The Artists Way Programme Reflection - Week 2

Week 2 invites us to 'Recover a sense of identity', which as Julia Cameron frames it, isn’t about discovering something new. It’s about remembering what was always there before it learned to shrink, adapt or stay silent. This week’s session, facilitated by Elsie, asked us to come back into relationship with ourselves... not the aspirational version, not the productive version, but the honest one.

We began by reflecting on our first full week of morning pages. For many, the practice was harder than anticipated. Some shared how long it took to complete the pages, how confronting it felt to sit with the mind uninterrupted, how health, energy and life made consistency feel slippery. But what emerged early on was a very important reframe: the pages are not a measure of discipline or devotion. They are a meant to be a tool. A place for us to empty our minds without judgement. A space to notice with permission to meet ourselves as we are, that day.

As the conversation moved into identity so did the honesty. Several participants spoke about the negative core beliefs that surfaced once the writing began, familiar voices in our heads of our supposed inadequacy or failures. But rather than turning away from them, the group spoke about learning to work with these voices. One participant described it as exercising a “muscle of renewal,” gently correcting the narrative as it appeared. Another named the discomfort as necessary, likening the process to shedding skin which can be just as equally awkward as it is freeing.

A particularly grounding moment came through a collective letting-go exercise. As a group, we named the beliefs, fears and habits we are shedding this season: perfectionism, shame, imposter syndrome, resentment, the need to be liked, the fear of failure, the denial of dreams. Hearing these spoken aloud, not in isolation but together made it painfully clear how rarely our struggles are unique, and for me atleast, there was so much relief and comfort in that.

Responses to 'What are we shedding?'

From there, the conversation softened into self-regulation - what brings us back into our bodies when the mind becomes loud. For some, it was movement: stretching, dancing, running. For others, breath, music, tactile practices, or small acts of making. These weren’t offered as fixes, but as reminders that identity lives not just in thought but in the body, and that grounding ourselves is essential in order to be able to create.

Week 2 also introduced the idea of “poisonous playmates” and “crazy makers” - those dynamics, internal or external, that destabilise our creative centre. Participants reflected on how even well-meaning people can introduce doubt, how oversharing can dilute an idea before it has roots, and how safety isn’t always about closeness but about discernment. One reflection stayed with me: that gut feelings are often quiet and assured, not loud or anxious. Learning to trust that quiet voice felt like an act of identity reclamation in itself.

Responses to 'Who and how do you define who is safe?'

What struck me most was how often identity was spoken about not as something we declare, but something we protect. Through boundaries or intentional sharing, and even choosing who gets access to our inner worlds and unfinished ideas. Protecting our identity is also looking like allowing ourselves to be beginners again. The week closed with a return to attention where Elsie carefully reshifted our gaze to notice the extraordinary in the ordinary.

By the end of Week 2, it was clear that recovering a sense of identity isn’t about arriving at clarity, it’s about building trust in our inner knowing and our bodies. And as we continue, this work is starting to feel less like self-improvement and more like self-remembering. About coming home to ourselves slowly, gently, imperfectly, together.

If you doing the book in community is something that you are interested in, you don't have to be part of our programme to benefit from the experience of bearing witness to the transformation of life through acts of creativity in community. Julia Cameron offers a 'Creative Clusters Guide' in the book with how you can gather with friends, family or colleagues to journey the book together.