Are you stuck in life? Whether you've got writer's block or are struggling to cure bad eating habits, author Julia Cameron says there are all kinds of tricks that can get you out of your rut. Dr. Oz and his wife, Lisa, talk with Julia about her book The Artist's Way and how to get unstuck.
Julia was a blocked writer herself, until she found a way past it and began teaching workshops to others on how to do the same. Julia says getting out of a rut simply requires creativity, and she shares steps you can take if you're "stuck."
Take in a weekly adventure. Julia refers to this activity as "an artist's date." "You might go to the opera; you might go to a button store," she says. "An 'artist's date' is anything that captures your fancy and is a little bit out of your comfort zone."
Write three pages every morning. Julia says it's easy to get caught up in the trivia and minutia of our lives. She says it's important to put all of our worries, frets and angers aside and render ourselves available to the day at hand. Try putting your thoughts on paper, she says. "What we find is that it's a little bit of a 'whisk broom,' going in and cleaning out all the corners of their mind," she says. "It's just a lot of small things that appear to have nothing to do with creativity, yet if we are thinking about them, we don't tend to think of creative ventures."
Keep a food and mood journal. Julia says many times when people are overweight they know they are doing something wrong but are not quite sure what it is. In a food journal, the minute you write something down, she says your conscience wakes up and you realize you can get right back on track. "If you find out what's eating you, you won't have to eat at it," Julia says. "We all know we can use food to block creativity where you got down and what it does is siphon off the vagueness around food."
