A group of us are moving through the book The Artist’s Way.  This week Julia Cameron introduced the idea of recognizing and acknowledging our BLURTS and then using affirmations as an antidote.

What are blurts?

They are things we say to ourselves that cause us to contract, hesitate and quit. They are statements of self doubt and criticism. They are all the things we say to ourselves that stop us from pursuing our dreams.

Do we all have blurts going on inside our heads?

Yes, I think so.

One of the gifts Julia Cameron gives us in this book is the task of writing morning pages. This is a process of writing three pages of stream of consciousness. This means we let ourselves pour out onto the page EXACTLY what we are thinking. No stopping. No filter. No editing.  If we do this honestly, what we notice is all the cruel things we say to ourselves.

It can be kind of rough to realize how mean we are to ourselves. It can feel like a shock to the system to see the ways we talk to...