Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

Things That Weren’t on My Bucket List that I May Now Add and Cross Off: Part 1

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Years ago I attended a conference where I heard Mark Victor Hansen of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” speak. He told us all to make a list of 100 Life Goals. I dutifully made a list. It wasn’t called a Bucket List then because the movie hadn’t been made yet.

This particular item was not on my list of 100 Goals.

I wasn’t expecting it to happen. I don’t know how I could have possibly planned for it.

I was mad, after all, very mad. Angry because the business, the service department where I had purchased my car, obviously didn’t care about its customers, how dare they endanger me. How dare they?

The gentleman told me the usual company line, “We can’t enforce, we can only request.”

I continued pacing and waited as he turned over the paperwork.

Look, this isn’t a joke. This is real.” I said.

“I don’t want to be person #220,000 or whatever the count is now. I’m high risk, I hardly go into any businesses for exactly this reason.”

He nodded and told me I could wait in the indoor waiting room – inside the stuffy, no-air-circulating temporary building or I could wait outside.

I motioned for the outdoor waiting area and added, “And I want to know where I can go next time to get my car serviced. I don’t want to come back here, to this place where people don’t take this seriously.”

I chose to wait outside, even with the temperature in the 90’s

and less than optimal air quality. At least I wasn’t risking my life in the short run. I wrote and I read. I calmed down.

I received a text message informing me I would get another text when my car service was complete and to text my service writer if I had any questions. The message was pleasant enough. I kept my head down and focused on anything but the sweat on my forehead.

The next time I looked up, I thought I saw my car parked and ready to go. I pulled out my phone and texted my service writer, “Is my car finished? I feel foolish because I don’t recognize it yet.” and added a smiley face.

“Yes,” texted the service writer. “I am just finishing the paper work,”

When he approached, he gave me a very thorough report on my car, like a pediatrician would give to a nervous mother. He added, “I also talked to my co-worker about what he did.” I nodded, trying not to be bitter. “He said he was hot…” and I shook my head and probably rolled my eyes.

“And…” he continued, “I wanted to let you know I take this very seriously.

“I take this seriously because… because I lost my brother.”

I looked across the table at him and heard a sound emanate from deep within my gut. “You lost your brother?” I asked, as if I hadn’t heard. “To covid?” His watering eyes and nodding head were met with my disbelief, including the ancient, universal language moan in disbelief. “Oh my God, I am so sorry I am so sorry.” I said as I cried.

We sat outside the service department as if we were in a bubble. I was sobbing, not worried about anyone hearing me say over and over again, “Oh my God, I am so sorry, I am so sorry.”

We had further conversation for only a few moments that felt like an eternity before he got up and went back to work.

He got up and went back to work.

I stayed in the same space, rocking slightly, like I would if I was comforting a baby, continuing to grieve for someone I never knew.

I eventually got up and started driving toward home, but I pulled over to sit, just sit. I received a text. “Thank you for the conversation.”

I cannot say I know why I am put into such situations though I will say I am grateful I was able to give someone space to speak and be heard.

What a risk he took to speak to me.

I am so grateful he took that risk. “I take this very seriously,” he said.

In those moments we became more than service writer to customer, we became fellow members of the human community. We became a place for sacred listening, a family of two.

Space was held for caring and empathy and grief.

My life will never be the same.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. 

Julie is also the Creative Director of the Word Love Writing Community. Join us now to invigorate your writing – no matter what it is you are writing – social media posts, journaling, fiction, memoir – there will be prompts and other people there to support you. Right now, we are finishing out 2020 with 100 Days of Wonderful Words. We look forward to seeing you there.

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Grace: A Definition, An Experience & Your Writing Prompts

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One night I was driving to my friend’s house when I decided ‘Grace’ would be perfect for this blog post word. “Brilliant!” my higher self,  who I refer to as Julianne – whose name is a slightly fancier combination of my first and middle name,  agreed with me. It was like we were two tired friends talking on the phone right at bed time, “yeah, yeah, great idea talk to you tomorrow ok… yeah bye.”

You probably won’t be surprised to know what happened next.

I fell asleep, got out of bed late and now – here I am, asking for grace for my fairly late in the day posting. It is not my style to come scrambling back here on my knees, begging to not be punished. 

This would mean offering grace as a response to a form of wrong-doing, almost like forgiveness but not exactly.

Is this what we think grace means?

I realize there are many definitions and experiences of grace, from being a graceful woman – who is in my mind perpetually tall, lithe and most likely blonde – none of which describe me.

There is grace, a prayer, often spoken aloud before eating a meal.

There is grace – in the Christian tradition, that is often described as “undue favor”.  Theologians will say “it is by grace we are saved, not by works.” This tenet has caused much factionalism within Christianity but I am not by any means asking for a public debate. In fact, debate in your own space, please.  I am making this very simple on purpose. Grace – undue favor, a gift we are given simply because… we exist.

Prayer, Favors, Elegance and What?

There is grace, a noun, “simple elegance or refinement of movement” which snarky people may use as a nickname when someone is clumsy.

There is grace, also a noun, “courteous goodwill,” like my friend Tom’s brother, Hal, who had the grace to not mention I stepped on his toes as we danced at Tom’s wedding.”

There is grace, the verb: “do honor or credit to (someone or something) by one’s presence” which I have written on invitations. “Please grace us with your smile and RSVP”

There is also a gift or talent, an extension of time in a “grace period” and more.

Grace is, in all ways I can see, a harmonious word that may be, for some, a prickly pear.

Thank you for the Grace you offered me, in simply reading.

Right here, right now, in simply writing this – I feel filled with grace knowing these words may be read and you, the reader, may be inspired by one of these prompts to write because getting your thoughts on paper and out of your head feels good.

Maybe you will want to bookmark and use these prompts later. You may choose to join the Word-Love Writing Community on facebook (yes, it is free and the link is below to become a member) where there is a library of prompts that will fill you with this feeling of “oh my goodness, my words and thoughts are flowing and I feel so good I simply want to pass this feeling along to everyone I know.”

You may want to stow the copy and paste texts to use later. I can think of times when I wish I had thought to say these things and now, we ALL have them to use!

Your Writing Prompts for Social Media, Novel Writing, Sales, Poetry & Journaling

Copy & Paste Texts: These are to be used to surprise people or to reach out to people. You may copy, paste and send as they are or edit and morph to your situation

  1.  Thank you for extending grace when I embarrassed myself today. 
  1.  Will you please say grace at the meeting next Wednesday?
  1.  You were so filled with grace when we met up with ______ today! I would never have been able to pull that off!

Copywriters:  Tell a story of a moment of grace your client extended to one of their customers. Show compassion, show joy and show hope for the future.

Entrepreneurs: Write about a time when someone unexpectedly extended grace to you in the beginning of your career. Use this in an upcoming speech, presentation or blog post.

Social Media Posts: Write a post seeking engagement that asks about people’s definition of gracefulness – and how to improve upon their own gracefulness.

Fiction Writers: Write a scene about one of your older characters teaching about grace to the younger characters, using any of the definitions.

Lifestyle Bloggers: Write about a grace prayer – and how your audience would either appreciate, or not appreciate, the custom.

Memoir/Life Writers: Write about a time of giving and receiving grace. Be sure to build the story to a higher note at the end rather than one that may be perceived as negative.

Poets: Use grace as a metaphor. For extra fun, write ridiculous metaphors. (I found one of those in our quotes today look below for what I mean!)

Quotes & General Prompts for Journaling and more.

“Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Prompt: When I read metaphors that make no sense to me, I wonder if it means…. (when out of steam, connect with “and” “or” and continue writing).

“I wish grace and healing were more abracadabra kind of things. Also, that delicate silver bells would ring to announce grace’s arrival. But no, it’s clog and slog and scootch, on the floor, in the silence, in the dark.”

― Anne Lamott

Prompt: If grace and healing were easier to understand, we would….

“You deserve to be soaked to the bone with love every day of your life. The miracle of grace is that you can give what you’ve never gotten.”

Glennon Doyle

Prompt: Being soaked to the bone with love feels like……

Soaking _____ to the bone with love felt/feels like……

Be sure to write for at least five minutes on this prompt. You may have some brilliance right away AND trust me, if you write longer, thoughts will emerge from the process.

If you would like accountability, write in the comments which prompt you plan to use. If one of them speaks to you directly, tell me in the comments, too. 

Thank you for reading all the way through!

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they haven’t quite realized yet. 

Julie is also the Creative Director of the Word Love Writing Community. Join us now to invigorate your writing – no matter what it is you are writing – social media posts, journaling, fiction, memoir – there will be prompts and other people there to support you. Right now, we are finishing out 2020 with 100 Days of Wonderful Words. We look forward to seeing you there.

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Welcome, October: am I Ever Grateful to See You!

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Autumn is my favorite season and October is my favorite month within that season.

This honest delight adds to the poignance of October 2019 which I wasn’t able to experience. I look back at this time last year and I had a doctor appointment where the primary plan was to get a referral for a podiatrist for the bunion I have been dealing with painfully for the previous eight years.

The only problem was I was sick when I got to the appointment. I had a fever, a rash, a generalized discomfort which the doctor thought might be valley fever or some random infection so I was sent home with anti-biotics and a follow up appointment where we would dive into the podiatrist referral more fully.

Less than a week later I was at urgent care, the emergency room and the intensive care unit with a fancy combination of illnesses including sepsis which caused many of my organs to fail.

Playing in the pumpkin patches in Tehachapi is a family favorite. Here, four children find the perfect pumpkin.

There was no apple picking, no wild baking, no pumpkin patches or decorating. I was home from the hospital in time for trick-or-treating which I did by sitting on the porch with a big bowl of candy on my lap.

I have never fully explored that time and the healing from it, so here in my blog this month during the Ultimate Blog Challenge, I will share my experiences of those days, the aftermath and the creative lessons gleaned along the way.

I will also share some of the 100 Days of Wonderful Words which we’re using to explore writing in many different platforms and forums in my free community, Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook. If you love words and would benefit from community and prompting, we would love to see you over there. Request membership by clicking here.

I will be posting here daily in October so hold onto your hats, get ready to be inspired, connected and challenged to think newly as we explore health, healing and intentional connection through creative action here at the Creative Life Midwife in October.

Julie JordanScott is the Creative Life Midwife. She fuels creativity in others using artful methods aligned with intentional connection, purposeful passion and soulful rituals. Follow her on social media using the links above.

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Moving Ahead During Uncertain Times with MicroGoals

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Micro-goals will help you be more successful. This blog post shows you how.

How do you want to feel about your life – your work, physical health, role as a parent of adult children living at home, role as a community member, and content planning at the end of the next two weeks?

Easily stated, I want to feel better than I feel right now. I want to feel more satisfied with this situation, even if we are still being asked to stay at home and wear our masks in public.

What are Micro Goals: aren’t they just goals?

Micro-goals are classified as a certain type of goal. They amplify the present moment and reward you for being productive in a way that suits your personality and aligns with your vision and values. They are simple and short term rather than complex and long term. One of the keys to success with micro-goals is with their length: you may quickly experience success and naturally feel compelled to continue with that goal or leverage that micro-goal into a bigger part of your plan or vision.

Micro Goals work because they offer fast results and easy success. Check marks in boxes make us happy.

Examples of Micro Goals:

This morning I worked on my monthly walking goal. I am using steps to measure success and building up to an end-of-January goal: a fourteen mile walk from Ojai to Ventura. 

I have recently restructured this goal because I am speeding up my training, so this micro goal will be increased every two weeks. 

Each day I will aim to meet my standard step goal. If I walk 1,000 steps more, I will reach my “Stretch” goal. If I walk 2,000 steps more, I will reach my “Damn Girl you are a superstar” goal.

I have made an ordinary short term goal fun, humorous, and in chunks is time limited. I have a reward at the end I find ridiculously fui and right now in September, slightly unreachable.

Today, I am helping to motivate myself to continue with other daily tasks as I stride my way into my two-week-goals so that I may more likely reach my next level in my walking goals.

Other micro goals may be trying meatless Mondays throughout the month of September, learning the basics of a musical instrument, writing an instagram post, a story and a reel every day for two weeks. Short, fun, fast success or not. You get to try it out (beyond the “first time”) and decide to continue or modify your goal based on results and data.

I have also found there are often times barriers because I just don’t feel like taking the extra steps, making the additional phone calls or emails, cleaning that drawer out today, fill in your task you don’t want to do here.

A women looks frustrated: she doesn't believe she has to do this task. She doesn't want to do it! Everything is NOT do-able!

For those times when you just aren’t “feeling it” – and yes, they happen more than we might think during “these uncertain times.”

After I finished my morning walking today, I took note of the extra benefits to walking that don’t relate directly to the number of steps I have taken. I wrote this write into the notes section of my phone:

Because I walked farther than I wanted to, the rewards were plentiful:

  1. I smelled freshly mown grass (a favorite smell)

2. I heard a birdsong I had never heard

3. I got closer to the end result I’m aiming for

4. I built more self trust

5. I feel better about myself

6. I was able to say good morning to a man working in the park, cleaning trash.  I imagine he is often “invisible” as he works, I wanted him to be seen and to receive a happy, grateful smile.

7. I prayed for children past, present and future who will play here.

8. I walked on a baseball/softball field, something I haven’t done in years. The simplicity of this made me feel grateful and content.

9. I hugged a new-to-me tree. 

10. When I get home I will write, I will publish, I will scoop up dangling threads, I will choose to be happy.

Trying on a goal is like trying on shoes and clothes and rearranging the furniture. Micro-goals are one way to do this successfully

A-ha moment, in the writing!

I just realized while I didn’t know it at the time, writing an occasional list of celebration when I achieve my goals unexpectedly is a great idea!

Also, when I got home, I did do those tasks. I finished some graphics, I posted to two of my facebook groups, I am now finishing up this blog post. And I have been cheerful the whole time, even making plans with my sometimes reclusive son for this afternoon.

End Result: I felt incredibly accomplished and ready for the next item on my agenda. I have gotten more and more accomplished today – this morning – than I did all day yesterday.

Creating a Successful Micro Goals is as easy as starting where you are:

One simple way to consider what to use as a micro goal, I like to “look out over the future” and ask what I want to see in the next week or two weeks. Then I reverse engineer my way back to the present – and this is where many of my micro goals come into being.

I want to be able to look back at my calendar and say “I wrote my haiku every day, I marketed my business on these social media platforms every day, I made a list of ways to generate income with the skills I have right now.”

A row of palm trees at sunrise is one of the haiku photos I have taken during 2020. Poetry and dailiness has made a big difference for me with Micro Goals.

I started getting serious about the effectiveness of micro goals when I started writing haiku every day. It is a micro goal because the daily task is so small. The length of time, however, isn’t micro at all.

I started writing haiku again and used it as my first goal in a long time because I asked myself this question, which I ask you to ask yourself as well.

What is it that used to make me feel better in the past?

What short amount of time and energy activity has been known to lift you from sadness to joy or at least “an improvement”?

You can go back as far as childhood: recently my daughter has started jump roping again and is having a blast at it – something that brought her alive as a child will help her reach her health goals as an adult AND she is still having a blast!

What do you like to do that will support how you want to feel in two weeks that utilizes what you have at your disposal where you are right now?

Take your time before you answer – and when you do, it would be great for you to join the Bridge to the New Year facebook group where we discuss goals and micro goals all year long as you create your most satisfying, creative life.

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Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. 

Julie is also one of the Founders of Bridge to the New Year. Join us now in in Bridge to the New Year to reflect, connect, intend and take passionate action to create a truly remarkable rest of 2021

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You Can’t Get You Wrong (and other Truths We Sometimes Forget.)

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You are the expert in all things you. I have realized lately that many of us wander around not knowing who our own, unique “you” really is, even after reading all the personal development books and taking more courses than we ever imagined.

You may see your face in the mirror, but you haven’t yet learned who that face belongs to underneath all the coatings of “what other people want” or “what other people said” or “other people’s opinions based on what they value which in truth have nothing to do with me.”

There is no wrong, there is simply…

One of my favorite sayings is, “There is no wrong, there is just writing” or “right-ing”. That seems elemental on the days when I am feeling good, when the circumstances I am in line up with what I most want. However, when I am triggered because someone is challenging what I believe or what I stand for or what I most love, I sometimes find myself wobbling off course. 

Does that ever happen to you?

Something magical has been happening during this pandemic, during these uncertain times we are living through in this oftentimes chaotic chapter labeled 2020.

Magical pandemic? How is that true?

We have been given the freedom to explore who we are – in depth – and mindfully strip away the layers of who we are not.

It might help to say that aloud: “I have the freedom to explore who I am and now I have permission to mindfully strip away the layers of who I am not.” If you have NOT gotten to those interior spaces yet, the good news is as long as you are here – there is time.

Now is the time to recognize AND embrace AND integrate those areas of life we are able to control in order to experience freedom purposefully, even if that seems ironic or impossible. These remain the same no matter what our circumstances are, so if you are living your paradise existence on Malta or are on lockdown because of an illness, these are areas in your control. 

You are free to….

  1. You are free to control your opinions. You are not in control of what other people think about your opinions. You are free to not respond to what other people say about you and your opinions.

2. You are free to control your choices – and you always have choices. As long as you are living, you always have choices. You cannot control other people’s choices.

3. You are free to control your actions and your inactions. You cannot control other people’s actions and inactions. You are free to keep your opinions about other people’s actions and inactions to yourself. 

4. You are free to control the words you use. You cannot control the words other people use. You are free to control your response to the words other people use.

You are always able to choose. Or Not. Both are a choice, like this:

Right now I am indoors because of the smoky air caused by the fires raging here in California. I could make the choice to go outside and walk or run or bicycle, I am free to do so. I would rather feel better than worse, so today I am choosing to walk energetically around my house. I am even making it fun!

I recognize all of this may sound downright weird to you. I feel slightly worried you may judge me for it. I am allowing myself the space to feel hurt by your opinions and sad about what you might say AND I am free to move along without a trace of concern or attachment. 

That feels so much better!

Finally, I have some “end of the blog post” inspiration for you from a popular musical from my childhood.

Remember “Free to Be: You and Me”?

I was surprised and not surprised to learn it is currently in a revival! As I listened to the soundtrack his morning, it came clear to me why it is finding a new audience today. While aspects of it are dated, the message comes through loud and clear.

“Take my hand, come with me, where the children are free

Come with me, take my hand, and we’ll live

In a land where the river runs free

In a land through the green country

In a land to a shining sea

And you and me are free to be you and me”

Listen and watch this newer version by Sara Bareilles, especially for the class of 2020.

My intention is to collaborate as we create this place described in the song. I’ve always hoped for this world for myself. Now I know I am able to create it starting with my household as well as in how I present myself to the world while simultaneously build a world with others as we are each free to be ourselves – fully free, collectively.

What would it mean to you to be free – even amidst the current circumstances we are in right now. Not “someday when this is over” but right here, right now.

Are you ready to discover and practice How to Write for Magnetic Attraction? You’re invited to be a part of the ten day experience beginning September 21, 2020. To receive an email with a private video message, writing tips, community livestreams and more during our next free writing experience, please subscribe to now to our #5for5BrainDump Email List:

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To participate in conversation with other participants, join the Word-Love Writing Community Facebook Group where the conversation and livesteam sessions will be accessed in a safe, private writing community.

Portrait of creative life coach and creative life midwife Julie JordanScott

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. 

Julie is also one of the Founders of Bridge to the New Year. Access the visionary prompts from the mid-2020 #Refresh2020 to reflect, connect, intend and take passionate action to create a truly remarkable rest of 2020 as well as to prepare for the end of 2020 and create our next Bridge to 2021, join the private facebook group now.

To participate in conversation with other participants, join the Word-Love Writing Community Facebook Group where the conversation and livesteam sessions will be accessed in a safe, private writing community.

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Explore “Everyday” Passion, Even During These Pandemic Times

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You might think to yourself, as many do, passion is this huge experience, this mountain-top time of pure, unadulterated delight. 

Today, I am inviting you into everyday, ordinary passion – because this is the space in which life may begin to truly feel vivid and refreshed and ready to be lived again, even in the midst of this negative, life abrupting pandemic time. At the bottom of this blog post, there is even a mini-writing workshop video so you may try the prompt right here and now, “almost live”.

It happened again to me this morning. I was feeling very committed to staying grouchy. I was resentful of the oppressive heat rolling through California which kept me from walking around outside to keep up my daily walking practice. I discovered I was self-triggering when I walk inside because in the past I only walked like that when I was excessively agitated.

I did it anyway. I walked around the house – up and down the hallway, into the dining room, a swing through the kitchen and back again. Up down and around. Up down and around. Up down and around.

As I was walking I thought about an art challenge and my ideas for today’s prompt. Surprisingly I didn’t think how bad my idea was in relationship to others I had seen so far. I walked my loop a few more times before plopping myself into a chair at my project table and simply starting to make a tiny work of art.

I didn’t think about what I was doing, I simply did it.

My thoughts left, my inner grumbling silenced, my first mistake was tossed aside and then I was finished almost as quickly as it took to get started.

Now I had a smile on my face. 

Now I wasn’t grumpy.

Now I was ready to get the other tasks done on my to-do list.

Now I was looking forward to the rest of my day.

This, my friends, is ordinary passion.

This, my friends, is how something so plain and minor and insignificant can become a method to making the best from a challenging time.

Mary Oliver said, “Let the world have its way with you, luminous as it is – with mystery and pain,  graced as it is with the ordinary.”

Instead of stopping your natural rhythm and flow by staying committed to the blahs and blocks which may have been holding you back, now is your time to grace your life with your ordinary passion – and before you know it, the everyday stuff of life will shine. The everyday, mundane, not-even-energizing-enough-to-be-annoying will become a gift. 

You may choose to grow from your pain.  You may choose to breathe life into the ordinary.

Imagine it: mundane moments, becoming fertile ground for passion. Extraordinary-ordinary passion is in your everyday life.

Let’s write about it,together.

Think about the “little things” you really enjoy.

Walking past the rosemary bush with its hauntingly inviting scent.

That moment when you step into the shower after a long day at work or at the beach (or the moment you step out of the shower.)

Your first sip of cold water after a run.

That moment when you finish a puzzle or a project or a game that makes you smile so wide you’re glad you have ears so your smile won’t wrap around your head.

This is the world, having its luminous way with you.

Let’s write it:

My recent moment of everyday passion was when _______. What made me feel so happy was…… (and now, you write, starting with writing for five minutes reliving that experience of everyday passion. Write the details, keeping them as engaging as possible.)

We’re ending your blahs and blocks that so many are experiencing right now by using inspiring, mind-and-heart opening prompts that will help you gain clarity about what is the most important right now.

If you want to continue exploring and feeling better instead of worse, join us for our #5for5BrainDump experience. Writing for just 5 minutes a day for 5 consecutive days with curated prompts for exploration.

Would you like to participate? Two ways to do so. One is by receiving an email every day when #5for5BrainDumps are in session. The other is by joining our Word-Love Facebook Community.

Both options are available right here:

To receive an email with a private video message and writing tips, please subscribe to our #5for5BrainDump Email List:

To participate in conversation with other participants, join the Word-Love Writing Community Facebook Group where the conversation and livesteam sessions will be accessed in a safe, private writing community.

Portrait of creative life coach and creative life midwife Julie JordanScott

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. 

Julie is also one of the Founders of Bridge to the New Year. Access the visionary prompst from the mid-2020 in #Refresh2020 to reflect, connect, intend and taking passionate action to create a truly remarkable rest of 2020. 

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Rumi, A Walk in the Park & You

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Some of this might take you out of your usual comfort zone of understanding. Right from the first line I talk about my heart having a front door. Whose heart has a front door?

I invite you to think differently today – and consider if you are, in fact, a “guest house” and your heart is the doorway into the house. I would love to know how your writing goes if you choose to write.

The front door to my heart rang this morning. When I opened the door, I heard a subtle invitation:

“Would you like to spend your haiku time today at the

Panorama Vista Preserve?”

I thought for a moment as I got into my car, “Oh, I might indeed want to go to the Panorama Vista preserve this morning. Hey – that’s a cool idea, I was considering where to aim myself to write my haiku- I might just take you up on that idea.”

The knock on my heart wasn’t totally unlike the concept of someone saying “May I buy you a drink?” or “Would you like to go to the movies?”

Once there, my senses and my heart opened fully to whatever it was my host aimed for me to see. 

My being human is a guest house, I thought. Divinity swings by sometimes with assignments I may choose to take or not take. I have the option of writing and storytelling and sharing or not sharing. No matter what happens – even nothing – there is learning and growing as a result. 

Today as I tromped along the dusty, recently horse travelened path, I was astonished about the new things I saw: two no-longer-alive trees called to me as they stood, towering over the smaller, well cared for bushes and plants planted by the Kern River Conservancy folks.

I found a bench farther along the path than I have ever found before – because I had never walked that far. This morning I didn’t set out to see new things or walk farther than I had before, it just happened because I opened the door to receive the invitation and responded.

I allowed myself to be further romanced by dead trees at sunrise and because of that, I moved forward farther and with more strength and sure-footed than I was the last time I visited.

This time, I saw more bunnies hopping around there than I had ever seen. They made it into my haiku. I heard a different sort of bird than I am used to hearing. I posted a video on my daily haiku sharing and have started a conversation to find out what sort of bird I was hearing.

I was able to fully embrace the dusty, burnt plants air and admire the work of the Kern River Conservancy in their outdoor green-house. When I first visited here a good ten years ago there were lots of those dead-looking trees, not an abundance of native plants under cultivation.  

I sat on the new-to-me bench to write and it was because of my quiet that more animals grew to trust me and made themselves known.

This being human IS a guest house. My guests include you – and the animals I saw – the egret, the bunnies, the insects, the birds-I-can’t-quite-name-yet. 

Each aspect of this experience was and is sacred. Each aspect is profound enough for me to remember so that tomorrow, I will open my heart so that more guest house visitors will be welcomed in.

I forgot to mention the ending of this story.

I walked back to the parking lot and a car that had been idling for at least twenty minutes started moving, doing donuts and making huge circles of dust in an out-of-control way. I hurried to get seated and get the ignition on so that I might be able to write this. I stumbled and was flustered and before I could even begin to move, the other car was driving away. 

One moment, my heart was pounding and full of fear and the next, I felt safe. I allowed the momentum of the love and joy and witness of the sacred in the ordinary guide both my writing and my experience. Yes, the wacky-scary donut driving car experience also happened, but the one negative didn’t overshadow the beauty because I knew “I am being a guest house, not a house of horrors.”

I look forward to going back and walking further than the two dead-looking trees and the second bench. I will continue to follow the flow along the current of the sacred where I know every morning there is a new arrival waiting for me.

I wrote this post in less than 5 minutes using the same methods we use in the #5for5BrainDump experience: we write from a prompt for 5 Minutes for 5 consecutive days and as a result, some pretty magical insights take place… and new pieces of content are born. This five minutes will, I know, be used in social media posts beyond this blog post – and reliving this morning’s experience in words makes it even that much more sweet.

Simply use the prompts from the image above to begin your renewed writing experience. All it takes is 5 minutes.

It’s all waiting for you to simply say yes. Thank you for reading.

To receive an email with a private video message and writing tips during our next free writing experience, please subscribe to our #5for5BrainDump Email List:

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To participate in conversation with other participants, join the Word-Love Writing Community Facebook Group where the conversation and livesteam sessions will be accessed in a safe, private writing community.

Portrait of creative life coach and creative life midwife Julie JordanScott

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. 

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How to Create a Simple Intention that Will Change Your Life for the Better Even During these Uncertain Times

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I confessed to you in yesterday’s blog post I had one of the largest blocks of my lifetime last Fall after having a near-death experience. It wasn’t only the almost dying that shut down my creative will to make things, it was the unsupported recovery.

In the perfect world, I would have had numerous caretakers hovering nearby ready and able to be at my beck and call but in reality it was Emma and me… and since I never trained Emma to “adult” – my mom never trained me, I just became an adult from about age eleven and increasing as I grew older – so there I sat in my corner recliner doing nothing except walking to the restroom back to my chair and walking to the kitchen and making myself not to terribly healthy meals and back to my chairs and at the end of the day, I would either sleep in the chair or wander to my bedroom.

I had friends swing by and take me places, doing the best they could, but no one really knew what my life was like inside my house.

I wasn’t about to tell them because that would make me a creative failure, a wannabe, a nothing. After almost dying, I felt so lackluster that being “a-nothing” was where I hovered the most.

I would look at the computer, but wouldn’t use it. I wouldn’t go on the internet and scroll, I would look at the turned-off screen, not interacting with the keys or watching videos or anything.

I would hold my notebook in my lap, but I wouldn’t move my pencils or pens or crayons.

In retrospect, there were two necessities that were far from my experience. I needed an intention and I needed someone to give me a bit of a believing push.

I needed someone to say “I believe in you. Your work is important to the world! It’s time to love and live an inspiring question because you love the people in this world and sister, they love you, too.”

I existed through November and early December, normally exciting times for me. I slowly started feeling better.

It wasn’t until a December sunrise shortly before I went to visit my daughter Katherine and her husband, Donald, that my creative will started to move through me with any sort of consistency.

What made this shift happen? I decided to live and love a question while keeping my heart open to the forward flow of intention:

“What is it that I used to do that made me feel better that might make me feel better now?

Some possibilities that rose up were good, but I couldn’t do them without the help of others. I love karaoke, but my lungs and voice didn’t feel ready. I knew my recovery would take at least six months. I would adore being on stage again, but same challenge – PLUS I would need to have a director who really wanted to cast me. I couldn’t imagine that happening anytime soon.

I chose writing haiku which combined writing – which I have always loved – with haiku – which was a very short poem and therefore, an easy idea to put into motion. 

I also knew if I failed, it wouldn’t be heartbreaking because… it is only a short poem once a day. Besides, no one would be paying very close attention. I made it even easier because I said “Must complete in the morning,” which meant I didn’t have a long time to think about how much I really didn’t WANT to write a haiku. 

I didn’t have time to think about how much I didn’t want to do anything but sit alone in a corner.

After a week which included quite a bit of family travel which is wonderful and stressful and tense, I realized my question, “What will help me feel better?” changed everything when I loved the question, was patient with myself in allowing the response to find its way to me, and I took a very small baby step every day.

Interesting to note it was that same week when I insisted I was going to visit my parents in Flagstaff sometime around my birthday, an idea and an intention I had been holding for over a year but other people’s needs and my own lack of planning continued to interfere with the actual implementation of my plan.

I will forever be grateful I visited my parents in the middle of February. It was only a few weeks later a simple visit with them would be impossible due to Covid-19.

A simple question: “What would make me feel better?” and a contemplation of which activities were do-able yet also a bit of an inspiring stretch, has changed my life in ways I never expected.

It is important to make considerations as to what you are willing to…. do or be or accept or let go of in order to feel better or do better or be better. You may have to let go of your perfectionism or be willing to get up earlier or be willing to drink more water or take something out of your schedule or you might have to be willing to make people angry.

In the long run, none of those small annoyances – or what may feel wildly uncomfortable now – will compare to how great you will feel by consistently aiming for what it is that will make you feel better. You have the wisdom within you right now to determine what that is.

I believe in you. I look forward to seeing your “what’s next” with a little extra nudge of intention added to your experience.

Even with the challenges of 2020, I am more alive and more connected and more compelled to make a difference than I have been in years. Often during my visioning work, I imagine 5 or 10 or 500 or 25,000 people feeling better, too. I imagine the impact that would have on our planet.

Do you have five minutes to write in response to this prompt and others like it? It’s all waiting for you to simply say yes. Thank you for reading.

To receive an email with a private video message and writing tips, please subscribe to our #5for5BrainDump Email List:

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To participate in conversation with other participants, join the Word-Love Writing Community Facebook Group where the conversation and livesteam sessions will be accessed in a safe, private writing community.

Portrait of creative life coach and creative life midwife Julie JordanScott

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. 

Julie is also one of the Founders of Bridge to the New Year. Access the visionary prompst from the mid-2020 in #Refresh2020 to reflect, connect, intend and taking passionate action to create a truly remarkable rest of 2020. 

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Set Your Words Free From Pandemic Blahs & Blocks

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It seems like forever ago when the pandemic began and we were scared: this was the beginning of a temporary situation, all would be well soon, we said – and we put some aspects of our lives and thought, “I can do this for a while, I suppose.”

And we did. And now a while is a lot longer than we expected or suspected it would be and many of us are left feeling either defensive or constricted or unable to break through the barriers. We know, intellectually, we have been the ones who create, tear down and build up our thought barriers yet here we sit.

Pencils unmoving. Pens, immobile. Fingers a long way from the keyboard.

Some of you don’t know I almost died of Sepsis back in October. For many days I sat in this exact spot I am sitting in right now and wouldn’t touch my computer that sat on the table right next to me. I just couldn’t do it. As much as I loved writing and knew underneath this wall of inability and destructive thoughts it would be what would make it all better, I sat. Facing the opposite direction. Once I got home there was no television, I didn’t know about podcasts, few phone calls from friends or family, very little interaction at all. Every day it stayed the same.

Julie JordanScott in the hospital while she was battling pneumonia, sepsis and multiple organ failure.

It was my rehearsal for the pandemic.

In retrospect I look back and wish someone had handed me my computer and my keyboard and asked me to type in a question.

I know myself well enough to know the question – any question – would be all I would need to begin to write – and to begin to feel – again.

This is why I feel so strongly about leading these writing sessions, these mini-workshops. They’re open for anyone who can tune into either YouTube or Facebook Live. We will be there, everyday, I will provide you a question and together we will write.

We will – you and me and whomever else is there – feel better and spread that “feeling better” to our communities.

That sounds excellent to me right now, on this Sunday in August, 2020.

Would you like to participate? Two ways to do so. One is by receiving an email every day when #5for5BrainDumps are in session. The other is by joining our Word-Love Facebook Community.

Both options are available right here:

To receive an email with a private video message and writing tips, please subscribe to our #5for5BrainDump Email List:

Subscribe

* indicates required

To participate in conversation with other participants, join the Word-Love Writing Community Facebook Group where the conversation and livesteam sessions will be accessed in a safe, private writing community.

Portrait of creative life coach and creative life midwife Julie JordanScott

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. 

Julie is also one of the Founders of Bridge to the New Year. Access the visionary prompst from the mid-2020 in #Refresh2020 to reflect, connect, intend and taking passionate action to create a truly remarkable rest of 2020. 

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How Connection Shifts & Grows & Makes Everything Better

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My lousy mood had no chance when I created a Connection and Gratitude Breakfast Sandwich. Add in a cup of yummy coffee and the rest… took care of itself.

One of the sure-fire ways for me to get off course is for me to be in a bad mood.

If I am in a sour mood, I find it difficult to get work. I find it difficult to focus. I find it difficult to create a shift which I know would make everything get better almost instantly.

Maybe you are one of the people in the world who is full of sunshine all the time. I tend to be an optimistic, happy person but recently, it has been more and more difficult to lift myself up and out of a not so great mood.

This morning I found myself in a grumbly, frowny face state of mind. Little annoyances piled into a leaning tower of inner bickering. A chorus of bad vibes were pointing and laughing, taking note of short-comings from as long ago as seventh grade.

This was how I felt before my livestream #5for5BrainDump today – when I was to talk about connection. Being in a foul mood when I am scheduled to talk about one of my favorite subjects was like disappointing a most loved friend. I dreaded the livestream yet I knew I had a date with – less than perfection. 

I was connecting to less than perfection whether I wanted to or not. Full steam ahead.

I started like I usually do – with breath exercises and focus and suddenly, as I breathed the light of connection into my heart space, everything felt better.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was better. I felt better – and the livestream went on.

Was it my best ever live-stream? Not at all.

Did it provide value? Yes! It did! Here is the prompt we used and you may use now, too:

We are connecting both this week and next week for #5for5BrainDump sessions. If you would enjoy participating, join the Word-Love Writing Community Facebook Group where the conversation and live-stream sessions will be accessed in a safe, private writing community.

Portrait of creative life coach and creative life midwife Julie JordanScott

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. 

Julie is also one of the Founders of Bridge to the New Year. Access the visionary prompst from the mid-2020 in #Refresh2020 to reflect, connect, intend and taking passionate action to create a truly remarkable rest of 2020. 

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