Weekly Meetings for boys and girls...

We had them.  They were okay.

Money meme

1. People with money are... unrelateable.
2. Money makes people... disconnected from what it's like " in the trenches."
3. I'd have more money if... I had more work.
4. My dad thought money was... muy importante.
5. My mom always thought money would... make her happy.
6. In my family, money caused strife.
7. Money equals... possibility/opportunity.
8. If I had money, I'd... travel.
9. If I could afford it, I'd... buy a house/
10. I'm afraid that if I had money, I would... lose sight of "who" I really am.
11. Money is... an artificial construct we all agree to use.
12. Money causes... stress.
13. Having money is not... ugh. An option, it feels like!
14. In order to have more money, I'd need to... work more and spend less.
15. When I have money, I usually... stress less.
16. I think money... makes me anxious.
17. If I weren't so cheap, I'd... buy the bed I already mentioned last time this question came up.
18. People think money... fixes things.
19. Being broke tells me... I need more work.

I know my relationship with money is pretty messed up... so while I'm pretty sure this survey reveals something important-ish, I lack the self awareness to really know what it is. It's pretty clear I don't identify as someone who *has* money, or who thinks of money as abundant or a sure thing in my life. But now what?

The boys weekly meeting

We met on Tuesday this week~ due to other circumstances, they had their last two meetings without me and I felt like a bit of an interloper cutting back in on their process when they obviously have it under control.

I think one of the most critical things to come out of this meeting is that the guys are all in agreement that they have a problem with the way God is discussed in the book. They all object pretty strenuously to Ju-Cam's idea of God and Oreste in particular feels that spirituality has no place in the creative process.

I have to say, I object pretty strongly to that statement, but as the mediator it wasn't an appropriate time to make it about me. I can make it about me here though, right? It's my blog. I don't agree with Ju-Cam's idea of God either, but I do believe in Creativity with a capital "C" as one of two major universal forces (the other being Entropy, which we often view subjectively and judge as evil/destruction).

Suffice it to say, they're in agreement to skip over the God bits for the rest of the process and although I find that rash, I do think it's the right choice for this group. Besides, I'm tired of hearing them whine about it.

Oreste has shifted the morning pages to answering the questions at the end of the chapter.

Scott is going to follow Emily's example and focus on just one question this week, giving it the attention he would normally give to the tasks as a whole.

Dave gave himself permission to not make up some old morning pages and that seemed like a positive step since his tendency to push himself and expect too much has come up a lot. He also wants to shoot for doing the morning pages in the morning.

They all want to review the chapter before the next meeting (or you could just read my corresponding resonant phrases, guys... guys?... anyone?).

Week Six: Resonant Phrases

This week's chapter is all about abundance and what god/the universe wants for us... basically it poses the question, "Why don't we let ourselves be happy and trust that our needs will be met?"

A toughy, no doubt. This chapter deals with a lot of money issues, and I find that I'm reluctant to post any of those quotes specifically since I have a real resistance to the idea that money is magic and will just come pouring in the moment we are on the right path. Ugh. Barf. So here is one that I had that kind of negative reaction to, I would love to know what you think!:

"All too often, we become blocked and blame it on our lack of money. This is never an authentic block. The actual block is our feeling of constriction, our sense of powerlessness. Art requires us to empower ourselves with choice. At the most basic level, this mean choosing to do self-care."

Um... nice try, but, Ju-Cam, I can't do proper self care if I can't buy nutrients or shampoo. I've never had a problem at the register because I felt constricted.

Also, I'm *somewhat* bummin' because I *just* read that I'm supposed to have tracked my spending for this week. Not only did I NOT do it, but I already put away the receipts so it would be doubly tedious to go back and find them to put it together. Also, I'd rather not feel like I have to justify or regret the $$$ I spent on my artist dates, so... maybe I'll take this on next week? Or maybe not... the point is to notice how much we deny ourselves artistically and I don't really feel like I have a problem with that (see bullet points below).

Enough negativity~ here are some ideas I enjoyed:

"Many of us equate difficulty with virtue-- and art with fooling around. . . A terrible job must be building our moral fiber. Talent that comes to us easy and seems compatible with us must be some sort of cheap trick, not to be taken seriously."

"What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do." (Personalized, this might make a nice affirmation, although I'm not sure how I feel about "meant" as it implies pre-destination).

Don't deny yourself "the luxury of time: time with friends, faily, above all, to the self with no agendas. . ."

"Remember, your artist is a younster, and youngsters like things that are 'mine.'" LOTS of great examples here of simple artist treats that resonated particularly since I have most of them now and I didn't six weeks ago:

• watercolors paints (the bird kit)
• deluxe Crayola box (like I put in my Easter basket)
• a special space of one's own (my secretary)
• inexpensive but beautiful tea-cup and saucer (the broken one from Cinderella that gives me so much joy as I use for my watercolor water)
• one of a kind china plates (see yesterday's entry!)

"Always leave enough time in your life to do something that makes you happy, satisfied, even joyous. That has more of an effect on economic well-being than any other single factor."

Paul Hawken

"CREATIVITY LIVES IN PARADOX-

SERIOUS ART IS BORN FROM SERIOUS PLAY"

YES!