The Joy of Morning Routines

April 6, 2022 by jjscreativelifemidwife

“Over time, as the daily routines become second nature, discipline morphs into habit.”

Twyla Tharp

This is going to sound strange, perhaps, but I am a fan of both morning routines and the joy of consistent experimenting with variations of my morning routine.

This morning, my routine was interrupted from what I have been doing – a rather long, lush time of waking up with meditation, writing, reading, stretching, hygiene regimen with a self care flavor – to “oh my gawsh, I am behind schedule so what can I pack into this short amount to wake up, get up and still have a good day?”

A writing notebook atop a pink bedspread to show the joy of writing in the early morning in bed. This is part of #rolloverandwrite

I chose to do my #rolloverandwrite practice, read a short-bit and do my hygiene regimen but with less of the equivalent of making googly eyes at myself and more streamlined efficiency, instead.

The irony is I did this because I had an 8 am focus mate session I scheduled to be sure I was being productive nice and early. Another irony is that as I write this I am actually in a focus mate session where my partner is awake on the west coast using her 25 minute session to do what I might have done with my morning routine if I had only thought about things in a slightly different variation.

Here’s the thing: we make our rules about the routines we adopt or those we never even try. Instead of giving up writing every day which I did for quite a while because I got tired of a too long practice, I re-imagined what daily writing might mean to me.

If I hadn’t been open to variations and if I hadn’t had the desire to incorporate a night time routine into my daily schedule, I would not have devised my own morning writing practice I call #rolloverandwrite.

What I have discovered is too often people study different ways of doing morning routines (or starting a blog or creating and teaching a course or starting a YouTube channel, etc.) They invest in classes and courses. Books and blog posts and twitter streams are read. Many conversations are started and continued. Sadly, the important concept of experimenting and being willing to try something doesn’t happen amidst all the “someday I want to….” activity.

It might be scary and I have found I have to be willing to try and fail more than I am willing to stack up my learning without experimenting.

My best discovery is there doesn’t need to be an either/or. I can continue to experiment and continue to check in with other people, read articles and books, and make variations to what I am doing with that” still fresh gleam in my eye” even if I am still in bed while I am doing yoga, writing, meditating and reading.

I have had so much freedom and joy when I realized I could do these things while still in bed! If it hadn’t been for a willingness to try and fail, I would still be pushing myself to “get your lazy butt out of bed” and building my resistance wall higher and higher and higher.

While I mostly sleep alone these days, I have also used these routines when I have had a sleeping partner. Experiment with quiet routines if this is your situation. If you have children, train them to respect your practices. My children used to pad into the kitchen in their pajamas and sit at the table with me until my notebook was closed.

Choosing to do your best rather than worrying about getting your routines done perfectly will wake up an entirely new energy for you so that routines will become a profound pleasure and a playground rich with laughter.

Sometimes you will find something incredible and sometimes you will fail miserably and both are equally wonderful.

What are your morning routines?

Is it time to experiment and tweak a bit or are you perfectly content with what you are doing?

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

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

November 19, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Last year I realized how important consistent creativity was to both my healing and my growing confidence. I also learned if I created a particularly ambitious goal I didn’t think I could complete, I was more likely to abandon it – like leaping across a divide that was too wide for me to accomplish.

Learning to “not quite” reach a goal while also absolutely shining on another goal created success & self-compassion practice.

Because I was continuing to be successful with my daily haiku writing, my hiking goal “fail” was more easy to accept.

Seth Godin, one of the models of creative consistency, wrote in his book “The Practice” “Learn to juggle. Draw an owl. Make things better. Without regard for whether it’s going to work this time.” Sometimes we hit our goals and sometimes we don’t.

We may hear that showing up consistently is where the reward eventually comes, but in the early days of consistency the distance to our intended result may make it challenging to continue. The detachment from outcome and optimistic spirit is fuel for the ongoing effort even when you may not feel like moving forward on a less-than-stellar day.

Permission to Try Again:

I recently decided I am going to attempt the hiking goal again in 2022 AND I am going to continue my tree hugging I doggedly introduced at the end of 2020 and continued in 2021, even as it has proven more challenging than consistent haiku writing I started in December 2019 and continued for 377 consecutive days.

In 2022, I also plan to return to some form of daily poetry.

In the recent days my make-shift writing practice experiment of #rolloverandwrite has expanded into much more prose – from a scribbled and hurried maybe paragraph note to self to a note to my highest self and observations in the night before sleep and a waking written meditation. I am also laughing to myself because this morning’s #rolloverandwrite was the most terse I have written lately.

The most surprising discovery from consistent daily activity:

One of the most important lessons of 698 days (so far!) of intentional, consistent daily action of some form is I feel more centered, more content and more accomplished now than I did before I started this experiment in 2019.

From having a self-created goal simply for the sake of having a reason to show up – which continued during the pandemic and an ever-widening divide in my country – the process of knowing every day I would take a specific action gave me something to look forward to, always. Even after the death of my father, a murder of a friend and many more subtle and not-so-subtle losses – having a space to share my consistent practice that morphed from haiku writing and became tree hugging at the end of 2020 and will continue into early 2022 – with friends and strangers on my personal facebook page – has become a space of strength and healing.

Most people who are my facebook friends don’t know I consider them important accountability partners, but they are accountability partners to me! Especially since I moved across the country and doubt myself at least every other day, knowing people are curious about what sort of tree I discovered to hug on any given day helps me move forward with the project even when I don’t feel like it.

The reward is evident in both personal resilience and trust in the body of work as well as in my growing knowledge base and practice of speaking up with my discoveries.

Is all this tree hugging and poetry writing and hiking adding to my wealth?

Is it making me famous?

Not yet to either financial abundance or recognition, but I’m not counting it out yet. My writing improves with everything I write and my awareness and knowledge of trees has surprised me.

Have you ever tried a quirky, outrageous goal in daily consistency? What happened?

Julie JordanScott is a multipassionate creative who delights in inviting others into their own fullhearted, artistic experience via her creativity coaching individually or in groups, courses and workshops. To receive inspiring content and videos weekly and find out more about Coaching, Courses, Challenges and what’s going on in the Creative Life Midwife world? Subscribe here:

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Stopping the Slide Into Feeling Worse

November 19, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

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

I don’t want to give depression that power.

I asked myself a personal power question:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It could have so easily slid into much worse.

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Sunrise at the Manse: An Invitation to Deep Healing & Creativity

November 14, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Earlier was a morning like most other mornings: leaning against my pillows after writing brief notes in my journal and experiencing a morning meditation, I felt peaceful and calm.

Soul Practices Open Windows in Many Ways

I was looking with a soft gaze that caught the sun as she peeked over the horizon and shone her rays of light into the window across from my bed. It was as if the sun was a young child, waving as she reaches up from under the covers, “I am here, let’s play again….” accompanied by the soft exhale with the slightest projection of the intention “this is going to be a good day.”

Tears fill my eye in the memory of earlier this morning and for so many sunrise mornings across my years.

My life is so different than it was a year ago yet also in many ways the same.

I am across the country from where I was, in the mornings I face east as is my favored direction.

Clear Desire: Spoken and Repeated

I am not sure how many years ago I boldly proclaimed, “If I ever move, I must have a house with an east facing porch and a bonus would be having a bedroom that faces east.” I know I said so, repeatedly – without expecation or attachment.

In my house in Bakersfield, the living room faces east. The kitchen faces east. These are the spaces I was often in as the day began. Many mornings of writing when my children were little started at the kitchen table in the dark. They would file in and sit beside me – knowing simply by silent association this was important Mommy time. When my three pages were done I would look up and address whatever it was they might desire.

Now my children are grown and I am living for a time in a manse beside the church where my daughter works.

By a miracle of divine appointment, the house has an eastern facing porch and the sun makes her appearance every day through the window of the bedroom I chose when Katherine asked which room I would like as my bedroom I asked, “Which one has the best morning light?”

An Unexpected Invitation to Healing

I am experiencing a season of deep healing I didn’t realize I needed as badly as I do.

There is a part of me that struggles to explain what it feels like to realize these blessings are safe to receive. There is a bigger part of me that is self-trolling or gaslighting, urging me not to be crazy enough to share such vulnerabilities as I am in writing and sharing this moment with you.

How can I not share how dreams come true in ways unexpected and beautiful?

How can I not share the rewards of healing after so many years is still possible, sacred and holy?

I will continue to hold these moments close AND share them wildly and as widely as the invitation calls. Maybe this resonates with you on some level – synchronicity happens – and perhaps this invitation is for you as well as for me. Speak up (if you would like) or pause, wait and reach out to me later. These blogs will continue appearing – invitation, issued, repeatedly.

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What Happened When the Inner Critic Crashed the Forest Bathing Party

November 10, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Woman writing in a notebook in the middle of the forest. Words say "Hello, Inner Critic! Fancy meeting you here!"

Forest bathing is one of the most pleasant experiences anyone may enjoy – it doesn’t require equipment or skills or new shoes. All it requires is one have a willingness to be in a wooded area – a forest or park – even an urban park or a back yard with numerous trees will work. The technical definition (if you don’t know it yet) will show up later.

Last Monday, I visited High Point State Park in Sussex County, New Jersey which is where I am living right now. I brought my notebook with me to possibly write, but that was a second part of the plan. The true plan was to be with trees and hug a tree or two for good measure.

How did I end up laughing in the Forest with my Inner Critic?

Even as I typed the words “Laughing in the forest with my inner critic” I realized how foreign or flat out wrong this may appear to some people. Who laughs with the villain?

Who chuckles with the one who makes us feel unworthy of praise?

Admittedly as a writer and as a writing coach, I have some unconventional ideas – and trusting the process is one of them. Stay with me as the story unfolds.

These moments among the trees were like a tree fest of profound, beyond language joy. Gratitude is a close description and the feelings were – if possible to understand – so much more than simply gratitude.

Definition of Forest Bathing.

My plan was to do some forest bathing and tree hugging. What is forest bathing? National Geographic defines it like this: “The term emerged in Japan in the 1980s as a physiological and psychological exercise called shinrin-yoku: “forest bathing” or “taking in the forest atmosphere”.

I brought my notebook “just in case” it felt right.

There, in the forest, I came upon a companion black oak tree which invited me to take a seat on a makeshift stool and experience forest bathing with words.

This is where my inner critic (or perhaps the spirit keeper of the woods) stepped in when the very first two words off the tip of my pen were “majestic oak.”

Woman sitting at the base of a tree, writing in her notebook. Julie Jordan Scott (Julie JordanScott) is the writer.

Smack! I felt the energetic sting of a ruler on my pale, bent fingers cradling my trusty writing utensil. I kept my head lowered as I mumbled, “I know. Horrid. What was I thinking?”

This is when my Inner Critic and I started laughing.

My inner critic was being helpful. That’s what editors do, after all, they make our writing better.

How often do writers trot out the most maligned and overused meaningless words in the beginning of their writing?

Here I was, sitting in a forest surrounded by oaks of orange, brown, and assorted mottled spotted leaves. There were enormous green-yellow leaves on baby oaks that didn’t seem capable of bearing the weight of them. Deep blue sky over head with wispy clouds like smoke from candles that have been blown out. Leaves, sounding like foam on the Atlantic’s waves or perhaps imitating rocks on the flow of the river.

Woman hugging an oak tree in the forst. Tree hugger who is forest bathing.

Here an oak, there a beech, similarly covered with lichen.

It was possible, when I close my eyes, to smell the leaves returning to soil.

I noticed there wasn’t evidence of many other feet walking here in recent days.

My focus pulls aside when I turn toward the hum of a truck on the highway. After the truck I notice the hum of a small airplane, a motorcycle, a sports car.

The trees patiently wait for me to notice them again.

The tallest yellow tree, an eastern oak, seemed to call out to me.

“Let people know we are here,” he said, seeming to give my notebook and pen a half nod. “Let people know we are grateful for when they visit us and sit a while.”

Looking more closely, I see signs of a broken bough, a torn branch or two up his spine. This tree, like me, is healing and whole at the same time.

Just like I am healing and whole at the same time.

Just like so many writers and creatives are both healing and whole at the same time.

Somtimes that wholeness is when we are able to laugh when our inner critic gets it right and she becomes a collaborator. Special note: you are best knowing how to write free flow style well before you allow the inner critic to interject her corrections and suggestions.

One of the reasons I was able to shift gears into better writing was because I knew my word choice was tired and cliche almost as soon as they tumbled off the tip of my pen. I didn’t respond to the appearance of the tired, cliche words with a gasp or a barrage of negative self talk, I laughed.

What would happen if you decided to play with your inner critic instead of making your inner critic wrong?

The most effective way to work WITH your inner critic

The single best thing you can do is give your inner critic space to help you AFTER your first draft is complete, after you have allowed your words to flow wherever they wanted to flow – even if the first words are trite and cliche.

Did it occur to you if my inner critic hadn’t showed up and overstepped her boundaries while I was forest bathing, you would not be reading this? Maybe YOU are the exact reason she showed up with me while I was minding my own business, enjoying nature with my notebook and pen in hand.

Consider this an invitation to take your notebook outside and find some trees to spend time with soon. Bring an open mind and heart. Enjoy finding words that fill you with delight as much as the experience fills you with delight.

Reach back here and tell me when your mission is accomplished, please.

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What Does Tree Hugging Have to Do With My Niche?

November 5, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Truth is, tree hugging being or not being connected to my work as a creativity coach didn’t cross my mind when I embarked on this adventure otherwise known as a three-year-connected adventure of hugging trees from the United States, coast to coast.

Many of my peers are obsessed with only creating niche related content. I am not.

Emphasizing my daily tree hugging for nearly a year is definitely not within the standard realm of my profession.

I was simply looking for a way to continue feeling better after surviving a near-death experience. The first year after sepsis and Valley Fever almost killed me, I wrote haiku. This helped me start and continue to write daily, a practice I gave up in the hospital and was difficult returning to afterwards.

I didn’t know when I started that practice that we would be reeling from a pandemic and ordered to stay in place and physical closeness became something rare except for those we were quarantined alongside in our homes or small groups.

Tree hugs became a way to continue healing both of myself and reaching energetically to people I wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise.

It is sort of how my writing aesthetic works: I love words and I love the people who read my words. I don’t only write about writing or creative practices. Truth be told, often times my best ideas and insights and a-ha’s come when I am tromping around on walks or hikes or sitting in diners, rummaging through book shops or used book stores or hugging trees.

I love the people in my courses, classes and workshops. I love the people who I work with as a writing and creativity coach. I love trees. I love dark skies with stars calling out, their bright light taking my breath away.

Sometimes, when we are all courageous enough, we allow our words to flow out into the world with intentions for soul connection and expansion of love and confidence and the ever-wished-for optimism which for many has evaporated completely.

I’m coming to the end of my original tree hugging goal and I may revise the goal, to continue hugging trees adding 100 tree hug days (when I hug one-or sometimes more) daily.

Since December 21, 2020, tree hugging has….

Given me a task to do each and every day – sometimes it was “on the way” and sometimes it WAS the way (when I may have stayed closed up indoors, it gave me a reason to get out.)
Connected me to people in different ways, even inspiring some people to hug trees for the first time and then share those hugs with me. This has proven how tree hugging is a medicine, especially when many of us weren’t able to hug the people we love.
Once again I proved to myself how one daily, consistent act has exponential results far beyond what we imagined when I started. Some of the conversations while tree hugging have been priceless. I even made an instagram reel of my 300th tree hug because of what someone said as he “caught me in the act.”
Tree hugging gave me daily physical time and connection with the divine creator – and helped me to see how when I create, I am honoring the gifts I have been given – especially when I take time to “report back” via social media posts and other random and not-so-random spaces.

What does tree hugging have to do with my niche? Nothing and everything. You tell me.

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Top 7 Writing Micro-Goals for Creative Entrepreneurs

September 18, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I’ve seen this happen with more of my coaching, healing arts and creative entrepreneur clients than I can count – and I have even done it myself. We plunk down at our desks at our designated writing times and absolutely nothing happens.

Here’s the thing: creating a small, micro-goal specifically aimed to help you with consistent content creation is deceptively simple. Try one of these on for a week. If it doesn’t appeal, try a different one for seven days. Repeat as necessary.

My secret success is from having one solid “writing not for content but for exercising the writing muscle” practice, for me it is a daily stream of conscious journaling in the morning, and then have a second micro goal I mix up and serve differently, like a writing buffet.

Watch the video here and read below for more details for each tip.

My newest accidental micro-goal is a daily #RollOverandWrite. That’s it. Wake up, roll over and pick up the notebook you placed at your bedside before you went to sleep and write a few sentences.

Write an affirmative intention daily in the morning. “I am capable of writing effective blog posts.” “People enjoy what I write.” “My sales letter is both effective and engaging.”

Exercise for 20 minutes and write immediately after. Set up your writing space before you go for your walk, job or attend your zumba class. If you work out someplace besides your home, bring a notebook with you and write in your car or at the gym or at a picnic table in the park. Your subconscious is watching to see how important your writing is to you by the consistent time you give it.

Journal/free write for a set amount of time or set number of words/pages each day. You may write as few as 250 words (approximately one page) or for three minutes. The amount of writing matters less than simply flowing with your writing rather than attempting to mold it or edit as you go along. That comes later – and believe me, if you can get the words on the page to begin with, editing will come easily.

To practice writing concisely and with the most writing “bang for your buck” write a daily haiku, six word story or American Sentence poem. Any of this “very micro writing” will help you be use your best words. It will help you write compelling copy and/or characters with a more curated conversational style than you may usually write. It will teach you to cut out unnecessary words that often bog down our readers.

Write a 5 item gratitude list before you go to sleep. You may also make a list of “What went well today” or “5 Good Things that happened today” list. Thesetrain your brain to focus on what is constructive and helpful in your life. A bonus is the subject of each item on the list may easily become a blog post, a social media post or a chapter in a book or poem.

Use a timer to write 5 minutes a day for 5 consecutive days, #5for5BrainDump style. You may try unprompted or prompted writing. In the Let Our Words Flow Creative Community we have prompts and videos to guide you as you practice this – plus it is free to join the group which also has a thriving community, lots of tips, video teachings and daily discussion for creative entrepreneurs.

Julie JordanScott is a multipassionate creative who delights in inviting others into their own fullhearted. artistic experience via her creativity coaching individually or in groups, courses and workshops. To receive inspiring content and videos weekly and find out more about Coaching, Courses, Challenges and what’s going on in the Creative Life Midwife world? Subscribe here:

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Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

Would you like more delight, more personal growth and better storytelling?

September 8, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Challenging myself to new methods of cataloguing and enjoying my life and growing as I do so. I have collected quotes, gratitudes and good things. I took 365 Self Portraits before Selfies were “invented” and I did so by pointing my camera lens backwards and took photos blindly.

In other words, this sort of “I love trying new things!” challenges have been going on for a long time.

This month I started a new self-challenge at the last minute so I didn’t have a chance to blog it or share it officially on any of my usual platforms.

The better news is I have continued not perfectly – but steadily – so this month’s results are much better than my August 2021 Fail-a-thon.

That’s another thing about me: when I don’t do what I set out to do, I give myself grace and offer forgiveness readily because I learned long ago the only positive notion to beating myself up is initiating a faster fall back into feeling depressed more consistently and that is definitely not something I want to do.

Here is how I am adding more satisfaction in September in addition to my 377 Tree Hugs – which are continuing very well after I got over a bit of a struggle between 150 and 250 tree hugs.

To have more Daily Delights, set your intention plus document daily

I am tracking 3 Daily Delights every day in September 2021.

Every day, I stay open to finding 3 things that fill me with the giddy feeling of delight. It really is delicious and makes me smile a lot. So far I have had unique things like seeing a bird sitting on a fire hydrant singing to purchasing a gatorade and shopping with a young man I had never met before. You get to decide what delights you. You may note it or not – again, you are the rule maker for all of these challenges.

To experience personal growth, pay attention to what opportunities are catching your attention and keep track of them.

Every day, I take note of up to three growth possibilities that show up on my horizon. This week, for example, I am journaling about messages “from the universe” and last week I journaled about “what my future self would like for me to learn.”

There are multiple reasons this works well. First, it teaches me to collect my ideas for self improvement. It also helps me to be detached from results and curate what possibilities I want to move forward. If I have the same growth possibility it will get to the point if I don’t accept that mission from the universe, I may be in for a lot of discomfort along the way.

To become a better storyteller, create stories beyond words.

Have you heard the expression, “a picture is worth 1,000 words”? I was introduced to visual narrative several years ago and have found it to be tremendously helpful in stretching myself as a storyteller and writer and visual artist. By the way, I never would have thought I would ever be a visual artist so be prepared to fall in love with visual storytelling.

There are two different ways I approaching visual storytelling: one is to create visual stories with props (for me these are items I find along the way – and the photos are like mini three dimensional art journals that usually only exist in my documentation. I have found these are great for intuitive growth and insight.

The second method is more of a photojournalism approach which I have been using primarily. As I am out and about living my life, I am aware of images/scenes that call out to me. Lately I have taken a lot of images that are seedy or “less than” beautiful by conventional standards AND if I challenge myself I know I can find a different subcategory.

In fact, I may do that for the rest of the week we are in because it will help my creativity from seeming one dimensional as well as help me to “see” more.

If any of these subcategories appeal to you, feel free to jump on board and try them out and follow along with me on my Writing Camp with Julie JordanScott Facebook Page. It is the simplest way for me to share largely no matter where I am from day-to-day. If you would also appreciate “behind the scenes” I also have a free private facebook group called “Let Our Words Flow Creative Community” where many creative people participate in conversations along these themes daily.

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August Please: Intentions/Goals/Vision & July Recap

August 2, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

July was a busy, busy, busy month.

July 2021 Highlights Recap:

I did 29 straight days of Three Good Things. This is a miracle because I have wanted to do an evening practice for a long time. Now, I look forward to keeping it up.

You may look at my JJS Writing Camp Facebook Page to see those:

I spent time in Flagstaff – about two weeks, actually, and I also spent time in Phoenix.

I started my Fall in Love with Livestreaming Adventure, Exploration, Experiment challenge – one week down and one week to go – so yes, a July and August combination. If you are interested, the content is in the Let Our Words Flow Creative Community – Join Us!

August Intentions & Goals for Creativity and Entrepreneurial Practice

In August I plan to —

Participate in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. One of my areas of focus will be repurposing videos from my large YouTube library. I’ve made a lot of videos that will be quite helpful to bloggers and creatives – they’re a resource I sometimes forget! This is my first blog post for that challenge. Below is my free flow writing YouTube Playlist: be sure to subscribe and follow me on YouTube so you won’t miss a thing!

2. 750 words a day on my top secret writing project.

3. Completion of my Haiku Book. Natalie Goldberg has a Haiku book out, published in 2020 and in the past that would have discouraged me but now – I am seeing it as an inspiration. Question: Ought I write a tree hug book? It is really gaining momentum since I created a blog post after I reached the 200 Tree Hugs milestone.

Content Creation for The Creative Life Midwife Courses and Coaching Groups and Individuals

Decide what to do with the content I am creating in the Fall in Love with Livestreaming Challenge – is it a book wanting to be born? It might be!

2. Hold my first Writing Camp Intensive of 2021.

3. Schedule the Short Form Writing Course.

4. Open up membership for my new Writing Home – in at least one small groupWriting Circle (or 2 or 3) Stand by in August and September to hear more about that.

A Healthy Challenge: and I’m all in to make the world a better place.

For my entire life I have been able to achieve more in less time than many people. I am kicking everything up a notch now – and I am excited to bring these words and programs to life in a bigger way this Fall.

Thanks for reading – and supporting me as I continue to move forward, with love, as I reach my goals and create the intentions that will have a positive impact on many.

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Top 5 Lessons from 200+ Days of Tree Hugging: Tuning into the Wisdom of Trees

July 23, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

Robert Collier

Today will be my 211th consecutive day of tree hugging. My goal is to hug trees over 377 consecutive days: sometimes I hug more than one tree and on the occasional day, I have missed hugging a tree, which I make up and hug more trees the following day.

Consistency adds energy & passion to any project or goal

Both the trees and the consistency itself have taught me an infinite number of things, but these five I am sharing today may have something to say specifically to you.

I created this project as a follow up to another 377 Day Consistency Experiment/Adventure. That time, I wrote haiku poetry. Tree hugging has proved more challenging. I created a different set of rules this time because the context was entirely different.

I hadn’t expected to become an expert in so many different kinds of trees. I hadn’t expected so much in my life to change in 2021. I hadn’t expected to feel frustrated or blah so much of the time and having the trees to pull me up and into the world has made a big difference.

Affection and acknowledgment have healing properties. The mutuality between the giver of the acknowledgment and the receiver of the gift of acknowledgment expands when we stay present to it.
While we may think something will last forever, it won’t. Enjoy, document, share and when the time comes, grieve with your whole heart. Deciduous trees have an annual grief and healing process – helps us humans who don’t have that experience.
Water is life. Living in California means I am witnessing a lot of withered trees.
Tree hugging is a form of prayer. With feet grounded in the soil, body connected with the tree, mind and heart open – gratitude for the Creator and what has been created, including oneself.
When we listen closely, the trees speak (and sometimes they call out to us.). Yesterday, a Ponderosa Pine scarred and burned by a lightning strike gave me comfort – and I believe I gave comfort, also. A Pistache tree at a desert rest stop also called to be hugged even though “my plan” was different. I am so grateful I listened and acted upon what I heard.

By the time you read this blog post, my joy for consistency and for hugging trees may have expanded to 250 trees or 300 trees or more. Small efforts, repeated – in different spaces, places and contexts, have made an enormous difference in my life this year whether dealing with layers of grief, disappointment or practical matters like building my business.

And now, for you: Activate Your Passion – contemplate, write or create from these questions.

Do you have a favorite kind of tree?

Have you hugged a tree lately?

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world. She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. To receive her email newsletter to be inspired by her transformational articles, essays and videos as well as find out about her new programs, products and challenges, please click here to subscribe.