Anxious to see how you get it all sorted out
Here is an excerpt from the beginning of Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, in which she explains about the Morning Pages and the Artist's Date.
http://www.theartistsway.com/pdfs/basictools.pdf
Everyone, don't get hung up on thinking these tools are just for "artists." Remember cut & piece the tools that work for you.For Julia, we are all artists in the sense we are creating & expressing our lives. She calls God/the Universe: The Creator instead. That The Creator is naturally creative. He created us, and naturally we carry the essence & need to create in our souls too. It is self expression. Whether it is a beautifully decorated cake,
a great dinner, an itinerary for a vacation that fits together, an business report or an outfit that expresses our mood. Even problem solving is an act of creation.
The Morning pages are a tool for contacting your self, clarifying issues, putting down nagging doubts, coming up with ideas, venting, writing out dreams...
I've been doing morning pages since 1996. Sometimes I vent, sometimes I make lists, lots of lists, sometimes I write stories, doodle, once I wrote a fairy tale,a few poems, I come up with my ideas for my pottery & jewelry-making. Other times, it's therapy for me, as I come up with my own solutions. I've found I am my biggest cheerleader in my morning pages.
That sometimes I always knew the way, but didn't trust myself - yet it showed up on the pages, when I read them much later. I am my biggest nurturer and defender, when I vent an injustice.
My heart knows the way to heal itself.
The Artist's Date, can be called a Date with Self. It's about recharging, or as Julia calls it, "Restocking the pond" after it gets fished out. We need time alone, simply to replenish, find our own rhythm again, and hear our selves.
It doesn't have to be long. Forty minutes is fine. It doesn't have to be expensive But it always has to be alone. Sitting alone, in a coffee shop, watching people, you can come up with anything to recharge yourself. Scribble a story for fun at each visit, on napkins, about a boy who goes to a magical school and learns he's a wizard...
You go window shopping and you realize the living room depresses you because the color needs changing. You just saw lovely blue curtains on clearance that remind you of the ones at the Disney resort, and they would make you & the family feel cheerful every time everyone walked into the living room and saw them.
I like the idea of going somewhere like a coffee shop and writing the pages while in the midst of activity going on around you. I'll plan on getting up early a couple days a week and stopping by one of the coffee shops near my work for 30 minutes so I can get different inspirations. 
Very True! My Mom has always said something very similar of that to us!!ITony Robbins often says that the difference between the people who are Excellent vs. the people who are Outstanding is often by a few inches or milliseconds.
In life, sometimes, that's all it takes, a half-stroke more.
You got the concept of the Morning pages. The gibberish at first was the "brain drain" part. Other times it may show up as complaints and venting. But when you hang in there and get past it, you hit pay dirt!
The solutions are usually on the other side of that resistance & inertia.One of the themes I get from Dyer, Chopra, Ban Breathnach, and WTBDWK is creating. Creating your day. Living a life of creativity. This exercize gives me the opportunity to create without being a "artist." We are all artists in some way or another. The act of living positively is an art. I think I am actually getting that now.
That's because I didn't keep putting in energy to keep creating the situation in a positive way.
Imzadi, That is such a neat video. Thanks for posting it. This thread is so uplifting. I look forward to it everyday. I really enjoy reading your posts.
Imzadi, I finally did it this morning. I was updating my Internet favorites list and stumbled upon the link you posted. I saved it, promising myself to get back to it. And I never did.
One of the themes I get from Dyer, Chopra, Ban Breathnach, and WTBDWK is creating. Creating your day. Living a life of creativity. This exercize gives me the opportunity to create without being a "artist." We are all artists in some way or another. The act of living positively is an art. I think I am actually getting that now.
Thank you, Imzadi!!!!!
I hope they start doing better soon!
I want to see cake pictures too! Sounds very very cute!!Hi! Just posting to say how grateful I am for the wonderful weather we are having in NH right now! My kids had a great first day of school, they really enjoyed it. My salon is very busy and I'm so grateful for it. I have friends in another town that all got together to make a salon and she said they aren't faring too well
I also need to start working on the cake for the Humane Society!! She decided a sheet cake would work better, so I think I will do a Frozen Buttercream Transfer of a dog & cat on top and around the border put paw prints.
Anyhow that is what is going on with me, I hope you all have a glorious day!
I want to see cake pictures too! Sounds very very cute!!
BTW I'm a hairdresser too! I worked in a Salon for many years but a little over a year ago started a job in the financial field. I still do hair out of our home for friends and family. It's great your salon is busy!!
Class is two days a week, I can handle that..I love the school, I took a makeup class there....I've got about a month before I decide what I'm going to do..
Very cool! I'm hoping to actually continue my education and go to Esthetic School. Class starts November 4 and the only thing I'm thinking heavily over is the amount of $$ it costs (its twice as much as my cosmetology education and a lot less hours...trying to justify the cost), I really need some help to decide what I should do. The area that I'm in (ski area and very touristy) would bring in a lot of people for facials, pedicures, manicures, body waxing and this is stuff that I don't do
If you plan to start the Morning Pages, this would be where your musings & indecision about this would show up. The Morning Pages help crystallize your thought & feelings into more concrete & specific form. The very act of writing forces thoughts to become succinct. The act of doing it freehand engages your body and brings your thoughts to the physical realm. I'm making more money than all my other fellow colleagues in the same type of job, for the same days & event. I don't have to work for another 2 weeks after, if I don't want to. 
Then he realised, "Ah, you don't give a **** about slaving away in corporate America. You're just doing this (brainless job) for the money."
This is understandable as well, this is like me and the cakes
The cupcakes are always stale. Probably because they sit out too long while waiting to be decorated - and they still charge $4 a cupcake and people buy them. 
So it's not like they are a do-it-all kind of bakery. But the few things they make are out of this world. I really enjoy talking to people everyday, meeting new people everyday and making them feel better about themselves...my cake stuff relaxes me when I'm stressed (except of course when my dog eats the cake!). I thoroughly enjoy doing both and don't want to just one or the other...If I gave up hair and such, I'd miss my clients Most of the reasoning for doing the esthetic stuff is that I don't like turning people away from things that I don't offer and I do that a lot.
