Today I started week 9 of the Artist's Way. I had just written in my pages about how I still haven't been writing this novel (the reason I started the Artist's Way in the first place). I was resolving that I needed to be more disciplined and just grind out some words but then I read this week's chapter and was really struck by how much this part resonated with me:

"As artists, grounding our self-image in military discipline is dangerous. In the short run, discipline may work, but it will only work for a while. By it's very nature, discipline is rooted in self-admiration. (Think of discipline as a battery, useful but short-lived.) We admire ourselves for being so wonderful. The discipline itself, not the creative outflow, becomes the point.

That part of us that creates best is not a driven, disciplined automaton, functioning from willpower, with a booster of pride to back it up. This is operating out of self-will. You will know the image: rising at dawn with military precision, saluting the desk, the easel, the drawing board.

Over any extended period of time, being an artist requires enthusiasm more than discipline. Enthusiasm is not an emotional state. It is a spiritual commitment, a loving surrender to our creative process, a loving recognition of all the creativity around us.

Enthusiasm (from the Greek, "filled with God") is an ongoing energy supply tapped into the flow of life itself. Enthusiasm is grounded in play, not work. Far from being a brain-numbed soldier, our artist is actually our child within, our inner playmate. As with all playmates, it is joy, not duty, that makes for a lasting bond."

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