God Is the Source

"God is the source. No human power can deflect our good or create it. We are all conduits for a higher self that would work through us. We are all equally connected to a spiritual source. We do not always know which among us will teach us best. We are all meant to cherish and serve one another. The Artist's Way is tribal. The spirit of service yields us our dharma: the right path we dream of following in our best and most fulfilled moments of faith."
The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

Music as a Spur

"It is, of course, a staple of shamanic traditions to 'journey' using drums or flutes. Many of us have done it unconsciously for years using rock and roll to move our energies up and out, using Gregorian chant, Pachelbel's 'Canon,' or pieces written in pentatonic scales to deepen and center ourselves.

"Long before I became conscious of how it functioned spiritually, I used drum and flute music to alter and expand my consciousness. Whenever a blow to my creativity left me confused or disabled, I healed myself sonically — not that I would have ever put it in those terms."
The Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart

Walking

"Nothing brings home the beauty and power of the world that we live in like walking. Moving into our bodies, we embody the truth that as artists we are out to make a 'body of work,' which means we must encompass more than each day's march. A Weekly Walk helps us to acquire such an overview. It allows us to find both perspective and comfort. As we stretch our legs, we stretch our minds and our souls. St. Augustine, himself a great walker, remarked, 'Solvitur ambulando' — 'it is solved by walking.' "
Walking In This World: The Practical Art of Creativity

Emotional Quicksand

"Depression is emotional quicksand. Once we get stuck, it's hard to pull free. Our struggles exhaust us and depress us further. It is easier to avoid depression than overcome it, and yes, we avoid it by taking risks. If we remember that we need to court, woo and romance our creative selves, we begin to have a notion of what sort of risk best serves us."
Walking In This World: The Practical Art of Creativity

Cooperating with Our Creativity

"When we are willing to be open-minded, art and beauty come flooding into us in a thousand small ways. When we let ourselves see the possibilities instead of the improbabilities, we become as flexible and resilient as we really are. It is human nature to create. When we cooperate with our creativity, using it to live within the lives we actually have, we surprise ourselves with our level of invention."
The Sound of Paper: Starting from Scratch

Cultivating Faith

"As artists, we must cultivate faith. We must learn to see beyond appearances. We must trust that there is something larger and more benevolent than the apparent odds stacked against us. For the sake of sheer survival, we artists must learn to have a deep and abiding belief in our own work and its worthiness, despite the world's apparent acceptance or rejection. As artists, we have a vocation. There is Something that 'calls' to us to work. In answering that call and making art, we keep our side of the bargain. Our efforts will be rewarded, although not perhaps in the ways that we had planned."
Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance

Writing as a Means of Prayer

"Although we seldom talk about it in these terms, writing is a means of prayer. It connects us to the invisible world. It gives us a gate or conduit for the other world to talk to us whether we call it the subconscious, the unconscious, the superconscious, the imagination, or the Muse. Writing gives us a place to welcome more than the rational. It opens the door to inspiration. It opens the door to God or, if you would to 'Good Orderly Direction.' Writing is a spiritual housekeeper. Writing sets things straight, giving us a sense of our true priorities."
The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life