INTRODUCTION
I’ll begin at the beginning. This is a book about guidance, so I’ll start with defining “guidance,” and answering the most commonly asked questions. What is it? Can anyone receive it? Guidance is direction that comes from a higher source of wisdom than we ordinarily encounter. It is the response of the universe to a question, “What about X?” Guidance is available to all of us. It is not the specialty of an elite few. Rather, anyone can ask for guidance and receive it. All that is required is an open mind.
Guidance is the fourth essential Artist’s Way tool. Living the Artist’s Way is a window into my life and my reliance on guidance at every juncture. It’s an invitation to use this tool—as I do—to help navigate all areas of your life.
In previous books, I have written about the creative art of listening and prayer, and how we can be led through these practices and through our Morning Pages. Now, I take you one step further. You will see how prayer sets the stage for guidance; how Morning Pages prime us for writing guidance. With guidance, we ask on the page and we receive answers on the page. I will show you how this practice has bolstered my life and my art. My guidance and art have become how I think … how I make sense of the world. I’m listening for guidance every step of the way.
In this book, I will reveal a personal, vulnerable side, writing about how I use guidance to handle doubts in my life. Ultimately, I experience faith. Indeed, writing guidance makes for a happier, lighter life. It’s reassuring; it grounds us and can quell our doubts, anxieties, and fears. It leads to our inner wisdom and authentic selves.
It is my hope in this book to be both charming and calming. I hope you will love the deep exploration and practical application of this essential tool. Maybe my experience will demonstrate that it can be meditative—and fun—to write for guidance.
“I wonder about X,” we may think, and the wondering is a fertile ground for guidance. “What about X?” we pose the question, and we find our query being answered. Something or somebody responds to us. We “hear” information that satisfies our wondering. Guidance is simple and direct, yet powerful.
Romance, finance, tangled business affairs—all are fair game for guidance. What began for me as a limited affair was soon expanded into an adventure. I found guidance to be far-reaching and trustworthy. The wisdom I had previously sought from human sources was readily available from spiritual sources instead. I well remember my excitement at this discovery. “You mean I could ask about anything?” I exclaimed.
Yes.
And so I did. “What should I write about next?” became a frequent query.
Write about prayer, the answer might come back. Or, Write about friendships.
Or, in the case of this book, Write about guidance. You’ve been using it for thirty years. Say more. The guidance was right. I wrote about guidance in The Artist’s Way, and then spent thirty years writing without mentioning it again, although I was using it at all times. I came to think of it as a fourth essential tool—a sort of safety net that undergirded the three tools I already had in place.
My guidance has pointed me in fruitful directions for more than thirty years. I came to rely upon it. I quickly found that when used in conjunction with the other tools, it yielded me a surefooted path.
And so, a few words about the other tools are appropriate now. When we use all four tools in conjunction, we gain confidence in our creativity. Using the tools we attain a creative life.
THE FOUR ESSENTIAL TOOLS
The four essential tools of a creative recovery include Morning Pages, Artist Dates, Walks, and Writing for Guidance. Used in combination, they have helped people around the world become creatively unblocked, happier, and more productive.
I encourage you to use all four of these tools. This handbook is a deep dive into the fourth essential tool, Writing for Guidance. In diary form, it is a window into how I use it in all aspects of my daily life.
Morning Pages
Three pages of longhand writing, done every morning upon awakening. I recommend 8½ × 11 or A4-sized paper—any smaller, and I find you will crimp your thoughts. As soon as you can after waking up, write three single-sided pages about absolutely anything. If you can’t think of anything to write, write “I can’t think of anything to write.” Yes, you can make coffee first, but don’t spend forty-five minutes brewing the perfect cup. The faster you get to the page, the more effective the pages will be. Very important: these pages are for your eyes only. Show them to no one. They are a completely private place to dream, wish, complain, muse, and dare. They are the bedrock tool of a creative recovery.
Artist Dates
Once a week, take your artist—the youthful, playful part of you that creates—on a solo date. This does not need to be expensive or time consuming. The point is that you commit to a chunk of time where you focus on your artist—and on fun. These mini-adventures are festive excursions that you do alone. It might be a visit to a museum, a solo trip to a new restaurant, a walk through a botanic garden, a movie. An hour or two is enough. Resist your resistance: it is easy to decide you “don’t have time” for this date. But artist dates have been known to give us insight, inspiration, and happiness. Choose an outing that enchants your inner artist. Expect your luck to improve and synchronicity to increase as you commit to regular artist dates.
Walks
Twice a week, take yourself for a solo walk, sans music, phone, friends, or dogs. Twenty minutes twice a week is enough to alter your consciousness. You may wish to walk out with a question and see if you return with an answer.
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WITH THESE THREE tools in place, we are ready to ask for guidance. Guidance can be sought at any time, day or night, although many people find it best sought directly after Morning Pages. It differs from Morning Pages in that it asks a direct question: “What about X?” Where Morning Pages may yield us information on a troubling issue, they are seldom as direct as guidance, asking point-blank for direction. Here, you have a choice: you can ask for guidance in the same journal you use for Morning Pages, or, perhaps better, in a separate notebook specifically for guidance. A question at a time, we ask, and listen for a response. In guidance, we may ask to understand a thorny issue. A simple sentence may unlock our difficulties. Guidance gives us an overview. A deep dilemma may be revealed and dismissed. For example, I wrote, “What about my writing?” I heard back, Put sobriety first, and I realized I was dealing with an issue of faith. My doubt about my writing was actually a failure of trust.
WRITING FOR GUIDANCE
When we write for guidance, we write out a question, and then write down what we “hear.” Following our guidance, we find ourselves led, gently and well. As we practice writing for guidance, we find that our guidance comes more and more easily. The novice at guidance may find themselves doubting its validity. “What if it’s just my imagination?” It is not, or—if it is—the imagination is far wiser and more benevolent than we had previously thought. The essential message of guidance is the assurance that all is well; difficulties will work out; we are safe, guided, and protected. Our guidance comes, and we come to rely upon it.
INTRODUCTION
The Artist’s Way was published in 1992. In that book, I talk about seeking—and relying—on guidance. Laying out a path for others to follow, I talk about the simple practice of asking for—and receiving—guidance. My tone, those many years ago, was matter of fact. Of course it was smart to seek guidance and to trust it.
In the years intervening, I have come to recognize the importance of confidence. We must work to have an open mind. Guidance is trustworthy, but we must do the work to trust. As we seek guidance more and more frequently, we recognize its wisdom on matters large and small. This brings us confidence. We practice having it.
In 1992, I wrote:
Anyone who faithfully writes morning pages will be led to a connection with a source of wisdom within. When I am stuck with a painful situation or problem that I don’t think I know how to handle, I will go to the pages and ask for guidance. To do this, I write “LJ” as shorthand for me, “Little Julie,” and then I ask my question.
LJ: What should I tell them about this inner wisdom? (Then I listen for the reply and write that down, too.)
ANSWER: You should tell them everyone has a direct dial to God. No one needs to go through an operator. Tell them to try this technique with a problem of their own. They will.
Thirty years later, I still seek guidance. I seek it and—despite my doubts—I trust it. I now have three decades of experience with guidance being trustworthy. And yet I have not written about it as much as the other essential tools. Perhaps I have a lingering fear of being too “woo-woo.”
And what exactly do I mean by that? I have a fear of having departed from our accepted rational path. Guidance, after all, lays out a spiritual path, an intuitive path, one taking us to believe in what we cannot, rationally, know. Is it any wonder we feel fearful, lest we be judged a little “touched,” a little “crazy”?
Over the years, I’ve collected my friends carefully. They do not think I’m “crazy,” or too woo-woo. Instead, like me, they believe in guidance. Specifically, they believe in my guidance.
“What does your guidance say about that?” my friend Jeannette will ask me when I bring up a tricky issue.
“I don’t know. I haven’t asked,” I will sometimes report miserably.
“Well, I think you’d better check in,” she will remind me, trusting my guidance to be accurate. And so I “check in.”
My friend Laura Leddy also trusts my guidance. Believing in her own guidance, she also believes in mine. And so, with her, I do not mince words. I say to her, “Guidance tells me,” and then I quote what I have been told. Laura listens with interest and no skepticism. I find her belief reinforces my own.
Jacob Nordby, another close friend, is also a believer. He seeks guidance daily and acts on what he hears. To him, my guidance is an accepted fact. When I pursue a direction guidance has given me, he assumes the direction to be correct. We often teach together and our guidance makes each teaching experience easy, even effortless. We live a thousand miles apart but our guidance brings us together across the miles.
Scottie Pierce, a close friend, believes in my guidance and her own. “You’re very tuned in,” she will assure me. “Your guidance is accurate, sound, and exact.” When I ask her to pray for me, she does so gladly, often remarking that I’m “already on the beam.”
Nightly, I check in with another friend, Scott Thomas. A Lakota elder and psychotherapist, he invokes his own guidance daily. Writing my daily passage, I often hear from him. “Just happy you’re having a creative evening,” he’ll tell me, trusting that my writing is “led.” He keeps his phone calls brief, not wanting to “interrupt the flow.”
And so, bolstered in my belief by my friends’ belief, I write out guidance nightly. I ask to hear from the Great Creator, and I ask also to hear from Higher Forces. My requests for guidance are always answered and those answers guide my life.
When I teach the tool of written guidance, the most common question I am asked is “What if it’s just my imagination?” To that I reply, “Well then, your imagination is much more helpful and positive than you have thought.”
This book is my answer to this common question: “What if it’s just my imagination?” This book asks, “What if it’s not?”
Thirty years after The Artist’s Way was published, I am here to report that I still write for guidance daily, and on any topic I need help with. It is a practice I rely on, believe in, and use in every area of my life. Living the Artist’s Way is a window into my life—and my reliance on guidance at every juncture. As this book lays out how and when I use this tool, it will invite you, too, to apply the technique I depend on to navigate all areas of your life—from your relationships to your environment to your career. It is powerful, it is positive, and it is available to all of us.
Welcome to the creative act of writing for guidance.
WRITING FOR GUIDANCE
I believe in higher realms and higher forces. I believe our world is touched by them, needing only our consent. Swing wide the gate and all manner of spiritual aid rushes to our side. Clang the gate shut again and experience life without headlights. Guidance gives us high beams and we come to rely on them. As we ask to be led, we are led. Write for guidance, and our lives become friendlier. The future no longer looms hostile and unknown. As we ask to be guided we experience a benevolent guiding force, tutoring us as we move forward. This force “speaks” to us in a wise and kindly tone. Difficulties lessen as we are given the grace to handle them. We are well and carefully led. There is no error in our path, we are assured. We are told, Do not doubt my goodness, and our fears lessen. As we take our troubles to the page, our troubles decrease. We write, and a higher hand “rights” things. Calamity gives way to opportunity. Our pen becomes an instrument of good.
“But what about X?” we ask, still seeking pessimism. However, optimism meets our hand. There is no trouble that cannot be tempered. Our misgivings, doubt, and despair are met head on. We are promised a sunny future devoid of drama. Our hand, moving across the page, yields us a handmade life. All is well, we are told, and we come to believe it. It is a matter of confidence. And confidence is born of practice. We try trusting the small, and we find ourselves trusting the large. “All is well” becomes a mantra. All is well, we come to believe.
Guidance comes to us through our own hand. We ask on the page and we receive answers on the page. We grow bold enough to inquire directly and our inquiries are responded to directly. Our guidance is straightforward. “What about X?” yields us information about X. We are told many things we have no rational way of knowing. Guidance peeks around corners, giving us a glimpse beyond. Our fears and concerns are eased. In the world of guidance, goodness prevails. So many of our fears are groundless, are imaginings. Guidance dismantles these fears, urging us to trust in a benevolent future.
We seek guidance in all arenas of our lives. Romance, finance—no topic is taboo. We ask to hear on a volatile subject and that subject is rendered open to us and without drama. Our wildly vivid imaginings are gently tamed. We will be loved. We will prosper. Guidance assures us our future is bright, not shadowed by fear. Slowly, gradually, we learn we are worthy. Guidance thinks well of us and we strive to do the same. In time, “What about X?” becomes drained of drama. Our guidance has offhand optimism and we come to trust it. Writing our guidance out, we reread it for reassurance. We “hear” our guidance over and its kindly tone sinks in.
All will be well, our guidance tells us. We come to trust, at first grudgingly, that this is so. Tutored in equanimity, we find ourselves responding rather than harshly reacting to life’s cues. “You’re so calm,” we are told by our intimates. Our calm is a fruit of guidance. We are rendered more even-tempered. Our perceptions of life have altered. People and events are no longer seen as hostile. We have no need for barbed defenses. The world is not adversarial.
Of course we can pray for guidance and not put our request in writing, but there is something in the act of writing that renders the guidance we receive somehow more “real.” It is our hand moving across the page, but our hand is an instrument in the hand of God. As we write for guidance—and write out the guidance we receive—our words may surprise us. They form in our consciousness as though we are taking dictation. A syllable at a time, a word at a time, we are given wisdom. Someone—or something—writes through us. We take down the words we “hear” and are often astonished. There is a wisdom apparent that is not our own. We sense that guidance takes the long view where we—shortsighted—see the short.
“What about X?” we query, and our guidance responds not only about X but about another issue that has been eddying in our subconscious. I ask for help with my writing, receive it, and hear the additional note, Your sobriety is solid. A sober alcoholic for forty-two years now, I had not realized that my sobriety remained for me an issue. Guidance, wiser than my conscious self, kept track of my years of sobriety and my need to remain conscious myself. That my sobriety is “solid” comes to me as welcome news. Guidance tutors me in my priorities.
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DO NOT IMAGINE you are abandoned, guidance chides us. Instead, know that guidance is omnipresent, ever ready to guide and guard us. Opening our minds and hearts to guidance is an act of will. We are willing to be guided, and guided we will be.
“Can I have guidance?” we come to ask, and a flow of guidance comes to us. Listening, writing it out, we may find ourselves surprised by the ease with which it appears. Who told us guidance would be difficult to access? I have found that receiving guidance is surprisingly easy and natural. The more we practice asking for guidance, the more normal it seems. We find ourselves relaxing. We begin to trust the flow of guidance, and further guidance comes to us. Do not worry that you are off kilter, we are tutored. Instead, trust.
Pen in hand, we transcribe the guidance we are given. Better than merely remembering, we write out our direction. Now we are able to read—and reread—our guidance. The words on the page sink into our psyche. We find ourselves led gently and well.
Over time, seeking guidance at all turns, we come to trust our higher power. Guidance that seems mysterious or abstract proves itself to be, in cozy retrospect, accurate and helpful. And it is a rarity for guidance to seem obscure. Most often it is simple and direct.
“Can I have guidance,” we pray, and the prayer is answered promptly. You are led carefully and well, we are told, and then the guidance gets more specific. In my case, I am talked to about my writing. Write about hope. Write about control, I am tutored, and so when I obey the guidance I am rewarded with writing of strength and clarity.
Write. Write now! I am sometimes urged when I am feeling resistance, not wanting to trust my guidance. Because sometimes I need to be told, Resist your resistance. And so I do and when I do I am given work with authenticity and power.
Do not imagine you are abandoned, guidance scolded me yesterday when I was, yes, feeling abandoned. We are at your side always. And just who is this mysterious “we”? I have come to think of them simply as “higher forces.” I imagine myself talked to by great and benevolent beings. Angels? Who knows. “They” are content to remain anonymous.
Do not doubt our goodness, they remind me, faced with my occasional skepticism. This admonition casts me back through my years of guidance, years in which the guidance proved itself good. I have journal after journal filled with benevolent guidance. There is no error in your path, the entries assure me, adding this final comforting thought: Julia, all is well.
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MY PHONE RINGS. The caller is my fellow writer Jacob Nordby. It has been for him a tumultuous day. His young daughter Meghan has moved out into a place of her own. In her absence, his house feels abruptly empty. Used to being a hands-on parent, Jacob now laments, “I will miss my weird little friend.” I sympathize, recalling how it felt when my own daughter, Domenica, flew the nest. That was twenty years ago and the memory still stings.
Copyright © 2023 by Julia Cameron
