I reread the essay from Chapter 1 of The Artist's Way called Your Ally
Within: Affirmative Weapons. You may be familiar with this work, where
you write "I, (your name), am a brilliant and prolific artist" ten
times in a row.
Then you list down the blurts that the inner censor brings up. You
also do some detective work to see who in your past planted that
specific negative thought into your belief system.
And then you proceed to dismantle it by converting the blurt into an
affirmation, and using it as a ready weapon, so that any time the
negative thoughts haunt again, we focus on the affirmations instead.
(I did the exercise up to listing the negative blurts and detecting
the culprit responsible for implanting these notions into my inner
censor.)
In Patsy Rodenburg's book, "The Second Circle", she describes an
exercise called Facing the Fear. You lie on your back with your legs
propped up on a facing chair. The chair should be at the right height
to comfortably support your calf muscles, so that your thighs can stay
unclamped. Put a thin cushion under your head.
This position frees the breath to go deep and low in the body, and
allows some unacknowledged emotions to be freed. You may cry, or laugh
as the emotion is allowed expression.
Breathing deeply, you speak your fears with a clear voice. "I am
frightened of..."
I did Patsy's exercise with the blurts, just openly speaking them into
the air. I felt vulnerable, but strangely supported. I kept on with
the exercise for as long as I needed. And soon, affirmations came to
mind as I continued to breathe deeply, dismantling and nullifying the
negative blurts.
When I was ready, I slowly got up and wrote these affirmations into my
notebook. What a release to deal with fears this way.
Thank you for listening.
