Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

Creative Life Midwife with Julie Jordan Scott Weekly Highlights October 8, 2022

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I have not made it through a month of blogging for several years, so while I was trying again there was a part of me that wondered how far I would get.

Success = Affirming My Abilities after time in a dark tunnel of “not so much.”

I am pleased to say that today is the first day I am doubling up and that is only because yesterday got away with me while I was busily working on other aspects of my business: course creation and networking, primarily. 

My daughter was due early in the evening for an event and she came earlier than expected so…. I missed. This morning, one of my first tasks was completing the missing day and here I am with my Saturday recap, just as I expected to do each week.

Favorite 3 Posts this Week (with Links)

Highlights for me this week include learning how incredible Beatrix Potter is and weaving her story into two blog posts. The Beatrix Potter post about repurposing is a new favorite.

I was also pleasantly surprised by Thursday’s inspirational post. It wrote itself during a daily morning writing practice and has been getting favorable reviews from many readers.

Next Week’s Content Plan

Question for Creativity and Contemplation: How will doing something slightly scary change your life this week? Image is of a door opening behind the question.

The plan for next week includes stepping into a multi-passionate approach because I have discovered over time how helpful it has been to me to explore life through a variety of callings rather than “niche down, niche down, niche down” which I know fits for most people. I have finally concluded staying focused on passion itself is the best for me.

I also plan to write at least two posts that require courage from me. I added this journaling prompt in yesterday’s blog post. It is one I will visit personally. I invite you to do the same if you are having challenges with staying the course over the upcoming days and weeks ahead.

What is your plan for content next week?

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Ordinary Adventures in Mindfulness & Caregiving

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Plants and nature symbolize mindfulness in the every day. Passing a fragile yet full of potential plant from one hand to another is indicative of everyday ordinary adventures in mindfulness and caregiving.

Mindfulness in Everyday Life

“The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness.”

Jon Kabat-Zin

I am aware I am feeling disgruntled today. It started when I woke up and realized I had less than an hour until I needed to facilitate a meeting I didn’t really feel like facilitating. 

I took a deep breath and moved forward, anyway.

Not what we think of as mindfulness and yet, mindful.

This is not what I would call quintessential mindfulness AND there are aspects of it that ARE mindful which may be constructive to point out.

  1. Recognition of how I was feeling. Disgruntled. Didn’t feel like doing what was on my to-do list. 
  2. First action: a deep breath.  I stopped mindlessly scrolling and took the action that would help me move forward to facilitate the meeting.
  3. When I got dressed, I actually practiced balancing. One foot in my shorts. Hold. Second foot in my shorts. Hold.
  4. Sat at my desk and was the first one to the zoom room meeting. 

After the meeting I needed to focus on caregiving tasks. With that came more aggravation. Within the caregiving I offered myself attempts at self-compassion and compassion for the other person. None of this segment felt mindful EXCEPT….

  1. I was as aware of my feelings and my responses to those feelings.
  2. I was able to calm myself from being more angry and cranky. 

Reflections in Mindfulness

I notice as I retell the story, the awareness and the kindness I am showing to myself by not making my emotions the enemy, not making the person I am caregiving for the “bad guy” and recognizing these are the current circumstances which I have the power to process through using writing as a tool I am doing is also mindful in its own way.

I allow myself to flop back in my chair in response to the a-ha’s of discovery from this exercise. I smile at myself and with myself. 

I remember a quote I saw last night, another from Jon Kabat-Zinn. “Mindfulness is a way of befriending ourselves and our experience.”

Mindfully beginning again…. (and again.)

I am starting to write again. I can feel my spine straight up, not leaning against the back of the chair. The light is blocked by the lacy curtains. I notice I ought to get out my dust mop and dance with the dust bunnies after I finish writing. My breath is filling my lungs and my lungs are singing in reply. It is Monday. It is the 4th of July. Samuel isn’t here. I miss him and am aware he gets upset at sentimentality so I will leave that thought to sit beside me without needing to pick it up and share it with him.

The person I am caregiving sends me messages that are slightly upsetting. I attempt to stay calm about them and I do. I am calm as I do a bit of research and return his messages and communicate I will honor his request when I am finished writing. 

Interesting: boundaries are easier with mindfulness. 

Mindfulness Lessons

I was actually more mindful than I thought this morning, even though I thought I wasn’t.

Basic mindfulness does not always look like a zen garden at dusk. Sometimes mindfulness looks like having tough conversations without letting our emotions hijack us.

Tell me about your experience(s) with mindfulness in the comments. I would love to hear from you.

Hugging a cartoon tree is almost as fun as hugging a tree outside, almost. Creator of #377TreeHugs, Julie Jordan Scott, enjoys hugging a black and white cartoon tree in downtown Bakersfield.

Julie Jordan-Scott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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On Sundays, We Plan the Week Ahead

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It is basic and also easy to overlook: life works better even with the most basic plan.

Planning Basics: Even with a Hectic, Unpredictable Schedule basic planning is grounding and illuminating.

As a creative who is also busily caretaking, it would be easy to toss away any idea of planning and just “go with the flow” or as it often devolves into “go with the chaos” or whatever is the best of the worst possibilities.

This is not inspiring in the least.

This is why it is better to at least have the minimum amount of a plan before your week begins.

Calendar + Appointments + Tasks “To Do” + Practices = Better

On Sunday afternoon, evening or early Monday morning, be sure to gather your calendar, a list of your projects, classes, and to-do’s you are aware of as your week kicks off.

Fill in your calendar with what you know for now. Include any family or friend activities you are expected to attend. If you are unsure what other people’s expectations are for you, now is the time to ask and set the boundaries that fit.

Once those times are filled in, it is time to do some intentional breathing and take time in free flow, meditative writing or journaling to see if there is anything deserving space that has not yet appeared in your plan.

Journal or Free Flow Write to Double Check” and Allow the Unspoken within You Speak

Here’s a reality we often deny or pretend away: within our busy minds racing to get things done, we ignore the wisest part of ourselves. The quiet whispers, the tugs on our intuition, the nudges that are encouraging you to go in a possible different direction.

As you consider the blocks of time filled with appointments, daily basic care activities (hygiene, meal prep, spiritual practice, exercise), tasks and to-do’s, take a moment to journal or free flow write using this question and the sentence starter to tune into those most important aspects of your plan you may have not paid any attention to (yet.)

Revise your plan: It is a leaping off point, not a concrete wall.

One of the ways people resist planning or decide not to plan is based in perfectionism or “all or nothing” thinking. Can you relate to either of those?

Starting Next Week: Suggestions, Coaching & Response to Your Questions

Do you have any questions about how to plan, best practices for planning, planning mindsets or advice around planning? I will incorporate these in upcoming blog posts.

Please comment below or send me an email at juliejordanscott at gmail.comVideo Exploring Trust (which may have kept you from planning in the past.)

Optional Video Exploration/Writing Exercise on TRUST

A blast from the past (2017) a prompt for you to write with – videos will be shared at the end of each blog and are optional for you to use (or not) as a means for you to be inspired to write more or differently or better. This particular theme of TRUST is essential to grow as a writers and leaders.

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Satisfied, Passionate, Purposeful: Journaling Prompt to Plan Your Week

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Prompt: April 3, 2022 Prompt

Every week I go live on Sundays on my Facebook Page, JJS WRITING CAMP, and we talk about a specific journaling prompt. We free flow write in response to the question or prompt and through that, discern what actions we may take because of what we discover and uncover.

What I learned today is neither facebook nor linked in allow embeds of the videos they host on their sites so – next week I will also stream on YouTube so I may share here.

In the meantime, here is a link to the livestream on Facebook at the Writing Camp with JJS Page. When you watch that replay, I offer ideas and the prompt more fully than just in writing.

Satisfied, Passionate, Purposeful: What do these mean to you?

  1. Free flow write for up to 5 minutes on any on all of these words. What are you doing when you feel the most satisfied, the most passionate, the most purposeful?
  2. How are you spending your time so that you will spend more of your time feeling satisfied, passionate and purposeful?
  3. Your subconscious mind will give you details you have yet to discover when you free flow write rather than planning every words to say.
Watch us live on YouTube, Linked in or at Writing Camp next Sunday!

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Do You Feel Your 2022 Word?

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Framework of a home being built and the words "What's Your Word for 2022"?

What’s your word of the year for 2022?

Commemorating each new year by naming it with a theme or intention is something I have done for years. I can trace it back to at least 2009 and every year since then I have boldly declared an overarching theme to frame the new year.

Last year I declared 2021 would be my adventure year, and yes it was. Much of the adventuring wasn’t what I expected and yes, it fit the frame.

In 2020, it was intrepid and yes, I needed to claim that over and over again as we floundered in the early pandemic and continued into social unrest.

This year, I have a fiercely gentle word to frame both what I do and who I am.

I am claiming 2022 to be framed with presence. 

What is framing your 2022?

Feeling (20)22 borrowing from Taylor Swift
Borrowing from Taylor Swift

Presence as experienced in being mindful, deliberate, focused, aware.

Present in action through making choices that are aligned with purpose, passion and taking the greater good for my fellow humans into consideration as well.

Presence as in acknowledging the depth of feelings and how they may, at times, overwhelm – and right the wobbly while riding the waves and curves and the messes that will show up.

Presence as in forgiveness, compassion, joy, humility, gleeful laughter.

Definitely, 2022 calls for my most present heart to be engaged.

If you don’t have a word yet, here’s help right now!

If you don’t have a word as of yet, part of the Vlogmas celebration I put together on my YouTube channel included a free guide to take you through a process – or at least offer some direction to recognize and claim your word, even giving permission for you to explore before definitely saying THIS IS IT!

To Download Your Word of the year Planner, visit here. I’m so grateful to be celebrating Vlogmas with you!

This is Julie JordanScott Jordan Scott in Bakersfield, California.

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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We Wish You a Merry Vlogmas and Bountiful 2022 Word of the Year

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I can feel it coming now!

Announcement of 12 Days of Vlogmas

Planning for 2022 have begun in earnest for some of us and for others, waiting and intuitive listening is the way to be open the “what’s next of 2022.”

Begin Your 2022 Preparations with a Word of the Year

Something I do annually is to craft – intentionally – a Word of the Year.

People create a word of the year in place of a New Year’s resolution – which is often broken or forgotten before the year even begins. It allows you to form your goals and intentions with the word as a theme or a frame for what you would like to take form in 2022.

Whether you take an intuitive or structured approach, this workbook will bring more insights before the new year begins.

Because I value taking time with the process, I have created a Workbook for you to use to purposefully bring your word for 2022 to light. It includes a 7 step process including creativity coaching questions, prompts and ideas.

If you take an intuitive approach, you are preparing and opening the door slowly.

If you take a more structured approach, this will help to bring energy and oomph to the work you are doing.

Vlogmas Video and Download:

To Download Your Word of the year Planner, visit here. I’m so grateful to be celebrating Vlogmas with you!

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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What’s Next? Creative Life Midwife Blog in December & 2022

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Gratitude to the Blog Visitors: woman writing ina notebook and circles of gratitude in this holiday flavored image

During November, I participated once again in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Although I wasn’t perfect in my participation, I would say I improved greatly from past challenges. A big part of that is from the community created by Paul Taubman with the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

Gratitude: One of the Most Powerful Energies there is!

The people who are in the challenge are always a great support, but this year I took some risks in what I posted and was met repeatedly with meaningful comments and connections.

I have connected with some people in the challenge in the past, but this session was special because of the care of each comment participants made and how regularly my posts were shared with their audiences. I cannot thank each of you enough.

Please: if you have a blog consider participating in the next challenge by using the link above or this Ultimate Blog Challenge link right here! 🙂

What’s next? 12 Days of Vlogmas Gifts to Make Your 2022 Creatively Bountiful

I have been thinking of doing Vlogmas AND it feels so big, too big, especially as I didn’t quite make it through the Ultimate Blog Challenge for all thirty days THOUGH I was closer than usual thanks to batching my content.

I decided it would be really fun for me to do Vlogmas in 12 Days beginning on December 4th instead of 30 posts starting December 1 (though I leave room to add if I am having tons of fun and want to continue) and offer gifts – primarily tools I use that people may choose to use also via check lists, journaling pages, actual google docs to copy and things like that. 

Together, let’s delight in our individual and collective creative bount by giving and receiving the 12 Days of Vlogmas Gifts!

These tangible (and virtual) helps will make your 2022 more creatively bountiful than it would be on its own.

Who’s up for that?

Let’s Keep Our Connection Alive in December (and Beyond!)

I will share the posts in the Ultimate Blog Challenge group in December. I like popping in there even when there isn’t a challenge going as a way to stay connected on our “no challenge” months. Saying that’s part of my plan will make me more likely to follow through.

I will also be participating in the December Cornerstone Content Blog Challenge run by Jeanine Byers who I met from the Ultimate Blog Challenge. We have become better friends as the years and challenges have gone on. In the Cornerstone Content Blog Challenge. In December we are focusing on sharing on our Facebook Business Pages AND… truth be told I often repurpose a lot of my content sometimes with slight variations so ther 12 Days of Vlogmas Gifts may show up there on some days, too.

In 2022, I will be focusing on offering Soulful Writing Courses and Soulful Writing Circles in addition to launching other courses focused on intentional creative rebirth. In October 2022 I will be opening the doors to offering Intentional Holiday Circles, Even While Grieving again – and for those who want to process on their own, I am creating a journal now for that very purpose.

THANK YOU for being a part of my 2021 experience!

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Turning a Lose-Lose into a Win (or at least a Bit Better.)

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Writing, planning.... is easier when you aren't surrounded by other people. Here I am in a park with my notebook, alone.

How did conflict show up in my writing this week?

Conflict showed up for my writing in how much time I wasn’t able to write, where I was and who I was with, which sounds more like excuses than I wish it did. Time, context and external interference. No one else I was with felt conflict, only me.

This is what happened that prevented me from writing in the week behind us. I was at an AirBnb with family. I wanted to keep up a modified but still focused on creating consistently. I am not sure exactly when things started falling apart, I just know they did. 

It’s funny how resignation works when you don’t show up at the page.

And another day you don’t show up at the page. Resignation builds.

And another day you don’t show up at the page. Resignation gets higher and higher.

Perhaps if I wrote a short story or a scene with these elements, I might be able to step out of myself and study it a bit without shaking my finger at myself, wagging like my third grade teacher, Ms. Pizarro. 

This sounds ideal to me: take what caused me conflicts in my writing and use it to fuel my creativity this week. Win-win-win.

How can you create a win-win with what might have felt like a loss otherwise?

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Begin to Connect with Your Creative Spark

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White canvases surrounded by autumn themed lives twith title "how to connect with your creative spark" plus the authors name Julie JordanScott

Yesterday I was the guest host at the weekly #SpiritChat twitter chat. I have been a participant since the early days of SpiritChat – and it has been a staple of my connection with people of all different faith groups in many parts of the world who share similar heart spaces. Now that I live on the East Coast, it is much easier to show up for the 9 am chat since it is no longer a 6 am “call time” as it was when I was in the Pacific Time Zone in Bakersfield, California. To find out more about this weekly adventure in spirituality, growth and connection, please visit here.

I was asked to substititute in as guest host by the leader, Kumud Ajmani. What follows is the blog post I wrote introducing the theme to the Spirit Chat community. I plan to share some of the insights I have had on the theme that were inspired by the chat yesterday on my blog this week.

More than twenty years ago I was a guest teacher in a classroom of adults who were used to studying spiritual topics in depth.  I chose the topic “You are Art.”

What I remember most is before I started when a man who said, “I am a businessman, I am the furthest thing from art.”

I remember the naive, sweet version of myself felt a wave of incredulity, “You mean, you don’t see your business as an art form?”

My poet, singing, life purpose coach self may have even gotten tears in my eyes.

I was grieved he didn’t get it. He didn’t understand business is art. Getting dressed every day is art. Making a meal is art.

I don’t think that one particular hour-long session made a difference in his life, but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief to say “It could have. The creative spark could have risen from what we said and did in that session to invite him into the possibility that his business was, indeed, his creative project. His business was his art, his sculpture, his dramatic monologue, his pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, his photo, his poem.”

The creative spark – the initial entry into making things – beats in all of our hearts. It moves through our veins and is heard through our voices. 

American painter Robert Henri said,  “The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.”

This wonderful state Henri refers to is where sparks fly and gather into something more than a single light. The creative spark is at the heart of conversations that leave an impression and sit in our memory decades later. It is the space where we go on walks and suddenly see light in a new way. It is when we solve a problem into a solution that benefits more people than we knew it could. 

The creative spark opens doors, breezes through windows and wakes us up from a long nap ready to dive into what we were afraid of before we fell asleep thinking we were stuck in a hopeless mess.

At the ripe old age of ten-years-old I first sang harmonies in a girls chorus class. My voice lifted up and hit higher notes than the melody. I could not believe how beautiful it was to join other voices to make such a glorious, blended sound I couldn’t make by singing alone.

It was like suddenly being a part of a divine miracle. Truth be told, it was a part of a divine miracle, never replicated.

By the end of that school year I abandoned my love of acting, a talent I possessed, was praised for and didn’t use again for three decades. 

I only started to act again because of a series of synchronicities and a moment of transcendence pushed me into a space where I could no longer deny this spark within me. 

Osho reminds us “To be creative means to be in love with life.” 

Let’s deepen that love, together, today and on as many days as possible in the future.    

 

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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The Joy, Struggles and Satisfaction of 698 (and Counting) Days of Daily Consistency

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Last year I realized how important consistent creativity was to both my healing and my growing confidence. I also learned if I created a particularly ambitious goal I didn’t think I could complete, I was more likely to abandon it – like leaping across a divide that was too wide for me to accomplish.

Learning to “not quite” reach a goal while also absolutely shining on another goal created success & self-compassion practice.

Because I was continuing to be successful with my daily haiku writing, my hiking goal “fail” was more easy to accept.

Seth Godin, one of the models of creative consistency, wrote in his book “The Practice” “Learn to juggle. Draw an owl. Make things better. Without regard for whether it’s going to work this time.” Sometimes we hit our goals and sometimes we don’t.

We may hear that showing up consistently is where the reward eventually comes, but in the early days of consistency the distance to our intended result may make it challenging to continue. The detachment from outcome and optimistic spirit is fuel for the ongoing effort even when you may not feel like moving forward on a less-than-stellar day.

Permission to Try Again:

I recently decided I am going to attempt the hiking goal again in 2022 AND I am going to continue my tree hugging I doggedly introduced at the end of 2020 and continued in 2021, even as it has proven more challenging than consistent haiku writing I started in December 2019 and continued for 377 consecutive days.

In 2022, I also plan to return to some form of daily poetry.

In the recent days my make-shift writing practice experiment of #rolloverandwrite has expanded into much more prose – from a scribbled and hurried maybe paragraph note to self to a note to my highest self and observations in the night before sleep and a waking written meditation. I am also laughing to myself because this morning’s #rolloverandwrite was the most terse I have written lately.

The most surprising discovery from consistent daily activity:

One of the most important lessons of 698 days (so far!) of intentional, consistent daily action of some form is I feel more centered, more content and more accomplished now than I did before I started this experiment in 2019.

 From having a self-created goal simply for the sake of having a reason to show up – which continued during the pandemic and an ever-widening divide in my country – the process of knowing every day I would take a specific action gave me something to look forward to, always. Even after the death of my father, a murder of a friend and many more subtle and not-so-subtle losses – having a space to share my consistent practice that morphed from haiku writing and became tree hugging at the end of 2020 and will continue into early 2022 –  with friends and strangers on my personal facebook page – has become a space of strength and healing.

Most people who are my facebook friends don’t know I consider them important accountability partners, but they are accountability partners to me! Especially since I moved across the country and doubt myself at least every other day, knowing people are curious about what sort of tree I discovered to hug on any given day helps me move forward with the project even when I don’t feel like it.

The reward is evident in both personal resilience and trust in the body of work as well as in my growing knowledge base and practice of speaking up with my discoveries.

Is all this tree hugging and poetry writing and hiking adding to my wealth?

Is it making me famous?

Not yet to either financial abundance or recognition, but I’m not counting it out yet. My writing improves with everything I write and my awareness and knowledge of trees has surprised me.

Have you ever tried a quirky, outrageous goal in daily consistency? What happened?


Julie JordanScott is a multipassionate creative who delights in inviting others into their own fullhearted, artistic experience via her creativity coaching individually or in groups, courses and workshops. To receive inspiring content and videos weekly and find out more about Coaching, Courses, Challenges and what’s going on in the Creative Life Midwife world? Subscribe here:

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Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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