Poetry – Creative Life Midwife

What Joy Will You Share Today? Prompts & Inspiration for Your Journey

March 10, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 3 Comments

Writing prompts, or prompts for creative reflection, make a big difference for people.,. These are about describing joyful moments. Try one!

This Anne Sexton quote reminds me of the gratitude quotes I cherish, the wise quotes which serve as reminders of how important it is to share what we are grateful for… which is something I think I mostly have down.

Mostly.

Gratitude and joy have the same “positive” root, yes, and I see gratitude as a state of being that is quiet and reflective – in my mind’s eye and my heart’s embrace I feel my friend Maria’s energy. Joy, on the other hand – is more like character in the movie, “Inside/Out”

Writing prompts may be used for creativity, converstion or contemplation. Describing joyful moments helps us remember and create new ones, for example.

Joy is a bit rambunctious and loud, definitely a physically energetic jubilant sort of space. JOY is me when I jump up and down and clap my hands because I do, actually, jump up and down and clap my hands.

It is not something I plan to do, it is something I do spontaneously.

What is your perspective?

PROMPT: Write for 5 minutes about a recent joyful moment.

Write for 5 minutes about a long ago joyful moment.

Write for 5 minutes about a future joyful moment –

Woman with brown hair and glasses sitting in a park, enjoying the blue sky and trees before she gives an inspiring talk.

This post is a part of the Women’s History Month Writing Quotes & Prompts series from Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, and her Word-Love Writing Community you may join for free on Facebook. During March, there will be daily discussions on the quotes and prompts we present here, too. Join the conversation and improve your writing at the same time!

How Writing Into Your Sense of Mystery Builds Trust:

March 2, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

How Not Knowing and Allowing the Energy of Wonder Will Make Your Writing Better: Writing Prompt inspired by Lucille Clifton

Sometimes writers create elaborate schemes and outlines and wildly detailed storyboards regarding where there unwritten story, novel, screenplay or poem will take their reader.

This is fine AND I question writers who are only willing to use this format become stifled by the format itself.

What if the writer instead allowed the magic of the process to carry them and their characters into unexpected places?

As a creative, we may stretch ourselves right into a creative downpour when we veer off-course, like the surprising sites when we take the two lane highway rather than the slightly faster interstate highway.

Today, let’s allow ourselves that special flavor of delight. Let’s invite mystery and wonder into our writing.

Whether you are writing fiction or are journaling or playing with dialogue in your screenplay or journaling: choose this prompt as a way to bring the mystery into the scene. Allow your character work to fill it with breath and light and surprise.

Prompt 1: The fear of being lost is real to me. I remember when I was lost in the…… (share the place where you or your character got lost. Take 5 – 10 minutes to tell the story of being lost – taking care to note each of your senses.)

Prompt 2: The moment it all became clear to me felt like nothing short of a miracle. After all, who would have thought….. (write for 5 -10 minutes about what happened next in your life or in your character’s life. Make it colorful and vivid.

Hello? The is Universe Calling –

January 24, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 6 Comments

Sometimes the Universe seems to send me assignments and without warning, the compulsion to dive in takes over my mind and heart. It seems to be without choice! There I am – fascinated by facts or happenstance or a new hobby or person or learning a new skill.

I can’t remember how this one started, but I was working on a speech for Toastmasters when a headline about “the Loneliness Epidemic” caught my eye and all of a sudden it became my primary hook for my speech.

Today I decided to follow up on that speech because I decided my next speech would be on the same topic with additional visuals using power point in my presentation. I searched my computer for notes and found absolutely nothing.

That’s when I remembered sitting in my car, scribbling out an outline in the last fifteen minutes before the meeting started. I was going through a rebellious phase in my Toastmasters experience because the last speech I spent a lot of time preparing was the most difficult I had done to date and the feedback I got from it was filled with negativity and some deeply cutting critique, not constructive at all but like slashes on my raw heart.

I decided I wouldn’t invest so much in my speeches in the future, “It isn’t worth the pain,” I thought.

I remember when I spoke, I got my outline mixed up and had to do what I had planned to do in the beginning at the end. I felt like I repeated myself but apparently on that day repetition was an effective strategy. Most importantly, I managed to remember the statistics on loneliness.

Here is some of what I said:

Scientific American reports 60% of Americans experience loneliness on a regular basis.

Americans are lonely in boardrooms, classrooms, restaurants, movie theaters: everywhere, people are lonely – even when surrounded by others.

Loneliness is one of those “untalkaboutables” people don’t bring up. Your shutting down may have looked like my shutting down when I told my closest friend I was feeling painfully lonely, but she didn’t understand. She believed that since I had children and a handful of friends I do activities with, it was impossible to be lonely.

She lobbed a healthy dose of shame in response to my confession.

I think I gave my original speech some time in November, close to two months ago. It has taken all this time for me to respond with a hearty “hell, yes” to the Universe.

My call is to work toward eradicating loneliness. My task is to continue the conversation, no matter how scary it is or how vulnerable I become in bringing it up.

I was surprised to find this poem on my old blog yesterday, a poem I don’t remember writing but still sounds much like the me-of-recently.

the only

real she knows is

loneliness

it would surprise

some to know. Some

like that

one friend who

was startled she

felt left out

and hurt and discouraged

arriving to an event

where the others had

gathered. perfectly content

without her.

so what is real?

her statement

“my feelings are

hurt. I’ll get over it.

I always do. for now

I prefer to sit here

alone.” again. as in

the other times.

she could trust

loneliness. even

find contentment

in loneliness.

unchanging. predictable.

Today isn’t the day for chirpy tips on how to not be lonely.

It is a day, instead, for contemplative reflection.

Take this prompts as a way to remember both loneliness and connection.

Tune into loneliness as a way to know it more clearly from a space of love.

Tune into connection so you may invite increased connection into your life experience and multiply connection out with and beside others.

Prompt: I remember feeling lonely, back when….(re-create a moment of loneliness in written, spoken (into your video camera) or in a piece of expressive visual art).

Prompt: I remember deep connection in the moment I.….(re-create a moment of deep connection in written, spoken (into your video camera) or in a piece of expressive visual art).

She didn’t simply come back to life, she came back to being fully alive.

January 4, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 2 Comments

While texting is convenient and as much a part of our lives these days as breathing, lately I have found myself “forgetting” my phone at home when I go out.

This wasn’t the case when I was texting my friend Parker the other day. He was bordering on lecturing me via text, at least that is how it appeared to me from my screen. He thought I was roaming about in unsafe zones near my home where unsavory people might venture in the early morning.

I declared this in my text response “I refuse to be afraid. I’ve been afraid for too long when I stopped doing what I love to do most. If I die, I die. Not a big deal. We’ve had the dress rehearsal already. I won’t live by being afraid, I would be dead-while-alive. I won’t have it anymore.”

He thinks I am having some sort of post-near-death experience break down but actually, I am having a post-near-death experience breakthrough, one day at a time.

Alongside the Kern River as it runs through Bakersfield, new trees have sprouted in the last few years.

This morning I was walking alongside the Kern River in the same space where I went when I lost my brother. I went there before to howl with – and befriend coyotes with my friend Coryn. It was the place I found the courage to love the darkness. Today it was barely light as I took photos in newly minted day. No one else was around.

It is much less quiet these days: a new freeway buzzes over it to the east and from the last couple rainy years new, spindly trees have remarkably taken root. I am not sure if there are as many kit foxes and coyotes as there once were.

I didn’t spend much time there this morning, but each moment was precious. The top of my lungs felt tender and achy as they do when I overextend myself. That’s simply a component of healing and one I am more comfortable with – and can’t solve until my next pulmonology appointment.

This park is part of the Kern River Parkway - a lovely bike path experience stretches wide across the town - and makes getting from CSUB to Oildale and Bakersfield remarkably quick!

I laughed to myself because there was no one else there to hear. How marvelous to be this alone in such rich, poignant solitude.

Mary Oliver sprang to mind. She would know this feeling. Her words whisper-shout

“I want to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable, beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.”

She has been ever present in my mind as we are coming up on the anniversary of her death. What an honor to hold onto her words.

I looked into the sun, rising up above the trees and imagined wings sprouting from my back.

This is what it feels like to be alive in the early morning.

Now Begin: Your Journey Back to Where You Were Always Meant to Be

February 1, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife 1 Comment

We’re being called to refresh our lives: to begin again, to realize and become who we were meant to become since even before we were born.

Our life coaching and personal growth series, “Now Begin, Again” will help you as you discover how to open, wake up, stop the negative self-talk and destructive habits and replace them with all that is good, right, sacred and true. .

For the next few weeks I’ll be livestreaming the poem, “Now Begin” – sharing it’s transformative power with you. Along the way we will scoop up writing prompts, some stories and a lot of fresh new insights so that you may lead a better life.

Wake Up: Now Begin Your (Re)Newed Life: #LifeCoach #Love #amwriting https://t.co/LihBreU0SP
— Julie Jordan Scott – Let's free your words…. (@JulieJordanScot) January 28, 2019

I’ll be scattering the goodness on Facebook Live, Periscope and IGLive before I meander over to YouTube with it.

And Now, the Poem and the Introduction as shared on Instagram TV and Twitter:

The Poem that Started the Series: Written in 1999.

Take away the degrees, titles and accomplishments –

What is discovered at your core?\

What is your unique, special spark?

Buried deep, neglected, that you’ve chosen to ignore?

Seeking to please whomever.

Drowning out the pure longings of your heart

Struggling, freezing, suffocating –

Until finally, you choose to start.

Whispers from the spirit.

Soul’s song from deep within.

After dancing, stranger among strangers –

Claim it. Your life. Now Begin –

Take the poem more deeply with these prompts focused on the first line. Throughout the series more prompts will be offered for you to explore more deeply and begin again, better and better and better.

Writing prompts for a efreshed beginning from Julie JordanScott. Gain personal discovery while enjoying poetry from the Creative Life Midwife.

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.

Take Delight in a Daily Practice

December 30, 2018 by jjscreativelifemidwife 1 Comment

It was fairly recently I realized my writing practice isn’t what it once was, which lead me to recognize my other art practices had somehow fallen away and in fact, my quest for a before-bed practice lit up the fact I, who knew inside and out the significance of daily practices had somehow fallen asleep at the wheel of what was most important at driving both the quality and the quantity of my work.

Yesterday when I was looking for photos to illustrate one of my (delayed) Bridge to the New Year Blog post I found this snippet of a Rumi poem along with some writing I did around it nearly ten years ago and I was stunned speechless.

“Submit to a daily practice.

Your loyalty to that

is a ring on the door.

Keep knocking, and the joy inside

will eventually open a window

and look out to see who’s there.”

There goes the universe conspiring again, inviting me to play – to show up with my gifts and talents at the forefront. My only job is to remember and move my pencil (or fingers on the keyboard or paintbrush or glue and scissors or whatever it might be.

In 2019, I am devoted to returning to my morning pages practice in the morning and a To-Do/Ta-Da daily practice as a part of an evening practice I devised during ArtBlock yesterday.

I am going to borrow Rumi, also, one of my most loyal and patient collaborators from the past:

“Submit to a daily practice”

Morning Pages + Strategic Soul Journaling of To-Do’s and Ta-Da’s/ + Movement & Collage

“Your loyalty to that”

Moving my pencil, pen, body, paintbrush, glue or scissors

“Is a ring on the door –“

As is an equally significant energy of forgiveness and gratitude, abundantly offered, given and received.

Keep knocking, and the joy inside

Begins to stir, as the raspberry tea turns water pink, as the boiling water becomes steam and

will eventually open a window

spirit in breath, in wind, in sunshine rain cold heat fog

and look out to see who’s there.”

her smile will cross her face, laughter gurgling up from her belly.

Restored in radical grace, intentional abundance and love.

That feels so good, as does practice. As does the rewards of practice: a clear mind, a refreshed body and a sacred remembering of all that is pure, holy, good and right and heal the harms that inevitably turn up.

Thank you for reading! Watch for life changing programs right on the horizon!

Julie JordanScott is the CreativeLifeMidwife who loves creating life changing content to inspire you into passionate action.

At long last, Poems are Finding Their Way Home

November 13, 2018 by jjscreativelifemidwife 1 Comment

After a long period of poem-less time, art every day month brought about the invitation my poetry muse needed. It has been making a welcome reappearance.

This is, perhaps, one of the most delightful realities I’ve faced in the past two years. The last poem I considered worthy of posting was about an Aubergine Turtleneck sweater and was written in late October, 2015.

When I was driving for a ride share company I jotted poetry in notebooks while I waited. I have a collection in process to share those poems. It wasn’t the same, though, as the poems that rise up from my gut like these have, simply because they must.

Today’s Offering:

One of the few photos that include the now stolen chair.

Poem Prayer for a Thief

May whomever drove off with my red porch rocker find joy in it.
May they feel blessed and comforted and shielded from outside harm
May they know the pleasures of early morning, facing the sunrise
Day in and day out, bringing optimism with a touch of sacred holiness
May they erase guilt from their brow and heal pain left behind by whatever
happened in their lives that made them decide to take
it off my porch last night while I was sleeping.

Sometimes bliss comes from reading poetry and after this long drought, I am definitely feeling the bliss about writing poetry once again.

Poems don’t have to be lengthy to be satisfying, they simply seem to be – exactly as they were meant to be, like this one.

This is my third of the month – I will post others here in the next few days.

Julie Jordan Scott (the one who wrote this blog post) says: This is what I crave for you: soulful creativity, aliveness in your passionate productivity, and a deeper sense of knowing how you belong in the world so that together we will be able to create a context for the rest of your life via your next book or your next workshop or simply your next day, week, month or year.

The people who named me “Creative Life Midwife” found words and paint and laughter and flexed their courage muscles on the way to a deeper satisfaction in their daily lives via new blogs, books, webinars and friendships – just to name a few. Contact me now for your complimentary Transformational coaching conversation. Click here to complete the request form now.

Oh, to Write a Decent Poem (and other Conundrums)

May 16, 2018 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

This is the place where the seemingly heavy business of rewriting one’s narrative and being immersed in the present moment via stream of consciousness, free flow writing a la #5for5BrainDump intersect. What follows is the actual writing I just completed in a spell of five minutes on May 16, 2018.

All I want to do is write a decent poem. That’s it right now.

I just want to write a decent poem. And nothing is flowing.

Emma keeps looking at my fingers moving. I am able to converse with her and stare into her sure-of-herself twenty-year-old eyes as I type.

It is a talent, I suppose, which doesn’t translate into anything significant (yet) I still have more than three minutes left on the timer to write which reminds me.

“There is never enough time” is a belief I sometimes carry – oh, be real, I often carry, in the space between what I want and what I tell myself, over and over again, is unreachable.

My Pollyanna tendencies try to hush my inner pessimist who I also don’t let show very often. She is, instead cloaked in the darkness.

Don’t want to be blamed for bringing the energy down, so I just keep typing. I just keep typing and focusing and attempting to focus.

This morning I got some good intentional time stretching practice when I cleared up Monday’s whirlwind with startling efficiency and didn’t waste my time being angry at the unchangeable stuff I have no control over. Instead I got down to business and sorted what could be sorted and trashed what belonged in the trash and checked off the to-do’s with efficiency that would have made my once fifty-two-year-old mother smile.

“There is enough time, always.” The real-me says.

I’m writing, right? It may not be brilliant as is (and maybe someday in the future I will see it as so.)

The timer sounds and as I re-read what I wrote, I feel the unmistakeable lump of a teen-aged complexion. Fabulous.

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via #5for5BrainDump, livestream broadcasts, creativity playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world. She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session or to request she speak at your next event, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

D is for Diane Di Prima: Beat Poet & Extraordinary Human – Literary Grannies from A to Z 2018

April 9, 2018 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

It was Spring, 2015 when I last talked about Diane di Prima. I was at the Beat Museum in San Francisco and the gentleman working there told me her health wasn’t doing so well. I have no other update than that.

Diane di Prima broke into the “Boys club” of the beat poets and although many don’t know her name nor her influence, she remains one of my favorites. I found an eloquently written article from “The Heroine Collection” and can’t imagine saying it better. Please check it out here.

From my 2012 Series:

‘I think the poet is the last person who is still speaking the truth when no one else dares to. I think the poet is the first person to begin the shaping and visioning of the new forms and the new consciousness when no one else has begun to sense it; I think these are two of the most essential human functions’ -Diane Di Prima

I recently fell in love with the Women of the Beat Generation. I was curious, after hearing so much about Jack Kerouac, Allan Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski and the rest, I wondered, “Where is the news about the women who were with them? It couldn’t have been completely a Men’s Word-Love Club!”

I discovered while the still best known Beat Poets are men, there are a number of women who not only wrote and lived that era, but women who are still actively creating today.

Diane Di Prima is one of those women. She has been dubbed “Poet Priestess” and “Poet Activist” and “Beat Babe” but those feel condescending to me. After all, her creativity has been present for her entire lifetime. She founded New York Poets Theatre & the Poets Press, she has written plays and poetry and is now the Poet Laureate of San Francisco.

Julie has participated in the A to Z Blog Challenge for several years and is thrilled to be back, once again with Literary Grannies. Follow here throughout April for blog posts featuring women of literary history along with a daily writing prompt that reflects each featured writer.

Julie Jordan Scott is the Creative Life Midwife: a writing coach who specializes in inspiring artistic rebirth for those who may have forgotten the pure joy of the creative process. She offers individual creativity coaching as well as creating individualized programs for businesses and groups in the form of workshops, webinars and more. Contact her at 661.444.2735 for immediate assistance with facilitation, speaking or experiencing an enriched life no

A is for Ada: Literary Grannies from A to Z/2018 #atozchallenge

April 1, 2018 by jjscreativelifemidwife 4 Comments

Please welcome Ada Lovelace, the first purely STEM writer to grace the Literary Grannies canon.

Ironically she is the daughter of 19^th Century rockstar poet, Lord Byron, who she never met. She was entranced by the man whose portrait hung covered in her mother’s home, but her mother was so consumed with not wanting her daughter to be a fanciful poet, she hired tutors in mathematics in order to distract her daughter’s possibly poetic mind.

Ada instead created a fanciful flying machine, meticulously designed with her brilliant mathematical (and my best guess also lyrical mind).

Her mother worried needlessly about Ada, who teamed up with Charles Babbage who devised the plans for “The Analytical Machine” – a general purpose computer. Ada saw the applications for the Analytical machine could go much further than computation and she published the first algorithm and instructions for how to use it with more depth.

Ada is the first STEM writer to appear among Literary Grannies and the first since I stared CreativeLifeMidwife.com.

Her full name was Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace. She was born December 12, 1815 and died November 27, 1852

Writing Prompt: Think back to what your mother hoped for you when you were a child? How does that differ from who you are now (or how is it the same)? Write about it – take 5 minutes and write, free flow style.