Julia Cameron

I think everybody encounters difficulty. It's just more pitched in some people.

When we clear the physical clutter from our lives, we literally make way for inspiration and 'good, orderly direction' to enter.

For most people, creativity is a serious business. They forget the telling phrase 'the play of ideas' and think that they need to knuckle down and work more. Often, the reverse is true. They need to play.

The reward for attention is always healing.

The original 'Artist's Way' focused on the nurturing of the self. The 'Artist's Way for Parents' focuses both on nurturing the self and nurturing the children in our care.

Our tears prepare the ground for our future growth.

I believe that the 'dark night of the soul' is a common spiritual experience. I believe, too, that the answer is continued seeking and perseverance. It helps to know that others have endured a loss of faith.

When I was first approached about doing an autobiography, I said, 'absolutely not.' But when I sat down, memories came pouring out. It wrote very quickly - I think there was an emotional impulse, because once I started in, the story itself carried me along. It was a very intense writing period and took a year and change to finish.

We go into parenting, and we discover that we don't have the answers. We are at a loss.

Faith is almost the bottom line of creativity; it requires a leap of faith any time we undertake a creative endeavor, whether this is going to the easel, or the page, or onto the stage - or for that matter, in a homelier way, picking out the right fabric for the kitchen curtains, which is also a creative act.

What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do money comes to us doors open for us we feel useful and the work we do feels like play to us.

Love is the substance of all life. Everything is connected in love, absolutely everything.

Writing is a spiritual practice in that people that have no spiritual path can undertake it and, as they write, they begin to wake up to a larger connection. After a while, people tend to find that there is some muse that they are connecting to.

When I ask for help with my creativity, I get it.

Technology teaches passivity. Absorbed in our devices - at any age - we are absorbed in someone else's perspective.

Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough - that we should try again.

All of us contain a divine, expressive spark, a creative candle intended to light our path and that of our fellows.

My new house has a deck that wraps around my writing room; my writing room has many windows, and outside the windows I've hung bird feeders... for enticing different species. So I imagine I will be writing about that.

So much of our mythology around money centers on the illusion that if we had 'more,' we would be more comfortable and more able to access our creativity. But creativity and prosperity are spiritual matters, not fiscal ones.

When I went in, my editor said, 'I hope you don't think you're a writer.' And I said, 'I hope you don't think I'm a journalist.' And, uh, turned out we were both right.

Writing is like breathing, it's possible to learn to do it well, but the point is to do it no matter what.

It's OK to stand back. But it's also good to demonstrate that it's fun to be involved. As long as you are willing to say, 'This looks fun. I'd like to try this, too,' your child will mimic your example of openness, playfulness and optimism.

Creativity is always a leap of faith. You're faced with a blank page, blank easel, or an empty stage.

A God Jar is anything you wish it to be, in which you can put your wishes, dreams, problems, prayers. You may want to think of it as a spiritual mailbox.

I believe that when we ask to be led, we are led, and there's nothing too small or esoteric for spiritual help.

There is a treadmill quality to workaholism.

At it's essence, art is an alchemical process. Alchemy is a process of transformation.

We are meant to midwife dreams for one another. Success occurs in clusters.

What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us.

Buy tabloids. Celebrity gossip is engrossing. Celebrity cellulite can make you forget turbulence.

Because if you're trying to write and you have unlimited time, you can procrastinate an unlimited account, but if you have limited time, you rush to the page trying to get something down in the little bit of fragment of time that you have, and you may write a great deal that way.

Nothing dies harder than a bad idea.

Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That and surprise.

Art used to be made in the name of faith. We made cathedrals, we made stained-glass windows, we made murals.

I think that 'Floor Sample' is a story of resiliency, a lifelong spiritual search, and a lifelong sense of spiritual companionship that is most often expressed as creativity. My desire in writing the book was to step from behind the icon of 'Julia the teacher' and introduce 'Julia the artist.'

It's important always to have a sense of wonder.

Each of us has an inner dream that we can unfold if we will just have the courage to admit what it is. And the faith to trust our own admission. The admitting is often very difficult.

There's this mythology that parents are supposed to be parents 24/7 and are supposed to be completely fulfilled by their kids. That's not the case. We need to make our own passions a priority.

I believe that I am very lucky to have close friends who are faithful. From my friends, I have learned the importance of perseverance.

Creativity - like human life itself - begins in darkness.

Art is not about thinking something up. It is the opposite - getting something down.

If we lean into what we love instead of soldiering toward what we 'should,' our pace quickens, our energy rises, optimism sets in. What we love is nutritious for us.

I grew up in what you might call a relentlessly creative household. We were given art supplies, music supplies... Our mother knew enough to get us started and then stand back and not meddle. My parents never said to us, 'Don't you think you'll need something to fall back on?' They acted as though creativity was completely normal.

Spirituality can release blocks, lead you to ideas, and make your life artful. Sometimes when we pray for guidance, we're guided in unexpected directions. We may want a lofty answer and we get the intuition to clean our bedroom. It can seem so humble and picky and that you don't necessarily think of it spiritual guidance.

You have to muster a certain amount of belief that you're not making a mistake and you're not a fool. And this means you have to have faith.

When we put the pen to paper, we articulate things in our life that we may have felt vague about. Before you write about something, somebody says, 'How do you feel?' and you say, 'Oh, I feel okay.' Then you write about it, and you discover you don't feel okay.

We undertake certain spiritual exercises to achieve alignment with the creative energy of the universe.

I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.

In my experience, divorce takes you out for about 10 years, but you hear people talk about it lightly. The same with depression. You only have to have one good breakdown before you realize you need help. It's pretty frightening.

I always start everything with the weather, because the weather is the first thing that I notice when I wake up in the morning.

Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough ? that we should try again.

My work unblocks people, and then I look at the work that they do, and I think, 'My God, how could they not have known they were talented? How could they not have known?'

'Faith and Will' sprang from my personal experience with passing through a dark spiritual time.

My mother set us to an activity and let us be.

I started writing morning pages just to keep my hand in, you know, just because I was a writer and I didn't know what else to do but write. And then one day as I was writing, a character came sort of strolling in and I realized, Oh my God, I don't have to be just a screenwriter. I can write novels.

My life is at least as intricate as my readers' lives. People say that 'The Artist's Way' changed their lives, but when they talk about 'Floor Sample,' they tell me, 'I was with you all the way.'

If you are too busy to develop your talents you are too busy.

In limits, there is freedom. Creativity thrives within structure. Creating safe havens where our children are allowed to dream, play, make a mess and, yes, clean it up, we teach them respect for themselves and others.

Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise.

The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.

I think we have a great deal of mythology around writing. We believe that only a few people can really do it. I wrote a book called 'The Right to Write.' In it, I argued that all of us have the capacity to write. That it's as normal to write as it is to speak.

Don't try to 'fix' the child's boredom - rather, let the child find his or her inner resources.

Each of us has an inner dream that we can unfold if we will just have the courage to admit what it is.

When it was suggested that I write a memoir I said, 'I'm not old enough. I'm not distinguished enough.' But I went home and sat down to write, and the material for the book just came flooding into my hands.

We have a lot of pressures on children very young. We have ambition. We over-schedule our children. We want them to have soccer lessons and violin lessons... I think children need to have at least an hour of fun a day.

People frequently believe the creative life is grounded in fantasy. The more difficult truth is that creativity is grounded in reality in the particular the focused the well observed or specifically imagined.

Growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. Remember that and be very gentle with yourself.