Creative Life Coaching – Page 14 – Creative Life Midwife

Why It May Benefit You To Consider Tree Hugging Now

February 12, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Why Hug a Tree?

Remember when we used to be able to hug people without thinking about risking our health?

That’s one reason why hugging trees feels so good right now.

I remember in 2019 regularly attending First Friday, an event in Downtown Bakersfield on the First Friday of every month. Art galleries and businesses downtown would be open and artists would line the streets, performers would be out and “my people” would inevitably either be showing their wares or circulating or performing.

I was guaranteed to hug and be hugged, smile at others and smile back, sing and laugh and play and be silly and for now, anyway.

I don’t have that on the First Friday of every month right now.

What is available is plenty of trees to hug, even in cities.

Yes, what I do have is an abundance of trees to hug.

Trees are in parks, they line many streets and parking lots. They are in my yard and in the yards of friends I can wave to and talk to outdoors from a safe distance.

When I hug a tree, I focus on one thing: feeling and experiencing a hug. On any given day I may also focus on healing for myself,for the rest of the world, the specific tree I am hugging, the neighborhood.

Specific health benefits of tree hugging

When you are tired, you allow yourself to feel the reciprocity the tree offers, just like the reciprocity humans offer. It isn’t exactly the same AND it is powerful in its own right.
You may receive positive energy from the tree, enough of this energy to find myself giddy and laughing.
Cardiovascular health and even obstetrical outcomes are improved when we utilize parks, green spaces, and hugging the trees within as noted in this research from Pennsylvania scientists.

In observing the tree, you will also notice how the branches bend and stretch. These may ignite associations in you like they do for me in my business and my life.
The scents from the trees serve as an up close and personal aromatherapy. You can feel myself relaxing as youhug the tree. Stress relief comes.
Matthew Silverstone noted in his book, Blinded by Science, evidence confirming trees and their healthful benefits includes their effect on mental illnesses, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), concentration levels, reaction times, depression, and the ability to alleviate headaches.
“Nature Deficit Disorder is real! Families need nature in urban areas, reports the New York Times . Tree hugging creates a deep connection point for urban nature, especially during times of Covid.

What I have learned in 52 consecutive days of Tree Hugging:

Since I started hugging trees every day for more than 50 consecutive days, I have never walked away from a tree hugging experience and felt worse. I always felt better.

When I focus on what I can do: I am able to hug trees, even with the pandemic, rather than what I can’t do – I can’t responsibly hug people who aren’t in my household. After hugging a tree, I re-discover joy, I open to what is present in abundance, I tune into what feels better.

How to Hug a Tree Most Easily

There are infinite reasons to hug a tree. What is yours?

Julie Jordan Scott is the Creator of the Radical Joy of Daily Consistency Course which helps people practice consistency and completion daily in order to experience a more incredible life experience. She also founded the free, private facebook community for writers and creative people at all levels of experience: the Word Love Writing Community. Join us!

Welcome: Let the Wind, The Breath, the Energy Guide You

February 10, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

“Stop the words now

Open the window in the center of your chest

And let the spirits fly in and out.”

Rumi

Strange, for a writer to say “Stop the words now.”

A speaker, a teacher, a purveyor of messages. How is it possible to stop the words now?

I turn on my timer not to create a sense of urgency, but to create a container for the window to open. Window, open.

Window.

Open.

A part of me wants to rush to my earlier writings about windows and doors and architecture and spaces where wind moves in and out and creates mini-zephyrs where the curtains blow freely, creating a fabric dance so that spirit takes form so I may see, so I may understand.

I don’t mean to rush in, but I remember saying to a group I gathered to write beside the river, “If you think the wind is invisible, look – there on the hillside – where the wind is taking form in how it moves the grasses, the song it is making for us. Look and hear and feel the invisible take form.”

Window.

Open.

Invisible, forming. Becoming tactile, tangible, when we open the window in our chest and invite it to show us, show us, show us.

I echo Joy or Jo have briefly forgotten and I don’t want to look away yet. I am echoing the poet laureate, Ms. Harjo in her poem. Today. On that podcast I stumbled across.

Stumbling isn’t failing it is finding.

Window.

Open.

Spirits.

Fly.

Breath in and out.

Inhale. Fill. Exhale, Release.

Feel how perfectly the body works.

Am I ready to accept the perfection of my body, even as it is in this uncomfortable unknowing space, that space of a mass – tumor – whatever it is attached to my ribs and reaching across my sternum?

I can’t call it by a specific name: is it a window, is it a door, is it an inhale is it an exhale, is it simple an “is” – a mass, a tumor, a growth.

I realize in continuing to write I might give it a name like I gave my melanoma a name before I knew I had melanoma. I think I called her Nora. I allowed myself to get wrapped up in fear but calling her “Nora” it was like calling my elbow an elbow.

In this being with Rumi how could I have forgotten “Guest House”? It goes like this:

Translated by Coleman Barks

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

=======

Perhaps these words are to be my constant companion for these next two weeks, as I wait and as I experience my next stage of being with all aspects of this body of mine.

Welcoming and being grateful? Is that what I am meant to be?

I may be tired of this role I have been given, and that doesn’t mean I am to turn from it and turn inward entirely. I may take my time with sharing and maybe I will share in the moment.

Presence often waits until we are willing to be silent, take a moment or two for gazing out the window.

That’s where I will sit and stand and inhale and exhale and yes, open the window for now.

Julie Jordan Scott is not only the Creator of the Radical Joy of Consistency Course , she also hosts the free writing community on Facebook – the Word Love Writing Community. Join us now as we’re preparing for a brand new 8 day challenge and a new book club. Request your membership now here:

Word Love Writing Community:

The Radical Joy of Daily Consistency course helps people practice consistency and completion daily in order to experience a more incredible life experience. She came to this conclusion after almost dying and coming back to true healing by writing 377 consecutive haiku… and a lot more along her way to building that streak! To find out more about this program, visit this link, here.

When Showing Up Isn’t and IS Enough: Try This On

February 6, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Sometimes I don’t manage to do all I would like to do and yet, I am always grateful when I show up and when I try. It reminds me of what Brene Brown says, “The willingness to show up changes us, it makes us a little braver each time.”

I have a long history of giving up before I start, so showing up and following through has been infinitely important as I have been soldiering through lately, trying to keep my chin up and my eyes high even when I would rather close my eyes and lean back on my recliner as if there was nothing else to do.

For this lunar cycle I made up a fun affirmation I plan to continue into the next one: “Following through is flowing through and I deserve to flow where I am going.”

What I have found is when I stop showing up, I have forgotten I deserve to feel good.

Somewhere along the course of not showing up, of showing up for others and not myself, of showing up with one easily removed toe-dip into the water I decided to agree with the lies I am unworthy.

Usually these “You aren’t was worthy as you think you are!” lies get loud as the day wears on and it is obvious I won’t come close to reaching my tendency-to-be-high goals and aspirations for myself.

Today, I remembered the potency of such lies – and while I remember “Following through is flowing through and I deserve to flow were I am going,” I also recognize lowering my expectations and showing myself a healthy dose of compassion is sometimes much more important than powering through or ignoring my desires at all.

Showing up and not quite reaching our own expectations is NOT letting ourselves off the hook, it is allowing our humanity to show.

I am human and sometimes that means I don’t reach the heights a super-human might reach. Comparing myself to impossible to reach goals is as harmful to comparing my swimming speed to an Olympic medalist.
I tried – and while some sage characters in popular movies may assert, “There is no try, there is only do” there are many ways trying – showing up and taking action – is doing.
Being a “winner” may mean the bar is set too low. Try that one on for size – and open your arms and heart to continuing and starting and continuing and starting and continuing.

Doesn’t it feel better to be compassionate with yourself by looking at the reality – it is fantastic to have inspirational goals – and showing up even if they aren’t reachable yet is sometimes the very best action possible.

Julie Jordan Scott is the Creator of the Radical Joy of Consistency Course which helps people practice consistency and completion daily in order to experience a more incredible life experience. She came to this conclusion after almost dying and coming back to true healing by writing 377 consecutive haiku… and a lot more along her way to building that streak! To find out more about this program, visit this link, here.

5 Simple Tips for Your Intentionally Wonderful Weekend

February 5, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

A woman is sitting on a sofa, looking relaxed as she is intentionally creating a restorative weekend for herself.

Has it been a long week for you, too?

How to Intentionally Create a Weekend that Will Nurture a Better Next Week

I am sitting on Friday eve as I write this, thinking “please, God, I would love to have a better week next week than this week,” and while prayer is often the best medicine, prayer alone won’t do much if I am not actively collaborating with the Divine.

Before you let go of the Friday workday (or early Saturday morning) there are a few steps you may take to insure a fruitful, restful weekend to be a foundation for a marvelous week-to-come.

5 Do-Able Tips for Weekend Rest & Rejuvenation

Include mindful conversation with people outside your usual circle of companions and co-workers. Pay attention to listening without an agenda – simply listening because it is the foundation of good relationships of all kinds.
When possible, spend time outdoors – even if it is standing outside your front door for five minutes. No matter how cold, it will be invigorating. No matter how warm, you will activate your senses in a new way.
Move your body differently than you’ve done during the week. Take an extra five minutes for playfulness at the end of exercise. Have you wanted to try some new form of fitness? Try it, briefly, and see if it fits for you.
If you have been spending more than four hours watching television or movies, try reading a book instead. Try reading aloud to yourself to see how it changes the experience.
Leave adequate time for “should-free” planning. Look at the week ahead after exercising a bit more, mindfully conversing, re-connecting your senses and unplugging for a bit and notice what shows up differently. Express gratitude for what you have discovered and uncovered. Instead of lamenting the start of the new week, recognize what you would prefer to experience more of and set your plans and intentions accordingly.

This weekend, lay the foundation to start your week off with loving kindness for yourself.

Julie JordanScott enjoying time in nature during a mindful, intentional, wonderful weekend. — Sunday afternoon, in the park, restored by an intentionally wonderful weekend

Subtract Anxiety, Add Peace

February 4, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I wrote a poem today.

I wrote into my phone, in the driveway. It is perhaps more a “pre-poetry jot” then a full fledged poem.

It felt good to write no matter what “it” is.

A tall cottonwood behind a chain link fence at sunset. Title is "Learning from Transition Into Dusk. Staying Calm even when it isn't easy)

Last night I took a sunset walk at the Panorama Vista Preserve. I wanted to walk and I wanted to take photos like I used to, just for the joy, and I wanted to experience the transition from light to darkness.

It was during this walking time I wrote bits of a different poem in my head.

Experiencing natural transitions are soothing and make transitions I am experiencing with my health feel more normal as well. The transition from feeling healthy, full speed ahead to “something is going on but I cannot label it or know what’s next” uncomfortableness would very easily drive me into a higher level of anxiety – which isn’t good for my body and healing in any way.

I sat on a bench facing east during sunset, which is strange for me. Usually I stare at the sun as she moves out of sight, but I was enjoying watching birds fly as dusk settled. Birds whose names I don’t know who prefer low to the earth shrubs, a hawk cruising for a meal, and two loud ravens flew past. As the sun disappeared under the horizon, the burned dust smell of the Southern San Joaquin Valley rose once again making me wish I had an adequate way to capture it in words.

I’m still working on holding “scent of dust” or a better way to say it is I am waiting for the words to reveal themselves to me. Even better than that is the scent of dust is working on me rather than me working on it.

As I turned to leave the preserve I thought, “hmm. No rabbits are out yet.” In 2020, rabbits were a nearly constant companion on my walks here.

I also noted the gorgeousness of nightfall with a grand cottonwood tree, fenced into the yard beside the preserve.

It reminded me of my mass (tumor, growth). I can feel it, I can see it on the outside of my body, but I can’t get close enough to my own interior to know the impact it may have on my life.

I didn’t fall into worry or anxiety with these thoughts, I simply admired the cottonwood and with great self love, gave myself more moments of compassion. Stepping back into my car, I smiled softly.

As I drove toward home, a rabbit sat beside the road. She didn’t hop away, didn’t appear scared, she simply sat as I drove past as if to say “We’ve got this. No need to be afraid.”

I wrote to my primary care doctor and received a response. Today my personal challenge is to call the surgeon and check on the referral for the MRI. Keep the energy moving toward healing. Continue to assemble to the team with love rather than fear.

In my mind’s eye and deep in my heart, I will stand with the cottonwood in admiration without the need to get too close yet.

Are You Sick of the Story You Keep Telling Yourself? Here: a bit of Magic to Change It.

January 22, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Reading this quote was like getting a big basket of pixie dust thrown on me all at once:

“If you want to change your story, change your actions first.”

HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU KNOW SOMETHING, BUT ACT AS IF YOU don’t KNOW IT?

I knew what Seth Godin was saying before I read it. I’ve lost count of how many times I have known something intuitively before I knew it “actually” –

I’ll confess, in the past I felt sort of childish for not having a high level of self trust. Then I started reading Seth Godin’s book “The Practice” and discovered there are many of us in the same position!

I am not being childish, I am being human.

After my near death experience, I fell into a dark emotional funk. I knew I ought to do something differently both in order to heal and in order to make progress. I didn’t realize back then that a simple daily action outside of anything I was already doing would have the impact on my life it has continued to have.

I committed to myself I would do this one activity – writing a short poem accompanied by a photo and sharing it on my facebook page, one day at a time – was one activity and impacted so much more.

You make the commitment to YOURSELF

What happens as a result of taking our daily action actually grows far beyond writing a poem or walking for 20 minutes or making five phone calls to people who may be interested in supporting our non-profit.

This is the magic. When we commit to taking action to ourselves in order to change our story, what actually happens as a by-product of our daily action is:

We begin to trust ourselves in areas outside of just that one action.
We gain courage to try making shifts in other areas of our lives.
We feel better because daily successes cause a rise to our endorphin levels.
We interrupt our patterns of self doubt and recreate them as self trust, self confidence and ultimately self love and self respect.

Building self trust is your truest foundation for lasting, overall life change

Think about this question before responding:

How would your life circumstances change positively if you trusted yourself more, had more confidence and were able to report successful results daily?

Sunrise light: the Radical Joy of Daily Consistency

Ralph Waldo Emerson & Quirky Goals Go Together

January 11, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

“Self trust is the essence of heroism.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don’t you love it when you decide to do something and the rewards far outshine what you had originally believed they would be?

I love on-line challenges. They have helped me to grow and develop in so many directions. I love leaping into them and learning new things, meeting new people, sticking my foot out where I didn’t think it could go.

The Joy of Getting More than You Expected

What I didn’t realize is how rewarding it would be to do something “just because” – and then try it out – and then continue – just because. Not because your boss is telling you to or your partner would be mad if you didn’t, but just because you were enjoying yourself.

It reminds me of the heroism Ralph Waldo Emerson mentions: self trust is at the essence of heroism because when you act on your own behalf, no one is applauding, no one is praising you, no one is standing in awe of your strength in helping them or saving them from an enemy or from themselves.

Turns out, though, that when we are heroic on our own behalf not only do we get expansive results, so do the rest of the world.

Lately I have been going out into parks and sometimes parking lots to hug trees every day.

I know, I know – this sounds like a strange activity – but it is the pandemic and I am not getting nearly as many hugs as I usually do and I am not giving as many hugs as I usually do and trees are there, waiting to be noticed.

A lot of people are lonely for their friends and hugs. Once people started to hug trees, they would discover they are actually a great human substitute. In some ways, hugging a tree is even more profound than hugging people.

A year ago I was waking up and writing short poetry everyday for 377 consecutive days.

It isn’t a quirky goal if it works!

In doing that activity – some saw it as a wacky endeavor, I built up so much self-trust I feel like I can conquer almost any obstacle. Every day, before noon, I found something that fascinated me or at least didn’t bore me, snapped a photo with my camera, and wrote a poem about it.

It became a part of my everyday ritual like sliding my foot into my pant leg every day.

If I put both legs into one pant leg, I wouldn’t be able to walk. If I didn’t write my poem – life wouldn’t feel as good. If I don’t hug a tree, I lose out. The trees around me are much stronger than I am. I like to imagine they are happy when I hug them, but I am clearly getting an enormous amount of joy from them – and building my self-trust one hug at a time.

And now, You: Prompts for Contemplation, Writing or Creativity

Take a moment to consider your relationship with self-trust. How would your life change if you trusted yourself more fully?

What lessons have you learned from self-trust in the past or right now?

Take a moment to respond in the comments or feel free to use the questions as a journaling prompt.

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Is it Still January, 2021?

January 10, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I wrote this on January 9, which feels like years ago now. The only reason I know January isn’t over is my birthday hasn’t happened yet.

The last few weeks have felt like decades, like 2020 was just a tiny warm-up to what the first 10 days of 2021 would bring. I’m choosing to see this – no I will not say unprecedented – unsettling time as a chance to withdraw, as I did a few days ago, to reflect and see my perspective and the stories that come with it from MY perspective only.

Yesterday I was so exhausted from the day itself, I fell asleep shortly after 8 pm. I had nothing left to give except a devotion to my pillow. I had no time for quiet, contemplative thought so I accepted my own plea for rest.

You get to choose how to measure your “success” in the moment

I woke up frustrated because I wanted to get more done yesterday. It was 1:33 am when I came up for air. I lifted my neck and plunged it back into the pillow. Nothing I could do to change it so I surrendered back to deep sleep.

When I woke again I had overslept.

I got to choose again: berate myself or allow myself a pass. That’s when I came upon my friend Anne’s question which leads to my 3 Good Things. As you read my 3 things I invite you to consider yours.

Maybe in reading mine, you will see some of yours, reflected. That is my hope and prayer for you and for me, too.

Reflect on Your 3 Good Things Today

Here are mine:

I love how ripple effects work. My friend Anne Stone Lafleur asked a question based on her Gift of Happiness website connection cards. I took that question and gave myself an assignment to “live it” and it shifted how I approached a task I have put off for far too long. Self-love, self-compassion and a vision of what is coming up for me all lined up through a couple pages of free writing that would not have been born if it had not been for the question she asked herself that I then asked of me.
I love how it feels to hug trees, today a eucalyptus.
I love what I am in the midst of creating that includes, right now, me reclining in a bed that is made up with adorable flannel sheets with cats on them. I am writing this note and then, I will drink my tea, do day’s end writing and reading and it has become such a self nurturing time I feel new again.

Invitation to Fully Embrace Your Stories & Your Views

How will you make and remake your story from visiting here, today?

Maybe you will fall more deeply in love with your life or maybe you will feel a call into a new perspective, a slight shift or caveat.

Whatever is true for you, I hope you will take a moment to share with us your 3 Good Things from today – sometimes that will seem like too few and sometimes this will feel like too many. However and wherever you’re falling on that spectrum, proclaim something – it will improve your story to share it.

Thank you for being here!

She has been a Life Purpose and Creativity Coach since 1999. She has taught workshops in college classrooms, hospitals, teleclasses and webinars with participants across the world.

Worry or Mindfulness: where do you stand?

January 6, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I have a history of fear and worry, but in the past few years I have changed into a more mindful, trusting person. Today in my “Good things” assessment, my productivity is thanks to this more mindful me.

For those of you who don’t know, I currently house sit for a friend who primarily lives in the Bay Area. So what that means is my nights are spent away from my house. In the morning, sometimes I am in a rush to get out of here.

I love being here, but there are times when I am discombobulated and in a rush, even though this is where I do much of my grounding and launch my day in a forward direction.

This home is where mindful spiritual practices happen, day in and day out.

Today my daughter Emma asked me for a favor that requited my wallet. I could not say yes because I didn’t have my wallet. I suspected I left it in the home where I house sit, not the house where I spend my day.

What I knew was my wallet was missing, but I couldn’t give my energy to worrying about it – I had important work to get done! Lives to impact for the greatest good. There was no way I would sacrifice the bigger benefit to fear and worry. If it had been stolen, it had been stolen. If it was safe, it was safe. I couldn’t control the facts, I could control my upset about whether I knew or not.

Bottom Line: Why Worry about Something You Can’t Control?

So I kick off my Good Thing list is….

My wallet was on the bedside table at the house where I am house sitting! I was thrilled I bought a pair of shoes on-line this morning and inadvertently left my wallet here. It is now safely tucked away and there will be no shopping tomorrow.
I am completely enjoying “Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett. I want to continue my goal of finishing a book a week AND I have so many great titles in my TBR (to be read) pile… I must be focused and disciplined and most importantly, enjoy the process.
I had a fun, festive gathering with the women in the Coffee and Conversations group. Once again, I happily herded cats – and laughed and learned and connected deeply.

BONUS! A fantastic phone call with my daughter, Katherine. I am so proud of her and so happy to report new position as the Solo Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Sussex, NJ. I miss being close geographically to her, but I love being close to her emotionally.

Tell me: Do you usually worry or do you mindfully trust?

I have to ask, though – if your wallet was AWOL, would you have interrupted your work flow to chase it down, where you were pretty sure it was safely waiting for you?

Julie Jordan Scott is the Creator of the One Small Shift Course which helps people practice consistency and completion daily in order to experience a more incredible life experience. She came to this conclusion after almost dying and coming back to true healing by writing 377 consecutive haiku… and a lot more along her way to building that streak! To find out more about this program, visit this link, here.

She has been a Life Purpose and Creativity Coach since 1999. She has taught workshops in college classrooms, hospitals, teleclasses and webinars with participants across the world.

When You Fall Short, Do This Instead of Giving Up

January 5, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Instead of writing this on the evening of January 4, I am writing it on the morning of January 5. This is problematic because part of the reasoning behind writing these every day is to set me up for strong evening practices of mindful creativity.

Who decides what is a problem?

This morning when I wrote up to do my daily writing, I discovered a solution which I will put into place today, this evening, so I will follow through successfully.

Why am I telling you this?

I am telling you this because it is important for us to be in the habit of authentically and transparently speaking up and saying what is true and then letting go of our own concept of “failing” or “getting it wrong” whatever “it” may be.

Maybe “getting it wrong” is an important part of your process.

What sometimes happens is we don’t do what we said we wanted to do and we do and say nothing. We pretend none of it happened. Then that day nothing changes and nothing changes on the third day and then it is as if the desire never existed.

My night time spiritual practices are much better than they once were but they are far from perfectly executed. It takes practice and time for “perfect execution”. In fact, perfect execution is far from the point.

The point is to show up as best as you can and move forward, with love.

Three Good Things:

So now, on the morning after, I will happily share with you about yesterday.

I drove Samuel to work this morning, nice and early. He is loving the day shift and I am loving what it opens up for me. Ta-Da Tuesday is about to be re-invigorated!
I bought some adorable new flannel sheets. I love sliding into clean sheets – it is one of those simple pleasures that help me feel loved – probably because I loved the ritual of being tucked tightly into bed with stuffed animals when I was a little girl.
I doodled and drew in my art journal. I have been considering using art journaling for #The100DayProject but hadn’t completely decided. I am feeling like art journals are calling me back because #1) I enjoy them and #2) They are a different way of flexing my intuition which I haven’t used lately.

Art journaling will continue to be a blessing as will soft sheets & collaboration!

What are three good things in your life today so far?

Write them in the comments below or journal them, in any form.

She has been a Life Purpose and Creativity Coach since 1999. She has taught workshops in college classrooms, hospitals, teleclasses and webinars with participants across the world.