Unfurling, nurturing
creative spirit and my inner artist child
A couple of weeks ago, I finished my 12-week journey through The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Though I’ve done The Artist’s Way twice before, this was my first time reaching week 12, the glorious finish line. In the process of closing that container, I’m thinking a lot about what it means to be a creative person.
Much of this process has involved painstakingly redefining my definition of art and artist and all the other words I’ve been too hesitant to claim. This has been particularly helpful and freeing for my inner child artist, who just wants to play.
But currently, my inner child and I are reckoning with the fact that I don’t always see myself clearly. For example, I’ve always struggled to claim the word “writer” for myself because I have rigid ideas of what a writer is supposed to be. This is especially hilarious because, aside from writing this newsletter, my ‘day job’ is literally being a copywriter, lead editor, and manager to an entire writing team.
I (and all the selves I’ve been too hesitant to claim) get a good laugh out of this. The thing about identity, though, is that the labels don’t actually matter. What actually matters is how I’m showing up for myself.
Is there clarity?
Where can I shift?
Where can I pivot?
What feels true, moment to moment?
What needs my attention and presence?
Will this enhance my life? If so, it’s a yes. If not, it’s a no.
I once had a teacher who told me that things are true and complete when we claim them as such. It was a moment of reconciling the part of me that was waiting for external validation and permission. More than anything, it was a remembrance that outsourcing my worth is a long and painful game of controlling other people’s perceptions of me, making sure I stay worthy in their eyes.
So instead, I relinquish the game of control and let it go for something brighter.
These days I am embodying the roots of the tree pictured above. Grounded, solid, swirling, playful, flowing, rooted. Making, writing, pivoting, letting it be light. So it is.
I wrote this last summer (2022) and often come back to it. It’s a mirror for me, a teaching in portals, a practice in coming home to myself and letting the earth guide me.
❊ May you read it and nurture the spirit of your truest desire 〰️
warm and empty handed,
i sit in the dirt
and kiss all the living + breathing things
like it’s the last time
the earth is winking at me,
i bow to her rhythm
and to the not knowing
look closely: you’ve entered a new portal
everything is god in disguise
the dinner bell is tolling
it’s time to come home
This week in my portal has been…
This self-assessment for the Pathways to Liberation, feeling into where I’m needing integration and where I’m only just beginning to awaken
The Creative Ideation Portal by
has been helping me develop my next group courseThe Leaving Social Media Toolkit by Amelia Hruby has been a game changer in my switch over to substack
Currently reading A Court of Thornes and Roses and it’s fulfilling all my YA novel hopes and dreams
The human design episode of the Off the Grid podcast because I want to learn more about all things human design
I don’t watch Vanderpump Rules and yet have been captivated by the drama and am thinking a lot about how all these people need Esther Perel and inner teen integration in their lives (lol)
The Japanese honeysuckle that I encounter on my daily walk near the pond and the wooden bridge puts me under a spell.
I wish I could share scents through a screen — I am sure the perfumey goodness would enchant you all the same.
Thank you for reading Sacred Attention.
-Christie