Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

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.

ignup–>

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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For the Love of Intention: Acting with Flow for Your Best “What’s Next”

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You are worthy of positive results: set your intention and create a path, always. Person walking through tall grasses, blazing a trail.

Do you know that person? The one who is always stopping you when you’re on a roll, talking about something you’re setting forth, a hope a dream a plan and then that voice pipes up, “What’s your intention here?”

That person speaking up is more than likely me, if we’re together.

Here’s the secret underneath that chronic question: When we start with with intention we are claiming and activating something similar to when we pull back the bow and release the arrow. We are engaging ourselves to take energetic steps on this same spiritual road the arrow takes toward a destination. Do you follow?

Intention is the road, it is the journey, it is the path.

Intention may initially feel like full steam ahead in a linear sprint but here’s the beauty: the road isn’t usually straight and I don’t believe arrows are actually perfectly straight, either.

How about we just let go of the idea that straight one-way-only push push push is the only way to approach life or business or love or anything that matters?

We’re stepping into intention because it matters to have an idea of where your heart most wants you to end up. Like my friend Henry David Thoreau was talking about when he said ‘If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.’

When I throw anything the air is a part of the journey, even if the destination includes a mud puddle.

Basket of possibilities: a beige basket with towels and flowers, an image of self care

Let’s pick up our basket of possibilities and have the courage to consider taking aim. There’s no wrongs possible here. You’re good and you’re surrounded by good.

What’s your intention here?

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The Joy of Writing for Magnetic Attraction: Title in a Circle to Set Your Words Free + cursive writing

We’re opening our hearts and our notebooks for our next Writing Adventure Challenge: Writing for Magnetic Attraction: the series to amp up your writing. For exclusive content via email, sign up for the list below. To participate in the writing community join the Word-Love Writing Community Facebook Group where the conversation and livesteam sessions will be accessed in a safe, private writing community. You may also find us outside the group (if groups aren’t your thing) on Facebook at Writing Camp with JJS, pn my YouTube channel and on Periscope (so if you are on twitter, you will see it there at the same time).

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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 promps from the mid-2020 in #Refresh2020 to reflect, connect, be inspired and re-start your 2020 even if you have been hopelessly stuck in the “everything sucks” space. The Bridge to the New Year Space is welcoming, it includes weekly goals and intentions AND it is free to be a part of it – simply invest your energy in the community and it’s all good!

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How Revisiting Your Old Blogs, Journals and Social Media Post Leads to a Happier Life

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Today’s a-ha roared toward me like a soft scratching on the front door from a long lost pet who found her way home.

I was re-reading a blog post from last January where I wrote:

Why do I have to go so deep with so many things? Why do I take a submarine dive into a simple prompt?

New version: What’s up with me choosing to go so deep with my new discoveries?

Another question I asked on the original blog post:

Why am I compelled to feel so deeply? Why aren’t toe dips in the shallow end enough for me?

What is the gift (are the gifts) in deep feelings? What is the benefit of not being like others, who are perfectly content in shallow feelings?

I have done a lot of personal development work as a part of not only my life work as a creative life coach and even so – I hit mindset roadblocks of limited beliefs on a regular basis.

Working on rewriting my narrative is a standard part of my life.

These questions from “before” – a year ago – illustrate how I was assessing my basic ways of being as somehow wrong. I have been known to call that “wrongifying myself.”

The new versions are aimed at recognizing the strength within me rather than the “what’s wrong”. This reminds me of the ee cummings quote, “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”

At my core, I am a deep thinking, intensely passionate person. Toe dips in shallow water don’t appeal to me. One way I have changed is this: I have gotten more patient or understanding (and at times I may say compassionate) with those who find their deepest satisfaction playing in the shallow water only.

Shallow water lovers are creating the life they are meant to live being their most real selves.

My most real self loves pushing myself into new adventures. My most real self is going to dive into these new questions and see what flows.

Question for integration: Review your blog posts, journals and social media pages to see what you were experiencing or creating a year ago.

How have you changed?

What are you inspired to create now as a response?

To see last year’s blog post, visit here:

END THE DOWNWARD SELF TALK SPIRAL: FROM LAMENT TO SELF LOVEhttps://creativelifemidwife.com/2019/01/

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How to Immerse Yourself in Joyful Action = Productivity that Feels So Good!

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Little boy taking joyful action at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles

I am setting my aim for getting the stuff done that I don’t feel like getting done and will make me feel better after I actually do it.

When I think of my ideal life, I think of uncluttered, unfettered, less stuff more positive, constructive experience yet I don’t have daily clearing practice.

To my credit, I have started a morning meditation and an evening yoga nidra practice which is working on my mental side, but my physical surroundings, not much has changed. So here’s the deal:

I am going to start today, as soon as I get finished typing, to clear space for five minutes – just five minutes.

Then I will come back and type how I feel. I will upload this and go back to life-as-usual. I will repeat until next Tuesday.

I will report back.

Easy peasy lemon squeasy (or however that saying goes.)

It will “only” be 35 minutes of clearing and yet, my belief is it will be seven consecutive days of doing things differently. It will be seven days of believing I can and proving it. It will be seven days of setting the timer and saying, “Ready, Set, GO GO GO GO GO!” much like we happily do as children.

I am now going to stop typing. I’ll “talk” to you in 5!

(Imagine me running around the house – and I stopped to scrub my bathtub even! Can you believe it?! And I laughed while I did it! Who laughs with giddy joy while scrubbing the bathroom? I did! I did!)

This is what aligned accountability looks like. This is what makes Ta-Da Tuesday so fun. Co-working virtually with like minded and like hearted entrepreneurs, creatives, artists, healers who “get” me and this process. 

I came back and reported both here on the blog and the others, assembled on the Zoom Conference Room – a video meeting with people in both hemispheres today. People working at the beach, in their homes and wherever they found themselves.

That was great! I got a bag of stuff out to the trash and moved. My floor is picked up, my energy is lifted and I am ready to make a real shift.

Who else is in?

Comment what you are ready to get rid of, even if you aren’t in for the full seven days.

Every little bit helps. And Every little bit of fun and joy adds up!

Julie JordanScott looks to heaven as she takes a pause in her writing.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. She spent a year working as a leader of an Instagram Group and is now leveraging that experience to create a learning workshop/playshop experience about instagram based on having fun called Summer Lovin’ with Instagram. Click this link to find out more. To set up a complimentary exploratory session, please visit here. Be sure to follow her on Social Media platforms so you may participate in one of her upcoming events. You won’t want to miss a thing – your future self will thank you!

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My Unsung Hero & Best Gift, 2018 #BridgetotheNewYear

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I am the one without a neck, sitting on my mother’s lap. I was about four months old.

This is one of those stories that had to be written right now and if I didn’t take the time right now to throw words on the page I might have lost courage. I come from a long line of WASP-y people who do our best to not show emotions.

I am a poet and an actor. Asking me to not show emotions is like telling me not to breathe. The way I don’t show emotions is to completely shut off my creativity which I have done on more than one occasion but tonight, in the corner of my living room in Bakersfield, California this is a story that is begging to be heard, felt and shared.

I don’t have an image to share on social media that captures the best gift I received in 2018.

I will never forget it. It can never be replicated. I was both wholly alone and entirely connected in the less than five minutes this gift existed.

It was after a more than slightly unconventional to me Christmas Eve service in a small church in Flagstaff, Arizona. I was the last of my family group to arrive as I slid into the seat next to my sister-in-law. I greeted my brother, who was seated on the other side of my mother, and my sister, her husband and my niece who were sitting in the row behind us.

When the service ended, I stood and waited to greet my eighty-six-year-old mother as she left the pew.

I didn’t expect her to grab my hand and hold it with such tight insistence. It was then I noticed her other hand gripping the cane she had acquired in the months between this and my last visit.

My hand had never been held so tightly, with such fierce determination and so much love.

She let go of my hand only to shake the pastor’s hand as we left the sanctuary.

It didn’t matter that the piercing cold hit my face with force or that I didn’t know what car we were walking her toward. What mattered was she chose me to hold her hand on that cold Christmas Eve.

None of our past aches entered the silence we shared as we focused on each step we took. None of our misunderstandings or lost moments or fretting about endless minor details that often come between a mother and daughter rose above our sole intention: to stay connected as we got Mom safely home.

I helped my mother into my brother’s car and while I am sure arrangements were discussed for me to meet the family back at the house before I turned and walked alone to my car I don’t remember a word.

I remember using my phone’s flashlight to reach my cold car parked on the edge of the unlit parking lot. The pine trees stood silently as I started to cry, suddenly so grateful my children opted not to come to church. Their absence gave me this opportunity to be my mother’s guide and for that brief moment in time, be the most important person in her life – a rarity when one is born into a family with six children.

Earlier that morning I spoke with my father whose biggest news was Mom hadn’t fallen in the last two and a half months. This was a relief to him and good news to me since I knew her falling was now much too regular as her experience of Parkinson’s disease progressed.

I’ve heard people discussing gifts in the days that have gone by since Christmas, but I have remained silent, softly smiling. I don’t have an image to share on social media that captures the best gift I received in 2018.

Mom had her first Starbucks in San Juan Capistrano.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, a Mother of three and one of Nancy Shryock Jordan’s daughters. When she was thirteen-years-old her mother surprised her with a guitar from Santa, all four grandparents and her parents. That was the first time Julie received a gift from her mother she didn’t know she wanted.

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Take Delight in a Daily Practice

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It was fairly recently I realized my writing practice isn’t what it once was, which lead me to recognize my other art practices had somehow fallen away and in fact, my quest for a before-bed practice lit up the fact I, who knew inside and out the significance of daily practices had somehow fallen asleep at the wheel of what was most important at driving both the quality and the quantity of my work.

Yesterday when I was looking for photos to illustrate one of my (delayed) Bridge to the New Year Blog post I found this snippet of a Rumi poem along with some writing I did around it nearly ten years ago and I was stunned speechless.

“Submit to a daily practice.

Your loyalty to that

is a ring on the door.

Keep knocking, and the joy inside

will eventually open a window

and look out to see who’s there.”

There goes the universe conspiring again, inviting me to play – to show up with my gifts and talents at the forefront. My only job is to remember and move my pencil (or fingers on the keyboard or paintbrush or glue and scissors or whatever it might be.

In 2019, I am devoted to returning to my morning pages practice in the morning and a To-Do/Ta-Da daily practice as a part of an evening practice I devised during ArtBlock yesterday.

I am going to borrow Rumi, also, one of my most loyal and patient collaborators from the past:

“Submit to a daily practice”

               Morning Pages + Strategic Soul Journaling of To-Do’s and Ta-Da’s/ + Movement & Collage

“Your loyalty to that”

               Moving my pencil, pen, body, paintbrush, glue or scissors

“Is a ring on the door –“

               As is an equally significant energy of forgiveness and gratitude, abundantly offered, given and received.

Keep knocking, and the joy inside

               Begins to stir, as the raspberry tea turns water pink, as the boiling water becomes steam and

will eventually open a window

               spirit in breath, in wind, in sunshine rain cold heat fog

and look out to see who’s there.”

               her smile will cross her face, laughter gurgling up from her belly.

               Restored in radical grace, intentional abundance and love.

That feels so good, as does practice. As does the rewards of practice: a clear mind, a refreshed body and a sacred remembering of all that is pure, holy, good and right and heal the harms that inevitably turn up.

Thank you for reading! Watch for life changing programs right on the horizon!

Julie JordanScott is the CreativeLifeMidwife who loves creating life changing content to inspire you into passionate action.

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Oy no not that 2019 Vision – hey wait a second…

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I was insistent it was too difficult for me to think even a year in the future when I first saw this prompt.

I was determined to focus on the bad year I was ending and how because I can’t predict what horrible hurts might happen I ought not bother wasting my energy with devising a vision.

Two things happened within an hour of waking (amidst prepping bisquits for Samuel’s class, getting dressed and making a cup of coffee.)

I remembered getting off the freeway, specifically route 58, the Union Avenue off ramp early one morning.

You know those roads that never get done, that are continually under construction, usually in lower socioeconomic areas?

I found myself in this same place where I had attempted to help an old, infirm, possibly without a home woman about a year ago? I remember as clear as a bell being in a hurry but seeing her struggle between the construction snafus and I thought, “Julie, if you are who you say you are, turn around and help her!”

So I did. I even parked my car a half block ahead of where she was mumbling and angry and quickly walked toward her to offer assistance.

She rebuffed my offer and chose to do it how she had probably done it for who knows how long. I drove off knowing at least I honored my personal way of being and stayed in alignment with who I say I am.

My most recent turn on this off ramp I noticed the pavement was smooth, the lanes wide and the paint stripes guiding me stood out even in the pre-dawn lack of light. This: an almost unbelievable transformation from the sketchy off-ramp from times past. I don’t remember ever being anything but dicey to say the least was now as beautiful as any on-or-off-ramp I have ever seen.

Then in a moment of upset and flurry of activity because I had to change the plug for my computer – I moved it because of a need for the Facebook Live series we are doing – I saw one of my art journals sitting in a pile of books and I picked it up only to discover it was the art journal I was using at the end of December last year.

It opened to the page where I was holding a vision for November 2018. I hadn’t looked at it for months. I was surprised to see on the page I had written, “Workshops, Performances, Travel.” Why yes, yes and yes.

I wrote, back a year ago when I was holding a vision for my now recent past, “I was taught to deny (automatically with fear attached) rather than consciously choose, or discern, with love and soulful consideration.”

Whoa.

I was seeing into the future last year.

So now, I am typing with a smile on my face and am looking forward to diving into this today with you.

I may not finish today with my overall vision AND I know I will have a good start. I have started already with all our prompts.

I’ve turned my frown upside down and I didn’t think that was possible an hour ago! (And then this blog post was buried amidst the “I’m so busy” flurries and it wasn’t until I found this quote from Rumi… and actually set a goal for 2019 to have an ongoing writing practice daily once again:

Miracles. Every day. There is gold dust. I am grateful.

The year hasn’t ended. That artificial measurement of time is still 48 hours away. I can still give this prompt its due. My grateful smile has gotten wider. Life is good – in all its nooks and crannies and dust bunnies and rogue cat hair (thank you Alice) life is good.

Julie JordanScott, Creative Life Midwife, is currently in the final stages of the 2018/2019 Bridge to the New Year which she created with Paula Puffer.

She is grateful you are reading and invites you to follow her on social media to keep the relationship going.

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Bridge to the New Year: with Infinite Time and Money…

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Asking this question is similar to opening up a genie’s bottle and rubbing it: the more earnestly I rub, the deeper I go with past ideas of what would be really cool to do and it’s like I’m on a gentle roller coaster, we pick up more memorable past ideas and I end up giddy with laughter and grateful for the adventure.

So here are a top 4 tonight… I’ll start with a tiny taste and then I’ll go a little more deeply and maybe continue this game away from the keyboard and back and forth I’ll go!

  1. Own a multi-generational creativity camp and artist/writer’s retreat. This would be an off the beaten path place where families with children (single Moms, too) could bring their children and everyone would be able to work on their projects and plans and focus on bringing their projects to life. Children would have different activities. Grandparents could also bring grandchildren, single people… and there would be some group events as well as only adult groups and only children groups.

There would also be writers and artists in residence who would be able to teach/lead/facilitate to practice and hone their skills and to pay for their residency in service.

  • Word-Love Party Bus Tours of Literary, National Parks & Monuments & Women’s History Sites. This is a writing workshop on wheels. We would go from place to place writing, visiting and exploring. People could come and go and we would go and go and go! This sounds fun even writing about it here I get fired up. There would be a quarterly calendar. I imagine setting up HQ’s in Air BnBs or in host’s homes and hitting locations during the day… writing prompts and group work balanced with individual work (work being ultimately playful.) We would eat meals in community, have writing buddies to bounce ideas off of and have as fellow writing adventurers.
  • Help my friend Michelle start a Care Home (or more) for the Elderly and Mentally Ill. I would actually love to start a Board and Care specifically for Mentally Ill women and their children. Do you realize how many mentally ill women get their children taken from them at birth due to their mental illness? It is horrid and hurtful with lasting scars… which is why I have long wished we could change that, somehow. Anyway the mentally ill moms is my idea – Michelle really wants to care for the elderly and I would happily love to fund this for her. She is phenomenal human.
  • Start a publishing company specializing in spirituality, personal growth and poetry with the occasional novel and memoir thrown into the mix. ** I realize I could actually do this without a lot of money using POD. It wouldn’t be hard if I could hire out the formatting aspect and get an editor involved, too. This might be something I could do as early as end of 2019/2020.

That opens me up. I will definitely keep this one on my radar.

And I will write part two tomorrow. This is a winner. Love this prompt – and am grateful I returned to it!

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    Gratitude: Ordinary Beautiful & You

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    What am I grateful for in 2018?

    I’m staring across the room, looking at a candle I lit about a half hour ago as I settled in to see who I might connect with: what like hearted people, people with whom I might build a positive relationship in order to make this world a better place through writing and the creative process.

    Now I am quiet, attempting a go at naming only three things I am grateful for in 2018.

    Only three. I am setting the timer to write for five minutes or else I might get stuck trying to make this perfect, which it will be no matter what, anyway.

    1. I am grateful for tenacity. In early Summer things looked ridiculously bleak. After the year started with such promise, but July, I was despondent. It wasn’t until the last six weeks or so that I felt consistently better about myself and about the year.
    2. I am grateful I started reaching out again to different people thanks in great part because of local groups and people using social media. I found KWESI and my new Cameroonian family and I took that extraordinary day trip to the Tejon Ranch artist in residence day that was so spectacular my mood was bright for weeks afterwards. That was a really big thing I almost missed but I hung in there and did it. So grateful.
    3. I am beyond words grateful to everyone who is participating in Bridge to the New Year. I have cried repeatedly to Paula who started it with me because I have wanted to do something like this for years, literally, and in doing it I feel like I am shedding a lot of excess ugly thoughts and no longer constructive attachments. I am looking forward to more people showing up in the last two weeks of December and am excited to be adding a week of brain dumping into the mix, too. Every day in every way, better and better and better.

    I purposefully didn’t add “big things” (except for The Bridge) because I know gratitude best in the small moments, the day to day, the extraordinary ordinary. A lit candle, the voice of my son asking me for something or another, a clean desk. Grateful. For you reading? Thank you, more than you know.

    What are you grateful for?

    Our group is ready for you, even if all you do is read along with us your presence is valued.

    Click here  to connect with us and become involved in the group  and/or  the upcoming livestreams.

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    Illuminate and Eliminate All That Doesn’t Serve You: The Toleration Liberation Dance

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    “Turmoil stimulates” Thomas Leonard

    It is 5:40 am on a Thursday morning and I am giving myself the gift of “talking” about tolerations. Just here and now, you and me, let’s talk about what we’ve been putting up with in our lives that hasn’t served any purpose except being a niggling annoyance, like when my kitchen cabinets were almost finished for… more than a year.

    I got so used to it I didn’t notice until I heard one of the other mothers criticizing me for it.

    “Unfinished cupboards? Oh my gawsh, I couldn’t stand living like that. I don’t know how she does” the mom said to someone else about me. Note to self: unfinished cupboards reinforce I am not worthy of friends who finish projects, I am propelled only to sit in the seats beside other friendless people no one else wants to spend time with… and don’t forget it you non-finisher.

    This, the role relegated to the one who was known for perpetually getting her enormous college research papers turned in before the deadline?

    What happened to me? Where did that early finisher go?

    Life, honey, life happened to me.

    I can stack volumes of circumstances up next to the best of them but the thing is, life and the need to declutter and finish and keep putting one foot in front of the other continues.

    My tolerations list is a direct result of the self-punishment and neglect I have unconsciously levied upon myself.

    The positive part is: I am the one in control of this part of my life.

    I can turn the soft rumbles of dissatisfaction into a productive sort of turmoil, as Thomas Leonard – the same man who coined the term “tolerations” – meant when he said “Turmoil stimulates.”

    A clutter-free home, for example, is not a result of pain as I curiously wondered yesterday –it is a result of constructive voice. Imagine, I will be able to find things without struggle.

    It is like granting myself a ticket across the finish line over and over again.

    This morning before I started writing I plopped my new lazy susan on my art table and started sorting. Unlike in the past, today I will continue sorting and clearing and gathering my tools in a way that will continue to serve me and my process.

    Paula made up a tolerations celebration space in the Bridge to the New Year group. Clearing counters and tables is at the top of the list and I am going to celebrate each counter & each table top I clear AND each time I keep them consistently clear, I will celebrate again.

    One last thing: today I was awake early because I wanted to honor my devotion to writing by participating in the (I believe it started in twitter) #5amwritersclub twice a week. Today  I may say I completed the #5amwritersclub for the first week ever. Here’s to doing so for the next consecutive 51 weeks.

    What are you tolerating? You don’t have to share your list or process with anyone, but if you would benefit from having a supportive group around you to get the work done, consider closing out your year with the peoplein “Bridge to the New Year” – this link will take you to the variety of spaces  you may participate.

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