Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

Two Fast, Easy Ways to Tell (or write) a Story

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Today I went to a park just after sunrise to make some videos. I was aiming to make short, to the point videos to help people be better writers, speakers and storytellers.

Less than 60 Second Storytelling How To Video

I wasn’t expecting it to be so windy my sound would get messed up!

I went ahead and made a couple videos. When I got home, I assessed one I could use, another I would be better off rerecording because of the sound troubles.

What did I learn about storytelling and videos?

I still love making videos.

It is better to make a video and not use it than it was to not try at all.

I am even using a video that doesn’t have the best sound quality. Why? Because this will prove to other recovering perfectionists you can make different choices depending on the situation and the severity of the imperfection.

Bonus: I was able to repurpose a blog post from earlier in the week! If you didn’t see the blog post and enjoyed the very short video, here is a link to Monday’s blogpost, “Are You Ready to Tap Into Writing Inspiration?”

How magical is that?

And as long as we are sharing stories about videos, here is a special addition (and edition!) for the journalers among us today.

Do you make videos for your blog posts or social media posts?

What is your favorite part of telling stories on blogs or videos? We would love to know!

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Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. She leads discussions on Zoom and is polishing her most recent memoir and some poetry for soon-to-be publication. If you would like her to speak to your group over ZOOM until travel is available again, she would be happy to talk to you about that OR maybe you are looking for a slightly quirky, very open hearted, compassionate and tender Creative Life Coach. She would love to speak with you soon.

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Longing for “The Look”: Encouraging Your Growth

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 I remember when I saw the newer version of the Parent Trap and my favorite moment in the entire movie is how the Dad looked at his first wife (the twin’s Mom) when he was in a romantic clutch with his much younger fiancé.

 I said to myself, “I want someone to look at me like that.” I would feel encouraged to be the best version of myself if someone looked at me like that.” With more reflection, I discovered it isn’t simply about being looked at “like that” from a romantic perspective, but being seen like that from a human perspective.

Being seen as in – accepted, appreciated, and valued, simply by showing up and being yourself. I’m reminded of how I look at newborns or people I am excited to meet for the first time. It is about the possibilities within that person and the pure joy of their existence. This is being seen.

What is it about being seen from transparency and love?

 I could stop this blog post right here and say, “My son looks at me similarly, with pure love in his eyes,” and as being a mother is the most important work I do that is definitely encouraging.

I might  say, “It is not in the way someone looks at me it is in the way I look at them that counts.”

 That isn’t entirely authentic, though, because…well, it is THAT look I am talking about, not just a lackadaisical, “Hey how’s it going you’re looking great and mighty convenient” kind of look I grew accustomed to for much of my life.

When in doubt, ask advice about how to be seen from a friend

 I remember talking to a friend, Adam,  several months ago about how my vision of God is like a dear, encouraging friend helping me to fly a kite. He is running alongside me, coaching me and up the kite goes.

 This would be miraculous because, top secret confession, I have never in all my years been able to get a kite to fly on my own, even with a human side coaching me.

 Adam reflected back to me about some of those things I have accomplished being LIKE flying that kite to God.

When your friend says “take an assessment”, take an assessment to be seen

He is my “kite flying buddy” for other things I have managed to maneuver. If you talk to the average Jane, I have done a lot that many would have thought was impossible.

 Adam said God would look in the way I longed to be seen. Reality check: God sees you and God hears you and furthermore, God is pleased with you.

 Well, Adam didn’t know my fascination was actually how Dennis Quaid looked at his movie first wife, but I knew exactly what he meant when he said that about my kite flying God.

 I can close my eyes and see that exact look. I can embrace being fully seen and heard by God and by other people.

I’m going to hold onto this feeling for a while, because it is definitely encouraging – beyond words encouraging, to think of what I have accomplished that I might not have noticed before. It is also encouraging to know I may indeed find people who will see me as I deserve to be seen now that I understand the concept my clearly.

Now it is your turn: take your “being seen” assessment

Here is a task that would definitely help us in times of feeling “less than”: crating a list of accomplishments others have praised us for completing. We might not recognize the quality of what we have achieved until we fully acknowledge other people giving us “that look” via authentic, heart-felt praise.

If you can’t remember off the top of your head, it might be a fun – albeit courageous job to ask some of the people closest to you what you have done that inspires them or encourages them to be their best selves.

Remember, God is seeing you as a success even now. My bet is your friends and loved ones see you as more of a success than you do.

Tell me in the comments, what is something you did for which you received encouraging compliments?

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Join “Bridge to the New Year” – We are a connected community of creatives in a private facebook group. Weekly check in’s, inspiration and an end of the year guided 30 day experience are our capstones. Join us to stay in the flow now and turn on the intensity at year’s end and in the meantime we strengthen one another’s vision everyday. Click here to join Bridge to the New Year!

Portrait of Speaker, Creative Life Coach, Writer and Mom Extraordinaire, Julie JordanScott

Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. She leads discussions on Zoom and is polishing her most recent memoir and some poetry for soon-to-be publication. If you would like her to speak to your group over ZOOM until travel is available again, she would be happy to talk to you about that OR maybe you are looking for a slightly quirky, very open hearted, compassionate and tender Creative Life Coach. She would love to speak with you soon at 661.444.2735

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Are You Ready to Tap into Writing Inspiration?

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I’ve been a life and creativity coach for the greater part of the last two decades and one of the most common questions I hear about writing is “What can I write about that is interesting with my not so interesting life?”

Today, I have an answer exactly for you –

A woman, standing in the Kern River, looking to the sky for inspiration for her next story. Hint: it is easier than you think!

Some writing and storytelling myths to throw out first:

  • People’s most effective storytelling does NOT come from one huge, life shifting story.
  • Story telling and story writing are two entirely different experiences.
  • An ordinary life is a boring life.

Borrow a storytelling format from a remarkable leader in history

Do you recognize this phrase?

“I came, I saw, I conquered.” is a phrase attributed to Julius Caesar when he was speaking of a quick victory to the Roman Senate in the first century ACE. Oftentimes you will hear it quoted in the original Latin: “Veni, Vidi, Vici.”

Caesar was telling the senate in three Latin words and in six English words

  • I showed up
  • I took action
  • This was the result

This is absolutely the most simple format for storytelling you will ever come upon. From this basic roadmap, you can build any story you ever need to tell or write, whether it is the story of your life from birth until now, including your biggest triumph or tragedy or what you had for breakfast yesterday.

Let’s try your version of a Caesar story now.

You can do this about anything in your life. Try it now.

What happened. What you did. What was the result.

I woke up. I hit snooze. I was late to work AGAIN

I drank coffee. I perked up! I got my assignment done.

I took a walk. I saw an incredible Sweet Gum Tree! I hugged it and found deep peace.

HINT: before you become a naysayer or say “but wait, what’s next?” practice this, on its own, now.

Before you leave, share in the comments a very short story following Caesar’s format.

To inspire you further, here is what I am using for the next program I am creating.

Wake up. Bear Witness. Weave Your Story.

A couple December’s ago I made up this Caesar story:

Show up. Look up. Translate.

Before you leave, have fun practicing by sharing in the comments a very short story following Caesar’s format.

How would your writing productivity change if you received varied, niche driven writing prompts daily – also fiction, poetry, entrepreneur, copy writing and video prompts are offered, join the Private Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook by clicking here.

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Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. Watch this space for a very important announcement regarding a brand new personal growth course and writing group beginning in January. Early registration starts at the end of the first week of December!

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In Doubt of Your Ability to Focus Purposefully?

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Like many, I have had to get used to having my entire family underfoot during this pandemic. It used to be I would have complete days to myself to work on my business and create courses, content and sometimes even write for pure pleasure.

These days, I have gotten grumpier and less fun to be around.

Today, I was ready to give up until I decided to use one of my own writing prompts to figure out how to stay focused and purposeful. 

You can do the same thing.

How can you be more focused, even when circumstances are less than optimal?

Here’s what happened for me: I looked back toward a writing prompt I wrote last week for my coaching clients. I knew it would work!

It started with a quote from poet Muriel Rukeyser that went like this.

“In time of crisis, we summon up our strength. Then, if we are lucky, we are able to call every resource, every forgotten image that can leap to our quickening, every memory that can make us know our power. And this luck is more than it seems to be: it depends on the long preparation of the self to be used.”

From that quote came this prompt:

An autumn scene is the background for a writing prompt directing purpose and focus to summon the creative muses.

Here’s what I wrote in 5 minutes:

I remember as early as middle school when I sat in the back of the room typing away at a typewriter, banging on and on about my passion for music. There I was on a manual typewriter with the clanging return bell and my wild push back with my left hand – music, music, music.

I remember earlier, actually, in elementary school, we had a box for our student newspaper. One day I sat and wrote poem after poem after poem about my classmates. I would write one and submit, write another one and submit, write another and submit.

It was exhilarating.

Back then noise didn’t bother me. In fact as an adult I would spend Sunday mornings in sports bars, writing, while my children were at church. I loved church but I loved writing freely, even in loud bars, more.

So why is it right now I can’t seem to get writing done when it is too noisy in my house, which is where we all are given this pandemic?

It may be because here in the house I am responsible. If something happens, I am the one who feels compelled to jump up and “make everything better.”

I am the “go to for instant solutions.” I am the guide, the champion, the always willing to wake up out of a solid rest in case of a crisis because for Mommies there really isn’t much of a rest.

5 minutes of writing yields results

From there came possible mindset solutions that invited me to take different actions in the future:

Solution? 

Give myself a break for continuing to do my work in the world. Trust everyone here can take care of themselves in case of a crisis, big or small.

In fact, each person in this house will be a better human if I sit back, do my work, and be more grounded in my own mission than constantly worrying about theirs. Figure out the noise canceling headset.

I am now free to choose to have a strong, focused week because our audiences are out there, wondering where to find their next inspiration.

After all, during this time, what do we know, most of all?

  1. We have the power to look within and find solutions there, even with limitations other people have chosen on our behalf.
  2. We are strong and powerful in all circumstances.
  3. We can do this, whatever this particular “hard thing” may be!

Let’s have a productive, focused week. If necessary, return to this rescue writing prompt. Heal those negative, naysaying energies.

Find a supportive creative writing community in our private facebook group

How would your writing productivity change if you received varied, niche driven writing prompts daily – also fiction, poetry, entrepreneur, copy writing and video prompts are offered, join the Private Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook by clicking here.

Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. She leads discussions on Zoom and is polishing her most recent memoir and some poetry for soon-to-be publication. If you would like her to speak to your group over ZOOM until travel is available again, she would be happy to talk to you about that OR maybe you are looking for a slightly quirky, very open hearted, compassionate and tender Creative Life Coach. She would love to speak with you soon.

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Wisdom from Martha Graham to Move You Into Action Now

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“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action…”

Martha Graham

Woman is in a dance pose on one leg in the middle of a field of autumn yellow flowers: the word she is focused on is quickening - which is about taking action because of your unique self

This is important to consider:

Within me there is a quickening

Inside me.

Deep inside all the secret and public places that combine to make me, me, there is a quickening.

Within you there is a quickening

Inside you.

Deep inside all the secret and public places that combine to make you, you there is a quickening.

What happens with the quickening is because

There lives a pulse, a breath, a point of conception and the space where that becomes something because we finally choose, we finally choose to shake things up enough. I finally chose to say yes, you finally choose to say yes, we finally choose to consistently say yes even when things feel off or wobbly or unsettling.

The only real choice is Yes.

Are you choosing yes?

Are you saying yes to taking action, to creating what it is you are meant to create?

I am open to saying yes to this unique form of energy that was issued to me through the divine library that said “it is my turn to be made into form, this one-of-a-kind groupings of biology and theology right here right now this is it.”

I am choosing yes. 

I’m hoping and praying and crossing my fingers you will say yes, too.

That time I almost died, my heart told me to keep showing up. To just be dutiful. To show up and create and prepare to get messier than ever before. 

Because there is an engine, a track, a parachute, wings, and a lot of laughter waiting to happen when you agree, say yes, open yourself. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Because, why, our mission is here and….

There lives a pulse, a breath, a point of conception and the space of quickening that is within you.

Right here, right now, that brought you to read these exact words at this exact time.

Martha Graham said “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action…”

Writing prompt: The quickening inside me is calling me to take action toward….. so I will…. (write for at least 5 minutes, stream of consciousness, free flow style.)

Sharpen Your Writing Skills & Enjoy Writing More in our Private Facebook Group:

Woman writing on the front porch of a brick home,
Write wherever you find yourself.

How would your writing productivity change if you received varied, niche driven writing prompts daily – also fiction, poetry, entrepreneur, copy writing and video prompts are offered, join the Private Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook by clicking here.

Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. She leads discussions on Zoom and is polishing her most recent memoir and some poetry for soon-to-be publication. If you would like her to speak to your group over ZOOM until travel is available again, she would be happy to talk to you about that OR maybe you are looking for a slightly quirky, very open hearted, compassionate and tender Creative Life Coach. She would love to speak with you soon.

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To Do For Them (and) To Do For Me: Your Higher Self Agrees, You Are Important, too

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Woman is making a heart in the mirror, remembering SHE is important, too. Our higher self wants us to know this!

Early this morning I sat on my bed with my phone and a couple choices to make in my hand. Samuel got off work early. He texted me at 6:30 to ask if I could come pick him up.  Immediately I raced into high gear.

One Surprise Change Can Change Everything, Instantly

I shape my morning routines around his schedule. 

With my car headed North on the Freeway,  I noted my speed at getting out the door when my kid needed me versus when I am “only doing this for me.”

When the choice is on his behalf I’m quick, I’m focused, I’m energized and precise. “Hurry up, he is waiting! It is cold out there.”

When it is only for me, I’m sluggish, distracted sprinkled with a dash of apathetic. “As long as I have an hour for walking, its all ok.”

Haiku to the Rescue

I took a photo of an intersection for my morning haiku, a daily practice of mindfulness and creative practice. It wasn’t the most inspired imagery I have shot in the last three-hundred-plus consecutive days, but it told the story.

An intersection in Bakersfield, California inspired a haiku, one of 377 written by Julie JordanScott in 2019/2020

Haiku 307/377 — October 27, 2020

Sitting at the crossroads

dream mirrors reality

your new day is here

The intersection told me the choice of urgency for another person’s needs and sluggishness for my own isn’t cast in stone. The choice is up to me: my desires, my ambitions, my hopes are as significant as every other person on the planet – even my children and world leaders.

Now it is up to me to take this new awareness and practice it.

Remember to call upon your Higher Self for advice

After I dropped Samuel at home, I hesitated. I could just go inside, too,  and forget about the walk I had planned.  I wondered what my higher self would suggest before I made the best choice.

I took a walk on different than usual streets. I stayed out the same length of time – because walking is for my health and for raising my spirit, which is important for me in all the roles I play.

I’ve been a Mom for a long time so naturally I go on high gear when I think my child needs me no matter what their age is. It is time for ME to remember my value partially because I want to continue to be their Mommy for a long time to come.

Questions for Contemplation & Journaling

How well do you treat yourself in comparison to others?

What can you do to shift back into a more equitable approach?

+ = + = + = + = + =

Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. She leads discussions on Zoom and is polishing her most recent memoir and some poetry for soon-to-be publication. If you would like her to speak to your group over ZOOM until travel is available again, she would be happy to talk to you about that OR maybe you are looking for a slightly quirky, very open hearted, compassionate and tender Creative Life Coach. She would love to speak with you soon.

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How Your Next Embodied Moment will lead to a More Fulfilling Life

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How would your life change if you made the choice to open yourself fully to each moment as it happens?

Your first response might be “Don’t I do this right now?”

Maybe and maybe not.

Bombarded with distractions, all the time

We are constantly bombarded with distractions, most of which our mind filters automatically for us. Sometimes we are “playing with our kids” with our computer open and our phone in our hand and we are trying to get our partner’s attention. This isn’t very “in the moment.”

I know people who are distracted so much by a ticking clock they can’t focus on the conversation they are attempting to have with friends.

If you have that sort of sensitivity and you haven’t learned how to focus on the conversation, life becomes frustrating rather than fulfilling.

This goes beyond ticking clocks and flashing lights and startling smells that rise up and greet you as you are walking down your office hallways.

Your entire life experience will become better when you are 100% engaged in whatever you are doing at that moment. This is true no matter what you are doing: enjoying a concert, taking a walk, writing a blog post: the outcome is the same. Better results with better focus.

Embody the moment and rewards will follow.

Our experiences are better when we are fully immersed in whatever we are doing instead of sitting blankly scrolling on our phones, waiting for our boss to give us an inspiring assignment or checking the Netflix schedule praying something might capture our attention.

To experience full embodiment, we allow ourselves to be engaged with our senses as we are living that moment. Still not sure what I mean?

Here’s an example from my own life which could have been another boring everyday moment which instead, became not only sheer delight, it caused me to write a poem.

Ordinary coffee in an ordinary cup by an ordinary notebook or is it? When lifted to the lips and fully observed, embodiment occurs and a poem (or best seller) may be born.

Today I poured a usual cup of coffee into my favorite mug and sat down to drink it while I wrote social media content. Somewhere on the way from the coffee put to my seat here in the corner, I decided to make the experience one of embodiment: completely in touch with the tactile, sensory feelings within my body as I drank the coffee.

Coffee: Ordinary or Extraordinary?

Here is what happened when I allowed myself to be present to the experience of my lips and coffee.

I lower my head, as in prayer

Mug lifts to meet my lips, cold orange edge

rests on the soft yet firm shelf my lower lip offers

tongue meets lip from inside as coffee

pours forth, into my waiting mouth

slightly bitter warmth, pleasure for barely

a moment slides in and down and then

my throat opens and closes and satisfied,

my lips make way for the exhale, while

still heated slightly, while still cozy, while still

pleasantly plumped from the 

liquid invocation of a new day

no matter what arises my lips

and I know. Coffee comes to visit

and temporarily makes all things perfect.

Coffee, writing and poetry are beyond the ordinary.

Rarely does my own poetry make me laugh, but this one did.

Embodied writing can be playful, deeply moving and sacred. It can be all three. 

I may rework this poem but for now, I am sitting back admiring the moments I had drinking the coffee, taking notes while I drank, and now being brave and silly enough to share it with you here.

A Master Class in Embodiment and Your Richer Life, Right here

Last week I blogged about sharing ordinary moments as extraordinary. Today may be seen as the master’s course in the same subject.

Do me and your reading audience a favor: fully immerse yourself in any given ordinary moment. Take notes. And then write something from it, anything. I wrote a poem, you might write a sales letter. It doesn’t matter WHAT you write, it simply matters that you write this way.

FIND A SUPPORTIVE WRITING COMMUNITY in a Private FACEBOOK GROUP:

How would your writing productivity change if you received varied, niche driven writing prompts daily – also fiction, poetry, entrepreneur, copy writing and video prompts are offered, join the Private Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook by clicking here.

We look forward to writing with you!

Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. She leads discussions on Zoom and is polishing her most recent memoir and some poetry for soon-to-be publication. If you would like her to speak to your group over ZOOM until travel is available again, she would be happy to talk to you about that OR maybe you are looking for a slightly quirky, very open hearted, compassionate and tender Creative Life Coach. Text or call her at 661.444.2735 She would love to speak with you soon.

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Shift Happens: Compassion & Being Your Authentic Self

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Hands in shape of a heart, showing the shift into compassion. Illustrates the power of authenticity and being real.

I overslept today. I feel like crap when I oversleep. I lecture myself, I think of all the ways I am bad and wrong and not worth the butt that I sit on, but something happened this morning to shift me from that harangue of self hate into a much better place.

I got up and set out on my original path, even though it was much later than I wanted it to be. 

Seems natural, doesn’t it? 

Eventually I got out of bed. I put my pants on one leg at a time – but what I decided to do that was different is I decided to not make myself quite as wrong for oversleeping. Instead I offered self compassion – eventually.

Self compassion, eventually?

It helped to text my friend Kelly and lament at myself a bit more before I got to compassion.

Nothing like public self-flagellation to complete the cycle.

One of the things Kelly said as I whined and kvetched about my lateness fired me up, perhaps in a way she hadn’t expected. She said “And at the same time you are being REAL.”

When being real & authentic is not a positive thing –

I’m raising my hand and being real when I say I believe sometimes people use the expression, “but I am being my authentic self” when they are making excuses or behaving in ways that aren’t acceptable – for example, using language that would make your grandmother’s skin crawl or being rude, arrogant, the opposite of compassionate or list your “but I am being my authentic self” shortcoming.

I can be my authentic self and stretch myself. I can be my authentic self and be uncomfortable. I can be my authentic self and be lonely. 

I can also be my authentic self and do better than I have before. I can also be my authentic self and show compassion towards others AND myself. 

I can be real and look amazing, I can be real and go out with unbrushed hair and an outfit that looks like I am on my way to a costume party portraying a very down-on-her-luck person.

Being Real isn’t always what it seems

This morning I didn’t do my usual amount of walking, but I am almost to the number of steps that was average at the end of the day in 2019. This makes me feel some sense of accomplishment.

I have made more progress at working my body than if I had stayed on the bed lamenting about how horrible of a person I am. 

Both ways, I am being real, being true to myself.  At the same time I have stumbled upon the conversation about how people have taken a well known adage, “Be real” and “Be authentic” and use them for their own shortcomings. 

Let’s talk & write about being authentic and being real.

Is it wrong for a person to use “being real” and “being authentic” as a way to make themselves feel better for not doing something?

There are probably as many opinions on this as there are for styles of blue jeans. Remember, Levis’s are “authentic” and Coca-Cola has been called “The Real Thing.”

Now, it is your turn to write: Writing Prompts across genre

Journaling Prompt:

“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.”

Brene Brown

Prompt: If I were to describe my true self, I would say…

“Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.” Coco Chanel

Prompt: When I think about being more real in hard times, what comes up is…

Copy Writer: Make a case for “Coca Cola” being “the Real Thing” or Levi’s jeans being “authentic”. Play with this fictitious copy as if it was for the most important client you’ve ever had. BONUS: write an article for your newsletter or blog using this writing as an example.

Social Media Post: Encourage people to be brave with their authenticity. Be a role model of courage in the post. Ask for input from your audience. 

You can find more prompts from a wide array of purposes in the Word Love Writing Community on Facebook. Beyond prompts, there are people who want to see you succeed creatively – what could be better than that?

How would your writing productivity change if you received varied, niche driven writing prompts daily – also fiction, poetry, entrepreneur, copy writing and video prompts are offered, join the Private Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook by clicking here.

We look forward to writing with you!

Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. She leads discussions on Zoom and is polishing her most recent memoir and some poetry for soon-to-be publication. If you would like her to speak to your group over ZOOM until travel is available again, she would be happy to talk to you about that OR maybe you are looking for a slightly quirky, very open hearted, compassionate and tender Creative Life Coach. She would love to connect with you soon.

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So Much Better than Constant Drama, Drama, Drama!

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One of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is recognizing the extraordinary in ordinary moments.

As I write this I am listening to an audio of rainfall in a library. I am sitrting in my Bakersfield living room “in real time” but I am listening to a recording that makes my heart so happy – and it is completely ordinary.

My coaching clients will often construct a desire or even a perceived need of a life reminiscent of a perpetual retreat experience – which would be very nice and for many of us is simply not where we are every day. Unfortunately, this also sets people up to be pretty miserable most of the time.

How to Discover the Joy in the Ordinary

One of the unusual ways I learned about the joy in the ordinary was through poetry, which many people believe contains a standard context of flowery, difficult to understand, “way above me” language and meaning.

Sunday someone said to me, “I don’t consider this poetry. This is clear and easy to understand writing, it isn’t poetry.”

Why not write about coffee, then, or sunrise?

Some of my best early poems that weren’t overly flowery or angsty were written about coffee. My first poem, in fact, was printed and carried by my love at the time. He enjoyed the poem that much. He may have liked his daily cup of coffee more, but it was a lesson to me that poetry didn’t always have to be about crisis or struggle or ecstatic experience, it can be quite effective when it is everyday and relatable. 

This morning I was chuckling over a poem written more than three hundred years ago by John Dunne. We was writing about sunrise saying, “Busy, old fool, unruly sun.”

He was mad that the sun was shining in his window at an ungodly hour, waking him and creating chaos in his mind. “Busy old fool, unruly sun” is such fun, simple word play it is clear all these years later. Ordinary and extraordinary.

Ordinary: 365 Times a Year, Sunrise Happens

When I wrote my first coffee poem, I hadn’t discovered Billy Collins or Mary Oliver or even William Carlos Williams who wrote so effectively about eating the plums in his refrigerator and realized his wife may have had a different plan for the plums.  (For reference, that poem is “This is Just to Say.”

This reality – that I could write poetry about coffee and an infinite ways to describe the sunrise – was quite a revelation. Poems don’t need to be written about angst or discomfort or romance.

As I wrote this blog post, I found a poem I wrote in 2010.

In the poem, I write of the sun thanking me for taking the time to unwrap her. 365 or 6 times every year she reappears, most often without note. Ordinary and extraordinary all at the same time.

Write Like Jerry Seinfeld: Ordinary worked for him!

Jerry Seinfeld made a career out of joking about nothing in particular and my favorite television show of my twenties was a show about nothing (and everything) called “thirtysomething” – back then I thought they were so mature, Elliot and Nancy, Michael and Hope and their daughter named Jane. 

Writing of the ordinary, extraordinary is as important a subject as one may ever have. Wrestling with the plain, the unflavored, the (what some might call) boring may become your favorite writing of all.

Perhaps you aren’t ready to believe me yet.

In that case, your writing prompts await, not unlike a romantic suitor waiting to whisk you away for an evening of revelry.

Writing Prompts: Discovery & Writing Practice Specialized for Your Form of Writing

Coffee Mugs and Coffee beans frame writing prompts for numerous niche writers: Social Media posts, poetry prompts, fiction writers and more.

Copy & Paste Texts: (Use these to copy right into your text or direct message box and send – or personalize for your situation. Surprise someone with a text message they weren’t expecting!)

  1. It doesn’t need to be a special day for me to remind you how special you are to me!
  2. I’m drinking my morning coffee wishing I was sharing a mug with you.
  3. I just watched (name a TV series or movie) and it reminded me of the simple yet wonderful days we have had together!

Entrepreneurs: What is the most extraordinary (yet seemingly ordinary) quality of the product or service you provide? How can you accentuate the simplicity of it?

Social Media Posts: What you think is everyday in your life may fascinate your followers. Show your most behind-the-scenes/behind-the-scenes in an upcoming post.

Video Prompt: Project yourself back to your school days and make a video that is about a “how-to” and share something simple like tying your shoes or how to hold a pencil. Then stay very present to the reality there may be a time when people no longer hold pencils or tie shoes. 

Fiction Writers: Set the stage for a regular/ordinary day in the moments before something really outrageous or unexpected happens. 

Lifestyle Bloggers: The pandemic has given us a lesson in how quickly things change. Share a blog post of something that has stayed the same – and why you treasure it even more now.

Memoir/Life Writers: Take a dull scene you need to write in order for a more interesting scene to make sense and insert an interesting object to spice it up. Yes, make the object the star and see what energy that gives to the sequence.

Poets: It was a poem about coffee that helped improve ALL my writing. What is something everyday YOU will write about?

Copywriters: How would you sell and market a completely ordinary project? Write some practice copy and then think how to use it in your actual copy assignments. 

Journaling Quotes & General Prompts

  1. “I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality.”

Alice Paul

Prompt: When people make things more complicated than they are, I wonder…..

  1. “If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence.”

George Eliot

Prompt: I imagine the sound of grass grow is much like….. And that makes me feel (continue to follow the thread to see what unlikely place the sound of grass growing may take you.)

  1. “My mother is a big believer in being responsible for your own happiness. She always talked about finding joy in small moments and insisted that we stop and take in the beauty of an ordinary day. When I stop the car to make my kids really see a sunset, I hear my mother’s voice and smile.”

Jennifer Garner

Prompt: Watch a sunset and write what you see… like the sun is giving dictation.

Find a supportive writing community via a Facebook Group:

How would your writing productivity change if you received varied, niche driven writing prompts daily – also fiction, poetry, entrepreneur, copy writing and video prompts are offered, join the Private Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook by clicking here.

We look forward to writing with you!

Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. She leads discussions on Zoom and is polishing her most recent memoir and some poetry for soon-to-be publication. If you would like her to speak to your group over ZOOM until travel is available again, she would be happy to talk to you about that OR maybe you are looking for a slightly quirky, very open hearted, compassionate and tender Creative Life Coach. She would love to connect with you soon.

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Expanding & Exploring Intuition to Increase Your Personal Effectiveness

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I can’t remember when I discovered how intuitive I am. I may have been born with an intuitive gift AND I believe intuition is something I have practiced and stretched and grown over the years. I think having a non-verbal only thirteen-months-younger than me brother was extremely helpful in picking up clues from body language and the most tiny changes facial expressions. My empathy factor is also high, probably higher than most people.

That was just the start. Developing the intuition is like developing any skill set. It takes time, effort, commitment and there are times you will “get it” wrong – or not as right as you might like it to be.

For those of you who are intuitive, this exercise and the writing prompts will help you develop your abilities. Some of you who believe yourselves to be absolutely the opposite of intuitive, for today and today only I ask you to allow yourself to open your mind to consider growing your intuitive skills.

Judith Orloff, MD, Professor at UCLA said, “Highly developed intuition is a “secret weapon.” Learning to develop your intuition will make you better at your work, in your relationships and more.

Simple method to practice and develop your intuition now

  1. Take note of hunches you receive. Write them in a note on your phone or in a small notebook. It is important to actually DO this instead of “just remembering.” Jack Canfield explains further “Your intuition might speak to you as a hunch, a thought, or in words. Your intuition may speak to you in physical sensations, such as goose bumps, discomfort in your gut, a feeling of relief, or a sour taste in your mouth.” You may take the notes you make in your phone or notebook one step further by dialoguing with the hunch. Do this by free-flow writing. Don’t plan what you are going to write, just ask the question of your hunch and allow your pencil to move. You might want to start with, “The nudge to call my former friend to talk about reconciling feels uncomfortable and I don’t like it but if I asked the wise old person who lives inside me what they might say is….
  2. Take a specific time daily for quiet time by yourself with the specific intention to tune into your intuition. This may mean taking a 15 minute walk followed by a 5 minute journaling session. This may be meditating for 5 minutes. This may mean yoga followed by singing scales and listening between the notes for ideas. 
  3. Look for connections between seemingly disconnected objects in your surroundings to see what they want you to notice or “hear.” Try it now. Pick up three objects, put them in a row and start “riffing” aloud about them.

An example of how to process Intuition Exercise Results

These were the three objects I chose randomly from my environment:

Meyers Clean Day Cleaner; a coffee pot; the seagull reader (a poetry book I am using as a makeshift mouse pad.)

Possibility One: (First Flash insights using intuitive associations, without intellectual associations)

Be awake when I edit my poetry. (mindful and creative instead of seeing editing and revision of my writing as a chore to rush through)

YES!

This is spot on! Lately I have been writing much more which means I am spending more time in revision and editing. I tend to rush through revision and editing because my intellect thinks it isn’t as fun as the drafting process. 

Possibility Two: Very practical – Remember to buy hand soap when I run errands later today. (This has to do with cleaning and other people – may not make sense to you but it does to me. And yes, I did remember!)

Possibility Three: For this response, I used both my intellect and my intuition and went deeper. The results are brilliant. I will make a note to myself to put this into action:

Take time to enjoy your morning practices. Allow the “chore” parts of your day be as soulful and inspiring as poetry.

How to discover and use your intuition exercise results:

  1. Gather the items and look at them, loosely. In other words, don’t stare them down and shout “Speak to me, objects!” instead allow yourself to simply be curious.
  2. What associations come up almost immediately? Write them down.
  3. Go about your business and return to the objects later in the day or the next day. Now consider not with solely your intuition, look with your intellect as well. What associations or ideas pop up now?
  4. Take note of anything resonant, especially if it has relevance in your ife right now or for a loved one.
  5. Experiment with the intuitive hits (or messages) from your objects. Repeat as compelled. Remember to have fun with this!

Writing Prompts for further exploration

Writing Prompts for Intuition to use in writing and across social media and in business. Profile of a woman with galactic hair - showing a sixth sense of sorts. To access more prompts, visit the Word Love Writing Community

Social Media Posts: Use one of the intuition prompts offered in the journaling section as a caption to a post. Ask your audience what they think. When they respond, be curious rather than “provide expertise.”
 

Video Prompt: Do a livestream video about the topic of using intuition in your business. Prepare for this by writing about a time you used intuition in your business and what happened. You may even do the exercise I used above to develop intuition to practice live. (I have done this before – it is very fun!)

Lifestyle Bloggers: Ask your audience to share their stories of intuition with you. Interview one of them, Q and A style and feature it in your blog, Keep the conversation going to gain clarity about your readers in a different way so that you may continue to offer refreshing content.

Poets: Write a poem about a time when you followed your intuition and things did not turn out like you expected.

Copywriters: Freeflow headlines as outrageous as possible. Just start scribbling, even if they make no sense at all. Set them aside for at least a day or two. When you return, use your strongest editing skill – with an open mind – and see what gold nuggets appear.

Journaling Quotes & General Prompts:

“Intuition is seeing with the soul.”

Dean Koontz

Prompt: When I see with my soul, I notice…

“Don’t try to comprehend with your mind. Your minds are very limited. Use your intuition.”

Madeleine L’Engle

Prompt: My intellect likes to take me down a path of…. and my intuition seems to take me down a path of……. and I wonder what would happen if I….

“Insight is not a lightbulb that goes off inside our heads. It is a flickering candle that can easily be snuffed out.”

Malcolm Gladwell

Prompt: If I started to allow myself to trust my insights more….

For Daily prompts & a flourishing writing community – look here:

How would your writing productivity change if you received varied, niche driven writing prompts daily – also fiction, poetry, entrepreneur, copy writing and video prompts are offered, join the Private Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook by clicking here.

We look forward to writing with you!

Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. She leads discussions on Zoom and is polishing her most recent memoir and some poetry for soon-to-be publication. If you would like her to speak to your group over ZOOM until travel is available again, she would be happy to talk to you about that OR maybe you are looking for a slightly quirky, very open hearted, compassionate and tender Creative Life Coach. Call or text her at 661.444.2735 to schedule an exploratory session.

She would love to connect with you soon.

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