What is something you feel called to pay attention to, even if just for five or ten minutes or an afternoon or a day?
Let’s pay attention to how our words desire to flow for a sentence or a paragraph.
I’m going to pay attention to how my neck feels. I am going to pay attention for five minutes without concern about where this writing or this attention moves because in the world I inhabit, there is no wrong with this process, there is simply writing.
Inhale: There is no wrong or right, there is simply writing.
Exhale: No wrong, purely write. For five minutes. Begin.
‘I am going to pay attention to how my neck feels. I am going to sit here, at my desk and lower my head as if praying and feel how it is to.. and as I paid attention and relaxed my neck my hands fell away from the keyboard and I almost instantly fell asleep.
Perhaps that is why I tend to hold on so tight, because I don’t want to fall asleep.
How does one fall asleep and pay attention at the same time? Mothers of newborns do this all the time but then again we never seem to sleep really well then we just sort of… kind of sleep. Maybe paying attention serves as a reminder of how sleepy I am and how good it feels to rest.
I am going to pay attention to the good stuff in my notebooks that sit around, waiting for me to scoop them up and glean the goodies, like this one: I write to make peace with the things I cannot control.
I write to create textured, purple fabric in a world that often appears flat with grey or black or white only.
I write to experience a daily act of improvisation.
I write as though I am whispering into the ear of the one I love. ß timer says “stop – fingers off the keyboard)
When I re-read my words a week later I discovered with a giggle originally that final sentence read “I am whispering into the “war” of the one I love” perhaps because my subconscious felt the need to remind me I haven’t felt at peace with the person whose ear I have whispered to for many years now.
Perhaps paying attention includes making peace with open, compassionate diligence.
Are you ready for your turn?
Where will you focus your attention for a mere five minutes?
Set your timer for five minutes and write. Move your pencil, pen or fingers on the keyboard.
Write.
Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world. She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker,
Take a mini retreat in the canyon, perhaps… or in a local park.
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, call or text her at 661.444.2735.
Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.
