What the Hell, You Might As Well

Kai wanted to eat lunch outside today, so I laid out my well-worn childhood quilt for him and toted his turkey and cheese sandwich out the front door where he sat waiting patiently on our downward sloping front lawn. Tired for some reason, I brought out my “last resort” third mug of coffee for the day and joined him.

While our neighbor across the street practiced his trumpet, one boring scale after another, I read more of my book, Walking in this World by Julia Cameron. Julia Cameron has authored a series of books on the creative process. Her first book, The Artist’s Way, is probably the best known. I devoured her books when I first ventured back into some form of writing, and then fell away over time. I’ve experienced such a pull to get back at it, so I went to the library and checked out this book of hers.

She provides a series of exercises to do. Today I read the following assignment:

What the Hell, You Might As Well
“Often we experience a sense of powerlessness because we do not see any direct action that we can take to concretely alter our sense of being stuck…sometimes we need to exercise just a little elbow grease in any creative direction…taking small action moves us…instead of a tantrum, try doing this instead:

Take a pen and number down from 1 to 20. List 20 small creative actions you could take. For example:

1. Paint a kitchen windowsill
2. Hang lace on a bedroom door
3. Put the primrose in a good pot
4. Change the downstairs shower curtain
5. Buy a photo album and put pictures of my dog in it
6. Send my sister the fudge recipe she asked for
7. Send my sister fudge
8. Buy red socks
9. Wear them to church
10. Make a computer file of poems I love
11. Send a great poem to each of my friends
12. Photograph my current life and send the pictures to my grandmother
13. Designate something a “God Jar”, a special incubator for my dreams and hopes
14. Designate something else a “what the hell!” basket for my resentment, fears, and annoyances
15. Throw a slumber party and ask each guest to bring a ghost story to tell
16. Make a pot of soup
17. Give away every outfit I even mildly dislike
18. Get a CD player case for my car and stock it
19. Go to a great perfume store and get one great perfume
20. Take an elderly friend to a good aquarium"

**Taken from Walking in This World by Julia Cameron, page 22-23

This list jolted me with inspiration. I’ll work on a list of my own this week.