Welcome to Week 3 of my Artist's Way Adventure
If you are unfamiliar with this new series, take a look at The Artist’s Way Adventure – Prologue and come back here later.
Week 3 came at the right time. After my Artist Date, I went to a local Starbucks and read about the third week. I did feel angry. While yes, a lot of the art that was in the museum was indeed beautiful, some of the abstract pieces looked simplistic in nature. I could do better. So when I came across this chapter the same day that I felt this anger, it was refreshing.
See, during The Artist’s Way Adventure: Week 2 Recovering a Sense of Identity, the week was about figuring out who you are as an artist. Week 3, however, is about identifying moments of anger and synchronicity. It's about pinpointing those moments of anger and figuring out the true reason why you feel that way. I wasn't angry at how "ugly" the paintings were, I was upset because I desire to have my own art showcased. When I am thinking about perhaps having an Artist Date in the city, a magical moment happens when in a random conversation that very same day, someone will bring up a great activity to do.
As for moments of synchronicity. When I am thinking about having an Artist Date in the city, a magical moment happens in a and during a random conversation someone will bring up a great activity to do.
Let me tell you guys, these 'random' ah-ha moments happen more often than you think.
In my case, ever since I found out about synchronicity, it's been eye-opening. It has been so eye-opening that I've been seeing synchronicity in the lives of those close to me. Recently my boyfriend mentioned he wanted to work on a mascot for his start-up Lobo's Vault and the very next day his mother mentioned she knew someone who could help him. It's wild how putting thoughts into the universe makes things happen.
Don't believe me? I was a skeptic too.
Artist Way Lesson: Anger
As I mentioned earlier, I was angry this week. Anger in Artist's Way is a tool to let the artist know what their next step needs to be. If you feel upset that someone came up with a show that looks exactly like the one you've been daydreaming of... Then your next step is to actually stop dreaming and start creating because your ideas are valid and you need to showcase them before someone else does.
Anger happened to me during the museum trip for my Artist Date in Week 2. It also happened during my Artist Date on Wednesday. The moment of anger that I'll discuss now will be when I was on Youtube.
I am a huge fan of the Pokemon franchise. I have my own Instagram and Twitter account for posting all my Pokemon related adventures. One of my huuuuge projects is to make my own Youtube channel dedicated to my love of Pokemon. One of the videos I want to create revolve around the Nidoran family tree.
Long story short, while on Youtube, someone did exactly that. They created the dream video that I wanted to on Nidoqueen. I already had a script for my Nidoran family theory. The script was shown it to several people, and there my dream video was... Already posted by someone else.
Upon viewing the video, I realized that it was a false alarm. While the theory was similar to what I wanted to create, it was not the same. I felt relieved, but it reminded me that I need to stop being lazy and actually start working on my dream video before someone does do my theory before I can publish it.
Artist Way Lesson: Synchronicity
My artist date was synchronicity at its finest.
Halfway through the week I had no clue on what I was going to do. The area I work in has a ton of events going on so I decided to take a look to see what was happening nearby. A free yoga class was a few blocks away and I decided, why the heck not?
As you read, I enjoyed my artist date and it certainly made my day.
Artist Way Week 3 Tasks
The tasks this week did not feel as if they fit in with the theme. I did all of them, but none really stuck out to me.
One of the assignments was to point out people who I wanted to meet versus people who I secretly wanted to meet. I'm doing my tasks on my Morning Pages, why would I lie for the first set of answers and tell the truth on my second batch? The only reasoning I figured for this was to get the obvious choices out of your head, before delving deeper to who you truly want to meet or be like.
Another assignment was to 'time-travel'. This required listing several accomplishments that I achieved. Which was okay, but I did not feel it went with the theme of the week. I do believe I'm still in the 'self-discovery' phase. This explains why there is a lot of introspection and looking back at the past. This is so I could then move forward towards the future.
Hindsight is 20-20.
My Artist Date
I went to SoundOff Yoga. It's a unique take on a typical yoga class by incorporating noise-canceling headphones. This gives participants a chance to 'zone-out' of the class and focuses on their experiences. I don't know about you, but I secretly compete and compare myself with others in the room. Along with that, I'm the kind of person that enjoys experiencing new experiences and I haven't done yoga in quite a while.
The only issue is that yoga makes me mad.
Anger and yoga?
Aren't you supposed to relax?
For most people, yes. Personally, I find yoga frustrating. I tend to be hard on myself if I cannot perform the same motions as the instructor and my limited mobility makes certain poses hard to do. During my Artist Date, I decided to use whatever anger I felt to fuel my actions. If I felt upset that I couldn't reach my ankles, I took in a deep breath and pushed myself harder. I don't do enough yoga, which was why I was getting upset. Since I do not practice I am not as flexible as someone who practices it every day.
When I left the class. I was sore and proud. I seriously was able to keep up with most of the class while taking very minimal breaks.
Artist Way Week 3 Conclusion
Week 3 was about anger and synchronicity. Week 3 was also about further discovering about who I am as an artist and an individual. What I enjoyed about this week was the timing, but I guess that's the whole point of synchronicity.
If anyone else is going through this journey, I would be delighted to find out what obstacles you are facing as you go through your artistic journey.
Did you start your Artist Way Adventure? Have you experienced any moments of anger or synchronicity? Feel free to comment or tweet your responses to Twitter, I would love to hear from you!