This morning I was playing with my art journal and gratitude. I gave myself a five minute chunk of time and Emma needed my attention to get to her Philosophy of Religion class. I held her impatience by incorporating her into my art journal page on this Thankful Thursday.
“What are you grateful for?” I asked her.
True to form, Emma was able to start lobbing out gratitudes. Friends, Family, TV shows and the like. “What TV shows?” I asked. “Lots,” she answered, and I interjected, “I’m grateful for Law and Order SVU and even though it wasn’t on last night, there is a trending GIF from last week’s episode. That makes me happy and grateful.”
A sanitary napkin popped out of my purse. “I’m grateful for pads,” I said, “That I have one if I need it.” She countered back with, “I’m grateful I don’t live in a third world country where I couldn’t go to school if I was on my period, I’m grateful I’m not homeless, think of what homeless women have to go through when they’re on their period!”
My kid is smart and liberal and still relentlessly optimistic not unlike her mother albeit she is a bit more cynical.
Gratitude, combined with love, is truly among the highest forces for good on the planet.
Share gratitude for people individually or corporately and watch them blush and shine and continue to be inspired to take action, positive action.
Gratitude doesn’t cost anything.
Gratitude feels good.
My five minutes of writing are up as my timer starts to ring.
What does Gratitude have to do with it?
You tell me. What are you grateful for? Share in the comments – and check out my Instagram Feed and story – which are both filled with Gratitude on Thankful Thursday and beyond.
*This blog post was written #5for5BrainDump style. 5 minutes of free writing – no editing, no forethought, no judgement and prompted only by the title.*
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. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!
To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session or to request she speak at your next event, call or text her at 661.444.2735.
What message are you sending the world?
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 
“Each time I express myself with writing, I get stronger. I heal more. I awaken to what is true.”
Just as I am the one who locked myself out of the world and into banishment, I am the one who is now setting myself free. I am the one who is choosing an active trust and then actually taking the steps rather than talking about taking the steps.
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 
Maybe that is how I would be best in making friends with that little girl, hiding in the closet. Recognizing the gift sitting in between us> Perhaps I am meant to patiently sit with her as she gains comfort in being with me again.
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 

Here is a biggie: I would stop so that I wouldn’t forget the good. I would stop critiquing or standing up to say “Hey, this was bad” because the sweet was such a gift I didn’t want to forget how that great stuff felt.
spirits – from spite and the ruthful destructiveness of abhorrence on fire.
“Any power this brutish beast has held will be finished. It will be exhilarating. It will be enlivening. It will be freeing beyond my current understanding of what freedom means.”
I remember being so swept up in how lovely the attention felt, especially directed at what I was enjoying as a part of this adventure we took together. This was magical, I thought, this was intellectual and spiritual and nature oriented and heart expanding and sure, there were aspects of it that were troubling and it is so easy to set those troubling aspects aside when one has been starved of the other constructive aspects for such a long time.
Hello, February!
Writing Prompt: This post was written by simply setting my timer to 5 minutes and free flow writing. I didn’t overthink or even really think at all, I simply wrote. Before I hit “publish” I briefly eye balled the text but that’s it. What is more important than the outcome is the process and the revisiting, daily, as we settle into February.
This is not a blank page. This is a cure to the blank page. This is saying no to block, this is a singing declaration of “I have your back creative process and we are moving and grooving.”
Here is the first take: a window into process that includes falling (and getting up) and veering more than slightly off course.
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. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming soon!