Just over a decade ago, I knew a lot of people who were really getting into Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
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Just over a decade ago, I knew a lot of people who were really getting into Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book designed mainly for artists who were not happy with their productivity levels (though many non-artists found the book useful as well). The book sets up a twelve-week course designed to get people to uncover why they are not producing the work they want to produce. What exactly is holding them/us back? At different points, I went through the course with a group online, a group that met on Thursday nights at a local bookstore, and alone. In every situation, there was one week that most people would not complete, a week where you are supposed to do no reading whatsoever.
Cameron’s logic is that we need time periods where we are taking in as little information as possible as a way of clearing our heads to make way for new ideas and perspectives. It’s a sort of mental cleanse. It was so funny to see people, including myself, really freak out about the idea of reading nothing for a week, and this was written before the internet became what it is today. We now read print and online texts constantly as well as take in information in so many other ways. As I was putting this post together, the Wall Street Journal published an article on going without Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other sites for a week and how difficult that would be for most of us.
Right now, I admit I have this on my mind because I dream of being able to take time away from reading just about anything at this point in the semester. The idea of lounging around the house, taking a walk, or just staring out the window sounds so appealing. However, I’ve never actually gone for a week without reading even when I theoretically could have gotten away with it. I also have to admit that I haven’t tried since going through Cameron’s book over a decade ago. Maybe it’s on my mind so much because a part of me wants to try again.
Does the idea of reading nothing for a week appeal to you or terrify you? Is there a time you would like to try it (over the holidays, in the summer, or during spring break)? Do you think you would benefit from it? Let us know in the comments! (And if you do skip reading anything for a week, come back to see what you missed on ProfHacker when you’re done.)
