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Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

How to Use Creativity to End Shame’s Power Over Your Choices

April 3, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

More than twenty years ago I sat in a therapist’s office and she asked me to make a list of “Family Rules” which I went home and dutifully wrote. I returned with my list with lots of blue ink across a yellow legal pad. My cursive lettering detailed unspoken codes of conduct such as “Don’t cry in public” and “Do not do things that might embarrass the family.”

There is space in the world for such guidelines.

I don’t agree with any prohibition on crying – perhaps because I am one who cries at movie previews, coffee commercials and baptisms of babies I don’t even know. It isn’t the rules themselves that causes the problems all these years later, it is in the denial of what happened because of these unspoken codes.

What I believe in is taking back our personal power through creative process and growth. It isn’t about blaming others or fault finding or pointing fingers – it is about acknowledging our own strength and truth.

Today, I look back at things that happened and I say, “I am not rewriting history, I am recognizing we are all human and everyone was doing the best they could at the time.”

With that said, it doesn’t subtract or nullify the pain that was experienced or the grief that occasionally rears its head, especially during trying times like we are in right now.

Denial, for example, is something we are seeing across social media, in zoom calls I am on, in conversations with friends and family. Somehow we think if we don’t watch the news, COVID-19 will go away. We think if we share “Positivity Only!” on Instagram, sometimes we hope and pray reality will happen only to other people.

Quote & Prompt for Creativity and Conversation

A row of beautiful pink roses in flat lay style frame the words of Brene Brown and a writing prompt that suggest we ought to speak to shame directly. Speak on behalf of our shame instead of covering it up.
If poetry is not your thing, use journaling or free flow writing instead. Some of my best poetry started as a line in one of my many notebooks.

I found shame abhorrent for a long time. I read John Bradshaw’s work of the early 1990’s and I was “all shamed out.” I wouldn’t read any of Brene Brown’s works.

Less than a year ago I was declaring my distaste for anyone who “worshipped shame” until I realized she isn’t about the worship of shame, her work is about working through shame. Not denying it, not burying it, not climbing on top of it to look at the view below… instead, her work stands for working through shame and all shame destroys along the way.

Making that list of rules all those years ago allowed me to begin to disassemble them to see and label what was worth saving and what was fool’s gold or just not right for me.

Prompt for Creativity, Contemplation and Conversation

I aimed to consistently be open with my children, ready to talk about issues others turned from or stifled. In my view, it was easier to talk about things rather than hide them yet one of my daughters will disagree with this notion. She will insist we didn’t address important details.

Sometimes certain topics: death, grief, job loss, financial trauma and sexuality are just the beginnings of topics we may have varying levels of discomfort discussing around the dinner table. My family gathered during the holidays and played a conversation game about goals and visions for the new year and one of our family members would not address any of the questions.

My guess is there was quite a bit of shame attached.

The rest of us gave permission for the questions to not be answered. My hope is the unspoken questions will continue to percolate. Journaling or free writing in a notebook or into your phone is often a good way to process through untalkaboutables. I prefer the least expensive notebooks possible. It is a splurge when I buy a “Decomposition Book” – a composition book made from recycled materials whose paper feels fantastic underneath my hand.

If I had said something like this as a child – “whose paper feels fantastic underneath my hand” I would have been shamed for it – someone undoubtedly would have scoffed and said “Julie, you’re so weird. Who notices what paper feels like?” just like when I said I wanted a curling iron I was shamed for being so vain.

I don’t let either of those things bother me anymore: to this day I have numerous tools to curl, straighten, double curl and curl my hair in different sizes.  Who labeled wanting to look nice a bad thing?

Here’s what I know: our time is now to move beyond whatever is holding us back. Chances are if you are living there are some shame experiences to review and set aside and in some cases, finally bring out into the open so light may hit them.

I’m laughing because I love choosing the just right curling iron for whatever hairstyling task I am up for at the time and thank goodness I didn’t let sibling shame stop me. There are other times when I have allowed other people throwing shame in my direction stop me from using my gifts and talents for the greater good of all.

Finally, there may be a poem or a blog post or an instagram caption or a journal page you haven’t written yet. Linda McCarriston sees poetry as the art of language. Let’s throw some possibilities around today.

Prompt for Creativity and Conversation

PROMPT: What possibilities does artful language – like poetry – or visual language – such as painting, sculpture or photography – open up for you?

Our time is now. Your time is now. Take back the power shame has taken from you. Release the guilt or anger attached to what happened once-upon-a-time so that you may now live a life of peace and joy instead.

If you happen to write something, nothing would make me happier than seeing what you come up with as a result of this blog post.

Also, if you are feeling lonely and isolated as you work through reclaiming your power over shame, I host a daily Intentional Connective Conversation – you may think of it as a sort of Virtual Coffee Date – where we meet to give one another support, listen to each other’s stories, and just “be” together. You may find information about that in our

You may find information on our Facebook Event or directly on Zoom – the link is either here <— or at the bottom of this blog post.

Julie JordanScott writing personalized love poetry.

Julie JordanScott is the Creative Life Midwife. She inspires people to live their life as an artform and then take action towards their best results. Her specialty is writing – her easiest way to express what she does is this: She Coaches. You Write. Your Readers Win! During the 2020 Pandemic she is also leading daily Virtual Coffee Dates, Facilitating Intentional Conversation so people will feel less isolated during this time of social and physical distancing.

Join us! To register, visit here:
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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Creativity While Quarantined, End Writer's Block, Intention/Connection, Intention/Connection, Rewriting the Narrative, Self Care, Virtual Coffee Date Tagged With: Brene Brown, Covid 19 Support, End Shame

Intention: Unlimited, Infinite Love and Creativity

March 19, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I watched a video made by a group of Italian citizens last night. It sent a joint message of hope to the rest of the world. It was a window into their tenacity, a collaborative role model for unlimited imagination.

The message was one not of chaos, but of beauty and creativity and love drenched optimism.

I have been impressed with the artful expressions of surprising joy I see coming from the country which right now is at the epicenter of the COVID-19.  Planes flying in unison, in their wake leaving the colors of the Italian flag while operatic strains playing in the air is one example. Another is people standing on their balconies, singing together.

I would not normally think this would be the behavior of people in quarantine – people who have seen so many deaths in such a short amount of time. Their celebrations of creativity, of life itself, brought tears to my eyes and shone rays of light into my heart.

White vases with white flowers and a tea pot on a window sill leave an impression of optimism, a metaphor for surprises from Italy during the Coronavirus pandemic.

We must not allow ourselves to be limited by other people’s opinions, complaints or false narrative.

We must give ourselves permission to create deep and wide visions of possibility, of wonder, of deep gratitude.

If this resonates with you, please consider joining a group of us gathering daily at 1:30 PDT for Intentional conversations on a “Virtual Coffee Date” – a gathering of friends and strangers-becoming-friends where we may inspire, delight and comfort each other as we are separated because we are honoring one another’s health.

People sharing coffee drinks like we share virtual coffee drinks, tea, water or whatever we care to drink during our intentional conversations via zoom during the pandemic. Easing loneliness and amplifying connection worldwide.

This post is a part of the Women’s History Month Writing Quotes & Prompts series from Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, and her Word-Love Writing Community you may join for free on Facebook. During March, there will be daily discussions on the quotes and prompts we present here, too. Join the conversation and improve your writing at the same time!

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Intention/Connection, Self Care Tagged With: . Mae Jemison, Julie JordanScott, Unlimited Potential, Women in Stem

One Step at a Time: Open the Door, Find the Light

March 12, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

This morning I attempted to write an inspirational essay prompted by Emily Dickinson’s quote about the soul standing ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.

Normally this fits my passionate process quite well and I am able to flip a less constructive mood quickly. This morning, my sour mood wasn’t going anywhere.  I sat in my writing corner digesting the previous night’s emotional turmoil which had turned into an emotional hangover larger than my usual.

I am a tender soul. A tender human. I am sensitive and I seem to fall down and skin my spirit like as a child I skinned my knees when I tripped and fell and skid across the playground,

Emily Dickinson's ecstatic soul ajar lesson isn't always immediately accurate

I vacillate between “can’t wait for the next thing I’m doing it is the be-all-end-all and I am being magnetized toward it…” and then something happens and my face is close to the pavement, again.

Last night when my emotional skid happened it was after my son sent me a scathing text: a long one, based on one of his ongoing gripes with me about something that happened years ago.

He doesn’t tap dance around my history of fear in regards to his life. He goes for the jugular, knowing or unknowing the guilt I haven’t effectively let go yet. My response to his anger is to stand there and take it.

When he was a little boy and couldn’t put his frustration into words, I would stand still when he pummeled me with his fists. I have never forbid him to channel his anger, though now I think a boundary is overdue.

I responded to his text with something like this, like I have said and texted many times in the past:

“I did what I thought was best. I let fear guide me too many times. You are right, I could have chosen differently.”

I am wondering how much he wants to hear about his autism diagnosis and why what happened early in his educational experience caused a wall to be built between me and many educrats, teachers and administrators.

His anger at me isn’t about the totality of me, it is about how I interfered in helping him pursue his vision and continues to impact him now.

What I noted today that I hadn’t ever before is how much this guilt I continue to harbor also builds walls against my creative process. It burrows into my softness, my tender heart, my sensitive soul and I end up pushing away the keyboard.

Yes, I was almost always afraid for my son. He went through hell when he was little and then when he was not so little and even in the months before he graduated we had yet another crisis to navigate.

Sylvia Plath wrote, “It is the hate, the paralyzing fear, that gets in my way and stops me.” In Plath’s case it stopped her from writing the short literary fiction she longed to write at the time and for me, my work flow dries up. I spent much of the day in silence, not even reading or jotting notes.

I went to Toastmasters and gave a quality evaluation and then was worthless until about ninety-minutes ago.

Writing Prompt related to Emily Dickinson's quote that invites personal reflection before ecstacy.

Like my son, after taking time to process – I felt better.

Sometimes when the soul is ajar, it doesn’t go fast forward into ecstasy, as Emily Dickinson suggests. I like to think she knew her fair share of waiting for ecstasy with a side of bits of grief and struggle and “not quite ready” yet moments.

Emily Dickinson quote image with stars and a circle, "The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience."
Portrait of Julie Jordan Scott, Creativity Coach and Creative Life Midwife

This post is a part of the Women’s History Month Writing Quotes & Prompts series from Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, and her Word-Love Writing Community you may join for free on Facebook. During March, there will be daily discussions on the quotes and prompts we present here, too. Join the conversation and improve your writing at the same time!

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Writing Challenges & Play, Writing Prompt Tagged With: Autism Mom, Emily Dickinson, Emily Dickinson quote, Special Needs Mom

The Magic of Letting Go of the Handsome Prince Rescuer

March 3, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Each day during Women’s History Month we will be sharing a quote, a short essay and a prompt from a woman writer. Enjoy!

I must confess: I have not felt like a very good administrator of self-rescue lately. I have been distracted.

It doesn’t matter how, or why and I realize as I write this morning, it isn’t like my distraction is a permanent situation. My distraction has happened before and it may happen again.

The thing is, as my own “administrator” or Chief Courage Officer and Leader Transformational Specialist, it is within my domain to pick myself up and set myself back on the route to reunion with my best self.

So far this year has been exceptional with many breakthroughs. Just a few more will take me to my next remarkable new beginning.

Sometimes I long for a “handsome royal person” to swoop me up and out of my challenges and yet I also know what I would enjoy even more is a partner or team with whom I could work to bring my vision to life.

No sooner do those words come off the tips of my fingers I realize I have that, too, within me.

Once again, I am grateful how just a few minutes of writing brings me to an entirely different perspective. Incredible how easily it happens.

That’s how it is when we are the administrator of our own rescue! Thank you, Elizabeth Gilbert, for the flashlight!

Prompts: When I take on the role of “life administrator” it feels like….

When I consider being rescued by a (handsome) prince, my natural response is…… and in the future, I would prefer to intentionally respond….

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Filed Under: Creative Process, Rewriting the Narrative, Writing Prompt Tagged With: Elizabeth Gilbert, Elizabeth Gilbert Quotes

Truth or…. Consequences? Better Writing? Freedom? Vulnerability?

February 16, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

What truth am I ready to tell?

I feel increased frustration. Why did I write this prompt?

Why did I decide to write from it first instead of offering it to other people first?

How am I supposed to even begin talking (or) writing (or) be willing to be vulnerable enough to take this one in any decent narrative?

Right in that moment I wanted to shut down completely, but something jostled me so I finally stop worrying about narrative or getting it right or anything except filling the five minutes with the tapping on the keyboard.

Five minutes on the timer and… write. I started with something easy to address, something obvious.

I am ready to tell the truth… I am happier with my hair colored than when I was attempting to grow it into its natural state.

Maybe if I hadn’t gotten sick I would be rushing back to going grey/white again but I simply feel more bright spirited with my hair the color it is now – I actually feel more freedom to experiment with it again.

In all honesty, the only thing I liked about my grey adventure was the whitest part of my hair and the purple streak Jolie painted into my hair every time I visited her.

Other than that, I felt pretty hideous about my appearance most if not all of the time. I stopped looking at myself in mirrors. It certainly didn’t help with the overall malaise I was feeling.

I am not ready to tell the full truth of my near-death experience in October. Recently I found myself quite willing to tell one friend more details than normal. That was a surprise and actually felt optimistic and eye-opening.

I am ready to tell the truth of my anger about some of what I observe in special education. I am ready to tell the truth (with some changed names) in the book I am finally editing – again.

Again, more truth tumbles out: when I reviewed the last edits, I will tell you the truth that version of me had it a lot of it wrong. J Sometimes when editing, our true writing voice gets sucked dry. That’s not what this book is about, especially.

This book is messy and tired and frustrated and ebullient.

I am ready to tell the truth – and grow in my ability to share what I feel and know and think – without fear of retribution and abandonment.

Truthfully, I am stronger to face both of those because I have experienced both abandonment and retribution and discovered through the process I am bolder and more resilient than I could have ever known without them.

Five minutes later – time is up and I feel infinitely better than I did when I sat down to write.

What a joy!

And now it is your turn to write:

  • What truth are you ready to tell right now?
  • TIPS:
  • Start with an “easy” truth if you have any hesitation, like I did with my grey hair. You might start with “I don’t like broccoli” or “I love watching the Bachelor.
  • Keep writing until the five minutes are up.
  • Allow yourself to follow the flow of the pencil (or pen or fingers on the keyboard). They will take the writing where it needs to go.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is committed to Eradicate Loneliness through intentional connection, passionate purpose and creative expression. Sign up now to stay connected with the movement and receive inspirational emails to insure you will minimize loneliness for yourself and those you love. Visit EradicateLoneliness now to sign up for free.

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Filed Under: Creative Adventures, Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Intention/Connection, Intention/Connection, Rewriting the Narrative, Self Care, Writing Prompt Tagged With: Muriel Rukeyser, Muriel Rukeyser Quote, Women Writers

Today: A Two-Miracle Discovery Day

February 4, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

It looked like an otherwise ordinary day but deep inside, I knew it wasn’t.

I made two back-to-back miraculous discoveries once I survived the early morning extreme cold.

Yes, the miracles started with a freezing cold breath of air – to people in Central California, temperatures dipping under freezing may as well be the arctic tundra. We aren’t accustomed to such cold and in this case, neither were my lungs.

Since my bout with pneumonia which lead to sepsis I have been keenly aware of sudden pain, especially in my lungs or in my upper chest. I know the most recent CT scan showed there is still an unclear spot on my lungs and this causes concern for me.

My morning haiku went like this:

Surprise! Freezing inhale
Ice pick poking in my lung’s
upper right portion –

I went inside, started making coffee and sat with my notebook, using my writing practice as a container for insights of wellness and a catalog of what my mind was holding onto.

Two pages down, I decided to eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast and take my morning vitamins. It was here when the miracle came clearly into form.

First, I realized Aldi’s fake Life Cereal tastes better than the original. It is the perfect level of sweet, yet not too sweet. Normally I am not brave enough to try off-brand cereals, but this makes me willing to try their fake Special K next, which is my favorite cold cereal.

Second, Geritol truly is a miracle elixir. Whenever I take it, especially on a regular basis, everything in life feels better. It is right up there with daily writing practice and creative collaboration of all types.

My lungs feel better, I am ready to take on my day after yesterday’s rather disappointing end, Emma is even cheerful. After all, I suggested she take Geritol as well. It seems to have worked.

It didn’t take a trip to a faraway island or an expensive gift, it simply took a shift in mindset from moving my pencil and lovingly taking care of my health continually.

Writing practice and Geritol, anyone?

Miracles are around us all the time. The simplest question is, are we ready to notice them?

Your prompts for today:

What miracles have you noticed so far today?

What was a recent “big” miracle in your life? What was a recent “humble” miracle? Set your timer for five minutes and write about them, right now – or commit to doing so, later.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, has been working with people to clarify their life purpose and inspire artistic rebirth since for more than two decades. Her work on stage and as a theater director have magnified her passion for the poetry of living. She currently has two openings in her life coaching practice. Perhaps you are ready to experience a transformational coaching conversation to see how you would best work together to collaborate on creating your next big thing? Click here to request your complimentary session now.

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Journaling Tips and More, Writing Challenges & Play, Writing Prompt Tagged With: Everyday miracles

The Mini-Counter Cultural Guide to Loving Mondays

February 3, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I love Mondays. I have for years – since I stopped being employed by local government, anyway.

Monday is a fresh start, a chance to begin again. A new calendar page, a renewed attitude, different chapter, a white canvas to splash colors upon all await on this first day of the week.

Intellectually I know this is a false construct. Logically the realization is there.  I could just as easily choose to do as Mary Shelley advised “The beginning is always today” no matter what day of the week it happens to be.

In 2020, for example, I have been reviewing my weekly goals and plans NOT on Monday, but on Wednesday as an ongoing homage to the beginning of the year being on a Wednesday. It is refreshing – and fits in with a mid-week review that brings me to a mid-week revitalization.

For this week, I intend to look at every day as a fresh, brand new, just opened canvas for me to paint anything I would like upon it. My intention is gesso, the colors are my perspective and off we go.

What might happen if you lived as if every day was a brand new white canvas?

Portrait of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, who also loved new beginnings, every day.

What might happen next week if this week you decide to love Mondays?

Take a moment to write along with Mary Shelley – who was the woman writer who brought the world “Frankenstein” and was tangentially the second wife of the poet, Percy Shelley.

Prompt: If I lived like today was a brand new start in my life, I would….. write for five minutes, free flow writing style, and afterwards determine what message your renewed life wants to tell you.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, has openings for two creative life coaching clients. She works with people like you who are ready to move beyond their previous blocks and into a purposeful, productive and satisfying life. Request your Complimentary Transformational Coaching Session today here.

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Literary Grannies, Writing Prompt

Speaking of Creating a Vision Plan: Goal #1

January 28, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Yesterday we talked about creating a ten year vision plan and then writing it by hand, daily, as I have been doing as a part of my daily writing practice.

Writing is my both my anchor art and in a way, one of my deepest, most long term ongoing relationships. Because of that, I will be vulnerable and share a bit of writing on each vision here for my next ten blog posts.

My first vision/goal/intention is this:

I provide the world fuel for creativity, intentional connection, and purposeful passion to eradicate loneliness and depression.

Loneliness and I know each other more intimately than I often let on. As my mother wrote in my baby book, “Julie smiles all the time, even through tears!” as if that was a blessing – perhaps it was/is – yet in a way I fought against loneliness so much it has had a tendency to suck me back in if I am not mindful or if there is so much happening outside of me I surrender (and not in a good, conscious, empowered way.)

That was, perhaps, the first connection between loneliness and me. My first baby brother was born when I was thirteen-months-old. I was still a baby myself and he had a unique gift that was, I imagine, more than distracting for my parents.

My beloved brother, his name was John, was born with Down’s syndrome. I can only imagine how it rocked my parents, even though “the river denial” flows strongly through our family constellation, too.

My guess is a part of little-baby-not-yet-walking-me surrendered to my brother’s higher needs and that became a lifelong pattern. I am crying as I write this, so I know I am onto something.

When John and I were both preschoolers, we were inseparable companions. He never had the best verbal skills, so we had a silent language that spanned space – after we grew up and lived distances apart, he and I were still able to communicate. This came into play when he was hospitalized before he died.

60% of Americans (or more) experience loneliness on a regular basis. Imagine with me how much better life would be for that group of people if they didn’t feel loneliness anymore.

Studies have found that loneliness leads to illness and absenteeism from work. It leads to mental health problems, it leads to economic instability and job loss. For children it leads to lower grades, it leads to students being shunned and left out. To minimize some of this fires me up from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.

There is an indelible loneliness that comes from not speaking up about what is most significant and having the desire but the inability to say what is so. Taking it further, there is an unforgettable sense of hopelessness that comes from speaking into a void, where no one hears and furthermore no one seems to care.

The vision I created for ten years in the future is also alive today.

How I fulfill it now is multifold.

I am in the process of rebirthing my newsletter mailing list because so many people have asked for it and I am finally ready to show up for it again.

I am remembering a woman from Australia who once wrote to me about the newsletter I used to publish and how during a time of grief and loss and loneliness, the fact I showed up via my newsletter in her email box gave her a sense of encouragement, even though I wasn’t writing about grief and loss, I was writing about passion and purpose and life and telling stories – asking questions – creating a space that said “You care, you matter, I’m grateful for your presence” even though I didn’t know or realize she was reading there was that sense, in the words in my newsletter – I was with her. Loneliness lessened.

I am creating in-person programs and events that incorporate story sharing, intention and connection so people may practice speaking up and being heard and then following up with the people they meet in the groups. Loneliness lessened via intentional connection and stretching comfort zones.

I am continuing to create and am simultaneously expanding online (via zoom and groups) spaces for people to connect intentionally to practice being seen and heard and growing purposefully, with passion using a variety of creative processes including creating social media presences based on passion and according to purpose rather than shoulds or lacks or “because so-and-so said this would be good.” Loneliness lessened via connection with oneself and with others, mindfully.

By writing my list of all ten every day and then focusing on a specific goal that leads me toward realizing my vision, I am fueling the world and myself. I don’t remember when I felt this good as consistently as I have in the recent past.

I provide the world fuel for creativity, intentional connection, and purposeful passion to eradicate loneliness and depression.

To begin to eradicate loneliness and make people feel excited about life, connected deeply to themselves and others fires me up from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.

I smile ear-to-ear when I think of the lives that have been changed and are changing and will change into the future because of the simplicity of intentional connection, reflection and direction through coaching, workshops, videos and more.

What makes you smile ear to ear? How might you make what you are excited about into a part of your vision for tomorrow, next week, next month or all of it, including ten years in the future?

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Filed Under: Creative Adventures, Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Intention/Connection Tagged With: Goal setting, Julie JordanScott, Mindfulness, mindset

Transformational Question to Live Today: What if….. I forget to be afraid

January 23, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

ballet dancers from 1924 remind us to forget to be afraid... what if you forget to be afraid, today?

I remember when I was leading a daily coaching group and we used the prompt, “When I forget to be afraid, I…”


We used what I call a “popcorn” method where people spoke “into the center” of the results that flow when we, as individuals and collectively, stop being imprisoned by fear and all the feelings associated with it.

Responses went like this:

When I forget to be afraid, I…

  • can do what I most want to do (without caring what people think)
  • notice the words flow, effortlessly
  • find answers to the questions that haunt me
  • laugh, a lot, about nothing and everything
  • go beyond planning into action

When I forget to be afraid, I…

and as we continued to go deeper, more conscious bravery begins to take form.

What if we forget to be afraid, both individually and collectively?

Walls and barriers fall when we don’t hesitate, when we stand up and speak up with courage and fullness and confidence.

Consider what it will take to get you there.

Do you need more practice in courage?

Today, do something small that makes you slightly shaky. It doesn’t have to be big and no one needs to know. YOU will know. Tomorrow, repeat – either with the same action or something else.

I guarantee if you do something every day for the next seven days that makes you feel nervous, you will find your courage stretched and your confidence is either soaring or about to lift off.

What if you forget to be afraid?

Write it, speak it, put it into practice.

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Writing Challenges & Play, Writing Prompt, Writing Tips Tagged With: Building Courage, Courage Practice, Eliminate Fear, Overcoming Fear

How Revisiting Your Old Blogs, Journals and Social Media Post Leads to a Happier Life

January 16, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Today’s a-ha roared toward me like a soft scratching on the front door from a long lost pet who found her way home.

I was re-reading a blog post from last January where I wrote:

Why do I have to go so deep with so many things? Why do I take a submarine dive into a simple prompt?

New version: What’s up with me choosing to go so deep with my new discoveries?

Another question I asked on the original blog post:

Why am I compelled to feel so deeply? Why aren’t toe dips in the shallow end enough for me?

What is the gift (are the gifts) in deep feelings? What is the benefit of not being like others, who are perfectly content in shallow feelings?

I have done a lot of personal development work as a part of not only my life work as a creative life coach and even so – I hit mindset roadblocks of limited beliefs on a regular basis.

Working on rewriting my narrative is a standard part of my life.

These questions from “before” – a year ago – illustrate how I was assessing my basic ways of being as somehow wrong. I have been known to call that “wrongifying myself.”

The new versions are aimed at recognizing the strength within me rather than the “what’s wrong”. This reminds me of the ee cummings quote, “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”

At my core, I am a deep thinking, intensely passionate person. Toe dips in shallow water don’t appeal to me. One way I have changed is this: I have gotten more patient or understanding (and at times I may say compassionate) with those who find their deepest satisfaction playing in the shallow water only.

Shallow water lovers are creating the life they are meant to live being their most real selves.

My most real self loves pushing myself into new adventures. My most real self is going to dive into these new questions and see what flows.

Question for integration: Review your blog posts, journals and social media pages to see what you were experiencing or creating a year ago.

How have you changed?

What are you inspired to create now as a response?

To see last year’s blog post, visit here:

END THE DOWNWARD SELF TALK SPIRAL: FROM LAMENT TO SELF LOVEhttps://creativelifemidwife.com/2019/01/

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Filed Under: Bridge to the New Year, Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Rewriting the Narrative, Writing Prompt Tagged With: Journaling, Self improvement, self talk

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How to Use Your Text & Other “Throwaway Writing” to Make All Your Writing Easier.

Trust in Creativity: Start with What’s Wrong

Self-Forgiveness: Often Forgotten, Always Worthwhile.

Beliefs: Review and Revise is it time? A clock face that needs revision with a bridge in the background.

Your Beliefs: Foundations of Your Creative Path to Peace

Introduction to “The Creative Path to Peace”

  • One-On-One Coaching
  • Retreats: Collaborative, Creative, Exactly as You (and Your Organization) Needs

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