Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

Sunday Story: Warrior II spoke to an Unlikely Warrior, too

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Two women are doing the Warrior 2 pose and the Creative Life Midwife has challenges with using "Warrior" or violent words in her writing. This image illustrates her resistance and her willingness to write.

This morning I spent time in the Warrior II Yoga pose. A writing friend suggested it as a “writing invocation” of sorts.

It is a familiar pose and as I have been doing more yoga lately I thought, “Fine, I will try it. Maybe it will strengthen my writing practice.”

I wasn’t immediately convinced.

I resist words that have violence attached, so today, when called upon pose and write “warrior” I felt my way into the meanings ascribed and what a warrior does and feels and is.

I did my best to set my intellect aside.

I have been a protector since my brother was born. I’ve been constantly on high alert, a watchman, a guardian. I have been ready to take on whatever might appear and cause harm. Those skills, those labels are all duties of a warrior.

I have been mastering these skills since Toddler-hood.

I have been mastering these skills since Toddler-hood as my brother was born when I was a mere thirteen months old. I didn’t walk then nor did I have language to translate what I was watching and witnessing.He had down’s syndrome so he was vulnerable. He needed my caretaking. He needed me to protect him, the little Julie believed. We had a telepathic means of communication – partially body language, partially facial expressions, partially spiritual connection.I didn’t question this task, I fulfilled this position with a sense of honor and duty. When he died, my spirit tried to follow him. Once again, the paradox of acting and living as a warrior, too, has repeated in different live circumstances.

I remember when I was helping Estelle, an immigrant who was granted asylum to live in the United States. My task was to get on the plane to Massachusetts to resume her life with her family. After a treacherous long journey from Cameroon to the Unites States she found herself in detention until her asylum case was heard. I visited while she was detained and stood alongside her for weeks. She won her case and all that stood between her and her family was ICE. And Homeland security. And rules about flying without ID, which was taken when she reached the American border and not returned by ICE.

I had spoken at length with the local ICE officers. They had come to know me as a collaborator – as I knew, strategically, being an adversary was not in my loved ones best interest. This was acting as a wise warrior.

This is the same thing I did for my son, Samuel, when I advocated for his education. I entered the “club” by volunteering for the school district, joining committees, contributing, becoming known as a “team player” and an ever ready and helpful resource. This is being a mindful, strategic warrior.

When I waited with Estelle at the airport, the TSA Homeland Security man waved me away. I could not speak for Eunice, she must speak for herself. I paced, I called “my” ICE officer and was sure Mr. TSA Homeland Security man KNEW I was speaking to an ICE officer. It felt like I was in negotiations on the battle field. The risk was great and my mind and heart were intensely focused.

It was scary. My heart was in my throat as I watched the conversation between this young woman I had come to love as a daughter and a representative of TSA/Homeland Security. He went behind a closed door and spoke with someone on the phone, perhaps in Washington, DC. I had researched how this process worked and knew each decision was made both on a local and a centralized level.

What felt like an eternity later, Mr. TSA/Homeland Security came to me and said,  still shaking his head no, “We are going to let her get on the flight,” my knees weakened and gratitude flowed from every pore. She got on the flight. She would reach her family. This effervescent young woman who had faced danger for most of her life was about to face her new life. 

I was a warrior in those moments and I am a warrior now, though less dramatic. This final example may seem pretty far out, but please keep listening.

Just yesterday I hiked to a spot alongside the river and sat underneath a sycamore tree. I could hear loud children playing nearby like I was once a loud child. I enjoyed their voices. 

I watched leaves falling, gently and felt my skin touching the earth. It felt heavenly in every sense. The thing is, I didn’t think I would be able to sit on the ground because I didn’t know if I could get back up. The sycamore tree and I decided to partner on this. 

Woman's legs and shoes on the ground in front of a river. It is the writer of the blog, the Creative Life Midwife, practicing how to be a Warrior.

She was strong enough to help me and I so wanted to spend time there with her. This might seem slightly odd, but please keep listening.

A year ago to the day I was in the hospital. I didn’t know it, but Sepsis was about to enter my body and attempt to shut me down. Sitting under that Sycamore tree yesterday was a sort of meditative victory dance.

When I rose back up the tree – I was able to walk up” the tree with my hands and pull with my arms while my weaker knees straightened and I pushed with my thighs to stand straight and keep moving forward. When I went back out on the trail, I became a warrior again. Not someone who fights to kill other people, but a warrior to do the right thing. To be a stand for courage and healing and model vulnerability and love and hope.

I am a warrior, too. How are you a warrior?

Warrior, too prompts are available to the members of a private facebook group in the Word-Love Writing Community. The image showing women in community doing the Yoga Warrior 2 pose illustrates this.

I created some specific writing prompts for the private Word-Love Writing Community. I will share a few here. Every day through the end of 2020 we are sharing niche-based writing prompts based on the same theme. Today’s were especially fun for me to write – and challenging.

Social Media Posts Prompt: Share a photo of yourself in a Yoga Pose. Write about being the embodiment of the pose. Ask questions of your followers regarding what pose they embody. (See also lifestyle blogger prompt below)

Lifestyle Bloggers: Write your thoughts about Yoga. Try Top 5 Yoga poses for _________ (your niche/specialty).

Memoir/Life Writers: Do any of your characters feel like they embody a warrior archetype? How do you make that character more real, less cartoonish?

To receive varied, niche driven writing prompts daily – also fiction, poetry, entrepreneur, copy writing and video prompts are offered, join the Private Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook by clicking here.

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

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Writers & Procrastination: 3 Ways to Be More Productive Now

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Photo of a woman, looking out a window while holding onto a cushion. She is a writer, procrastinating. She needs to write, but won't. Erica Jong believes it is fear of judgement that stops her.

“All I want to do today is get some writing done!” I said excitedly this morning. It was as if I was giving myself a personalize Writer’s Pep Talk! I was smiling, I was earnest, I almost had a plan and a schedule!

Why then was I sitting in my driveway checking twitter at 4 pm after I dropped my daughter off at her film shoot?

I knew I didn’t have a lot of time to waste, so why was I on twitter, checking out the tweets using the hashtag #amwriting? I might not have noticed this was strange until I saw myself typing into my phone “I’m doing so well at procrastinating I checked who used #amwriting so I can “network” as a writing warm up?”

I rushed into my house and decided to google “writers and procrastination”. 

Interesting to see how an academic institution differs from a professional website, I thought, before I realized, “I am still not writing.”

How often does this sort of thing happen to you?

During the pandemic I have reinvested in my interest in hiking. I started walking regularly for my health and hiking is another extension of that. I could do all the right prep work: research the best trails for beginners, , buy hiking boots, talk about hiking, drive to the trail and arrive at the trailhead early in the day,  but if I didn’t actually get out of my car and put my feet on the trail, I wouldn’t really be a hiker.

Something changes when we actually follow through on what we say we want to do.

There are moments when we have to be our own writing coach check in with ourselves as we tweet and realize “I am writing a tweet to connect with other writers maybe because I am lonely, but why don’t I use ‘networking with other writers” as a reward once I actually write.

Here are three easy ways to settle your racing, procrastinating mind and sit at your keyboard and write something useful and productive instead of tweeting, ordering the next “how to write” book on Amazon or sending a direct message to your writing buddy to check in about how much you want to (yet aren’t) writing.

  1. Set up a reward system for your writing time. If you say you are going to write at a specific time, WRITE – and have a plan to reward yourself. Say, “I will work on Chapter 3 of my novel at 11:00 am until 11:30 am. I will reward myself with 10 minutes on twitter. Set your timer and USE it. Repeat with different times and rewards. Find the time allotments that work best by experimenting and playing with your schedule.
  2. Give yourself the gift of a writing warm up. If you have a particular subject or assignment, before you begin working specifically on that subject, give yourself 5 minutes (again, use a timer) to do a free write, stream of consciousness writing warm up. CAVEAT: when five minutes are up, write 5 sentences that include affirming your intention, your abilities and gratitude.  Those five sentences may sound like this: “I am so grateful I have this opportunity to write today. Russell values my writing work and praised my blog post about refugee camps in times of Covid19. I feel confident this new work about influencing grandparents to actively engage their gamer grandchildren will make a difference in the world. When I am done, I will walk around the block and then come back and prepare for another writing session. I am a capable writer.”
  3. Let go of the need to have anything precisely the same every time you write. “I can’t write because I don’t have my lucky blue mug to keep me company.” News flash: it isn’t your blue mug that is lucky, it is your butt in your writing seat, consistently getting words on the page that makes you lucky.

Did you notice what happened? Earlier today I said, “All I want to do today is get some writing done!” and now I have. I managed to stay away from twitter, I managed to not worry that I am separated from my coffee maker and I even didn’t throw my shoe at the loud noisemaking box someone else in my Covid19 too crowded space insists on keeping on constantly.

How did your writing go?

I have a lot of new ideas about ending writer’s procrastination and there may be more articles on this topic being published soon! Be sure to follow me on social media (links are above) and/or join the private Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook where we not only talk strategies and insights, we also regularly host writing sprints and community brain dumps and more, just for you.

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10 Top Tips to Expand Your Self-Acceptance

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A woman looking in a mirror smiling at herself is a model of the article, 10 Ways to Gain Self Acceptance by Julie JordanScott

You may be saying to yourself, “I accept myself. I love myself! I don’t need this!” and the data shows 70% of women do not believe they are enough, even if they say they feel self-love and acceptance.

These 10 Top Tips to Gain Self Acceptance along with the provided action steps will increase the self-acceptance you feel now and amplify your self esteem so you will have better results in all your goals and intentions.

Now is the time to align your thoughts with actions.

1. Set (and re-set) your intention to accept yourself daily. Remember acceptance is “the action or process of being received as adequate or suitable” and make that your marker. It doesn’t mean bright-shiny-A++ it means somedays a C grade for yourself is more than satisfactory.

ACTION: For extra self-insurance, write a short paragraph in the note section of your phone – a sort of “Text to Yourself!” as you start your day.

2.  Be open to the realities of “negativity” in your life. You will make less than wonderful choices, you will fail, people will disappoint you. This doesn’t mean you are inherently bad, it means sometimes – like the rest of the world, your choices aren’t the best. It means sometimes you will fall flat on your face and stay there a while. It means we don’t always surround ourselves people who are the best for us.

ACTION: Assess who you are spending the most time with both in person but also via texting, facetime and zoom sessions. Are these the people who have your best interests at heart?

3. Be willing to face your what you are afraid of by practicing standing up to your smaller fears first. Once I did a “do something brave every day for 31 days” personal challenge. It was life changing.

ACTION: Create a daily check in system at the end of the day to assess how you showed bravery throughout the day.

Which of these action steps will you take to improve your self acceptance?

4. Release the obsession (or insistence) of perfection. Become a “recovering perfectionist” with small improvements over time. Perfection leads to procrastination and it may lead to losing friends due to being overly judgmental of other people, too – which leads to loneliness which leads back to lowered self-esteem which completes the circle back to the inability to accept oneself.

ACTION: Take note of when you get blocked by perfectionism. Literally, write it down. Begin eliminating the block by taking the first small action towards your goal without the circumstances being perfect.

5. Recognize what is within your ability to control. In 2020, there have been a lot of ordinary activities (before 2020) that we cannot directly impact. Sometimes we have made tweaks because of this. When we recognize the difference between what we control and what we don’t control, we will feel better – and become more and more creative as a result. 

ACTION: When you feel upset or angry ask yourself, “Is this something within my control or not?” If not, let it go.

6. Be as compassionate with yourself as you are with others. As a bonus, be even more compassionate with yourself than you are with others. 

Affirmations & Mantras help improve self talk.

ACTION: Create a list of mantras or affirmations to use when something disappoints you or if someone criticizes you. Repeat “I am enough” or your favorite scripture. Make it a joy to collect these when you are in a good space so you will be ready.

7. Prepare for the voice of the inner critic by having a set of affirmations to repeat. You may also memorize scripture or quotes from people you admire. Bonus: at the end of the day, journal the inner critic’s relentless dialogue with an open mind to see if there is a lesson hidden underneath the lecture. If so, thank the inner critic and dismiss her. 

ACTION: Believe it or not, your inner critic can become an ally. What is she protecting you from? Is there any truth to what she is pointing out to you? Thank her, fix it and move along.

8. Build a network of support. Maybe, like some of us, you do not have a supportive family to rely upon. Pay attention to the people you share a natural affinity for and invite them for lunch or coffee to determine if there is a mutual interest in being supportive to each other. Remember that: mutual network of support. Mutuality is a beautiful thing!

ACTION: Check out meet up groups and specialized active facebook groups & events.

9. Begin taking notes of your essential goodness. Educator BF Skinner is famous for his “Catch ‘em Being Good” approach to behavior change. How long has it been since you have purposefully caught yourself being good? Why not start today? Build your list of essentially good moments and aim to catch at least 5 a day. 

ACTION: Here’s one: you are proving your essential goodness in reading – and using what you read – in this blog post! 

10. Regularly check in with your Highest Self: I use journaling to start this process. I have even named my Highest Self simply because I think it is fun! Your Highest Self is who you are at your core, without negative judgments, perhaps who you imagined you would become when you were a child… who got tangled up in the life that happened when you were busy making other plans (as John Lennon might have said.)

ACTION: Journal using the “Empty Chair” technique. Sit in one chair as your “usual self” and ask your “Highest Self” a question. Move to the second seat and reply as your highest Self. It might sound hokey AND it works.

Before you leave, think a moment about what action steps you will try first.

Now you have not only have the way, you have succinct, direct actions to take in order to increase your level of self-acceptance. Once you grow in self-acceptance and enjoy yourself enough to call yourself “your own best friend” you will naturally attract more exceptionally wonderful people into your life.

Note in the comments what action step you will start with as you begin to feel better about yourself – and act in alignment.

This blog post came from a prompt from 100 Days of Wonderful Words, a service of the private facebook group, the Word Love Writing Community. Join us to be inspired with your blogging, social media posts, fiction writing, etc – the prompts are specific and across different genre.


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

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Grace: A Definition, An Experience & Your Writing Prompts

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

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

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

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

Is this what we think grace means?

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

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

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

Prayer, Favors, Elegance and What?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quotes & General Prompts for Journaling and more.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

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

― Anne Lamott

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

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

Glennon Doyle

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

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

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

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

Thank you for reading all the way through!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Moving Ahead During Uncertain Times with MicroGoals

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

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

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

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

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

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

Examples of Micro Goals:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. I heard a birdsong I had never heard

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

4. I built more self trust

5. I feel better about myself

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

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

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

9. I hugged a new-to-me tree. 

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

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

A-ha moment, in the writing!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is no wrong, there is simply…

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

Does that ever happen to you?

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

Magical pandemic? How is that true?

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

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

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

You are free to….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That feels so much better!

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

Remember “Free to Be: You and Me”?

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

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

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

In a land where the river runs free

In a land through the green country

In a land to a shining sea

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

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

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

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

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

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

Portrait of creative life coach and creative life midwife Julie JordanScott

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

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

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

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Explore “Everyday” Passion, Even During These Pandemic Times

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now I had a smile on my face. 

Now I wasn’t grumpy.

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

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

This, my friends, is ordinary passion.

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s write about it,together.

Think about the “little things” you really enjoy.

Walking past the rosemary bush with its hauntingly inviting scent.

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

Your first sip of cold water after a run.

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

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

Let’s write it:

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

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

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

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

Both options are available right here:

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

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

Portrait of creative life coach and creative life midwife Julie JordanScott

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

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

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Rumi, A Walk in the Park & You

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

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

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

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

Panorama Vista Preserve?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I forgot to mention the ending of this story.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Subscribe

* indicates required

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

Portrait of creative life coach and creative life midwife Julie JordanScott

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Subscribe

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

Portrait of creative life coach and creative life midwife Julie JordanScott

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

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

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