#5for5BrainDump – Page 3 – Creative Life Midwife

Today: A Two-Miracle Discovery Day

February 4, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

It looked like an otherwise ordinary day but deep inside, I knew it wasn’t.

I made two back-to-back miraculous discoveries once I survived the early morning extreme cold.

Yes, the miracles started with a freezing cold breath of air – to people in Central California, temperatures dipping under freezing may as well be the arctic tundra. We aren’t accustomed to such cold and in this case, neither were my lungs.

Since my bout with pneumonia which lead to sepsis I have been keenly aware of sudden pain, especially in my lungs or in my upper chest. I know the most recent CT scan showed there is still an unclear spot on my lungs and this causes concern for me.

My morning haiku went like this:

Surprise! Freezing inhale
Ice pick poking in my lung’s
upper right portion –

I went inside, started making coffee and sat with my notebook, using my writing practice as a container for insights of wellness and a catalog of what my mind was holding onto.

Two pages down, I decided to eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast and take my morning vitamins. It was here when the miracle came clearly into form.

First, I realized Aldi’s fake Life Cereal tastes better than the original. It is the perfect level of sweet, yet not too sweet. Normally I am not brave enough to try off-brand cereals, but this makes me willing to try their fake Special K next, which is my favorite cold cereal.

Second, Geritol truly is a miracle elixir. Whenever I take it, especially on a regular basis, everything in life feels better. It is right up there with daily writing practice and creative collaboration of all types.

My lungs feel better, I am ready to take on my day after yesterday’s rather disappointing end, Emma is even cheerful. After all, I suggested she take Geritol as well. It seems to have worked.

It didn’t take a trip to a faraway island or an expensive gift, it simply took a shift in mindset from moving my pencil and lovingly taking care of my health continually.

Writing practice and Geritol, anyone?

Miracles are around us all the time. The simplest question is, are we ready to notice them?

Your prompts for today:

What miracles have you noticed so far today?

What was a recent “big” miracle in your life? What was a recent “humble” miracle? Set your timer for five minutes and write about them, right now – or commit to doing so, later.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, has been working with people to clarify their life purpose and inspire artistic rebirth since for more than two decades. Her work on stage and as a theater director have magnified her passion for the poetry of living. She currently has two openings in her life coaching practice. Perhaps you are ready to experience a transformational coaching conversation to see how you would best work together to collaborate on creating your next big thing? Click here to request your complimentary session now.

The Mini-Counter Cultural Guide to Loving Mondays

February 3, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I love Mondays. I have for years – since I stopped being employed by local government, anyway.

Monday is a fresh start, a chance to begin again. A new calendar page, a renewed attitude, different chapter, a white canvas to splash colors upon all await on this first day of the week.

Intellectually I know this is a false construct. Logically the realization is there. I could just as easily choose to do as Mary Shelley advised “The beginning is always today” no matter what day of the week it happens to be.

In 2020, for example, I have been reviewing my weekly goals and plans NOT on Monday, but on Wednesday as an ongoing homage to the beginning of the year being on a Wednesday. It is refreshing – and fits in with a mid-week review that brings me to a mid-week revitalization.

For this week, I intend to look at every day as a fresh, brand new, just opened canvas for me to paint anything I would like upon it. My intention is gesso, the colors are my perspective and off we go.

What might happen if you lived as if every day was a brand new white canvas?

Portrait of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, who also loved new beginnings, every day.

What might happen next week if this week you decide to love Mondays?

Take a moment to write along with Mary Shelley – who was the woman writer who brought the world “Frankenstein” and was tangentially the second wife of the poet, Percy Shelley.

Prompt: If I lived like today was a brand new start in my life, I would….. write for five minutes, free flow writing style, and afterwards determine what message your renewed life wants to tell you.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, has openings for two creative life coaching clients. She works with people like you who are ready to move beyond their previous blocks and into a purposeful, productive and satisfying life. Request your Complimentary Transformational Coaching Session today here.

Take 5 Minutes: Reawaken Your Love for the Writing Process

July 5, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Yesterday I attempted to write. I set my timer for five minutes – giving myself the gift of five minutes – and two quotes as my inspiration.

“When love awakens in your life, it is like a rebirth, a new beginning.”

John O’Donohue

“My sun sets to rise again.”

Robert Browning

I am sharing my writing now as an inspiration to you.

Now, for the journey my writing chugged through….

There are so many distractions as I sit here and attempt to write for five minutes about awakening love for my writing process. I see a broom and want to sweep, I look at the clock and I want to assemble lunch for my children and get out into the money making flow “hurry it up hurry it up hurry it up!” I hear in my inner ear. Oh, Lord I can’t do it all – my anxiety reaches for my throat to shut my voice – my writing voice – down.

Five minutes. That’s all.

My fingers continue to move, on the keyboard focused.

Reawaken love for the process.

Let go of end result. Welcome bad or mediocre or luke warm results. (Youch!) Yes, even lukewarm.

Awaken to the process being enough. This is so un-pilgrim-esque there must be results. There must be a something in order to continue I can’t just continue for a nothing that makes no sense.

Writing this is not a nothing, like when Cameron says “No one this or that and no one the other and…” he stares straight at me as he says this. “So I am a nothing and a no one, since I…”

Oh, yeah, that.

Process is worth all of the wonder and exhilaration of being on a best seller list or having twenty five people pay a thousand dollars to hear me speak.

Kathleen is pushing me and I am welcoming it.

My community is rising up to greet me and say “Bring your work forward with and for us” it is almost surreal, beloveds, almost surreal.”

If it was a job.

Is it still less than five minutes?

I heard the coffee pot call me, the coffee pot that has been creating really tasty coffee lately.

I think of the squirrel and planning and play. And me. And love. And movement.

And applause. All that in five minutes.

I like this!

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, and a Mother of three. One of her
greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. To set up a complimentary exploratory session, please visit here. Be sure to follow her on Social Media platforms so you may participate in one of her upcoming events. You won’t want to miss a thing – your future self will thank you!

When Flowers Speak about Abundance, Listen!

July 1, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Join the Conversation. Allow Yourself the Surprising Joy that Arises as a Result.

My love affair with moon blossoms started during an exceptionally happy, satisfied time of my life when I would go to the river bed – an arroyo, a space that would house water if there was any to be housed, but at its best that season it was empty. This allowed me to sit in the center of it all and have great conversations, watch the sunset, howl with the moon and be surprised by the sounds of urban nature.

I fell in love with absence during that time: I understood something didn’t need to be there at all for one to acknowledge and love it anyway.

If the river had been flowing, I might not have noticed the heavenly scent of the moon blossoms, so pungent at night.

Last Friday night, I came upon my first blossoming patch of the season near twilight. None were fully open. They sat alongside a different portion of the flowing river. This summer, a lot of flow due to last winter, lots of rain and snow.

I had to go take a look, to pay homage to who I was and who I am and the presence of the moon blossoms amidst all of it.

Considering the current work I am doing, I made this two-minute video.

Please take a look:

Now, consider the prompt as an invitation to conversation. Bring it up with friends and co-workers. Ask on Twitter and make an Instagram post. “What is prosperity to you? How would you define it? When have you experienced it?”

Now – consider the moon blossoms.

“What is calling you to blossom, in darkness or in the light or anywhere? What is calling you to blossom into abundance and prosperity?”

Let the words flow, either on the page or in conversation.

A couple things before you go:

Take a moment to follow me on social media and on YouTube. If you are a blogger or writer across any genre, I offer valuable methods to keep your words flowing.

Leave a comment here, as a way of pledging your devotion and commitment to keep your writing prosperity, your word abundance flowing. If you would enjoy additional support I am offering to tag people in my daily instagram story time lapse posts as a way of saying “Ta-Da! I did it! I did my daily writing!”

The world is waiting for your words… let’s get them on the page now.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. To set up a complimentary exploratory session, please visit here. Be sure to follow her on Social Media platforms so you may participate in one of her upcoming events. You won’t want to miss a thing – your future self will thank you!

How to Be Open to the Art of Receiving

June 29, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Receiving: it is one of the most important skills on your journey to living a passionate life.

Yes, I said “skill” because so few of us are as adept at it as we could be and if we mastered it, truly, both our abundance and passion would grow exponentially. I’m not alone in this thought, I learned it from other experts. Look at what Alexander McCall Smith says: “Gracious acceptance is an art – an art which most never bother to cultivate. We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be much harder than giving. Accepting another person’s gift is allowing him to express his feelings for you.”

1. Truly receive your next compliment. No matter what your next compliment is, your task is simply to say “Thank you.” You may not rebuff the compliment, for example, say “oh, that’s nothing” because it is something. Receive kudos well and more receiving will come your way.

This video not only shares a valuable writing prompt, it goes more deeply into the concept of accepting compliments as a means of receiving and accepting gifts as a receiving practice.

2. Give without expectation of being “paid back” or “receiving in return” for what you give or what you do. Practicing practical, daily detachment is a heart opening way to invite more receiving into your life. When our motivation is giving-to-receive the greatest point is left behind.

3. Gracious acceptance may mean accepting both what we see as positive and negative. One of the most important skills we can learn, alongside with receiving is also being able to receive criticism and news we don’t want to hear with grace as well as a clear heart and mind.

4. Communicate to others what it is you really want. Oftentimes those around you have no idea what that may be because you haven’t yet communicated with them. One of the techniques I regularly use is asking the question, “Do you know anyone who….?” and then fill in what you want or need. It is like a magic wand to receiving what is wanted or needed.

5. Visualize yourself receiving what you want down to the tiniest detail. Jim Carrey is one of those well-known people who visualized his success long before his success was apparent to others. Athletes consider it “mental rehearsal.” Those who rehearse more often in the mind are also successful in the rest of their lives. Practice this and receive more abundantly.

Before you go, please remember to write to the prompt:

Today I am open to receive….

Below is my unedited response.

I am open to receive surprises. I am open to receive gentle words and refreshing gifts. I am open to receiving the energy to do some of the tasks that aren’t thrilling me. The idea of cleaning my desk, for example, felt so great when I initially planned it as homage to Maria but right now it doesn’t feel so great.

It is almost like she just whispered, “One drawer at a time, Julie,” so I will at least choose to start that project.

I am open to receive financial abundance via my expertise and gifts and talents. I am open to receive new people and connections that will serve as bridges to more abundance in experiences and opportunities.

I am open to receive a splendid sleep and to wake up with plentiful time to hang out with my online friends at 6 am and my new group of spiritual friends at 8 right here in Bakersfield. This, by the way, is so prosperous! Great new friends in Bakersfield!

I am open to receive direction, I am open to receive hugs and praise. I am open to receive new subscribers to my YouTube Channel and social media channels. (This feels almost silly to say but hey, I am open to receive them!)

I am open to receive flowers and chocolate before I die.

I am open to receive shared laughter and deep conversations with surprising people. I am open to receive smiles and acknowledgment and praise. I am open to receive apologies and authentic requests which I pray I am able to fulfill.

Today I am open to receive. I am open to receive.

I am grateful for cooler thn average temperatures. More walking than usual, clean-house-cleaning supplies. I am grateful for pencil sharpeners, good conversations with friends and fluffy pillows.

I am grateful for abundant receiving practice.

Good Job, Dear Friend

June 23, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife

“I have turned away from myself, ” I thought, this morning.

A trigger, a “oh no not that!” feeling rose from my gut. It wasn’t a running away screaming with my arms flailing, it was a quietly tip toe away so no one notices and climbing into a corner behind a curtain so that no one would take notice of my disappearance and then….
I realized this is what I have habitually done.

Past, present and now with awareness may cross off my “to-do” list or “to be forgiven for when arises in the future” list.

So interesting, this self-witness thing because in the turning away from myself, I am actually turning away from the gifts I bring to this world, it is like shutting off a valve of all that is good and right and pleasing to others as well as myself.

Do you ever find yourself doing this? Please tell me I am not alone in this.

I give myself the gift of five minutes to write and I find myself holding my face in my hands like in “The Scream” by Edvard Munch except my face is lifeless and numb, not outwardly screaming at all but…..

Perhaps this is the quintessential Julie scream. Numb, not even noticing myself pull away until I have sunk into unconscious disconnection.

I look around the room. My messy art table, my floor that needs a once (or several times) over.

Note to self. You are seeing. You are feeling. You are writing. You are alive.

You have now turned back to yourself.

Well done, good and faithful friend.

Coffee as a waker upper today and through July

I’ve been absent from here. My intention is to write a five-minute-blog post daily (or as close as I’m able) starting in July and figured this was as good a time as any to begin. I literally grabbed a random photo as a header… it fit… and am looking forward to writing this week with the #5for5BrainDump I’m running this week. Here’s to taking off the numb and beginning again, again.

This Somewhat Sleepy Morning, I Knew: 3 Ways to Be a Mirror, Not a Deflector.

January 23, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife

This morning I dragged my sorry tired self out of bed for the 5 am writers club thirty minutes late. I had been looking at Instagram and reading about ridiculous TV, mindlessness and unconscious floating, but my keyboard was calling and I answered.

With writing sessions like this one, I don’t expect brilliant sentences strung together effortlessly. I am happy with single word repeated, “Intention, intention, intention” might be a good example.

A gratitude list and slight expansion on gratitude is helpful.

Normally I write with lyric free, instrumental music. This morning, I knew I needed an ode to clarion call, a rallying cry, a moment of truth for the words that wanted me to speak.

This morning, though, I was listening to John Mayer’s “Say What You Need to Say” and my fingers found the words, “Best of luck in your next endeavors. Get therapy. Keep working on yourself. Hold up a mirror instead of a deflector.

3 Paths to “How to Be a Mirror, Not a Deflector”

Accept your weaknesses not as enemies but as part of your most important allies-in-the-making.
Move forward with love through aligned passionate action instead of attacking with fear and hate, evidenced by statements meant to push known “buttons” in others.
Recognize your own value from the perspective of those who see you as a whole person, weaknesses surrounded by strengths. Someone dedicated to growing, betterment and adding to the increase steadily.

Julie JordanScott is the CreativeLifeMidwife. She loves creating life changing content to inspire you into passionate action as she has been doing for two decades. Join her upcoming Passionate Women’s Writing Circle which begins again on Friday, February 1. Click for details and to sign up now.

Oy no not that 2019 Vision – hey wait a second…

December 30, 2018 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I was insistent it was too difficult for me to think even a year in the future when I first saw this prompt.

I was determined to focus on the bad year I was ending and how because I can’t predict what horrible hurts might happen I ought not bother wasting my energy with devising a vision.

Two things happened within an hour of waking (amidst prepping bisquits for Samuel’s class, getting dressed and making a cup of coffee.)

I remembered getting off the freeway, specifically route 58, the Union Avenue off ramp early one morning.

You know those roads that never get done, that are continually under construction, usually in lower socioeconomic areas?

I found myself in this same place where I had attempted to help an old, infirm, possibly without a home woman about a year ago? I remember as clear as a bell being in a hurry but seeing her struggle between the construction snafus and I thought, “Julie, if you are who you say you are, turn around and help her!”

So I did. I even parked my car a half block ahead of where she was mumbling and angry and quickly walked toward her to offer assistance.

She rebuffed my offer and chose to do it how she had probably done it for who knows how long. I drove off knowing at least I honored my personal way of being and stayed in alignment with who I say I am.

My most recent turn on this off ramp I noticed the pavement was smooth, the lanes wide and the paint stripes guiding me stood out even in the pre-dawn lack of light. This: an almost unbelievable transformation from the sketchy off-ramp from times past. I don’t remember ever being anything but dicey to say the least was now as beautiful as any on-or-off-ramp I have ever seen.

Then in a moment of upset and flurry of activity because I had to change the plug for my computer – I moved it because of a need for the Facebook Live series we are doing – I saw one of my art journals sitting in a pile of books and I picked it up only to discover it was the art journal I was using at the end of December last year.

It opened to the page where I was holding a vision for November 2018. I hadn’t looked at it for months. I was surprised to see on the page I had written, “Workshops, Performances, Travel.” Why yes, yes and yes.

I wrote, back a year ago when I was holding a vision for my now recent past, “I was taught to deny (automatically with fear attached) rather than consciously choose, or discern, with love and soulful consideration.”

Whoa.

I was seeing into the future last year.

So now, I am typing with a smile on my face and am looking forward to diving into this today with you.

I may not finish today with my overall vision AND I know I will have a good start. I have started already with all our prompts.

I’ve turned my frown upside down and I didn’t think that was possible an hour ago! (And then this blog post was buried amidst the “I’m so busy” flurries and it wasn’t until I found this quote from Rumi… and actually set a goal for 2019 to have an ongoing writing practice daily once again:

Miracles. Every day. There is gold dust. I am grateful.

The year hasn’t ended. That artificial measurement of time is still 48 hours away. I can still give this prompt its due. My grateful smile has gotten wider. Life is good – in all its nooks and crannies and dust bunnies and rogue cat hair (thank you Alice) life is good.

Julie JordanScott, Creative Life Midwife, is currently in the final stages of the 2018/2019 Bridge to the New Year which she created with Paula Puffer.

She is grateful you are reading and invites you to follow her on social media to keep the relationship going.

Unfinished Goal: Re-Devoted: The Virginia Woolf Room

December 6, 2018 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I knew I had neglected the room I was so excited to create. I knew there came a point after I moved the furniture I had been using when Emma was away into the other room and I settled again for leftovers and mishmash that I was also sending a message to myself that wasn’t very loving.

“It is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes makes its way to the surface.”

― Virginia Woolf

The nuances, subtle, go unnoticed.

I mean, I knew I had neglected the room I was so excited to create. I knew there came a point after I moved the furniture I had been using when Emma was away into the other room and I settled again for leftovers and mishmash that I was also sending a message to myself that wasn’t very loving.

“You can have whatever’s left. Sure, you were going for a feminine and feminist room of your own, literary granny style and all, but you know, that was a lark just like so many other things you try…” and little by little my once-almost-what-I-wanted became a disorganized jumble, not at all the oasis it was eighteen months ago, newly painted and hard wood floors restored, a soft comforter in pink and so many pillows in various shades of pink and polka dots it made my heart go pitter pat whenever I walked in and plunked on the bed to write. I had a make shift lap desk, art on the walls, and at about five o’clock every day the light became especially magical.

When Emma reclaimed her furniture, my pink bedding no longer fit. The dresser was bulky and dark, the bed lumpy and small.

The love affair was over. I took the art off the walls. I never changed the time on the clock to reflect falling back and springing ahead.

While I had thought about springing into action to reclaim my vision, it wasn’t until I chose to answer the prompt for today it all fell into place so clearly.

I even made a plan

Clear room, beginning the day after return from Oregon (December 11)

Move book shelf to D’s to complete the restoration by January 1 (latest, 1/29)

It might sound strange, but this unfinished project is a barrier because its taking up of space in my room is an example of me not feeling heard and me agreeing, by default, that I wasn’t valueable enough oto be heard.

A carpenter I met offered to make me a custom book shelf – because I wanted it to include slates to sort my ephemera and paper. I told D about this but he insisted he could do it better. He bought an enormous shelf from a university he wanted to fix up, but he didn’t ever seem to hear what I wanted. He punted it to me to work on, which is definitely not what I wanted. About a month ago I sent him an image of my “dream shelf” and suddenly, he got it. Maybe nearly two years late, but if I get it before the beginning of the year – or even before my birthday on January 29 I will be very happy.

Only put back into the room what is MEANT to be in there and has a purpose for being there. Make list and diagram of wall art and furniture. Complete by December 15.
Commit to blog on December 31 with photos of progress. J

Vision reclaimed, plan in place. Virginia Woolf room, I am excited to enjoy you again! Happy New Year!

This blog post was written from a prompt offered in the “Bridge to the New Year” experience which you may find at JuicyJournaling.com. Join a group of creatives reflecting, connecting, intending and taking passionate action as they step into 2019.

Julie Jordan Scott is the Creative Life Midwife. THANK YOU for reading!

Bridge to the New Year Day 1 – Introduction: A Potpourri of Me

December 1, 2018 by jjscreativelifemidwife

In December of 2018 and 2019 we reviewed the prior year and created a vision for the next year. 2020 threw us a curve ball that has left many of us nostalgic and…. longing for anything different.

Below is a throw-back post from Bridge to the New Year that invites you to know who I am at my core – and at the bottom you will see a place to sign up for our Mid-2020 Shift: #Refresh2020…. an initiative to return to Passion and Purpose, even amidst this chaotic. confusing, revolutionary year.

Use this prompt across social media – link up at JuicyJournaling.comhttp://juicyjournaling.com

My first thought was:

How am I going to get 10 – 30 things about me that are in anyway interesting that won’t bore everyone because we all know, well, some of us have been educated – there is nothing more horrid as an artist than being boring.

So. I took some time to brainstorm some things about me you may not know. I haven’t done much proofing so I apologize for any grammatical or spelling errors in advance. Take it as freedom to be imperfect.

1. I have never seen any Harry Potter films nor have I read any Harry Potter books. I know you may be saying “How shocking! That’s appalling! I would LOVE Hermione! How could I not read these fantastic books?! Two parts to that response. 1. I take offense when woman authors don’t proudly stand up and say “I am a woman!” granted, I didn’t know JK Rowlings’ story at the time or I might not have been so strident and 2. When I say something, I usually stick with it.

2. I am a melanoma survivor. I have a large heart scar on my face as a remnant and a reminder. I often cover it with hair styles.

3. I gave up acting for thirty years between the ages of eleven-years-old and forty-one-years-old. Although I am not as active in performance as I once was, I have done more than thirty stage productions, seven films, a documentary and a handful of commercials. Weirdly, I have an IMDB page. How did this happen?

4. Writing and poetry has been in my blood stream since before I was literate. I still love being read aloud to – it is one of my most favorite activities on the planet.

5. One of my highest values is showing up, so if I say I will be somewhere I try really hard to get there and if I am not there, I am either near dead, helping out in a child-emergency, or beating myself up for not planning better or whatever it is that got in my way.

6. I have a brown spot in my left eye. This is one of those boring trivia items just because I tell it all the time and it is no longer interesting.

7. When I was in high school, I entertained my friends during lunch by doing accents. Now I entertain my friends on live stream… doing accents.

8. My uncle Jim used to call me “A dandy baby” primarily because I smiled all the time and was very charming. I used this throughout my childhood and into young adulthood. I remember when we were traveling I would focus on business men with my coquette-ish flirting. I remember receiving at least one gift. In my first job after college at a rental car company, my co-workers were in awe of how many customers brought me gifts.

9. I am an ordained minister, like Joey in Friends. I am also an actual ordained deacon in the Presbyterian Church, USA. I can officiate weddings and funerals and any other sacred ceremonies people might want performed. I have the honor of doing weddings from time-to-time though I really loved facilitating/leading/officiating my brother’s celebration of life after he died and would enjoy doing more of those.

10. I have been blogging since 2003. I had a rather successful website from which I made a sustainable living from 1999 to 2007. I originally blogged to have an “unplugged” place online where I didn’t have to be my “professional persona” all the time. Everything has evolved but I have a block around websites. I have a new one half-assedly in the works and the designer of CreativeLifeMidwife and I never really hit it off in a way that made completion a thing. So. There’s that.

11. I am an art journaler and mixed media artist. (I said that aloud here for some of my artist friends who have been waiting to hear me confess that.) As far as visual arts go, I have mostly sold photos but I have also sold several mixed media pieces. Not a lot, but… perhaps someday.

12. I love to travel and aim to be a digital nomad once my children are up and out of the house. After today, with Emma’s health issues I wonder if that will be any time soon at all, which is a fair thought neither to her nor my vision for the world and the future. These thoughts are exactly why Bridge to 2019 is so important! To work through what happened and gain clarity so that intentions may be set and re-visioning may take place.

13. I have been writing since before I could write. I would dictate to my mother and she would write out what I said and I would copy it in crayon. This is part of my ‘writer’s story” which I feel I overtell.

14. Before I was 45 I lost 5 close friends to various sorts of cancers. I have never explored the impact of this, but I don’t know anyone else who has lost so many close friends. I just connected how close their deaths came to John’s death and the many losses of 2006/7.

15. Speaking of 2007, when John died, I had an out of body experience. How I describe it is this: my soul leaped from the shell that hosts it and chased after John. God (insert whatever word you use here) literally shoved me back into my body and wordlessly told me “No you don’t! Your work isn’t done here.” I might not have believed this really happened except my children who were in the car with me when it happened (yes, the car was parked) saw my body rise up, flop down and miraculously not crash my head against the steering wheel on the descent.

16. I am a PTA Mom. This didn’t happen until Samuel was in High School. I believe in parental involvement, but usually kept my business on the district level. I am grateful my time as a PTA Mom is almost over. My specialty within the group beyond being the secretary is doing all the public speaking and selling stuff.

17. I have been known to say my children are my greatest creative project of all. I believe this to be true. My biggest fear in life is failing my children. I don’t think this fear will ever go away.

Emma, Samuel and I at my childhood home in Glen Ridge, NJ in 2017

18. I believe the world is filled with loving people, primarily wanting to have a positive place in the world. I recently saw this unfold when a totally diverse group of strangers and friends rallied around a young refugee woman from Cameroon I befriended while she was in detention at an ICE facility here in Bakersfield. These people didn’t ask about political parties, religion, socioeconomics, anything. They heard there was a need they could fill and they did, immediately and in the moment. This was one of the most humbling, incredible experiences of my life. I’m sure it will come up during the Bridge.

19. I have four brothers and one sister. I have had one brother die. I basically don’t speak to two of my siblings and sometimes I wonder how they will feel when I die. I think I have grieved the loss of our connection for a long time, so I have no idea how I will grieve. My brother I am in closest touch with texted me tonight and confirmed we will all have Christmas together, something Mom had mentioned but I was afraid to follow up on. This means – during the Bridge, I will have a closer answer.

20. I realize I have many more than 30 I could share actually, but I will stop here. I separated out the birth stories. I have always been fascinated with birth stories (there is a reason I am the creative life midwife!) and Katherine is named after a midwife – who happened to be one of my close friends who died very young – but I figured not everyone is as enamored. Oh, wait. Make it 21.

One of my favorite photos of my daughters and me, circa 2012 ish.

21. I am a relatively open book and will answer most questions I am asked directly without hesitation. Feel free to ask.

Birth Stories:
22. I have been pregnant 5 times. I have three living children and 2 other daughters-of-the-heart who refer to me as Mom or My Mom.
23. When I gave birth to Samuel, I was speechless when I saw I had managed the impossible – giving birth to a boy. (If you are willing to have some TMI, I also had an orgasm when I had Samuel. How strange is that! I will never tell him that though… just too weird.)
24. When I gave birth to Emma, my first loving words to her were, “She has a cone head.”
25. When I gave birth to Katherine, it took me a while to look at her. I was scared. After all, the first thing I said after Marlena was born was, “Our baby is dead.” I think I’ll edit that out. In the end, I chose not to. Edit it out.

Julie JordanScott is The Creative Life Midwife and one of the Founders of Bridge to the New Year. Join us now in 2020 in #Refresh2020 to reflect, connect, intend and taking passionate action to create a truly remarkable rest of 2020. Click the graphic below to find out more and register to receive emails.

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