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Five Other Lives: Who Would You Be?

Tuesday, March 23, 2010



In The Artists' Way, by Julia Cameron, she gives us an exercise to complete that I have ALWAYS loved doing... It's called Five Imaginary Lives:

Five Imaginary Lives If you had five other lives to lead, what would you do in each of them? I would be a pilot, cowhand, a physicist, a writer, a psychic, a monk. You might be a scuba diver, a cop, a writer of children’s books, a football player, a belly dancer, a painter, a performance artist, a history teacher, a healer, a coach, a scientist, a doctor, a Peace Corps worker, a psychologist, a fisherman, a minister, an auto mechanic, a carpenter, a sculptor, a lawyer, a painter, a computer hacker, a soap-opera star, a country singer, a rock-and-roll drummer. Whatever occurs to you, jot it down. Do not overthink this. The point of these lives is to have fun in them – more fun than you might be having in this one.

Quick... If you get a wild hair-- go jot yours down. On a post-it note by your desk if you have to. Follow her advice and DON'T overthink it. Just jot it down. Who would you be if you could have another imaginary life? If money/new training/having kids already weren't obstacles... Who would you love to be in your other life?

There's no need to stress about it, or wonder if your five lives are telling you that THIS life sucks. That's not the point. The point is to allow for some daydreaming, some fun imaginings, and maybe.... just maybe.... to then find ONE LITTLE WAY you can implement a piece of one of those dreams back into your NOW life.

My five imaginary lives? The collage I put together above gives you some hints...

In fact, maybe I'll let you all guess a little while... Offer a prize to someone who gets the most right...Hm. My mind is a-stewing! Okay. If ya wanna guess, I'll let you comment in the next 24 hours from now. If more than one person gets the same amount of correct guesses,I'll draw the winner randomly from that group. Leave a comment... And the prize will be a $20 gift card to your choice of Target or HomeGoods. Yay! A spontaneous contest!

In the meantime, go stew on YOUR five lives. List them. Then if you get adventurous, Google-image search them and make a collage or list of images of your lives. And then,..... ponder them a bit. Flesh them out. Blog them.

And if this REALLY gets you yearning or excited, find ONE way to make that imaginary life REAL, for a moment. If one of your lives is to be a writer in Paris, then go indulge yourself in a croissant at a local bakery and bring your journal along. See? Magic!

Back tomorrow to tell you mine.... And name a winner.

Whee!!!

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Some credits for the images:
Banjo photo. Music poster.The button crafty HERE. Pink bedroom. Treehouse.
Other images: Clip art/stock photo stuff...

15 comments:

  1. Um, a bluegrass banjo player. A kids' room designer. A political powerhouse. A crafty/etsy/type seller (haha) annnnnnddd.. something spirtual? A pastor?

    I know, I know. It's like I totally plucked them from your head.

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  2. Oooh. Fun! I would be a horticulturist, a beach lifeguard, a test driver for one of those car magazines, a sommelier, and an NFL cheerleader (this IS hypothetical, right?)

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  3. Ok, here I go. :) A film maker, interior design, something political, the master crafter, spiritual leader.

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  4. I'm guessing a bluegrass banjo player, seamstress, decorator,florist, Peter Pan, shadow, and...communist?

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  5. Oh yes, and the light fairy from the Tinkerbell movie. What? You haven't seen it? Oh yeah, you have a boy. Okay then, a "spiritual guidance counselor".

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  6. professional banjo player, minister, florist, kids room designer, polititian (or activist) . . . you would be excellent at any of those!!!!



    I have been putting the artist's way workbook aside for way too long . . . thank you for letting me live through your time investment!

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  7. I was going to do this for writing circle tonight and then share it with you. But then I asked around and no one wanted to do writing circle because someone else was starting a game of cranium. You know I never back down from a game of cranium. Well, I did tonight because I am in charge of writing circle and as always people flaked out. So I am moping. Long story short, I will do this sometime because I love the idea, but not in time for you contest. Sorry lovely sister of mine! (and sorry for the vent fest. I needed to get some of this out.)

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  8. I would be an fbi agent, a lawyer, a florist, an event planner, and a personal assistant to someone really famous.

    I think you would be in a touring bluegrass band, an interior designer or kids' rooms, someone who designs crafts for crafty magazines, a world traveler, and a sign language interpreter.

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  9. my guesses for you: political powerhouse, banjo player, children's interior designer, professional crafter, minister/lay person

    mine would be: chef, music video/background dancer, olympic gymnast, elite marathon runner, personal assistant/best friend to a famous person.

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  10. How fun! I am going to say an interior designer, florist, politician, member of a bluegrass band (I'm going to say not only banjo playin, but singing too), and motivational speaker! I need to check out this cool book.

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  11. Darn it. Gave my five and forgot to give my guesses for you. Ok, definitely banjo player and, of course, singer, crafty goddess, spiritual guru, children's room designer and . . . ummm. . . I guess . . . a powerful . . . uhhhh. . . powerful something. Prize fighter?

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  12. Am I disqualified because we've already talked about this and I have vague recollections of what you said? No? Good! (I claim a semi-faulty memory allows me to participate, since I really can't remember all of them!)

    Banjo player in a bluegrass band; Interior designer; Craftsy person (who most likely would sell her wares on Etsy); Human rights activist; and okay, I really can't remember the last one (with the person succeeding at something/the hands holding the light...)- an environmentalist explorer? Yeah, I'll bite on that one...

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  13. PS-In case you didn't realize, SCA was me, your sister Sarah. I forgot that I was logged into google on my SCA account rather than my other g-mail account. Ha!

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  14. I would have to guess:

    blue grass banjo player/singer
    kids' room interior desinger
    motivational speaker
    etsy crafter
    spiritual leader

    Thanks so much!
    Julie

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  15. I'm too late for the contest and don't want to take the time to find pics for my five lives pictures, but I will share:

    1. Broadway star
    2. Jazz Singer
    3. Swing Dancer
    4. Children's Book Author
    5. Trophy Wife (Ummm....yeah, THIS actually came to mind. Totally weird, right?! I just like the idea of having tons of money and nothing to do but spend and enjoy it. Call me crazy.) :)

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