Julia Cameron

Julia Cameron

The Artist’s Way + The Right To Write: I bought these two books online, from an used bookstore in the USA, and to my surprise, even beyong ocean Readers like to make notes and underline sentences on the pages. Quite normal, you may think, but I was surprised in discovering this. Happily surprised, albeit I wonder who can be the person who hold “The Artist’s Way” in his hands before me; something tells me that it was a woman… anyway!

I must admit that the topic and the contents of these two essays are almost the same ones. Maybe the structure and the tips are slightly different, but the main issue is the same. Someone could claim that they are the same book in different words…

The tools she suggests to use are two: the morning pages and the artist’s date.

The first one pushes you to handwrite 3 pages first thing in the morning, no matter what, just write before the inner censor wakes up.

The second one asks you to reserve one date a week for your inner artist: it is up to you what to do. A cocnert, a museum, some CD music, a walk in the wood or a visit to a brook… you can choose. The important thing is that you love what you do, that you are alone and that this date feeds your curiosity.

The effect of these two tools, says Cameron, should be visible in few weeks.

One effect can be sincronicity: a significant coincidente (do you remember Jung?). This can have nothing to do with your artistic life, but it should show you the power of writing. I was strongly curios about this matter and throughout the web I found experiences about it, but nobody goes deep in the matter, they simply report coincidences. Of course, if you put your attention on a certain topic, you will find out a lot of coincidences: this is just consciousness. But will this change your life, as Cameron asserts?

In my opinion, although I noticed some sincronicities, I believe that the author stressed too much the aspect of magic.

Let’s simply name the thing as it is: attention. This is a powerful gun we often miss in our life, taken as we are by habits and complaints.

Attention, then, leads to action. And Action, yes, it can change your life.

Anyway, these two books are useful to help you cultivating and enhancing your attention, the first ring of the chain. Therefore they are welcome.

Happy Brain – Wendy Suzuki

My Italian edition tells “more intelligent, more active, happier – the method that awakens and empower the mind”. So you expect an essay about scientific researches on brain, neurons and hormons.

This is actually a part of what you will find on this book: updated and carefully examined. But the most funny part is Suzuki’s life.

When she was a child, she dreamed to become a Hollywood star. Then she became a swot and shy girl. After that, she became a very awarded scientist and teacher.

But she was not happy.

This is the story of her change.

She started with the relationship with her parents: they never told each other sentences like “I love you” and when she decided to change this aspect, she first asked for… permission!!

Then she noticed that she was fat and in no shape at all. So she got on diet (again: a high protein diet, my god, someone must tell her to read Campbell, Esselstyn, Fuhrman, McDougall, Barnard, because she cannot he healthy with such a lifestyle) and started to exercise.

Exercise is the pivot of the book; Wendy Suzuki even put the exercise in a college class! The author analyses the effect of exercise on the brain, on the memory, on creativity and on self-image. She explains using her knowledge of neuroscience, but the book is never hard to understand.She also gives us some tips: how to develop our brain capabilities through 4-minutes easy and little things (for instance: listen to TED’s videos or go up and down from your stairs).

Of course I do not agree with her high protein diet decision. And I do not agree with her when she says that the intentional exercise shall embody self-empowerment sentences without distinguish among them (for instance, she once suggests a negative wording like “I have no fear”, when I know that such sentences must never be negative, as it seems that our unconscious does not recognize the “not” form). But I liked her change a lot!

She was almost 40 years old when she noticed that something did not work in her life. Above all, I like her sincerity when she tells about her love affairs. I gasped when I read that she tried to meet new men through a meeting-organizer and through internet: is this so normal in the USA? And what about the coach? And the feng-shui mentor?

A well-know neuro-scientist with such whims!

Thanks God: I still have hope.