Creative Process – Creative Life Midwife

What have you learned from reading so far this year?

February 16, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife 5 Comments

What is the most recent book you read recently because you wanted to experience personal growth? In the beginning of the year, self-help and goal setting and improvement books fly off the shelves and out of publisher’s warehouses.

While this may seem like a simple question, sometimes the books that help us grow may be unexpected. Let’s consider different factors and allow possible answers to surprise you.

This week I finished several books. I finished “The Practice” by Seth Godin and “The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead.

When books become friends, they become lifelong companions.

Reading Godin’s book again is like having a reunion with an inspiring friend. I first read him years ago when i was new on the entrepreneurial, transformational creativity path. What I enjoy about his work is he is aligned with me AND he challenges me to think, act and grow better – with purer intention and awareness.

When I finished “The Nickel Boys” a novel about two young men in a 1960’s reform school in Florida completely opened my eyes. I read and actively enjoyed this book so much that I was known to blurt out joy by saying “Oh, this man can write!” or in dismay, “No, I can’t… I can’t keep reading this right now… no,” and walking away for three days until I felt restored enough to face reality.

At the end of the book, I wanted to fill up the trunk of my car with copies of this book and give it away to people who I know would read it because while we – as white people – can use words like “white privilege” sometimes don’t get it because we can’t quite get it clear. This novel helped to clarify not only white privilege, but the heart of Martin Luther King’s message as lived by a group of young men – while at the same time using language effortlessly and not needing to paint violent details.

One book: obvious personal development. Another book, fiction based on history, quieter and also deep in my core soulful personal development.

Taking a moment to move into a political direction: feel free to step off the post AND please tell about books you have read.

I don’t usually get political here on this blog, but I am about to do so briefly. If you do not want to deal with anything political today, I understand and invite you to simply comment about the above material and know if you are curious, this blog post will stay here for you to consider.

On the same day I am writing this, reports from the New York Times are telling us a woman named Amy Cooper fulfilled her judge appointed goals after being a typical “racist Karen” when she falsely reported a black man on a 911 call for threatening her because he asked her to follow the law and put her dog on a leash instead of allowing it to run freely in Central Park in New York City.

After she was arrested, she went to court and the judge requested she attend five sessions of therapy and proclaimed better. The educational course of study was specifically about racial bias.

To read an article that summarizes what happened, please visit this article from the New York Times.

What if the course of study included literature, film, art & heartfelt conversations?

I wonder what would happen if the educational course of study included reading and reflective writing? I wonder what would happen if Ms. Cooper and others read some books and wrote about what the books meant to her and how she would choose to live those books?

Perhaps we could put people who behave like she did with reading a book, watching a movie, looking at an art exhibit and then reporting back to the world how she grew from those experiences and how she will live differently as a result.

What might happen then?

Maybe we could entrust that reporting to her therapist would make a difference.

With well written, topical works would perhaps be influential upon people like Amy Cooper – and people like us witnessing the broken system and help us move one another and the system into a more aligned place – would learn more than just shouting and flailing and constantly standing on one end of the “us vs them” continuum.

Please share in the comments your book & reading recommendations PLUS any relevant conversation.

Julie Jordan Scott is the Creator of the Radical Joy of Daily Consistency Course which helps people practice consistency and completion daily in order to experience a more incredible life experience. She also founded the free, private facebook community for writers and creative people at all levels of experience: the Word Love Writing Community. Join us!

When Showing Up Isn’t and IS Enough: Try This On

February 6, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife 3 Comments

Sometimes I don’t manage to do all I would like to do and yet, I am always grateful when I show up and when I try. It reminds me of what Brene Brown says, “The willingness to show up changes us, it makes us a little braver each time.”

I have a long history of giving up before I start, so showing up and following through has been infinitely important as I have been soldiering through lately, trying to keep my chin up and my eyes high even when I would rather close my eyes and lean back on my recliner as if there was nothing else to do.

For this lunar cycle I made up a fun affirmation I plan to continue into the next one: “Following through is flowing through and I deserve to flow where I am going.”

What I have found is when I stop showing up, I have forgotten I deserve to feel good.

Somewhere along the course of not showing up, of showing up for others and not myself, of showing up with one easily removed toe-dip into the water I decided to agree with the lies I am unworthy.

Usually these “You aren’t was worthy as you think you are!” lies get loud as the day wears on and it is obvious I won’t come close to reaching my tendency-to-be-high goals and aspirations for myself.

Today, I remembered the potency of such lies – and while I remember “Following through is flowing through and I deserve to flow were I am going,” I also recognize lowering my expectations and showing myself a healthy dose of compassion is sometimes much more important than powering through or ignoring my desires at all.

Showing up and not quite reaching our own expectations is NOT letting ourselves off the hook, it is allowing our humanity to show.

I am human and sometimes that means I don’t reach the heights a super-human might reach. Comparing myself to impossible to reach goals is as harmful to comparing my swimming speed to an Olympic medalist.
I tried – and while some sage characters in popular movies may assert, “There is no try, there is only do” there are many ways trying – showing up and taking action – is doing.
Being a “winner” may mean the bar is set too low. Try that one on for size – and open your arms and heart to continuing and starting and continuing and starting and continuing.

Doesn’t it feel better to be compassionate with yourself by looking at the reality – it is fantastic to have inspirational goals – and showing up even if they aren’t reachable yet is sometimes the very best action possible.

Julie Jordan Scott is the Creator of the Radical Joy of Consistency Course which helps people practice consistency and completion daily in order to experience a more incredible life experience. She came to this conclusion after almost dying and coming back to true healing by writing 377 consecutive haiku… and a lot more along her way to building that streak! To find out more about this program, visit this link, here.

Subtract Anxiety, Add Peace

February 4, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife 2 Comments

I wrote a poem today.

I wrote into my phone, in the driveway. It is perhaps more a “pre-poetry jot” then a full fledged poem.

It felt good to write no matter what “it” is.

A tall cottonwood behind a chain link fence at sunset. Title is "Learning from Transition Into Dusk. Staying Calm even when it isn't easy)

Last night I took a sunset walk at the Panorama Vista Preserve. I wanted to walk and I wanted to take photos like I used to, just for the joy, and I wanted to experience the transition from light to darkness.

It was during this walking time I wrote bits of a different poem in my head.

Experiencing natural transitions are soothing and make transitions I am experiencing with my health feel more normal as well. The transition from feeling healthy, full speed ahead to “something is going on but I cannot label it or know what’s next” uncomfortableness would very easily drive me into a higher level of anxiety – which isn’t good for my body and healing in any way.

I sat on a bench facing east during sunset, which is strange for me. Usually I stare at the sun as she moves out of sight, but I was enjoying watching birds fly as dusk settled. Birds whose names I don’t know who prefer low to the earth shrubs, a hawk cruising for a meal, and two loud ravens flew past. As the sun disappeared under the horizon, the burned dust smell of the Southern San Joaquin Valley rose once again making me wish I had an adequate way to capture it in words.

I’m still working on holding “scent of dust” or a better way to say it is I am waiting for the words to reveal themselves to me. Even better than that is the scent of dust is working on me rather than me working on it.

As I turned to leave the preserve I thought, “hmm. No rabbits are out yet.” In 2020, rabbits were a nearly constant companion on my walks here.

I also noted the gorgeousness of nightfall with a grand cottonwood tree, fenced into the yard beside the preserve.

It reminded me of my mass (tumor, growth). I can feel it, I can see it on the outside of my body, but I can’t get close enough to my own interior to know the impact it may have on my life.

I didn’t fall into worry or anxiety with these thoughts, I simply admired the cottonwood and with great self love, gave myself more moments of compassion. Stepping back into my car, I smiled softly.

As I drove toward home, a rabbit sat beside the road. She didn’t hop away, didn’t appear scared, she simply sat as I drove past as if to say “We’ve got this. No need to be afraid.”

I wrote to my primary care doctor and received a response. Today my personal challenge is to call the surgeon and check on the referral for the MRI. Keep the energy moving toward healing. Continue to assemble to the team with love rather than fear.

In my mind’s eye and deep in my heart, I will stand with the cottonwood in admiration without the need to get too close yet.

My Vision is Bigger than This Bump in the Road

February 2, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife 6 Comments

I almost hit a wall and allowed it to stop me.

Note: I almost hit a wall and allowed it to stop me.

I didn’t let it stop me.

I am here, writing. I made a video. I am on course, on track, doing this. I am doing this.

How did I begin my work in Transformational Creativity?

I began being a creative life coach, facilitating transformational programs, working with individuals to have breakthroughs in their own creative life while I continue with my multi-creative work?

The easiest way for me to narrow down the story returns me to my near-death experience in October 2019. The wall I speak of now – my health crisis – may be rooted in that continuing saga. The biggest challenge with my health is I don’t know what is causing my problem – is it more Valley Fever? Is it a benign tumor? Is it some form of cancer? I can read the CT report – which points out all into possibilities. In the past, when I hit a wall regarding my health I would stay stuck in the worry.

This time I am not, I will not get stuck in worry.

That is a big one for me.

My goal to work with people as a partner in their transformation and expanding that vision into co-creating a changed world is huge. I am not going anywhere. I am continuing on the path I started forging two decades ago.

Even if this health snag becomes larger than I want it to be, I have a team to help me through it and my work will continue. That says it all.

My work will continue because my vision is bigger than this bump in the road.

Julie Jordan Scott is the Creator of the Radical Joy of Consistency Course which helps people practice consistency and completion daily in order to experience a more incredible life experience. She came to this conclusion after almost dying and coming back to true and expanded healing by writing 377 consecutive haiku… and a lot more along her way to building that streak! To find out more about this program, visit this link, here.

Are You Sick of the Story You Keep Telling Yourself? Here: a bit of Magic to Change It.

January 22, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

Reading this quote was like getting a big basket of pixie dust thrown on me all at once:

“If you want to change your story, change your actions first.”

HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU KNOW SOMETHING, BUT ACT AS IF YOU don’t KNOW IT?

I knew what Seth Godin was saying before I read it. I’ve lost count of how many times I have known something intuitively before I knew it “actually” –

I’ll confess, in the past I felt sort of childish for not having a high level of self trust. Then I started reading Seth Godin’s book “The Practice” and discovered there are many of us in the same position!

I am not being childish, I am being human.

After my near death experience, I fell into a dark emotional funk. I knew I ought to do something differently both in order to heal and in order to make progress. I didn’t realize back then that a simple daily action outside of anything I was already doing would have the impact on my life it has continued to have.

I committed to myself I would do this one activity – writing a short poem accompanied by a photo and sharing it on my facebook page, one day at a time – was one activity and impacted so much more.

You make the commitment to YOURSELF

What happens as a result of taking our daily action actually grows far beyond writing a poem or walking for 20 minutes or making five phone calls to people who may be interested in supporting our non-profit.

This is the magic. When we commit to taking action to ourselves in order to change our story, what actually happens as a by-product of our daily action is:

We begin to trust ourselves in areas outside of just that one action.
We gain courage to try making shifts in other areas of our lives.
We feel better because daily successes cause a rise to our endorphin levels.
We interrupt our patterns of self doubt and recreate them as self trust, self confidence and ultimately self love and self respect.

Building self trust is your truest foundation for lasting, overall life change

Think about this question before responding:

How would your life circumstances change positively if you trusted yourself more, had more confidence and were able to report successful results daily?

Sunrise light: the Radical Joy of Daily Consistency

Ralph Waldo Emerson & Quirky Goals Go Together

January 11, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

“Self trust is the essence of heroism.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don’t you love it when you decide to do something and the rewards far outshine what you had originally believed they would be?

I love on-line challenges. They have helped me to grow and develop in so many directions. I love leaping into them and learning new things, meeting new people, sticking my foot out where I didn’t think it could go.

The Joy of Getting More than You Expected

What I didn’t realize is how rewarding it would be to do something “just because” – and then try it out – and then continue – just because. Not because your boss is telling you to or your partner would be mad if you didn’t, but just because you were enjoying yourself.

It reminds me of the heroism Ralph Waldo Emerson mentions: self trust is at the essence of heroism because when you act on your own behalf, no one is applauding, no one is praising you, no one is standing in awe of your strength in helping them or saving them from an enemy or from themselves.

Turns out, though, that when we are heroic on our own behalf not only do we get expansive results, so do the rest of the world.

Lately I have been going out into parks and sometimes parking lots to hug trees every day.

I know, I know – this sounds like a strange activity – but it is the pandemic and I am not getting nearly as many hugs as I usually do and I am not giving as many hugs as I usually do and trees are there, waiting to be noticed.

A lot of people are lonely for their friends and hugs. Once people started to hug trees, they would discover they are actually a great human substitute. In some ways, hugging a tree is even more profound than hugging people.

A year ago I was waking up and writing short poetry everyday for 377 consecutive days.

It isn’t a quirky goal if it works!

In doing that activity – some saw it as a wacky endeavor, I built up so much self-trust I feel like I can conquer almost any obstacle. Every day, before noon, I found something that fascinated me or at least didn’t bore me, snapped a photo with my camera, and wrote a poem about it.

It became a part of my everyday ritual like sliding my foot into my pant leg every day.

If I put both legs into one pant leg, I wouldn’t be able to walk. If I didn’t write my poem – life wouldn’t feel as good. If I don’t hug a tree, I lose out. The trees around me are much stronger than I am. I like to imagine they are happy when I hug them, but I am clearly getting an enormous amount of joy from them – and building my self-trust one hug at a time.

And now, You: Prompts for Contemplation, Writing or Creativity

Take a moment to consider your relationship with self-trust. How would your life change if you trusted yourself more fully?

What lessons have you learned from self-trust in the past or right now?

Take a moment to respond in the comments or feel free to use the questions as a journaling prompt.

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Is it Still January, 2021?

January 10, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

I wrote this on January 9, which feels like years ago now. The only reason I know January isn’t over is my birthday hasn’t happened yet.

The last few weeks have felt like decades, like 2020 was just a tiny warm-up to what the first 10 days of 2021 would bring. I’m choosing to see this – no I will not say unprecedented – unsettling time as a chance to withdraw, as I did a few days ago, to reflect and see my perspective and the stories that come with it from MY perspective only.

Yesterday I was so exhausted from the day itself, I fell asleep shortly after 8 pm. I had nothing left to give except a devotion to my pillow. I had no time for quiet, contemplative thought so I accepted my own plea for rest.

You get to choose how to measure your “success” in the moment

I woke up frustrated because I wanted to get more done yesterday. It was 1:33 am when I came up for air. I lifted my neck and plunged it back into the pillow. Nothing I could do to change it so I surrendered back to deep sleep.

When I woke again I had overslept.

I got to choose again: berate myself or allow myself a pass. That’s when I came upon my friend Anne’s question which leads to my 3 Good Things. As you read my 3 things I invite you to consider yours.

Maybe in reading mine, you will see some of yours, reflected. That is my hope and prayer for you and for me, too.

Reflect on Your 3 Good Things Today

Here are mine:

I love how ripple effects work. My friend Anne Stone Lafleur asked a question based on her Gift of Happiness website connection cards. I took that question and gave myself an assignment to “live it” and it shifted how I approached a task I have put off for far too long. Self-love, self-compassion and a vision of what is coming up for me all lined up through a couple pages of free writing that would not have been born if it had not been for the question she asked herself that I then asked of me.
I love how it feels to hug trees, today a eucalyptus.
I love what I am in the midst of creating that includes, right now, me reclining in a bed that is made up with adorable flannel sheets with cats on them. I am writing this note and then, I will drink my tea, do day’s end writing and reading and it has become such a self nurturing time I feel new again.

Invitation to Fully Embrace Your Stories & Your Views

How will you make and remake your story from visiting here, today?

Maybe you will fall more deeply in love with your life or maybe you will feel a call into a new perspective, a slight shift or caveat.

Whatever is true for you, I hope you will take a moment to share with us your 3 Good Things from today – sometimes that will seem like too few and sometimes this will feel like too many. However and wherever you’re falling on that spectrum, proclaim something – it will improve your story to share it.

Thank you for being here!

She has been a Life Purpose and Creativity Coach since 1999. She has taught workshops in college classrooms, hospitals, teleclasses and webinars with participants across the world.

Sometimes Opting For Quiet Integration is the Best

January 8, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

My country went through a depth of experience yesterday I would not have imagined going through until it was happening. Today for most of the day I have been integrating my experience, even here from the West Coast, quietly and grounded, listening to my heart without influence from others.

Quiet is sometimes the best place to be.

It’s ok to go “dark” for a day. It is fine and often appropriate to not speak right away. That’s what I did yesterday. The reports were coming in from Washington, DC and I felt as if I was in a cocoon between my flannel sheets. With the horror I was seeing, I wasn’t feeling any good things. Permission isn’t something we need to ask for here in relationship to feeling, grieving, expressing.

In retrospect I may change my mind about the overall impact of what happened yesterday but right now, I’m not.

Right on Time is Sometimes Not on Time

So I am back, right on time, with a report from today – which happens to be the anniversary of the mother of one of my closest friends.

What are My Quiet 3 Good Things on January 7, 2021?

I honored myself and my rhythms today. I was intentional and didn’t feel as if I “had to” force myself into anything.
I took action on chores I had been procrastinating about – cleaning out cabinets and clutter.
I’m trying the new app clubhouse for the first time today. I joined a conversation and I will be hosting my own room this evening. I am not sure how much I like it yet, but it is interesting to listen as I am doing busy work.

What are Your 3 Good Things?

I would love to hear your 3 Good Things, today or tomorrow or whenever.

You may also be quiet, sad, grieve, complain or gripe.

It’s ok to go dark, even as we are consistently, radically joyful.

She has been a Life Purpose and Creativity Coach since 1999. She has taught workshops in college classrooms, hospitals, teleclasses and webinars with participants across the world.

Cultivating Memories that Transform Your Life Experience

January 4, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

May this be a year for transformational memories:

What are transformational memories?

Memories tend to fall into several different categories: the mundane, the memories we want to forget, the bad memories that are burned into our psyche and the mountaintop memories – or big events we work to remember for later in great detail.

Transformational memories are those every day moments that make a lasting mark on who we were in the moment and who we are becoming, still.

Are transformational memories active gratitude, counting your blessings?

2020 may have many transformational memories for you that are certainly not mountaintop memories and they were mundane yet not. This is evidence of the “unprecedented times” we keep hearing about and experiencing again and again and again.

Now we have crossed the bridge to 2021 and although the calendar has changed, we are still facing many of the challenges from before. This series is to stay focused on what moves us forward.

Building a creative streak to practice successful completion

It is also an example of a small “streak” or container to hold a 31 Day Experiment in Counting My Blessings everyday that also is a method of completion practice.

I am a believer in practices like this because it gives you a daily completion, so you get practice in what it feels like to accomplish something simple to do and significant to do everyday. It is nothing short of magical.

Don’t believe it?
Try this for a week and tell me how you’re feeling.

Three cool things from today:

Samuel started the day shift at his job. No more graveyard. From now on he will work conventional hours and I won’t get to bring his lunch to his bedroom door by special delivery every day. That is a sadness I will just get over.
Katherine got a full-time church job! She will be the Solo Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Sussex, NJ. I told her today I look forward to the day I can travel again and see her in action in her congregation!
I created a bunch of content for the week to come, ahead of time. “Getting ahead” always makes me happy – now I simply need to get better at batching – working on one task theme for a set amount of time. For example. An hour of making graphics. An hour of writing copy, an hour of scrubbing the kitchen.

This process also helps me as a part of my evening writing practice, something I have wanted for a long time. As soon as I am done with this, I will do some writing in my notebook, some meditation and fall asleep.

The TV has been off for 30 minutes and YOU have held my sole focus. It simply feels good!

What are 3 Good Things from your day?

Are you ready to count your blessings? Let us know in the comments!

Julie Jordan Scott is the Creator of the One Small Shift Course which helps people practice consistency and completion daily in order to experience a more incredible life experience. She came to this conclusion after almost dying and coming back to true healing by writing 377 consecutive haiku… and a lot more along her way to building that streak! To find out more about this program, visit this link, here.

She has been a Life Purpose and Creativity Coach since 1999. She has taught workshops in college classrooms, hospitals, teleclasses and webinars with participants across the world.

3 Good Things Daily in January: 1 January 2020

January 2, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

My friend Ghia taught me the importance of sharing 3 Good Things at the end of every day. At least until the end of January, I am borrowing her practice.

Here are the 3 Good Things for January 1, 2020

the sun shines over the Kern Canyon wall. This could easily have been one of the 3 good things.

Gave Samuel a waffle batter making lesson. I didn’t realize until I talked through it the variety of nuances there are in putting together a simple recipe. Samuel is very invested in making waffles: he gave our family a fancy waffle maker for Christmas and he also gave his sister and her husband a waffle maker. Next week we’re going to make waffle batter from scratch so he can decide which he prefers. Included in next week’s lesson is talking about a well stocked pantry.
Got over being very cranky this afternoon. I got upset and couldn’t find my way out of it. I was transparent and honest in my sharing rather than covering it up. That felt really good.
I made videos while visiting Kern Canyon today. I was convinced they were messed up but guess what? They’re quirky and perfect but they are definitely not messed up.

What 3 good things happened in your life today?

Julie Jordan Scott is the Creator of the One Small Shift Course which helps people practice consistency and completion daily. To find out more about this program, visit this link, here.

She has been a Life Purpose and Creativity Coach since 1999. She has taught workshops in college classrooms, hospitals, teleclasses and webinars with participants across the world.