Nothing But the Truth

If you read my last couple of posts, you’ll know I am participating in Jamie Ridler’s book club, The Next Chapter, reading and going through Martha Beck’s book
The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life together. This week the chapter is about Truth and it explains a process we are to go though each day in conjunction with our 15 minutes of Nothing. As I read the chapter, I thought it would be fun and rewarding. After all, what’s better than discovering some great truths about ourselves. Ok. Maybe that was a little naive. I wouldn’t exactly call it “fun” anymore. The first question you are to ask yourself is “What hurts?”

The first time I went through the process, the obvious answer came up which was, for me, a physical pain. I did come up with some underlying “reasons” why the pain was there. However, the whole thing didn’t seem very deep or life-changing. After this first effort, the truth-seeking developed a life of it’s own.

Without my consciously directing it, other Truths came up during the week seemingly on their own. I say “seemingly” because I believe that part of me was directing it in response to the fact that I had made the commitment to do this work. Each time this happened, I asked myself the questions that were listed in the chapter. Each time the process got deeper and more into the deeper issues that were really hurting me.

It feels as if I am also experimenting with how I do this whole process during the day and when. Since I am making “morning pages” part of my morning ritual, a lot of things are coming up while I am writing. It has occurred to me that writing my morning pages is also a form of “nothingness” or meditation, as I am letting the words and thoughts just stream out without any deliberate effort to control them.

This morning this naturally flowed into a meditation right in the middle of writing. Which then led to completing my morning pages with this next part. It was what I observed about my week of Truth-seeking, and it showed itself to me during that meditative period. Here is what TRUTH means to me now.

Tears
Reality (or Release)
Ugly
Tranquility
Healing (or Honesty)

This is how it has worked for me: Tears inevitably come to me when I approach something profound and close to my heart – the beginning of a Truth. It is a new Reality which hits me, or at least a new realization of what Reality is for me. I guess it could also stand for Realization! By facing this, I can acknowledge that the story I have been telling myself about what is hurting me is not working for me. It is not bringing joy into my life at all. This creates a Release of pent up emotions.

It can be Ugly to face because it is something I hadn’t wanted to acknowledge about myself and that’s why it had been buried in “the story” I told myself. Once having faced it, though, and released it, a Tranquility comes over me – a peacefulness.

Finally, this leads to Healing and Honesty. This new Honesty is a place where true joy can live, for without it there can only be the myth that had arisen to explain away the hurt or “story”.

You might be wondering how all of this relates to my artist’s journey, or to anyone’s creative efforts. I believe that real creativity can only happen in an atmosphere of truth, of integrity. If you read any biographies of well-known successful artists and innovators, it is obvious that many have faced personal issues in their lives and have struggled with what is "true" and "honest", which is inevitably reflected in their work.

For me it has certainly been like that. The more honest I am and operate from my true inner being, the more joyful I feel, and so the more my artwork can reach out to people. This is an ongoing process, and I am sharing it here in the hope it might resonate with some of you also.

Creatively Yours in Spirit

Arlene

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