Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

Restore to Better Than Ever (Payment of “Feeling Awful Temporarily” is Worth It)

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What I say as a reflex: I want to fit in. I want to have a group of friends who are both a support system and who love me unconditionally where there is a reciprocity not because of expectations, but because we value one another.

Then there is the unaligned to a certain extent contrast: I don’t want to conform to the norms of any particular group because I don’t appreciate or value being “boxed in” to those norms.

I’m remembering back to my initial coaches training and listening skills. Are you listening to agree or disagree so you know how to “lob back” the conversation like a tennis match or are you listening from a perspective of, “Oh, that’s interesting, tell me more” space.

I know this past year was very lonely and I was rather isolated.

I intentionally took a year away from theater and at this point I would very much like to perform but I also know I just don’t want to audition for whatever comes along, I want to find a project and give my whole self to it. I am not sure what that will take or if it is possible now or in the near future.

Subtracting myself from a favored activity was difficult.

Subtracting myself from this activity reawakened other areas of dormancy and allowed me to focus on what was most important going forward: what would help me to build financial sustainability.

Subtracting myself hurt yet I was hurt by staying in a space that didn’t feel good anymore, too.

One of my biggest blocks is the fear of being abandoned and during this past year, some of these choices I made leaned toward to the natural experience of being left outside the foxhole. People didn’t even notice I was metaphorically out in the rain without an umbrella.

Because I wasn’t in the trenches with my theater friends, I wasn’t invited to other activities. My feelings got hurt over and over and it wasn’t until the Fall – nine months into the year – that I got the courage to say “this hurts my feelings.”

Some of my friends still don’t seem to know. I would rather believe they don’t know rather than they don’t care. 

I left doing what I loved, I lost significant social relationships and there were lots of other tangled twists and turns AND it also feels like the tide is turning for me here in the beginning of January.

At first I thought I didn’t exactly switch my narrative here, but then I realized I didn’t conform to anyone else’s ideal in order to feel less uncomfortable. I stuck with the misery in order to process through it and now I feel 1000% better about life in general.

My goals for the New Year are in process, very cool activities and experiences are lining up for me. I am asking for support when I need it and I am no longer afraid to tell people how I feel, especially when I feel hurt.

Most importantly, I have clearly gotten better at releasing relationships that no longer serve.

Old narrative: Do what it takes to get approval of others so you won’t feel all alone.

New narrative: do what it takes to create breakthroughs, even if for what feels like a long time feels pretty awful. The invitations and opportunities will return. Trust, trust, trust the process.

 

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!

Contact Julie now to schedule a Writing or Transformational Conversation Session at 661.444.2735. Please note she is in California in the USA in the Pacific Time Zone.

 

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3 Simple Steps to Knowing What You Believe & How to Achieve Extraordinary Results

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I sat down this morning to write for five minutes. I literally rolled out of bed thinking about the power of rewriting my narrative (after being horrified about rewriting my narrative publicly) and I thought about how to dig deeply into what is actually going on in the day-to-day narrative when I am feeling good and strong and in alignment -rather than triggered.

I had a prompt that was totally simple and yet left me totally stumped because I didn’t want it to be a cliche, I didn’t want it to be a bunch of trite phrases or posters hanging in the hallways of junior high schools.

I don’t know if I succeeded, but I know I went on a journey during my five minute writing that I could not have entered without this prompt – and without sleeping on it and waking up and writing soon after I got out of bed.

(On the way to writing, by the way, I plunged the toilet, cleaned up a mess or two made overnight and made a pot of coffee.)

To discover your beliefs and how they shape your world, follow these simple steps:

  1. Write for 5 minutes a day to simple writing prompts.
  2. Before you go to sleep, review what you wrote when you first woke up as you do an overall review of your day mentally and create a brief t0-do (or I call it a possibility) list.
  3. Repeat, preferably in community so that your transformation may be witnessed by people who believe in your newly rewritten narrative and may support you as you set out to create and live your life accordingly.

Here is the prompt and my response and I wanted also to offer a dare to you to write for your five minutes as well. Your “I believe” may be completely different than mine. Whatever you write is absolutely perfect. There are no rights and no wrongs here and I never ever ever expect other people’s beliefs to match mine. That would make for a very dull, uninteresting world.

I believe…love is the question and the answer. I believe the path isn’t paved with good solely good intentions like the common perception may believe, I believe the path is a playground for practice between love, fear and apathy. Love, hate and uncaring.

I don’t believe the opposite of love is hate or fear, I believe the opposite of love is apathy.

The road is paved with love taking form.

The road is paved with our actions which are most fruitful when they begin with the love question and are completed (if there is truly such a thing beyond momentary satisfaction – I have to sit with whether I believe in that whole finality rather than infinite loop de loop later.)

Our actions, projects, plans are the most productive, the most abundant and feel the best when we ask the question with love as the coating, the primary content and is filled with our breath of love inviting your breath of love to join the game.

I believe love is both the question and the answer and I believe that together, we will continue to make things better and better for now and the furute when we bring ourselves to make that belief into something whether it be word on a page or a photo in the book or a business that employs people or a song we sing on street corners or a meal we create to feed whoever happens to be hungry.

Love is the question and the answer.

And when the timer went off, I felt like a few more words would add value for you so I wrote –

So for you, love personified, reading these words, how will you take this reality and create something from it?

Perhaps this one and only day with this date upon it will be your first creation.

Perhaps you will write a thank you note in five minutes, free flow, #5for5BrainDump style like this one was.

Perhaps you will invent something or make a new life or be thoughtful by speaking up for someone (perhaps that someone is yourself) or maybe you will incognito take a task off another person’s overworked schedule.

You, after all, are love. Be the answer. Live the question. Report back what you find in your world. If you would like individual guidance, my phone number is listed below. Text me or call me and we can set a time for a transformational conversation.

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!

Contact Julie now to schedule a Writing or Transformational Conversation Session at 661.444.2735. Please note she is in California in the USA in the Pacific Time Zone.

 

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The Song You Have Been Singing May Not Be the Best For You: Rewriting Your Narrative

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I’m about to share an actual thought I had two days ago. I haven’t shared this yet due to mortification and hoping if I procrastinate long ago it will just go away and the true confessions of Julie narrative might be an episodic program that gets canceled right after the pilot.

Unfortunately or fortunately I also know the most productive action I can take is… writing and hitting publish. Rewriting in my new snazzy pleather journal I bought specifically so I could categorize my old and new narrative and find a new way because quite frankly that old one was clearly not serving the world or me very well.

I received a facebook messenger post from a playwright I met probably eight or nine years ago. I was in the play he wrote and my friend directed. I never felt like he was happy with my portrayal of his character and never really felt like he even liked me at all.

Fast forward and more confession, I don’t feel like the man who directed that production likes me anymore either, not that I would be brave enough to actually sit down with him and say, “What’s up?”… yet, anyway.

“Why did you send this to me?” as I read the post. I started singing inside, too, like a catchy commercial jungle: “You know you hate me, you know you do.” Over and over and over my mind sang this ditty until the conscious Julie swooped in and said, “What the Hell, Self? This man has NEVER told you he hated you just STOP STOP STOP and rethink and rewrite NOW!”

I obviously rethought but you know the rest of the story: I’ve been sitting on the avoidance of writing this for three days.

The facts are, I don’t know if this particular individual has even thought of me once since we worked together.

<< I left the keyboard again, this time for about 36 hours, to digest and move forward.>>

The truth is this:

I have bruises from long ago and I have current bruises that become tender when I am tired or feel alone or left out or unsure.

I am triggered by the thought that people don’t like me and I risk being alone in the majority of my life.

The overlying truth is I have the choice to make insignificant actions mean whatever I choose to make them mean. This message may have gone to every single facebook friend this person happens to have and I happen to be one of them.

I also have the choice to be gentle with myself when I say things that are hurtful towards myself. I have a lot of years to heal. From moment to moment I pledge to treat myself with as much love and respect I am capable of in that moment.

Finally, I can embrace the truth that most people enjoy my company after they meet and get to know me. Some people even like me right away. What really matters is whether or not I like me, whether or not I am enjoying my company. Whether or not I create a community and live in a community of people who care about me, my feelings, my growth and what I create.

I have the choice to make insignificant actions mean whatever I choose to make them mean.

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!

Contact Julie now to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

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The Most Important Writing Tip of All

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Are you ready for the single most important writing tip there is? The one that will change your writing game forever?

I can feel some of you cringing and some of you perking up.

One side says, “There are no single most important writing tips.”

You excited ones are literally thrilled that I have THE answer. I have THE secret that will help you to become a best seller!

Here is the most important tip:

Keep your butt in the seat and write. Don’t think about anything else, just move your fingers on the keyboard or your pen moving across the page and write.

You may be in a coffee shop, you may be on your treadmill with your voice activation tool writing AND the intention is to WRITE: so you aren’t reading about writing, talking about writing, sharing your writing goals or watching livestreams about writing or taking a class about writing you are actually doing it. Writing.

You might be ready to throw something at me at this point. Please don’t. Please stay here and I’ll give you the secondary part of this tip which is HOW TO keep writing.

#1) Write anything. Good bad or indifferent, write anything even if all you write is “Look at me, I am writing!” over and over on the page.

Sometimes I have been known to write “I love writing” and after seven or eight times writing “I love writing” more starts to flow. It is like turning the writing key into the ignition. Suddenly, with a little bit of gas and movement of the necessary elements (words and motion) you find yourself going somewhere with your words.

You could try:

“Yes, Julie told me to write, so I am writing!”

“To write is to live to live is to love I love to write.”

“I love writing.”

“I love writing tweets” or “I love writing blog posts” or “I love being the content queen!”

“Look at Julie (insert your name) write. Write, (Your Name), Write!”

You may join our Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook and/or participate in our #5for5BrainDump writing sessions offered via Periscope/Twitter and Facebook Live. 

The most important writing tip ever?

Keep your body planted and move your pen, pencil or fingers on the keyboard to say what it is you want to say.

Your voice is so important. The world is waiting for you to write. Your audience is lining up… perhaps impatient or more likely than not they’re just making due until YOU arrive!

So let’s go, let’s write. Today is the only today you have. Write in it!

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!

Contact Julie now to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

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Writing the New Narrative: Life and exhilaration and pain and love and injustice and apathy happen.

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Have you ever made a commitment to yourself and yourself alone and then found yourself saying it out loud and then realized the people you said it aloud with would hold you accountable even if your knees were knocking and you did and really didn’t want to do what you just committed to do?

(Please tell me I am not alone in this.)

I did exactly that this week – I stood in front of a group of friends and said, “I am going to work on rewriting my life narrative every single day until my birthday. I said back in November I was going to do this and I got scared. It is time to write it and write it publicly, anyway.”

So here we go. Here I am, publicly sharing my process. It is not an exaggeration to say I am feeling slightly nuts for doing this. So be it. After all, I am slightly nuts.

One of the most common theme songs running underneath my daily life is familiar to many. “You are wrong” is one song. “You are not (good, smart, pretty, athletic, young, fit, defiant, brave) enough so why bother?” and the ever popular “No one will ever want you.”

Long ago to comfort myself I declared God must have really wanted me to be born because he made sure I came into existence. After all, my parents were using birth control effectively and I was conceived, anyway.

Something occurred to me today I had never thought of before.

What would happen if I let go of being a product of birth control failure?

That actually felt pretty good until the related thought appeared.

Would I then be required to let go of “God must have really wanted me” too?

Until today I had never consciously thought of that possibility for holding onto the “other end” of the story.

Here’s the thing: I love the verse Psalm 139 and I hold fast to that declaration of God Wanting me alongside “You are fearfully and wonderfully made in that secret place inside your mother” almost as much as I’ve held onto people I don’t want to lose.

In Theology According to Julie it is the perfect bible verse for Island of Misfit Toys people like me who wonder why we’re here?

Why are we here if we aren’t or weren’t wanted in the first place?

Basically, in the Julie JS translation Psalm 139 goes like this:

God – you know me up close and personal. Let’s be realistic: you know me more than I know me and you knew me – all of me – before I was even conceived. You know (what I see as) my flaws and you call this all of me “wonderful.” Help me live up to this, God. May I be bold enough to ask to collaborate with you in this, my life, and in this your world? Help me to keep doing right, please. I know I mess up, and I so want to do right by you in this, your world you so generously share with me and all these other glorious people.

When Marlena was stillborn, I got a bit of what may be a slightly warped idea that I went through that horror because I could take it better than other people. And then a co-worker experienced stillbirth, too. I was flabberghasted. How did that happen? I experienced the pain so other people I loved wouldn’t have to experience it. God wanted me here for a reason and a part of it must be to take on pain and loss because I clearly do it so well.

My old narrative said “God must have really wanted me because he pushed my conception through even though my parents didn’t want me. This means I must live up to painful experiences in order to make my existence ok to the rest of the world.”

What I now know to be true is this:

Life and injustice and love and apathy and bliss and pain and exhilaration and boredom happen. I have the privilege to choose, every day, how to approach each aspect of life. God does, in fact, invite me to collaborate each and every day in each and every experience with each and every person in my path. We are – each of us – wonderfully made and a unique distinctive gift to one another. Now, go love richly and live fully.

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, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

 

 

 

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Gifts of Forgiveness + Haiku, Breath, Questions & Moving Your Pencil Across the Page

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In revisiting my life narrative, I am revisiting all experiences without weighing in on judgment in the process. I found this from 2011 when seeking writing tips to share via social media. 

Instead, I found this gift to pass along to you, now.

I woke up this morning feeling fear rumbling in the middle of my chest. My heart was racing just enough to tell me “I am afraid. I should be afraid, I should be worried, I should – I should- I should.”

I rolled over to look out the window at the soft morning light.

There was nothing in that light telling me to be afraid.

I got up and poured myself some ice water, some vitamins and stood, quietly, breathing
in the silence as I shusssshhhhed my heart internally.

There was nothing in the coolness of the water telling me to be afraid, to be worried.

I felt my feet as I walked back to lie down for a few more moments before beginning my day.

I allowed the pillows to support my neck and head. I completely felt the sheets against my skin, the soft breeze of the fan offering up refreshment at the beginning of what will be another more than warm day.

This is what forgiveness feels like: support,cool air, hushes like a gentle mommy as she taps our back as we try to sleep, fitfully. She breathes with us, reminding us everything is fine, truly, everything including us is just fine.

I am an expert at forgiving others.

I tend to let go and forgive long before the other person has even thought to ask for it. Sometimes I think I forgive too easily, before I have given the true meaning of grace its due.

The one person I am the least likely to forgive is myself.

This morning, I started understanding self-forgiveness on a deeper level.

My primary teacher/life coach/personal development guru for today’s integration lesson was Louisa
May Alcott. Many of us only know Louisa May Alcott as the author of the classic tale, “Little Women”.
She wrote and lived so much more than this one book that made her a household name.
She wrote, “We all make mistakes. It takes many experiences to shape a life. Try again.”
in her short story, “Transcendentalist Wild Oats”

She knew and lived forgiveness more than a hundred years ago. Reading one short story of hers gave me more insights than any personal development book written in this century or the last has given me.

I thought I had nothing to write today.

I started with haiku:

waiting for coffee ~
book opened to page ninety ~
eye glasses on desk

Re-read an essay I wrote in January and gleaned this sentence to tweet:

“Today I will continue to give space for my heart’s wisdom to rise above the tyranny of the “must do now” list.”

From there I tiptoed to this quote from Miss Alcott I had carefully copied yesterday and remembered my earliest moments from today. I decided they were share-worthy.

“We all make mistakes. It takes many experiences to shape a life. Try again.”

What forgiveness are you waiting to offer yourself?

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, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

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Now Begin Again: How to Find Success Through Rewriting Your Life Narrative

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One of my weaknesses is borne from one of my strengths.

I create so vigorously and so often I forget what I write – and in so doing I lose a lot of the depth that seeks to be birthed.

A little less than a month ago I decided I wanted to work on rewriting my life narrative. I wanted to intentionally rework some of the messages I believed from my past in order to create a present and future that is more aligned with who I am, more aligned with my core beliefs.

Ultimately, I sought to merge my core beliefs with my unique gifts and talents to create a body of work – in this case a life and a sustainable income – that matters to myself and to others in the world as well.

While flowing in some areas, I felt hopelessly blocked in others. Reworking my narrative vigorously and openly seemed to be the best path.

I started along the journey and almost quickly as I started I stopped.

It wasn’t a big. dramatic stop with brake marks from my tires left on the road, it was just quietly not continuing because… perhaps the coffee finished brewing or a child made a request or I got a notification from Instagram or who knows what but I got distracted.

Note: this is a common practice, too, right on the verge of breakthrough I have a tendency to veer off course. I know this about myself. It doesn’t mean I always act accordingly in response.

The rest of this brief chapter I’m writing will right that practice. It is interesting to note in re-reading what I just started to edit and mold less than five days ago  I can’t recognize when it is is the seven-years-ago me “speaking” and when it is the just several days ago me “speaking”.

Today, I realize that isn’t the part of the story that matters.

I also realize this preface is taking on a life of its own which isn’t necessarily fruitful, another way block shows up. Let’s get to it.

Let’s explore the originating story now.

On this path to rewriting a damaging narrative, I have been reviewing content from the past and fusing those stories with the light of what I now know to be true.

This morning I read a seven-year-old blog post wherein I wished about having and themes of grace (a topic of exploration scheduled this week) and the be-do-have coaching formula which popped into my head and thoughts last night as I drove. I had no recollection of the relationship of “I wish” with “Be-do-have” – the seven-years-ago me is once again reminding me how smart I was and am.

The final synchronicity was in the opening paragraph. It overflowed with woundedness – both writing wounds and be-ing wounds: when people who matter to you reflect your being is somehow not good enough or is otherwise ugly or unwanted. Read now from 2010:

 “As I prepare to write my Wishcasting entry, I can’t help but hear a chorus of voices from my past, intoning slight variations along the theme of “You just can’t do anything in a small way, can you?”

In my mind’s eye  the “small way” tended to include either a facial or a vocal jeer or both and I always ended up feeling somehow less than even if I had accomplished something unique, visionary or just more out there than most people are comfortable with, but the jeers left a lasting scar on my psyche. That scarred kid doesn’t want to post my wish, doesn’t want to admit the lengthy process I took to getting to my wish because other people who made wishes  simply dove right sharing their wishes without risking life, limb or burning down your homes.

My end-of-2017 self reappears writing:

I wish to have a sense of peace that comes from abundance, from prosperity of the tangible kind – like my wish to have cash flow in and out, out and in, from multiple sources. My specific wish for a long, long time has been $25,000 dollars in and out, out and in, coming in from purchases of my products and services, flowing out to invest in making the world a better place and continually, infinitely repeating this joyful, deliberate practice.

I smile into that thought, feeling my fingers as they continue to tap even after I almost stopped – my limiting beliefs were about to hijack my fingers so instead I will intone.

I wish, I wish, I wish and I willfully intentionally lovingly agree to take action toward this image of actively manifesting and taking steps toward this wish coming to fruition. Further, I will continually, infinitely repeat this joyful, deliberate practice.

I will trust this process.

I wish to have the sense of peace that arrives on the wings of plenty and extends beyond one’s heart. I wish to move beyond an illusion and concept into reality. The birds begin to sing out my window. My heart smiles as my fingers continue to type.

I will wish in a big way because I am a big, larger than life persona. This isn’t a bad thing to be hidden, this is a fun, festive reality. Nowhere did “offensively large and loud” pop into this writing. Those people who jeer when they spoke to me of disdain were actually reflecting their own jeers at themselves, not at me or my hopes and dreams and plans. Whoever these people were – they live only in my past and may not harm or influence me now.

I wish to feel satisfied and content with the progress I make as I take action willfully toward this wish coming to fruition. This hunger I feel in my belly is the delightful recognition of alignment.

And today, Sunday, December 17, 2017 I will devote myself to repeating the key points of this chapter of my life narrative:

I trust abundance flows in the space where value is received from taking aligned, intentional loving action using my unique gifts and talents. My scars and wounds are part of the curvy road map to my most satisfying here, now and future. I trust my process, I trust in my resilience, I trust in the collaborative process of restoration and in rewriting this narrative I reclaim and rebirth my Self.

(And I can even laugh at the desire to say “This is a draft and I claim the right to continue to draft as necessary.)

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!

 To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

 

 

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What will you choose to show love to today? Prompt for Contemplation & Writing

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“I will not dishonor my soul with hatred.” Diane Ackerman

(From the poem “I Praise My Destroyer” by Diane Ackerman)

Prompt for Contemplation, Creativity and Action:

What will you choose to show love to today? Who will you choose to show love to today?

This is your call to actively be loving to the world. It is a call to be a mirror, a reflection, a candle in the darkness (as cliché as I know that sounds) these words are asking you to go beyond meditating, beyond thinking, beyond looking at hatred and tsk, tsk, tsking in your coffee circles and step into actively choosing to show love.

Who will you be when people look at you and say, “You shine, you radiate, when you _____ my day is brightened.”

I remember watching a Designing Women episode years ago and Charlene and the woman played by Annie Potts were just being who they were and Suzanne Sugarbaker (played by Delta Burke) said with tears in her eyes, “I want someone’s eyes to light up just because I walk through the door.”

When we actively choose to show love, that is one of the natural results.

Perhaps you actively choose to show love by expressing gratitude. Not just thinking “everything is great” but specifically telling someone “The way you carefully put those papers away (shielded your child from a bully, took care of that elderly person’s need in the grocery store, tied your child’s shoe for her, made me feel better when I opened my heart to you) made a difference today and I am so grateful I was able to witness you being you in the process.”

There are a lot of things to not feel actively love for in this planet, and when you seek, instead of dishonoring your soul with hatred, but actively opening to love and communicating this love through action, the veils will come down and you will feel your hope being restored.

I want more of this in my life, don’t you?

What will you choose to show love to today?

Contemplate. Write. Bring it to life.

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, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

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Seeking Simplicity: Transforming To-Do’s into Delightful Discoveries

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Sundays are a special time for me on twitter because of the weekly #SpiritChat hosted by Kumud Ajmani. Lately I have not been able to participate there so instead I am choosing to interact on my own throughout the week.

What popped up during my writing time this morning may be helpful for you, too, so here it is –

.Q1. Sit with the phrase “returning to simplicity”. What does it speak to you in your current environment? #SpiritChat

Here is the result from writing for five minutes, stream of consciousness style. Note – I changed the opening sentence after editing a photo to go with the words.

Return to simplicity: starts when I return to home, every time.

I hesitated before getting out of my car after my morning errands/Samuel school drop off run.

This has become a habit of mine: sit in my car when I arrive home. Sometimes I pull out my phone and get lost in responding to tweets or texting or seeing my facebook notifications.

I told my neighbor recently when she commented how I seem to sometimes rest in the driveway, “I sometimes wait to go in because I don’t want to deal with what’s inside.”

Somehow crossing the threshold of my house has turned into stepping into a lengthy to-do list rather than stepping into a nurturing space of sweet surrender, of holding, nurturing and a leap of too passionate growth.

When did this happen?

How did this happen?

Even as I write I realize neither of those questions matter, what is significant is I noticed it in time to make a change that delights and inspires.

I am able to choose to be simply  delighted and inspired rather than annoyed and disjointed.

I sit back in my chair a moment, stop typing, and smile. I allow this option of returning to simplicity to fill me.

My hair is half way curled because I wanted to start and didn’t care about finishing. I made coffee and actually poured myself a cup, and I put Samuel’s laundry away this morning yet not my own.

I’ve made several possibility lists and managed to rejoice about my weekend blessings (there have been many.)

How to create a more simply  loving relationship with my home?

1. More down time here. I don’t need to hurry-scurry all the time.
2. Do more intentional decorating.
3. Fill my space with sensory delights – diffuse essential oils, play my favorite instrumental music and put more art/photos up so that my chin is lifted and my spirit is lifted.

My timer went off with “festive bell” sounds today.

Maybe I need to put up some bells around the house so that I may ring them as a reminder: love, hope and optimism is in the air.

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 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, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

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The Joy of Being Awkward “Or How I Wore the Wrong Outfit but Decided to Bust a Move, Anyway”

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My own method of free flow writing #5for5BrainDump was born from three distinctive related places.

First, My writing workshops of almost two decades: we use free flow writing as a warm up and then as a main part of the writing process.

Second,  5 Minute Stream of Consciousness Exercises across a number of online circles, one of which was called 5 Minute Friday. I don’t know if it still exists, but five years ago on Thursday nights it used to be the thing for a group of Mom Bloggers I knew. The writing you see below is an example of what I wrote back when I was creating in those circles.

Third, The PeriGirls: a group of women live streamers who helped me discover the power of live streaming. One day in a workshop BrainDumping and 5 minutes and free flow writing and the power of doing something for 5 consecutive days collided in a lovely spree which then give birth to #5for5BrainDump.

I didn’t expect #5for5BrainDump to become a major part of my life (and it has). Life writing in many forms including as a component of business writing is my sweet spot.

Life Writing + Free Flow writing: When these two are added together I fall into another version of paradise. Add poetry and…. I could be infinitely happy for a long, long time.

I want to share a couple quick, five minute writings I did in the past that still sing with transparency today.  Later this evening I will share with you about my brand new offering.  And now, drum roll please…

“Or How I Wore the Wrong Outfit but Decided to Bust a Move, Anyway”

I decided I wanted to try something new this week, so when I saw this last Friday I knew this Friday would be magical: On Fridays a group of folk meet for a free writing exercise. Just 5 minutes. On the prompt that’s posted here just after midnight early Friday morning. Want to join our favorite free writing exercise of the week? It’s easy peasy:

  1. Write for 5 minutes flat on the prompt: “Dance” with no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
    2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
    3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..

OK, are you ready? Please give me your best five minutes on: (added by me — and here is where I got confused)

STORY

What? Is this real? I read somewhere the prompt was DANCE so I wrote five minutes on DANCE and now, after being confused, I see that I am wearing exactly the wrong word outfit.

I am not going back. I am simply adding.

The prompt this week, my first week at this Five Minute Friday is… STORY.

Story. I’ve wasted a minute writing about not getting things right and feeling embarrassed about dressing totally wrong for this party.

I could write about my championships at two Story Slam events here in Bakersfield but still harboring fear about going to “The Show” – the major leagues of Story Slamming in a big city where exceptional story tellers live.

I could write about sitting around the campfire with my Dad telling stories. He was such a word weaver. He even had me convinced (and proudly telling people) I was an ancestor of the great mystical poet and artist, William Blake.

That filled in the missing pieces of my story “Where in my bloodstream-ancestry was Writing Bug flowing?”

Until about five years ago, I would’ve sworn it was from my fabulous ancestor, William Blake. Apparently my grandmother thought this was a funny joke to tell because according to actual historical records we are related to a farmer from Iowa also named William Blake.

Here’s another real story.

I get angry when “story” gets a bad name. Some people use “story” like an epithet. That gets me fired up. Like poet Muriel Rukeyser (who I am pretty sure I am not related to at all) said, “The universe is made up of stories, not atoms.”

Today’s story: So I wrote on the wrong topic today. Big deal. The world will not spontaneously combust and these writers seem as if they will enjoy hearing my voice, anyway.

With that said, here are my first five minutes:

I am an actor who loves doing Musical Theater and I rarely get the chance. There just aren’t many roles out there for overweight, middle aged, decent but not Disney-esque singers who don’t dance very well. Well, the dancing chapter of the story is more like: who works really hard and when she gets it she gets it but until she gets it, she is the saddest dancing story you have ever seen.”

Yes, it is something like that.

The last time I appeared in a musical, I had a fantastic time working on a show most of the rest of the cast abhorred. I was so thrilled I practically levitated after each rehearsal.

I worried about dance rehearsals but I have adored our choreographer for years. He is the one person on the planet who believes in my dancing enough to smile patiently at me and simply ask me to try again, which I do. I videotaped the dances so I could rehearse at home. I was serious about this task at hand.

Like in all performance, I wanted to do well.

I didn’t want to be just passable or, without enough rehearsal, an embarrassment.

I wanted to dance along with my three other stage sisters who were at least twenty five or more years younger than me, did I mention that?

I took a Zumba class a while back and had so much fun I cried. I didn’t realize it, though, until the ending when we did cool down. Zumba itself exhausted me. I somehow kept up, sort of, but at the end when we did stretching and soft, gentle movements, a message came from somewhere deep in my heart, “I want to dance, oh, how I want to dance.”

True tears popped out from my eyes, unexpectedly. Now I was covered in salt water: ridiculous volumes of sweat and tears, involuntarily flowing from my face.

I even have the joy right now of being the Emcee for a local burlesque troupe. I tell silly jokes and stories when they get changed or prepare for their next number. I didn’t realize how much fun it could be. It also made me want to be out there, dancing.

Maybe next year.

Maybe if I do more zumba classes – which, by the way, use actual dance moves.

Maybe if I can gather confidence from the soles of my feet to the top of my head and then back to the depths of my heart where courage to do crazy things like this lives – in fact rules – choice making.

I think I’ll do it. I’ll put it on my “to do before August 2013” and I will start aiming toward it.

Me, dancing. Again. With Confidence.

What a phenomenal thought!

 5 Minutes UP! 

PS – As I prepared to post this blog entry, I saw LAST week’s topic was Dance. Ah, well. 

Julie Jordan Scott 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 Spring, 2015 and beyond.

Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

Please stay in touch!

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