Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

Archives for November 2021

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

by

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterest

Writing Flash Fiction for Fun to Ignite Memories for Life Writing (and even a Bonus Video!)

by

I didn’t feel like writing today. I am tired and more than a little bit grumpy AND I knew if I showed up at the page, anyway, something would happen.

I took a prompt from a community I am in and used it differently than expected. I don’t know why I felt like writing some very short fiction, but I did. From writing fiction, a memory of early childhood popped up wanting to be heard.

Show up at the page consistently and writing magic will happen.

I went from not wanting to write to having an a-ha simply because I showed up (even though I didn’t want to show up and write.)

I know not everyone agrees with the belief if you show up at the page everyday, your writing will improve. I believe some writing every day is better than no writing, anyday.

There is gold dust in this advice for me – is there any for you? Here are the steps I took on this day when I didn’t feel like writing.

Step One: Write Very Short Fiction Vignette

Laura felt herself shift slightly in her seat, not consciously meaning to shake off the nagging anxiety as she looked at Maureen’s instagram worthy kitchen. The simple act of pouring a cup of coffee was an artform to Maureen. She didn’t mean to make Laura feel anything but welcome.

“I have loved being here in Salem since Tom and I arrived last Spring,” bubbled Maureen, her words as effervescent as her kitchen decor. “I joined the women’s book club and the progressive dinner we have every month, are you interested to join us?”

Laura opened her mouth to respond but before she could say anything, Maureen continued speaking, “There’s no need for you to feel out of place. We don’t have many single women in the neighborhood… unless you count Barbara… and she is around eighty-years-old, after all, and a widow but she still sets an incredible table and bakes brownies like nobody’s business!”

Maureen made excellent coffee, dressed beautifully and seemed to be lonelier than she appeared, but Laura wasn’t sure coming over here was such a good idea. She sipped her coffee, attempting to look dainty and interested in the conversational monologue.

“We read “Little Fires Everywhere” last month. One of the primary characters was single and an artist, like you!” Maureen laughed.

“I loved ‘Little Fires,’ too.” she answered. “The Hulu series terrified me, though.”

Maureen’s neck stiffened and her eyebrows knit together. “Oh, I don’t watch much TV. Tom and I prefer reading or playing board games in the evening.”

Laura took a larger gulp of coffee and stopped hiding her awkwardness. Now is the time, she decided, to stop being herself and embody one of her more bubbly, Stepford Wives-like characters from her best selling cozy mystery series, “Crab Apple Cove Coffee Shop Girls”

“Really? Me, too! Do you like puzzles?” 

This lightened Maureen’s face right back into her happy hostess mode and the rest of the afternoon was an uneventful coo-and-awww party about the wonders of how to nurture a relationship with one’s accountant husband. 

At least Laura walked away with a new character sketch for her next novel. When Maureen said goodbye she was convinced she had made a life-long friend.

Step 2: Write a Vignette from your life: a mini-memoir

It’s surprising the memories that rise to the surface through visual imagery and storytelling. When I saw this image I wanted to replicate it in my world at first. Being new to Sussex, I have yet to make any “meet me for coffee” friends – though I trust I will soon.

I remembered as I wrote the fiction vignette how when I was a little girl, my mother was in the Junior League. Oftentimes the children who weren’t in school yet would tag along to the morning coffee meetings where the ladies would discuss their projects.

I think they were doing some sort of entertainment and my mother brought a bling-bling headband that wasn’t quite fancy enough for the character who became Maureen in the story. I remember even as a pre-schooler I realized my mother was hurt and felt less-than under the eyes of her fellow Junior-Leaguer.

Shauna Niequist said, “True hospitality is when people leave feeling better about themselves and not better about you.”

Neither the woman from nearly six decades ago did this for my mother nor did Maureen do this for Laura, even though Laura walked away with a new character sketch!

Step 3: Add some bonuses, like an engagement question and a video:

How can your events be more hospitable to those who attend, even if it is a simple cup of coffee one-on-one in a coffee shop or working with other women at a holiday fundraising event?

You might notice I even used the same graphic for the video cover and the featured image for this blog post. In less than an hour and a half, I have content I may reuse and repurpose – and made a good use of time on a day when I “didn’t feel like it”.

Below the video, you can see a place to join the Writing Group I mention in the video – a space where you may also receive writing prompts and community, the Let Our Words Flow Creative Community. I hope you will join us!

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterest

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

by

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterest

Coffee Shops, Third Spaces and Intentional Conversations

by

Through the window of Dagny's, a coffee shop in Bakersfield, California, friend's magically appear and inspire creative sparks in one another.

I am a lover of coffee shops, especially locally owned coffee shops where creative people gather to connect, to converse and to create community. Most of the time artists and solopreneurs work from their home spaces so having a “third place” helps us to feel like we are a part of something bigger than ourselves. The phrase “third places” was started by sociologist  Ray OldenburgRay Oldenburg and refers to places where people spend time other than their home (‘first’ place) and work (‘second’ place). They are associated with being locations where we exchange ideas, have a good time, and build relationships.

I used to be a regular at a coffee shop in Bakersfield called Dagny’s. Even as local other coffee shops started and succeeded, I still favored Dagny’s. I would go there and “hold court” meeting up with people on purpose and by surprise. Friends would bring their friends and the conversation would take tangent turns and I could literally spend hours with changing groups of friends coming and going.

I remember once talking to a brand new friend about the premiere Stravinsky’s “Rites of Spring” in 1913. Her eyes got huge, “I have only known dancers who know this story!” 

When the pandemic started, I knew I would run the risk of missing the conversations I most loved to have at Dagny’s: intentionally more deep than the average complaints about weather or politics and gripes about the coffee they were out of or the limited bagel supply.

I love deep conversations on specific guided topics.

I started something called “Coffee and Intentional Conversations” in March of 2020 with no end date in mind. We first met for an hour a day six days a week, now we meet twice a week for an hour. 

We have a core group of friends who are diverse ethnically, we have different beliefs and live in different places. We don’t talk politics because we don’t want to bring our divisions to the table, we want to bring our connections to the table.

I have often wondered if the group would continue. I considered stopping it several times, thinking it had run its course and yet people continue showing up. I continue kicking our hour off with a “warm up and introduction” question and on Tuesdays we usually have a topic with questions and sometimes we listen to a poem and engage with meaning and stories from that poem. On Saturdays, we most often play games or have free flow, engaging discussion games like two-truths-and-a-lie or “ask me anything” where we ask each other questions we have wanted to know about each other, but never seemed to have the chance to ask.

Basically, we talk about what I would talk about with people in person except we have zoom screens rather than tables and coffee cups.

We have forged deep bonds during a time that is trying at best – and we have had breakthroughs, deep conversations and encouragement that is unique and exceptionally helpful.

What is your favorite experience in coffee shops or “third places”?

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterest

Be helpful, not harmful, to a person who is grieving

by

What to do about grief shame: do not harm a hurting person. Woman sits in front of a rainy window.

I am an accomplished griever. I have lost people I have loved, places and community connections, jobs, pets, relationships, social standing and physical health.

Sometimes I think this is because I have a big heart and have loved many people. We risk grief when we love.

Part of the gift repeated grief brings is the ability to help both those who are going through it AND helping people who love grievers and don’t have any idea where to turn to figure out how to continue to love this person who is hurting. This is especially challenging because the person who is grieving may or may not be able to communicate well at the height of the grief process, during the holiday season and around important events like weddings, birthdays or funerals for years to come.

Below are some situations I have encountered as a person who has grieved and as one who has helped and supported people through the grief process for many years.

Your Job is NOT to fix, make better, take away emotions of or scold a person who is feeling sorrow, trauma or pain.

Your job is to connect with the person who is grieving. Your job is to show empathy and caring.

The worst things you can do are shame the person who is grieving by saying things like:

“You aren’t over it yet?” or “Stop crying” or “Don’t feel that way” or “Pull up your big girl panties already. I only grieved for XX amount of time.”

This short video from Brene Brown shows us succinctly how to express empathy for people who are hurting and/or grieving.

The Grieving Person is not responsible to create your to-do list for being a good friend.

If I had a penny for all the times people said: “If you need anything, call me….” because grieving people often don’t have the energy or motivation to know what they might need or know what you might have any desire to provide during her time of hurt.

It is difficult enough to make requests under usual circumstances, but when mired in grief it is nearly impossible.

If you would like to do something for the person who is grieving, offer several specific options such as “Hey, hey I am going to the grocery store – is there anything I can pick up for you while I am out?” or “I’m taking some clothes to the dry cleaner – may I take your things, too?” or “Would you like company? I am headed to Starbucks and would be happy to swing by with your favorite drink OR could pick you up and we can drive through together.”

You may also say your version of, “I want to help and I don’t know what to do. I am literally nervous that everything and anything I do or say is wrong, so please accept permission to guide, direct, ask for me to do things for you, to be places with you…. and I will keep checking in, at least.”

Your job is to be present, awkward in your skin if necessary, and be gentle and patient.

One of my preferred methods of caring for my loved ones who are grieving is to reach out to them regularly, most often via text or phone call.

I have some friends I texted daily for months when they were going through tough times.

When my father died last year, I wondered where my daily text messages from friends were?

I don’t say this to evoke text messages now, I say this to let you know your strongest friends need loving attention, too. They will treasure your awkwardness because more likely than not they are awkward. Every time we grieve something new, it is like the first time all over again… plus it is the first time grieving that person or circumstance.

First times are always awkward.

It also would have been helpful if I had reached out to trusted friends and asked for their text messages. A few years ago when I was going through a difficult break-up I asked friends if I could text them “Good night” because one of the hardest things for me was not having a person to participate in the normal ritual of saying goodnight.

My friends had no way of knowing this was important to me. Thankfully I was strong and aware enough to ask for the support.

Final words: Be gentle, don’t disappear and try your best. When you don’t do your best – apologize and stay attentive to the person you love who is grieving.

Repeat as necessary.

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterest

Begin to Connect with Your Creative Spark

by

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterest

What is the Admission Price to the Path Out of Fear?

by

A small part of the Appalachian Trail is a piece of the story of the Path out of fear - and overcoming a challenge as written by Julie JordanScott

Yesterday I was writing a fairly innocuous seeming caption to a photo on facebook. I post photos to facebook on most days because of my personal #377TreeHug project. I use my facebook page as a means of documentation and accountability. Yesterday was no exception.

I had a marvelous tree hug of a hickory tree on the Appalachian Trail and I was extremely excited to post about it.

In one caption I wrote, “I love how the nuts are here to feed the animals. Once in childhood we saw a porcupine near the trail. I was scared of everything (even lightning bugs) so I had visions of the porcupine shooting quills at me from a distance… and was also convinced there were bears lurking inside fallen trees. How I survived and even loved these adventures even while petrified I’ll never know.”

I re-read my words and sat back in my chair, shocked at the truth within that seemingly simple, ordinary caption.

I was scared of everything (even lightning bugs)….. How I survived and even loved these adventures even while petrified I’ll never know.”

I was also teased unmercifully for my fear, which made it even worse.

I was afraid of things. I was afraid of being afraid of things. I was afraid to express my fear so I did my best to hide my fear, at all costs.

Somehow I did all this as a child and it continued – and in some ways continues still, today.

I realized the facts were to spend treasured time with my father, I would need to pay the price of admission. The fee was a lot of faking courage. I needed to be comfortable with pretending my fear didn’t exist or hiding my fear under an enthusiastic seeming smile.

I hid my fear by proclaiming my trust in God.

I hid my fear by looking on the bright side. I remember when my daughter died, for example, I comforted myself by saying, “God must have chosen me to have my daughter die because He knew I am strong enough.”

I hid my fear by doing things other people fear like being an actor and performing poetry in front of audiences and becoming a public speaker.

The thing is, those things don’t scare me, they exhilarate me.

Slowly, I hid myself and withdrew almost completely when I had too many sequential challenges. I no longer had the energy to show up because hiding one’s fear is exhausting. Exhausting one’s shame over being afraid is even more exhausting.

It was easier to disappear and infinitely painful when the people you love don’t even seem to notice.

Mary Oliver wrote in one of her most well known poems, “The Journey”

But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

In the depths of my sorrow and sadness of hiding and pretending pain didn’t exist, I had many difficult conversations with myself.

Shonda Rimes in her book “Year of Yes” reminded me eloquently this week, “I know on the other side of that difficult conversation lies peace. Knowledge. An answer delivered. Character is revealed. Truces are formed. Misunderstandings are resolved.”

Having time alone here in my “Long Term Self Care and Artist Retreat” I have had a lot of time alone to have tough conversations with myself. Real conversations with myself. Experimental conversations with myself.

There have been tears and laughter, tree hugs and walks, deep dives into memory, discovery and my dear old companion, fear.

It feels like everything up until now has just been practice for this and what is coming up in the next few months as I finish my book projects and continue to build my life coaching practice, do more speaking and keep showing up on video and here, on my blog and on social media.

I am doing things that scare me every single day, sometimes subconsciously I am getting tapped on the shoulder divinely or intuitively to take a closer or deeper look. I am no longer afraid of lightning bugs or bears or porcupine quills.

I still get a bit nervous about criticism from people I love or worse – people not caring at all.

I am not hiding and that, dear reader, is the best victory of all.

I could have told you today about my near death experience or many other twists and uncomfortable turns along the path, but this feels most like what we needed to talk about today.

What challenges have you overcome?

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.








Facebooktwitterpinterest

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

by

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:

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterest

Stopping the Slide Into Feeling Worse

by

Yesterday I felt the familiar slide into the blues – and I am using that term loosely. I don’t want to say I felt the well worn path toward a downward depressive spiral though that would be accurate, too. 

I don’t want to give depression that power.

I asked myself a personal power question:

“What can I do tomorrow morning to keep myself moving toward feeling-better-than-right-now?”

I didn’t mean take on something huge like walk five miles at a top speed or similar physical feat, I simply knew myself well enough that the tilting down of the weight of the blues  could land me flat on my face in mud or dust or worse.  I knew I single-handedly possess the ability to take an action in the direction of better.

I have the capacity to choose to move forward, with love – or lurch toward the ground in despair.

This isn’t always true – I was on the edge of a breaking point.

Mental health has plagued me over the years. My optimism tends to confuse people who don’t understand how this goofy, happy go-lucky whistling, happy song-singing, tree-hugging poet can shut herself off from others for no obvious reason.

This morning as I started a focus-mate session, I was surprised by the flat affect that still hovered within me. I am grateful I witnessed it – as the short-fix feel better medicine of taking action: walking on the nearby wood-duck trail and hugging an old oak tree is the beginning of feeling better, not the finish line to feeling better.

When the focus mate session was over, I mentioned to my partner I couldn’t find my spotify off button and was concerned my “Cozy Christmas Instrumental” playlist might be a bit much. On the contrary, my focus mate partner loved it. We both ended the session smiling. I know I was smiling.

Human connection, acceptance and cozy instrumentals all make me feel better.

Have you ever taken the time to notice what lifts you up when you feel the blues sweeping into the room?

Do you or does anyone you love experience dark days (or longer days that stretch to weeks, months or more?)

It is important we normalize these moments of sadness and don’t shame ourselves or others or pretend them away. 

You could choose to start a conversation by asking about it: “What might make you feel better?” and be prepared for “Nothing” or “I don’t know.”

Besides tree hugging and walking by myself or writing, having other people simply be with me is a big help. Talking isn’t necessary, but presence feels really good. Listening to or watching TV, reading books side-by-side. Silently sipping tea and looking out the window, all are better with someone beside me – also quiet without pushing me to feel better so that they may feel better, too.

James Clear wrote, “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.” While I agree with the energy and meaning of this quote, I look at it more like every action I choose to take builds self-trust and provides evidence I am worthy of continuing to move forward, with love and do the creative work I was put here to do.

Today, I am feeling better. I am not dancing on the rooftops gleefully and I am mindfully present to my circumstances. There is no hyperbole, no numbing out and no racing throughts.

It could have so easily slid into much worse.

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterest

3 Effective Ways to Get (and Stay) in the Flow while Creating Content

by

An alarm clock is ringing to help remind us to stay in content creation flow

Sometimes I whip up a lot of energy while working on content creation for my blog and social media posts. I get excited as I notice I have created three excellent posts in an hour. “I’m in the flow, I’m in the flow!” says my happy heart. A part of me wants to keep pushing, wants to keep going thinks “If I stop now, I won’t be able to get back into the flow!”

Recently I had this exact experience. As a creative entrepreneur, I am in control of my calendar so I could have set everything aside in attempts to continue the flow OR I could instead choose to stay with my original plan: run errands and go for a walk.

When I went for errands, it temporarily broke the flow AND it re-energized me to return to content creation later in the day.

What I have discovered is managing the transition times between activities is where flow is birthed. When I am mindful and attentive to where my energy is going, my overall output is more engaging and from the heart. I am less frustrated and end my work days and work weeks feeling deeply satisfied and it shows in the work I do with my clients and students.

  1. Test your effectiveness in blocks of time in order to measure what amounts of time are the most fruitful. Set a timer to different segments of time. Start with raising your chunks of time by 30 minutes. Within a week or so, you will be able to see patterns, including when during the day you are less productive at the keyboard and might be better off using the time for exercise or chores.
  2. Experiment with short, medium and longer times – and begin to plan for segments of time when your productivity drops off.
  3. When your time is up, leave they keyboard right away and begin transitioning to another activity.

    In an article soon, we will explore how to make the most of transitional times.

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.

Facebooktwitterpinterest