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Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

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

January 22, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

"If you want to change your story, change your actions first." is the quote by Seth Godin. Underneat is a woman typing on a laptop, taking action  - moving her fingers on the keyboard.

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

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

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

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

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

I am not being childish, I am being human.

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

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

You make the commitment to YOURSELF

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

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

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

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

Think about this question before responding:

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

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

Sunrise light: the Radical Joy of Daily Consistency
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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Rewriting the Narrative, Storytelling Tagged With: healing

Ralph Waldo Emerson & Quirky Goals Go Together

January 11, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Woman sitting on a porch, writing. Yellow brick wall behind her. Quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson says "Self trust is the essence of heroism."

“Self trust is the essence of heroism.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

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

The Joy of Getting More than You Expected

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It isn’t a quirky goal if it works!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Creativity While Quarantined, Storytelling, Writing Prompt Tagged With: Quote of the Day, Ralph Waldo Emerson Quote

Is it Still January, 2021?

January 10, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

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

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

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

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

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

When I woke again I had overslept.

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

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

Reflect on Your 3 Good Things Today

Here are mine:

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

Invitation to Fully Embrace Your Stories & Your Views

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

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

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

Thank you for being here!

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

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is The-Radical-Joy-of-Daily-Consistency.png

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

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Rewriting the Narrative, Self Care Tagged With: 3 Good Things Daily, Count Your Blessings, Your Perspective, Your Story

Sometimes Opting For Quiet Integration is the Best

January 8, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

My country went through a depth of experience yesterday I would not have imagined going through until it was happening. Today for most of the day I have been integrating my experience, even here from the West Coast, quietly and grounded, listening to my heart without influence from others.

Quiet is sometimes the best place to be.

It’s ok to go “dark” for a day. It is fine and often appropriate to not speak right away. That’s what I did yesterday. The reports were coming in from Washington, DC and I felt as if I was in a cocoon between my flannel sheets. With the horror I was seeing, I wasn’t feeling any good things. Permission isn’t something we need to ask for here in relationship to feeling, grieving, expressing.

In retrospect I may change my mind about the overall impact of what happened yesterday but right now, I’m not.

Right on Time is Sometimes Not on Time

So I am back, right on time, with a report from today – which happens to be the anniversary of the mother of one of my closest friends. 

What are My Quiet 3 Good Things on January 7, 2021?

  1. I honored myself and my rhythms today. I was intentional and didn’t feel as if I “had to” force myself into anything.
  2. I took action on chores I had been procrastinating about – cleaning out cabinets and clutter. 
  3. I’m trying the new app clubhouse for the first time today. I joined a conversation and I will be hosting my own room this evening. I am not sure how much I like it yet, but it is interesting to listen as I am doing busy work. 

What are Your 3 Good Things?

I would love to hear your 3 Good Things, today or tomorrow or whenever.

You may also be quiet, sad, grieve, complain or gripe.

It’s ok to go dark, even as we are consistently, radically joyful.

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

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

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Filed Under: Creative Process, Goals, Rewriting the Narrative Tagged With: 3 Good Things Daily, Introspection, Radical Joy of Consistency

This July: Cultivate Memories that Transform Your Life Experience

January 4, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I started this year holding the intention for transformational memories. I would that intention has definitely come to fruition, but they came about in ways I wouldn’t necessarily have chosen to happen.

It is valuable to collect memories, especially the transformative ones - so that we may continue to return to them for their love filled and meaning - rich energy. Collecting them now in the middle of summer will help continue the power and add to the initiating intention.

What are transformational memories?

Memories tend to fall into several different categories: the mundane, the memories we want to forget, the bad memories that are burned into our psyche and the mountaintop memories – or big events we work to remember for later in great detail.

Transformative memories are those every day moments that make a lasting mark on who we were in the moment and who we are becoming, still.

Are transformational memories active gratitude, counting your blessings?

2020 may have many transformational memories for you that are certainly not mountaintop memories and they were also not mundane. This is evidence of the “unprecedented times” we keep hearing about and experiencing again and again and again.

Now we have crossed the bridge to 2021 and although the calendar has changed, we are still facing many of the challenges from before. This series is to stay focused on what moves us forward.

Building a creative streak to practice successful completion

It is also an example of a small “streak” or container to hold a 31 Day Experiment in Counting My Blessings everyday that also is a method of completion practice.

I am a believer in practices like this because it gives you a daily completion, so you get practice in what it feels like to accomplish something simple to do and significant to do everyday. It is nothing short of magical. 

Don’t believe it?

Try this for a week and tell me how you’re feeling.

Today in June I am revisiting – Three cool things I noted from January 3:

  1. Samuel started the day shift at his job. No more graveyard. From now on he will work conventional hours and I won’t get to bring his lunch to his bedroom door by special delivery every day. That is a sadness I will just get over.
  2. Katherine got a full-time church job! She will be the Solo Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Sussex, NJ. I told her today I look forward to the day I can travel again and see her in action in her congregation! Update: In September, 2021 I will be moving to Sussex myself for a year to be close to Katherine and Donald AND experience an entirely different life. It will be a valuable experiment I never could have imagined when I set the intention for a year of transformative memories!
  3. I created a bunch of content for the week to come, ahead of time. “Getting ahead” always makes me happy – now I simply need to get better at batching – working on one task theme for a set amount of time. For example. An hour of making graphics. An hour of writing copy, an hour of scrubbing the kitchen. 

This process also helps me as a part of my evening writing practice, something I have wanted for a long time. As soon as I am done with this, I will do some writing in my notebook, some meditation and fall asleep.

The significance of revisiting recent (and not so recent) personal writing to mine for transformational memories.

I am revisiting this writing at the end of June, 2021 and have decided to begin this practice again for the month of July, 2021. To recap between January and now, I will touch base on some of what I have been experiencing.

I will share three transformative memories – and attempt to keep them succinct.

  1. My father died on April 18. From that moment, so many things happened and the memories have been very sad and also very filled with love.
  2. I learned the Valley Fever I have been carrying disseminated, which means it spread beyond my lungs. This could be very dangerous AND I have been receiving ongoing treatment AND I have never felt more confident in my ability to manage my health. I was filled with stress for a lot of time from January through whenever it was I had a biopsy-turned-drainage (I think in March? Since Dad died, a lot of time has had a very different meaning and context.)
  3. I have been getting my writing mojo back, slowly and surely. Poetry is back, working on my book projects is back, writing in my notebook daily is back. I realized in getting it back I was in quite a state of languishing for a long time. This is definitely transformative.

It is easier to see Transformational Memories from a distance, but what does naming 3 good things from any given day tell you?

I like to look at collecting transformative memories (and transformative memories-to-be like this: it is as if my future self and present self are having a party. Since my life in 2021 has been in a surprising uproar, there are so many times when I have said to myself with a lot of incredulity, “I am so grateful my past self was looking out for me!”

It is in the tiny, day to day things that the transformative memories happen. It is only from a distance that we can see what the whole picture looks like.

With that in mind, tell me:

What are 3 Good Things from your day? When July 1 hits, I will return here every day. I hope to see you here, too. This will be informal, flexible and fun.

Are you ready to count your blessings? Let us know in the comments!

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

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

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Goals, Intention/Connection, Intention/Connection, Meditation and Mindfulness, Self Care, Writing Challenges & Play Tagged With: 3 Good Things, Gratitude, Gratitude Practice, Journaling, Life Coaching Practices, Life Transformation, Memories, Transformational Memories

3 Good Things Daily in January: 1 January 2020

January 2, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

My friend Ghia taught me the importance of sharing 3 Good Things at the end of every day. At least until the end of January, I am borrowing her practice.

Here are the 3 Good Things for January 1, 2020

the sun shines over the Kern Canyon wall. This could easily have been one of the 3 good things.
  1. Gave Samuel a waffle batter making lesson. I didn’t realize until I talked through it the variety of nuances there are in putting together a simple recipe. Samuel is very invested in making waffles: he gave our family a fancy waffle maker for Christmas and he also gave his sister and her husband a waffle maker. Next week we’re going to make waffle batter from scratch so he can decide which he prefers. Included in next week’s lesson is talking about a well stocked pantry.
  2. Got over being very cranky this afternoon. I got upset and couldn’t find my way out of it. I was transparent and honest in my sharing rather than covering it up. That felt really good.
  3. I made videos while visiting Kern Canyon today. I was convinced they were messed up but guess what? They’re quirky and perfect but they are definitely not messed up. 

What 3 good things happened in your life today?

Julie Jordan Scott is the Creator of the One Small Shift Course which helps people practice consistency and completion daily. To find out more about this program, visit this link, here.

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

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Meditation and Mindfulness Tagged With: 3 Good Things

Discovering Uniquely, Wonderfully You

December 9, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I’m re-reading Randy Pausch’s book “The Last Lecture.”

I am sad to report I didn’t remember much from it beyond his brick wall quote that goes like this: 

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.”

A brick wall image with the quote by Randy Pausch about why brick walls are here - the quote is also in the essay,.

Brick walls and the creative process

 I don’t remember him writing his thoughts  about his creative process or making of his famous lecture. I hadn’t realized a driving force behind his script came from asking himself what he saw as his personal uniqueness.

He didn’t want his lecture to be about his cancer and his pending death. That wasn’t unique to him, he mused. Instead, what made him unique was his approach to reaching his goals which came about because of who he was as a child.

I found myself recalling the many times I have asked people about their own uniqueness and an almost equal number of times people cannot put a finger on what makes them unique. They might share their circumstances – survivor of cancer, holder of a skillset they share with many other people, owner of an interesting turn of phrase or rare accented language.

All of those traits on their own are sared by others. 

The Challenge of Seeing Ourselves as Unique

A group of unique people are gathered, honoring the Margaret Mead quote about every person being unique and special.

What is unique about you includes how you look at life, specifically blended with the actions you have taken over your life. Your uniqueness adds perspective on any given subject: the pandemic, the recent election, where you live with whether you like crunchy or creamy peanut butter.

We are on the verge of a New Year. There is no other time so perfect for a fresh exploration of your uniqueness. 

Mix up some of your qualities and begin to see the narrative of your uniqueness rise up. I have started this process myself, but I realized as I started to make diagrams I needed more time for insights to rise up as well as using a variety of different strategies.

The first responses I list are usually very familiar and actually not very unique at all.  I’ve noticed the same pattern with my coaching clients: their first attempts may be lackluster and dull.

Take a piece of paper and write the qualities you possess. You don’t need to use a list format, you may instead use a mindmap or simply write words and doodle images in random placements.

Don’t immediately proclaim your uniqueness. Take a day or two to consider as many qualities as possible so that you may determine which are stand-out qualities. Think about the subjects you talk about that make people perk up and want to know more: sometimes it is these things which seem everyday and ordinary to use which are most fascinating to others.  Consider childhood scenarios where you were recognized as special by your teacher or peers or by a coach.

Uniquely me, in process. Where will it go? I am not sure AND it is so important to practice with different methods and processes.

Like Randy Pausch, I am going to look back into my memory for what made me feel alive as a child. Immediately I think of the “television network” I created in my basement, “WJAJ” where I had my own show – a cross between “The View” and “The Tonight Show” with one host and many guests (all portrayed at the time by me.

Be sure to jot down what comes up, too. Then step away and let your thoughts sit overnight. Return the next day to your list of qualities with fresh eyes.

What do you see now? What do you feel now?

Name and Claim Your Uniqueness

Amy Gentzler shares her story like this: “Only recently have I realized that being different is not something you want to hide or squelch or suppress.” 

Experiment with naming your uniqueness. Then leverage it to make a positive difference in the world. 

Guidance through life coaching would will help you gain clarity about what makes you unique as well as clarify your life purpose. I would be happy to hop on a phone or zoom call with you – simply go to my Facebook page and click on “Book Now” so we may arrange at time to connect. +

Julie JordanScott helps creative entrepreneurs transform from decent and “fine” into a shifted, remarkable when they choose to make one small shift to inspire a renewed life of fulfillment, hope, satisfaction and whatever their desire may be underneath their previously ordinary life.

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Filed Under: Creative Adventures, Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Creativity While Quarantined, Rewriting the Narrative Tagged With: .Your uniqueness, Personal Grwoth, Randy Pausch

In Doubt of Your Ability to Focus Purposefully?

November 16, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Like many, I have had to get used to having my entire family underfoot during this pandemic. It used to be I would have complete days to myself to work on my business and create courses, content and sometimes even write for pure pleasure.

These days, I have gotten grumpier and less fun to be around.

Today, I was ready to give up until I decided to use one of my own writing prompts to figure out how to stay focused and purposeful. 

You can do the same thing.

How can you be more focused, even when circumstances are less than optimal?

Here’s what happened for me: I looked back toward a writing prompt I wrote last week for my coaching clients. I knew it would work!

It started with a quote from poet Muriel Rukeyser that went like this.

“In time of crisis, we summon up our strength. Then, if we are lucky, we are able to call every resource, every forgotten image that can leap to our quickening, every memory that can make us know our power. And this luck is more than it seems to be: it depends on the long preparation of the self to be used.”

From that quote came this prompt:

An autumn scene is the background for a writing prompt directing purpose and focus to summon the creative muses.

Here’s what I wrote in 5 minutes:

I remember as early as middle school when I sat in the back of the room typing away at a typewriter, banging on and on about my passion for music. There I was on a manual typewriter with the clanging return bell and my wild push back with my left hand – music, music, music.

I remember earlier, actually, in elementary school, we had a box for our student newspaper. One day I sat and wrote poem after poem after poem about my classmates. I would write one and submit, write another one and submit, write another and submit.

It was exhilarating.

Back then noise didn’t bother me. In fact as an adult I would spend Sunday mornings in sports bars, writing, while my children were at church. I loved church but I loved writing freely, even in loud bars, more.

So why is it right now I can’t seem to get writing done when it is too noisy in my house, which is where we all are given this pandemic?

It may be because here in the house I am responsible. If something happens, I am the one who feels compelled to jump up and “make everything better.”

I am the “go to for instant solutions.” I am the guide, the champion, the always willing to wake up out of a solid rest in case of a crisis because for Mommies there really isn’t much of a rest.

5 minutes of writing yields results

From there came possible mindset solutions that invited me to take different actions in the future:

Solution? 

Give myself a break for continuing to do my work in the world. Trust everyone here can take care of themselves in case of a crisis, big or small.

In fact, each person in this house will be a better human if I sit back, do my work, and be more grounded in my own mission than constantly worrying about theirs. Figure out the noise canceling headset.

I am now free to choose to have a strong, focused week because our audiences are out there, wondering where to find their next inspiration.

After all, during this time, what do we know, most of all?

  1. We have the power to look within and find solutions there, even with limitations other people have chosen on our behalf.
  2. We are strong and powerful in all circumstances.
  3. We can do this, whatever this particular “hard thing” may be!

Let’s have a productive, focused week. If necessary, return to this rescue writing prompt. Heal those negative, naysaying energies.

Find a supportive creative writing community in our private facebook group

How would your writing productivity change if you received 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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Filed Under: Business Artistry, Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Creativity While Quarantined, Goals, Writing Prompt Tagged With: Creative healer, creative healing, Creative Life Midwife, Julie Jordan Scott, Julie JordanScott, Muriel Rukeyser Quote

How Your Next Embodied Moment will lead to a More Fulfilling Life

October 28, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

How would your life change if you made the choice to open yourself fully to each moment as it happens?

Your first response might be “Don’t I do this right now?”

Maybe and maybe not.

Bombarded with distractions, all the time

We are constantly bombarded with distractions, most of which our mind filters automatically for us. Sometimes we are “playing with our kids” with our computer open and our phone in our hand and we are trying to get our partner’s attention. This isn’t very “in the moment.”

I know people who are distracted so much by a ticking clock they can’t focus on the conversation they are attempting to have with friends.

If you have that sort of sensitivity and you haven’t learned how to focus on the conversation, life becomes frustrating rather than fulfilling.

This goes beyond ticking clocks and flashing lights and startling smells that rise up and greet you as you are walking down your office hallways.

Your entire life experience will become better when you are 100% engaged in whatever you are doing at that moment. This is true no matter what you are doing: enjoying a concert, taking a walk, writing a blog post: the outcome is the same. Better results with better focus.

Embody the moment and rewards will follow.

Our experiences are better when we are fully immersed in whatever we are doing instead of sitting blankly scrolling on our phones, waiting for our boss to give us an inspiring assignment or checking the Netflix schedule praying something might capture our attention.

To experience full embodiment, we allow ourselves to be engaged with our senses as we are living that moment. Still not sure what I mean?

Here’s an example from my own life which could have been another boring everyday moment which instead, became not only sheer delight, it caused me to write a poem.

Ordinary coffee in an ordinary cup by an ordinary notebook or is it? When lifted to the lips and fully observed, embodiment occurs and a poem (or best seller) may be born.

Today I poured a usual cup of coffee into my favorite mug and sat down to drink it while I wrote social media content. Somewhere on the way from the coffee put to my seat here in the corner, I decided to make the experience one of embodiment: completely in touch with the tactile, sensory feelings within my body as I drank the coffee.

Coffee: Ordinary or Extraordinary?

Here is what happened when I allowed myself to be present to the experience of my lips and coffee.

I lower my head, as in prayer

Mug lifts to meet my lips, cold orange edge

rests on the soft yet firm shelf my lower lip offers

tongue meets lip from inside as coffee

pours forth, into my waiting mouth

slightly bitter warmth, pleasure for barely

a moment slides in and down and then

my throat opens and closes and satisfied,

my lips make way for the exhale, while

still heated slightly, while still cozy, while still

pleasantly plumped from the 

liquid invocation of a new day

no matter what arises my lips

and I know. Coffee comes to visit

and temporarily makes all things perfect.

Coffee, writing and poetry are beyond the ordinary.

Rarely does my own poetry make me laugh, but this one did.

Embodied writing can be playful, deeply moving and sacred. It can be all three. 

I may rework this poem but for now, I am sitting back admiring the moments I had drinking the coffee, taking notes while I drank, and now being brave and silly enough to share it with you here.

A Master Class in Embodiment and Your Richer Life, Right here

Last week I blogged about sharing ordinary moments as extraordinary. Today may be seen as the master’s course in the same subject.

Do me and your reading audience a favor: fully immerse yourself in any given ordinary moment. Take notes. And then write something from it, anything. I wrote a poem, you might write a sales letter. It doesn’t matter WHAT you write, it simply matters that you write this way.

FIND A SUPPORTIVE WRITING COMMUNITY in a Private FACEBOOK GROUP:

How would your writing productivity change if you received 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.

We look forward to writing with you!

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. Text or call her at 661.444.2735 She would love to speak with you soon.

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Filed Under: Creative Adventures, Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Poetry, Writing Tips Tagged With: Coffee Poetry, Creative Distractions, Embodied Creativity, Embodied Moment, Embodiment Master Class, Julie JordanScott, Live in the Present Moment

Shift Happens: Compassion & Being Your Authentic Self

October 26, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Hands in shape of a heart, showing the shift into compassion. Illustrates the power of authenticity and being real.

I overslept today. I feel like crap when I oversleep. I lecture myself, I think of all the ways I am bad and wrong and not worth the butt that I sit on, but something happened this morning to shift me from that harangue of self hate into a much better place.

I got up and set out on my original path, even though it was much later than I wanted it to be. 

Seems natural, doesn’t it? 

Eventually I got out of bed. I put my pants on one leg at a time – but what I decided to do that was different is I decided to not make myself quite as wrong for oversleeping. Instead I offered self compassion – eventually.

Self compassion, eventually?

It helped to text my friend Kelly and lament at myself a bit more before I got to compassion.

Nothing like public self-flagellation to complete the cycle.

One of the things Kelly said as I whined and kvetched about my lateness fired me up, perhaps in a way she hadn’t expected. She said “And at the same time you are being REAL.”

When being real & authentic is not a positive thing –

I’m raising my hand and being real when I say I believe sometimes people use the expression, “but I am being my authentic self” when they are making excuses or behaving in ways that aren’t acceptable – for example, using language that would make your grandmother’s skin crawl or being rude, arrogant, the opposite of compassionate or list your “but I am being my authentic self” shortcoming.

I can be my authentic self and stretch myself. I can be my authentic self and be uncomfortable. I can be my authentic self and be lonely. 

I can also be my authentic self and do better than I have before. I can also be my authentic self and show compassion towards others AND myself. 

I can be real and look amazing, I can be real and go out with unbrushed hair and an outfit that looks like I am on my way to a costume party portraying a very down-on-her-luck person.

Being Real isn’t always what it seems

This morning I didn’t do my usual amount of walking, but I am almost to the number of steps that was average at the end of the day in 2019. This makes me feel some sense of accomplishment.

I have made more progress at working my body than if I had stayed on the bed lamenting about how horrible of a person I am. 

Both ways, I am being real, being true to myself.  At the same time I have stumbled upon the conversation about how people have taken a well known adage, “Be real” and “Be authentic” and use them for their own shortcomings. 

Let’s talk & write about being authentic and being real.

Is it wrong for a person to use “being real” and “being authentic” as a way to make themselves feel better for not doing something?

There are probably as many opinions on this as there are for styles of blue jeans. Remember, Levis’s are “authentic” and Coca-Cola has been called “The Real Thing.”

Now, it is your turn to write: Writing Prompts across genre

Journaling Prompt:

“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.”

Brene Brown

Prompt: If I were to describe my true self, I would say…

“Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.” Coco Chanel

Prompt: When I think about being more real in hard times, what comes up is…

Copy Writer: Make a case for “Coca Cola” being “the Real Thing” or Levi’s jeans being “authentic”. Play with this fictitious copy as if it was for the most important client you’ve ever had. BONUS: write an article for your newsletter or blog using this writing as an example.

Social Media Post: Encourage people to be brave with their authenticity. Be a role model of courage in the post. Ask for input from your audience. 

You can find more prompts from a wide array of purposes in the Word Love Writing Community on Facebook. Beyond prompts, there are people who want to see you succeed creatively – what could be better than that?

How would your writing productivity change if you received 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.

We look forward to writing with you!

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 connect with you soon.

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Intention/Connection, Writing Prompt Tagged With: Authentic Life, Be Authentic, Be Real, Life Coaching, Negative Self Talk, Real Self, Self Compassion

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