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Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

How to Take One Prompt to Create Multiple Forms of Content

January 9, 2023 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Woman's profile in a dry, desert setting. Quote from Terry Tempest Williams:

"When one woman doesn't speak, other women get hurt."

Writing Prompts help us practice taking the best action, even if it feels risky at first. Practice facing the next similar situation by courageously remembering and in effect rewriting “What happened next.”

Prompt: Have you had a time when you wish you spoke but didn’t and someone got hurt? Share the story.

Two examples:

One friend, I’ll call her Maureen, got fired from a job. Another friend, Frank,  got promoted to Maureen’s job. No one in our friend’s group said anything to Maureen about Frank being promoted after she called Frank.

She called me to ask if I knew Frank got the job. I could hear her disappointment that I didn’t speak up. She was incredulous, “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

The most common response was we didn’t want to hurt Maureen’s feelings. None of us thought, “Well, maybe Maureen will find out, anyway – and she will discover we didn’t care enough about her to let her know.”

Put the Other Person’s Desire Above Your Discomfort

More than a year later, Frank had more good luck career-wise. I took a deep breath and called Maureen. “I just wanted you to know… in case. I remember the last time…”

Maureen wasn’t upset by Frank’s success and she was grateful I remembered and acted differently than I had in the past. It was worth my discomfort and risk-taking.

New Scenario, Familiar Trauma and Trigger

Last week, my coaching client Sharon had a moment when her heart leaped into her throat and wouldn’t let go. 

She unexpectedly stumbled upon was a disagreement between family members – or rather one family member was mad at another and attempted to drag Sharon in it via a posting on social media.

Internal triggers and memories of years of loneliness and disconnection pulsed each moment Sharon did nothing. The drumming in her ears increased with each moment she did nothing.

Creating a new way out of her panic, she reached out to her closest family member to warn her what she would find the next time she opened her social media account.

“I didn’t want you to be hurt by what was said or how I was implicated in the posting.”

It was risky. It was scary. Yet Sharon felt instinctively it was better to reach out first. The swollen block in her throat diminished, even though for the next day or so she didn’t feel quite right. “How would I feel if I saw that, unprepared for it?”

Terry Tempest Williams wrote, “When one woman doesn’t speak, other women get hurt.”

Be devoted to being the one to prevent other women from getting hurt.

More Writing Prompt Variations to Use:

“When one woman doesn’t speak, other women get hurt.”

Terry Tempest Williams

To create a neutral gender phrasing, simply insert “person” and “people”

Questions:

  1. Have you had a time when you wish you spoke but didn’t and someone got hurt? Share the story.
  2. Have you been hurt when someone didn’t speak up for you when you couldn’t? Tell the story.
  3. What are some things you can do in your life now to build community between yourself and other people?
  4. Lists: Make a list of 1 to 10 things you would like to be forgiven for by someone else.
  5. Make a list of 1 to 10 things for which you would like to forgive other people.
  6. Bonus: Take action. Write a note of forgiveness to one of the people you want to forgive. Write a note of apology and request permission from those you have hurt.

Traditional Writing Prompts:

I remember when I spoke up and….

I remember when I didn’t speak up and….

 # #  # #There are no rights and wrongs as to following the prompts here. There is only showing up for your life and your creativity and using what inspires you to fulfill your dreams, passion and purpose.

Woman hugging a cartoon tree - white with black polka dots

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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Filed Under: #5for5BrainDump, Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Storytelling, Writing Prompt, Writing Tips Tagged With: end writer's block, Julie JordanScott

Tradition: Every Sunrise a New Beginning

January 1, 2023 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Morning sunrise photo from Northwest New Jersey

My tradition of watching sunrise on New Year’s Day began twenty years ago today. 

On that day it seemed sort of extreme: Mom of little children, cavorting in the earliest light of the sun. Now my babies have (for the most part) flown the coop and sunrise, on New Year’s day, remains.

This was also my first New Year’s Morning in New Jersey since the 1970’s. 

To say sunrise 2023 was phenomenal is an understatement.

This morning I chose to watch sunrise on an open field two miles from where I live in. The field is just east of the intersection of Possum Glen Road and Unionville Avenue in Wantage, NJ.

Tradition calls me to spend at least 20 minutes with the sunrise, admiring the light and walking around the field. I have spent some sunrises in my car, some out and about – but right now, I knew I wanted to be “with” the sunrise, close to it.

2021 New Year’s Image

Dawn is such a beautiful time and as often happens, I wanted to use the experience to coax both my soulful and my creative spirit into creative play. I didn’t remember to bring a notebook, so I decided to take photos and listen and put what I was experience into memory.

At first I basked in birdsong: birdsong I did not recognize. I listened to a bird duet. One would sing and then the other seemed to sing back. I smiled and looked up at my invisible companions.

Far away, I could hear my geese friends but none were visible.

My geese friends have been known to fly by my bedroom window in the early parts of the day, before the roads get busier and the minor hustle and bustle of rural New Jersey begins.

I enjoyed watching as the dark sky got brighter and the sun crested the mountain in front of me.

Sussex Borough is in high country, so there are lots of hills and different heights for the sun to reach up and over. It was a glorious view. I decided to walk to see what I could of the cemetery. At first I didn’t notice there was a path that would lead me there – but once I did, those of you who know me well knew I had to get a closer look. This is not a currently-in-use cemetery, it is a falling apart cemetery I love, deeply.

I walked back toward the field and I noticed tall grasses/flowers past their prime and decided to take a quick video, but at first it was blurry, which lead to more questions.

I wondered how to make the video more clear which lead to a simple experiment.

I poked the screen and immediately there was a clear screen. I laughed and thought about the ephemeral nature of hopes and wishes. Unspoken, I thought, without our breath and intention, clarity stays out of focus. 

I kept hearing the geese but there were none nearby. I wished I could take a video of them, flying but, oh well. I decided I wanted to type what I had noticed into my phone while I stayed in the field with the sun and the weeds and the small invisible birds. 

Naturally as I was halfway through the second sentence of writing into my phone I heard the geese, very close and they kindly gave me enough time to notice and even get my video camera ready to take the video.

I started filming before I could even see them.

Oh, my heart – my heart was beyond words thrilled. I didn’t bubble over in laughter because I was so in shock at the wonder of the view.

“Happy New Year, Goose Friends!” my heart said as they flew in a circle, playfully, no “eeyore thanks for noticing” energy, instead purposeful, connected, “Happy New Year” flock of geese laughter energy. To see the moment, a link to my Instagram Reel:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Julie JordanScott Creativity Coach (@juliejordanscott)

What a phenomenal New Year’s Morning. So much better than staying in bed, late.

This eccentric tradition directed me to start the morning and the year on my feet, outdoors, blissful, aware, appreciation overflowing. Looking back I wonder if this sunrise love on New Years Day inadvertently spilled into watching so many more sunrises – and even inspired the beginning of my 377 Projects.

Back at the keyboard now, later in the day, my hands are literally buzzing in excitement of the several hours old memory.

Two questions for you to respond in the comments: do you have any unusual traditions?

How did you begin 2023?

May your year be blessed, abundantly.

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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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Daily Consistency, Storytelling Tagged With: Creative Practice, Geese, Julie JordanScott, Ritual, Traditions

Our Story of Courage & Compassion

October 4, 2022 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Background is pink with white hearts and says "Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the braves thing we will ever do." Brene Brown. Included is a journaling prompt: How will you see your story (daily story, mountaintop story, yearly story) through the lens of deep, profound love this week?
What will you write?

Today hasn’t been easy. I didn’t sleep well – and I was slow to get going – and if truth be told, I might have been better off just going back to bed AND there were/are certain things I want to get done today so here I am, writing, using a prompt I wrote several months ago that is ideal for me right now.

Choosing what to write is easy with #5for5BrainDump

I created a method several years ago that is so simple and effective, some people might not want to believe how profound and meaningful the process was and how deeply everyday people can get with their writing so quickly.

Considering the dumps I am in right this minute, what have I got to lose?

Set the timer for 5 minutes and write, write without thinking or judgment.

Me: I didn’t sleep well last night.

JA: What happened?

Me: I didn’t sleep well. I woke up coughing, choking again.

JA: Ohhh. That sounds tough.

Me: It is tough, it’s scary. 

JA: Yeah…

Me: And it makes me wonder about a lot of scary things that lead me down scary paths and I don’t want to go there. I don’t feel like going there.

JA: Ohhh. I get it, I understand not wanting to go to those dark places. I am with you there. I know, I know.

Silence.

Silence.

Heartbeat filled silence.

Me: Will you tell me a story?

JA: I can write you a story, sure. 

Here we go. 

Wait. 

First.

Me: Yes? What?

JA: Do you trust me? Julie? Do you trust me?

Silent Nod

JA: Thank you. You trusting me is a big deal.

JA: I’m going to write you a note, so you may read it later when you start feeling this way again. 

Silence.

Silence.

More silence.

JA: Dear Julie,

I know it is scary to be awake at night in the dark alone.

You have come so far that sometimes it feels secure to be scared. It is familiar. It is as if your fear is an abusive friend but at least it is familiar. You wake up coughing and choking and you remember what it was like to be a nineteen-year-old version of you, sleeping on a bottom bunk in a dorm room coughing and choking and not being able to breathe at night when you were almost an adult but not quite.

You were taking on a lot and you were scared you wouldn’t be able to manage it all. 

When you got older, you called it a stress cough. 

You had kids and were working hard to raise them right but sometimes you were uncertain. You know you made mistakes.

You would cough, sometimes with people around, looking at you.

You would ask people to give you water, anything, to shut down the cough to take the horrible cough away because if the cough persisted… like that time you and Emma were in that Cracker Barrel in Indiana on the way to take her to school and you started coughing so hard and you couldn’t stop so you got up and went to the restroom and you coughed so hard you vomited and you cried and you couldn’t get it to stop but you did, eventually, and you went back to the table and Emma and you smiled at her. 

“Mommy is ok,” you told her, “I’m fine honey, all is well.” or at least this is how you see it in memory.

There were quick episodes when you were scared and long episodes when you were sick and now, after a long time without the coughing, they’re here.

Maybe they’re ready to say goodbye.

Are you ready to say goodbye, dear Julie?

Sometimes the writing takes you away for more than one 5 minute section, so you keep going.

That’s what happened here. I wrote for about ten minutes in this dialogue format, having a conversation with my highest self, Julianne, about what had been bothering me all day.

This just scratched the surface, but I got it out – and with a writing process like #5for5BrainDump, 5 minutes of prompted writing for 5 consecutive days, magic happens. Trust grows. A new relationship with words and yourself begins.

Devotion, Movement & Trust in Action.

Like I said, I have had a tough day and I didn’t want to show up. I’m still not convinced it was and… because I am devoted to you and because I am devoted to the healing that comes from unedited, non judgmental writing, I am not going to change a thing.

Yes, And….

Writing like this is similar to improvisational theater. In Improv, the primary rule is “Yes, and…” so with writing like #5for5BrainDump we say “Yes, And” to whatever shows up. Jodi Picoult said this about “Yes, And”

“In the space between yes and no, there’s a lifetime. It’s the difference between the path you walk and the one you leave behind; it’s the gap between who you thought you could be and who you really are; its the legroom for the lies you’ll tell yourself in the future.”

What you have read here – if you have gotten this far, is a page in my story. I am loving myself enough and loving you enough to share it here.

Are you brave enough to tell the pages of your story and love yourself through the process?

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 Northwest New Jersey (Sussex Borough, 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 exclusive reel 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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Filed Under: #5for5BrainDump, Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Self Care, Storytelling, Writing Prompt, Writing Tips Tagged With: Brene Brown quote

October Outlook: Grateful for YOU, dear Reader of this Blog

October 1, 2022 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Autumn leaves and a blue sky with text that welcomes friends, long time and new. Inspiration for writing, blogging and content creation with Julie Jordan Scott.

If I had to use three words to describe myself last year at this time I would say “hurting, perplexed, tenacious.”

IN OCTOBER, 2021

I was hurting because my father died less than six months before October last year. I had been my mother’s primary caretaker from April through July and spent much of that time simultaneously emptying her home before assisting my brothers in moving her into an assisted living facility. I was perplexed because I had managed to hurt my middle daughter by following through to move to New Jersey without adequate ongoing communication for a much needed sabbatical from my life on the west coast. I was tenacious because I didn’t stop trying to get it – life – work – my creative pursuits – better than they had since I had a near death experience in 2019 and quite honestly, for a few years leading up to that.

WHEN LIFE’S PLANS ARE DIFFERENT THAN YOUR OWN….

I didn’t know last October I would go on a wildly circuitous route to find myself starting over again. I am back to the manse where I started my “year of creative retreat and radical self-care” on October 6, 2021.  

I didn’t know it would devolve or evolve into a second period of intense grief, and crisis caregiving of an entirely different sort which lead me to spend January, March, May, June, July, August, half of the preceding December and half of September only to return right back where I started – as if my hopes and dreams chewed me up and spit me out – and I got back up, Slowly and sometimes quite unsurely I brushed myself and my circumstances off and insisted upon finishing what I desperately longed to start AND finish.

AND THE IRONY OF THINGS D/EVOLVING INTO BETTER

Ironically – and I wouldn’t have expected to be saying this – but experiencing that crisis caregiving time healed the rift with my middle daughter, strengthened my reserves and built my west coast family into much more of a team. Our communication is stronger. It is safe to say we all feel more resilient.

There was one important request I made before I got on an airplane and headed back east on September 15.

DOING LIFE DIFFERENTLY: THE SIMPLE THINGS

I said “You guys need to text me for no real reason. You need to let me know how you are, tell me how your day went, ask me how I am doing, because right now, I get scared with every text I receive. 

“When I left last year I only heard from any of you if something bad happened. I do not want it to be like that.”

It isn’t like that.  Our healing through tears, struggles, laughter, strength building and stubborn will changed us all for the better.

I am still grieving – with my younger brother’s death last December 10th there are still tender firsts to experience. I am still concerned about the health of my family members.  There is still left over sadness because I was hustling so much to be sure Samuel’s college tuition was paid I didn’t get to invest in as much time in work around my home in Bakersfield or connecting with friends AND.. things are so much better I am still wondering when I will wake up from this dream.

THE HEALING POWER OF POETRY

In May Swenson’s poem, “October”, one stanza includes this section:

“I sit with braided fingers

and closed eyes

in a span of late sunlight.

The spokes are closing.

It is fall: warm milk of light,

though from an aging breast.

I do not mean to pray.

The posture for thanks or

supplication is the same

as for weariness or relief.”

YOUR THREE WORDS… OR PHRASES.

For you, I am grateful for your presence, I am thrilled to connect with you again, and I am honored to meet and walk alongside new companions

I am relieved and thrilled to be back here for another October with you and another Ultimate Blog Challenge. I have not been stable through any of the months we have done this since… I don’t know when – surely at least since 2019  but that makes me even more determined to be here for the other participants as well as to honor what I have been through this year and what is coming next in the future.

I would love to hear what you are looking forward to in October and how I might help you either in the content I write or the encouragement I may be able to offer you.

I am beyond words grateful that you are here reading my words.

Woman hugging a cartoon tree - white with black polka dots

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 Northwest New Jersey (Sussex Borough, 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 exclusive reel 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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Filed Under: Content Creation Strategies, Creative Process, Grief, Healing, Rewriting the Narrative, Storytelling Tagged With: Beginning Again, Empty Nest, Gratitude Practice, Julie JordanScott, Starting Over, Ultimate Blog Challenge

Joyful Practice Beyond the Performance and Into the Authentic Flow

April 2, 2022 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. It was simple enough: I put my phone into my tri-pod, turned on the Outta Puff Daddy’s on Instagram Reels and danced along with them for somewhere between five and ten minutes.

I wasn’t good, I wasn’t completely horrible, but I have this weird vision to have an “outta puff grannies” or Mommy’s and Granny’s – women dancing together for their mental health and the joy I felt while doing this was almost off the charts.

I laughed when I was horrible and I smirked when I was not as horrible.

For whatever reason there was one part of the dance I intuitively “got”. “Remember when you were younger, Julie, and you would mirror the guy you were fast dancing with? Do that here, toss in a little musical theater step-ball-change… there you go.”

There is a first time for everything.

I am a performer: actor, poet performer, sometimes the advocacy work I do is performance.

Yesterday I played in a handbell choir for the very first time. I went to my first choir rehearsal in the afternoon and was asked, “Do you play handbells?” and when I said “I never have… and…” suddenly I found myself singing, playing a new instrument and now I am dancing on the second floor landing as if I know what I am doing!

Late last night I wrote about grief – and living the best we can, even while grieving – and that’s what this felt like again today. On the year anniversary of my friend’s murder, I was dancing as best I could with the intention of improving. I trust myself to continue.

I trust myself to continue to write, to sing, to share what I am learning. I trust myself to let myself feel what I feel without shame, without fear, without holding back – and discerning what people are healthy enough to trust AND the first person to trust is myself.

Finally one of the most intriguing discoveries I have had lately is how well the Julie-of-the-past seems to know what the Julie-of-2022 would really need to be supported. It is like these aspects of me I had covered up and avoided are now hugging me for coming back into myself so fully and unabashedly flowing in the moment with presence, passion, purposeful joy.

No dancing photos from me yet, but maybe soon. Maybe in a week. That makes me laugh and oh, laughter is a good thing.

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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Filed Under: Creative Adventures, Creative Life Coaching, Grief, Healing, Storytelling Tagged With: Dancing, Joyful Presence, Theater

What Happened When the Inner Critic Crashed the Forest Bathing Party

November 10, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Woman writing in a notebook in the middle of the forest. Words say "Hello, Inner Critic! Fancy meeting you here!"

Forest bathing is one of the most pleasant experiences anyone may enjoy – it doesn’t require equipment or skills or new shoes. All it requires is one have a willingness to be in a wooded area – a forest or park – even an urban park or a back yard with numerous trees will work. The technical definition (if you don’t know it yet) will show up later.

Last Monday, I visited High Point State Park in Sussex County, New Jersey which is where I am living right now. I brought my notebook with me to possibly write, but that was a second part of the plan. The true plan was to be with trees and hug a tree or two for good measure.

How did I end up laughing in the Forest with my Inner Critic?

Even as I typed the words  “Laughing in the forest with my inner critic” I realized how foreign or flat out wrong this may appear to some people. Who laughs with the villain?

Who chuckles with the one who makes us feel unworthy of praise?

Admittedly as a writer and as a writing coach, I have some unconventional ideas – and trusting the process is one of them. Stay with me as the story unfolds.

These moments among the trees were like a tree fest of profound, beyond language joy. Gratitude is a close description and the feelings were – if possible to understand – so much more than simply gratitude. 

Definition of Forest Bathing.

My plan was to do some forest bathing and tree hugging. What is forest bathing? National Geographic defines it like this: “The term emerged in Japan in the 1980s as a physiological and psychological exercise called shinrin-yoku: “forest bathing” or “taking in the forest atmosphere”.

I brought my notebook “just in case” it felt right.

There, in the forest, I came upon a companion black oak tree which invited me to take a seat on a makeshift stool and experience forest bathing with words. 

This is where my inner critic (or perhaps the spirit keeper of the woods) stepped in when the very first two words off the tip of my pen were “majestic oak.”

Woman sitting at the base of a tree, writing in her notebook. Julie Jordan Scott (Julie JordanScott) is the writer.

Smack! I felt the energetic sting of a ruler on my pale, bent fingers cradling my trusty writing utensil. I kept my head lowered as I mumbled, “I know. Horrid. What was I thinking?”

This is when my Inner Critic and I started laughing.

My inner critic was being helpful. That’s what editors do, after all, they make our writing better.

How often do writers trot out the most maligned and overused meaningless words in the beginning of their writing?

Here I was, sitting in a forest surrounded by oaks of orange, brown, and assorted mottled spotted leaves. There were enormous green-yellow leaves on baby oaks that didn’t seem capable of bearing the weight of them. Deep blue sky over head with wispy clouds like smoke from candles that have been blown out. Leaves, sounding like foam on the Atlantic’s waves or perhaps imitating rocks on the flow of the river.

Woman hugging an oak tree in the forst. Tree hugger who is forest bathing.

Here an oak, there a beech, similarly covered with lichen. 

It was possible, when I close my eyes, to smell the leaves returning to soil. 

I noticed there wasn’t evidence of many other feet walking here in recent days.

My focus pulls aside when I turn toward the hum of a truck on the highway. After the truck I notice the hum of a small airplane, a motorcycle, a sports car.

The trees patiently wait for me to notice them again.

The tallest yellow tree, an eastern oak, seemed to call out to me.

“Let people know we are here,” he said, seeming to give my notebook and pen a half nod. “Let people know we are grateful for when they visit us and sit a while.”

Looking more closely, I see signs of a broken bough, a torn branch or two up his spine. This tree, like me, is healing and whole at the same time.

Just like I am healing and whole at the same time.

Just like so many writers and creatives are both healing and whole at the same time.

Somtimes that wholeness is when we are able to laugh when our inner critic gets it right and she becomes a collaborator. Special note: you are best knowing how to write free flow style well before you allow the inner critic to interject her corrections and suggestions.

One of the reasons I was able to shift gears into better writing was because I knew my word choice was tired and cliche almost as soon as they tumbled off the tip of my pen. I didn’t respond to the appearance of the tired, cliche words with a gasp or a barrage of negative self talk, I laughed.

What would happen if you decided to play with your inner critic instead of making your inner critic wrong?

The most effective way to work WITH your inner critic

The single best thing you can do is give your inner critic space to help you AFTER your first draft is complete, after you have allowed your words to flow wherever they wanted to flow – even if the first words are trite and cliche.

Did it occur to you if my inner critic hadn’t showed up and overstepped her boundaries while I was forest bathing, you would not be reading this? Maybe YOU are the exact reason she showed up with me while I was minding my own business, enjoying nature with my notebook and pen in hand.

Consider this an invitation to take your notebook outside and find some trees to spend time with soon. Bring an open mind and heart. Enjoy finding words that fill you with delight as much as the experience fills you with delight.

Reach back here and tell me when your mission is accomplished, please.

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:

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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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Daily Consistency, Goals, Healing, Storytelling, Writing Tips Tagged With: Forest Bathing, High Point State Forest, Inner Critic, Nature Writing, Tree Hugger, Tree hugging

Sometimes Grief Slams Against Us, Unexpectedly… Like It Did Yesterday

November 2, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

If I had been paying attention, I might have realized there was going to be an all saints sort of theme at church this week.

I clearly wasn’t paying attention.

It feels like too many losses to count.

I have experienced numerous losses this year: my father died, my friend was murdered, because of my father’s death my mother moved into assisted living so there is no denying her frailty, their house was sold so there will be no more holiday memory making in Flagstaff, I moved from my home of thirty years for a year – my eyes were filling with tears as soon as I saw the centerpiece on the table at church. Memories. Deaths. Losses. All losses were piled upon losses were piled upon losses.

The service was an honoring of lives.

The intention was to bring joy to the memories of loved one, to honor the grief and the loss.

The intention was to honor the grief and the loss: words on a pink lavendar and orange background.

It might have been if I was emotionally prepared. Even before I got to church I had been feeling more low than usual – I wouldn’t call it lonely but I was aware of the aloneness as I faced Halloween in an unfamiliar neighborhood without friends to invite me to a party or the usual neighborhood kids looking cute in their costumes as I gleefully ohhhhhh and ahhhhhh and pass out candy.

Halloween has always been the beginning of the holiday season for me.

Since my daughter died more than thirty years ago, it is the time when I brace myself for what is to come.

What lessons has my grief taught me as we face the holiday season?

These five are the beginning – there are many more AND these will help you to begin having a more intentional – and more joyful – holiday experience.

  1. Being emotionally prepared before the day descends is always more helpful than not paying attention.
  2. Having a friend or two on stand-by if I need assistance or have that overwhelming “I just can’t do it” energy rise up.
  3. Recognize the day may be marvelous without any preparation at all – and mindfulness always serves my greater good than happenstance.
  4. People don’t mean to upset me when I am caught off guard by an event.
  5. I am grieving the best I can – whether I am in denial or fighting back tears or guiding others through their emotions – I am grieving – and living – in the best way I can.

Emotional preparation goes a long way to intentionally experiencing the holidays while we are grieving. 

If you have friends who are experiencing grief, please remember them as we get closer to other holidays which may cause them to feel upset. If it is you who are grieving: I am here, sending love your way.

I also created this video in case you or someone you know is looking ahead for the holidays and is nervous about it:

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:

She is also offering a new Create an Intentional Holiday Season While Grieving Coaching Circle beginning on November 16, 2021. For details on that program please click here.

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Grief, Healing, Self Care, Storytelling Tagged With: Grief During the Holidays, Healing for Writers, Healing Grief, Intentional Holidays

Would you like more delight, more personal growth and better storytelling?

September 8, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Challenging myself to new methods of cataloguing and enjoying my life and growing as I do so. I have collected quotes, gratitudes and good things. I took 365 Self Portraits before Selfies were “invented” and I did so by pointing my camera lens backwards and took photos blindly.

In other words, this sort of “I love trying new things!” challenges have been going on for a long time.

This month I started a new self-challenge at the last minute so I didn’t have a chance to blog it or share it officially on any of my usual platforms. 

The better news is I have continued not perfectly – but steadily – so this month’s results are much better than my August 2021 Fail-a-thon.

That’s another thing about me: when I don’t do what I set out to do, I give myself grace and offer forgiveness readily because I learned long ago the only positive notion to beating myself up is initiating a faster fall back into feeling depressed more consistently and that is definitely not something I want to do.

Here is how I am adding more satisfaction in September in addition to my 377 Tree Hugs – which are continuing very well after I got over a bit of a struggle between 150 and 250 tree hugs.

To have more Daily Delights, set your intention plus document daily

I am tracking 3 Daily Delights every day in September 2021.

Every day, I stay open to finding 3 things that fill me with the giddy feeling of delight. It really is delicious and makes me smile a lot. So far I have had unique things like seeing a bird sitting on a fire hydrant singing to purchasing a gatorade and shopping with a young man I had never met before. You get to decide what delights you. You may note it or not – again, you are the rule maker for all of these challenges.

To experience personal growth, pay attention to what opportunities are catching your attention and keep track of them.

Every day, I take note of up to three growth possibilities that show up on my horizon. This week, for example, I am journaling about messages “from the universe” and last week I journaled about “what my future self would like for me to learn.”

There are multiple reasons this works well. First, it teaches me to collect my ideas for self improvement. It also helps me to be detached from results and curate what possibilities I want to move forward. If I have the same growth possibility it will get to the point if I don’t accept that mission from the universe, I may be in for a lot of discomfort along the way.

To become a better storyteller, create stories beyond words.

Have you heard the expression, “a picture is worth 1,000 words”? I was introduced to visual narrative several years ago and have found it to be tremendously helpful in stretching myself as a storyteller and writer and visual artist. By the way, I never would have thought I would ever be a visual artist so be prepared to fall in love with visual storytelling.

There are two different ways I approaching visual storytelling: one is to create visual stories with props (for me these are items I find along the way – and the photos are like mini three dimensional art journals that usually only exist in my documentation. I have found these are great for intuitive growth and insight. 

The second method is more of a photojournalism approach which I have been using primarily. As I am out and about living my life, I am aware of images/scenes that call out to me.  Lately I have taken a lot of images that are seedy or “less than” beautiful by conventional standards AND if I challenge myself I know I can find a different subcategory. 

In fact, I may do that for the rest of the week we are in because it will help my creativity from seeming one dimensional as well as help me to “see” more.

 If any of these subcategories appeal to you, feel free to jump on board and try them out and follow along with me on my Writing Camp with Julie JordanScott Facebook Page. It is the simplest way for me to share largely no matter where I am from day-to-day.  If you would also appreciate “behind the scenes” I also have a free private facebook group called “Let Our Words Flow Creative Community” where many creative people participate in conversations along these themes daily.

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:

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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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Daily Consistency, Storytelling, Writing Challenges & Play Tagged With: Julie JordanScott

Healing Grief: Speaking and Writing Even When You Don’t Know What to Say

May 12, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Trigger Warning: Death, Murder, Grief.

The Sunday after my father died suddenly, I attended a funeral of my friend, Jodie, who was violently murdered. 

The moment came when people were asked to speak. I didn’t want to speak. I didn’t even really want to be there at all, but I was there, so I stood up and found myself in the aisle moving forward.

I realized sometimes our love for people is thankfully larger than our unwillingness to speak or write

I looked down at my feet as I walked. I felt like my clothes were all wrong, I did not want to speak, was worried I might fall on my way to the front of the room.

I was unprepared and I did not want to speak, but there I was ambling forward to speak.

There I went, doing yet another thing I didn’t want to do.

The shock of my father’s death was wrapped around my shoulders as my feet carried me toward the podium to speak extemporaneously – even though it was the last thing I wanted to do – at Jodie’s funeral. I knew her sons might feel better if they heard me remember their Mom. I knew I had a unique and positive perspective to share. I knew I loved Jodie, still love Jodie, and love the common cause we fought for together, year after year.

I was too numb to begin to know what I was going to say, but one of us from Vday needed to speak up and of the women who were there, I was the “senior leader” so it didn’t matter if I was numb, it didn’t matter if I had no idea what I was going to say, it didn’t matter if I was completely unprepared and ill-equipped – I needed to walk up to the microphone and say something, anything. 

The moment I finished speaking, I was glad I had chosen to speak.

I can’t even tell you what I said but I do remember afterwards many of Jodie’s family members thanked me for speaking.

Facing death head-on is not how I planned to spend the month of April. 

Jodie and I both worked to end violence against women and girls through performances connected with VDay, a movement created by Eve Ensler, who wrote “The Vagina Monologues”, “Emotional Creature” and other plays and books. Jodie and I also protested together, went to the beach together, sang karaoke together, were stage Moms together.

It pains me unmercifully to think the cause of her death is something we fought against. Like our friend and fellow VDay Warrior, Lori, said, “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We never expected to be at a funeral for Jodie, we were supposed to be alive and on-stage with Jodie.”

It didn’t matter that the next day I would be driving back to Flagstaff to care for my mother and work with my siblings to create my father’s celebration of life. In that moment it didn’t matter that I felt guilty because I knew I would be missing the first hearings for the accused murderer, something important to me as well. 

What mattered was holding space for love and being present to love, even after life

What mattered was I walked into the aisle, I walked up the stairs, I stepped up to the mic, took a breath and spoke. My intention was to be positive, truthful and loving and not afraid to show my emotion. 

If I had been able to set aside my grief from my father’s death I might have done things differently. I would have remembered the reality that at funerals, people are often called to speak from the audience. I might have thought to jot some notes.

Because I was facing my father’s death shortly after Jodie’s death, I was not at a place to set anything aside, including the knowledge I must speak even if I only stammered out a couple sentences.

No matter how uncomfortable or how scared or how sad I felt, I needed to speak up.

I needed to speak up for Jodie.

Next week I will speak at my father’s funeral, reading a poem I am writing.

Coffee cup and notebook are underneath the quote from Flannery O'Connor "I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say."

Flannery O’Connor said, “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.”

I have scheduled my out-of-town caretaking and even my doctor’s appointments for the disease I am fighting based on the next hearings for the man accused of Jodie’s murder. I have chosen to continue to write about Jodie consistently so that I will, as Flannery O’Connor suggests, know what it is I truly want to say. 

I am working on a poem for my father’s funeral. One line at a time, one sentence at a time, trusting the process of getting words on the page.

In everyday life, if I don’t write, everything gets clogged. My emotions get trapped and my creativity dries up. When grief comes, this clog or this block creates even more of a risk.

Neither Jodie nor my father would want to be the cause of silencing my message. If anything, they would have wanted me to amplify my message. I am following their guidance now. 

Because we love, we grieve.

Grief never feels like something we ask for, yet if we have lived a life full of love, we will grieve.

5 Strategies to Help You Express Yourself, especially in times of Grief

  1. Jot notes of your feelings, even if it is only on your phone or collected in text messages. Your best allies and friends will welcome your notes as you heal.
  2. Be willing to have uncomfortable conversations. If you are the friend of someone who is grieving, ask for permission to talk about the loss, to use the name of the person who died. I love when people say “Marlena” the name of my baby daughter who died at birth thirty-one years ago. 
  3. Try writing in a journal or use an inexpensive spiral notebook for journaling your healing process. Use a free flow writing style. Do not edit or think before you write, just get your words on the page. A few minutes or pages a day, whatever feels right for you. As you keep your words flowing, you will keep your energy flowing, you will keep your healing flowing. 
  4. Give yourself the gift of being vulnerable. With practice, it gets easier and easier. In my years of practice, one of the best ways to start is to ask the people you are with, “I feel vulnerable saying this and there is a big part of me that doesn’t want to say this…” and give them a chance to respond. Maybe they aren’t in a space to listen and will ask to set a time to talk later. This is a huge victory!
  5. Find or designate a “safe person” someone you can turn to at any time of day or night if things get difficult. Ironically for me, my safe person is often my notebook. It may take courage to ask someone to fill in this role for you, so you may want to assemble a team. What I have found as a griever and one who supports grieving people is usually those we ask are honored, not bothered, when we ask for support.

Once again, as you keep your words flowing, you will keep your energy flowing, you will keep your healing flowing. 

Grief is a process and has a calendar unlike any other. Offer yourself grace and forgiveness. Take your time. Writing and creative process helps the healing process steadily proceed rather than getting stuck. Using the strategies outlined here, hope will begin to grow, too. Love to you.

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, Writer, Speaker and Mom extraordinaire who loves working with creative entrepreneurs, artists and healers to get their words written on the page, spoken in their videos and shared across social media platforms with confidence.

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Healing, Self Care, Storytelling Tagged With: Healing Grief

My Vision is Bigger than This Bump in the Road

February 2, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

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.


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Filed Under: Business Artistry, Creative Process, Storytelling Tagged With: Getting Started in Business, Near Death Experience, Transformational Creativity

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