Creative Process – Page 17 – Creative Life Midwife

I Gave it All Up Until…..

January 14, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Artists often give up at some point due to fear. The image inspires the rebirth to those who may be ready for what is better for them: art again.

I was in a theatre time capsule from the time I was eleven-years-old until I was forty-two-years-old. My children were involved in theatre. I happily played the role of “Theatre Mom” until I took an acting class by accident (I wanted a singing class) when all of a sudden my eleven-year-old self woke up and I found myself auditioning and being cast in my first community theater event ever.

At first I did shows constantly. I was cast in nearly everything I auditioned to be in. When I wasn’t on stage, I was on the tech grew, learning and growing constantly.

Life got busier and I didn’t do as much anymore even though I was still immersed in the local theater world. Over time I slowly – unnoticed- found myself feeling sadder and sadder and didn’t feel compelled to take the risk of auditioning anymore.

I got turned down one too many consecutive times. The time when I agreed to do a show I hit obstacles in my personal life and it wasn’t fun anymore. I gave it up, again.

Even though I am feeling better now than I have in years, insecurity rises when I think of auditioning. The familiar bully named FEAR joins the chorus. Once again I turn away from one of my great loves: the stage.

Birds don't question their abilities, but they sing anyway. This yellow bird shows us that. Why do we assume we aren't any good?

I have been reading Rachel Hollis’ book, “Girl, Stop Apologizing” before I go to sleep at night. In it, she talks about the power of “What if” questions. Now in my notebook there is an ongoing list of “What if” questions to use as prompts. Here are three I am working from as a result of my theatre conundrum:

What if I am not as good as I think I am?

What if I am better than I think I am?

What will I risk losing if I don’t try again?

These are not only for me. Use these writing prompts to guide you in the choices you make. Use them for meditation, for art, for contemplation as you exercise.

Share them with friends in your next conversation.

There are a lot of people out there who forget their gifts. Let’s reach out to them now, starting with yourself.

Writing with Pen & Paper Vs Computer: Friend, Foe or Collaborators?

January 13, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

The debate for writers: do we use computers or do we use paper and pen? Image of keyboard and hands notebook and phone to the side.

This is a question people ask me regularly: “Do you write with a pen (or pencil) and paper or do you write using your computer?”

My response: “Both”

The follow up question is often, “Do you do one sort of writing on the computer and another kind in your notebook?”

My response, “Not necessarily. And sometimes I write on my phone.”

This tends to frustrate people who want “the one pure secret to how to create a lot of content really fast”. If they were honest, they wouldl admit to the underlying desire being “because I want to make a lot of money and quit my day job.”

I’m not calling this a bad thing, I appreciate the ambition for abundance. The problem is, writing well isn’t always an exact recipe. I know lots of copywriters will tell you different. Copywriters may have an exact recipe for sales letters and they may have products to teach you how to write blog posts without ever writing.

If you want to write and you would like to write well and you would like to know about different ways of getting to a positive end result, please continue reading.

Generally, I approach writing projects like this:

I prefer to keep an old fashioned spiral notebook or composition book for my daily writing practice, which I usually do in the early morning. Most recently I’ve written three pages in the morning with the first page being standard brain dumping, simple free flow writing. The second page is a 21 item list of “What I did yesterday” – an inverse to-do list, “This is what I actually did.” with no basis in good, bad or indifferent. Just the facts.

Depending on the size of your notebook, these 21 lines may take up almost a complete page.

I finish that page with commentary on the list or more free writing.

The third page is whatever I need it to be. Sometimes I pre-write quotes or questions at the top of the page. Sometimes I write my word of the year or theme of the month on the page. Sometimes I will write something that is bothering me at the top of the page so that I may work through it.

I always end with at least six lines of gratitude because this insures my end on an up note.

This way my morning writing serves me to learn about patterns in my life (What did I do? What did I do I may write about? What is troubling me? What is inspiring me? Who are the people I am investing time in and what are the projects I’m ignoring?

All of this is done the old fashioned way: pencil or pen to blue lined spiral notebook or composition book paper. Brene Brown reminds us “The way to move information from your head to your heart is through your hands.”

Yes, this may include tapping on your computer keyboard or into your phone, but the pace of the notebook is slower. It connects you to your history and to the history of others in your life.

If there is information in your notebook to use in future writing (including something like this) the words and understanding will be deepened by re-reading what you wrote by hand and adding it into a computer document.

I encourage you to try writing differently from time-to-time. Don’t get too stuck in the idea there is a right way and there is a wrong way.

Instead, playfully experiment with different ways.

There is no wrong way to do this – there is simply and purely writing – and the love for expressing yourself and perhaps for other audiences as well.

How Living Questions of Transformation Allows Your Life to Expand Positively

January 7, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Transformation questions bring personal growth to the forefront. Bringing light into your life creates a new way of seeing, connecting and acting. — **Using daily questions through creative processes will shift your mindset and your actions.**

Transformation questions are both life-changing in a heart sense as well as exceptionally productive. The power inherent in living questions first arose when I was introduced to Rainer Rilke’s quote in “Letters to a Young Poet”:

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now.”

The questions I am posing in this series may be used in many ways to create a more satisfying, meaningful life. When you live these questions, you consciously turn the questions into a transformative process. For you, that may mean journaling – either written or art journaling. It may be asking the questions before exercise or meditation.

Spreading gratitude for the light you attract through living transformation questions brings light to others. — **Gratitude: one of the highest forms of energy, will make your light shine even brighter. Connecting through writing, creativity and discussion helps, too.**

Some people begin by using the questions to open a conversation, to reflect on one’s past, present and future as well as create new solutions in their families, work lives and passion projects.

These questions will allow you to reflect, connect and direct you into a course of passionate action.

Your first question:

What if I claimed my light, fresh and new, every day?

Follow up questions include:

What if I held my light, shared it, and spread glittery gratitude for it through my attitude and action?

What if I playfully experimented with this idea today and in the future?

What if I lived this question with passionate detachment and love?

I look forward to hearing your first responses in the comments as well as follow up – because when you live these questions, they will begin to live within you. They will transform your responses and shape the actions you take to be increasingly light-based.

Listen: Books & Their Writers & Mystery May Be Calling You…

January 6, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Visual definition of synchronicity: bird, feathers, and ice

Have you ever had an experience where you heard about something new and all of sudden that “something new” was everywhere you looked? Maybe you had simply amplified your awareness or maybe there were other reasons, but nonetheless, let’s take a look at these happenings.

It happened to me this weekend.

I discovered a book on my dining room table, left there by me who knows when. The dining room has become something of an archeological site. We don’t use it much these days.

The book almost got tossed because it reminded me of books using pottery as a metaphor that was outdated in my experience. I almost donated it, but the title called to me.

“Centering” I thought. It felt simultaneously comforting and expansive.

Today, in my email was Maria Popova’s “Brainpickings.” This is one of my favorite ezines, filled with writers whose work I enjoy and every time I read it, I gain new insights into life. Oftentimes I find new work from familiar voices. Today, I heard synchronicity, which Carl Jung named as a concept developed by psychologist Carl Jung to describe a perceived meaningful coincidence. Some might sneer at there being any meaning in such coincidence, but I think differently.

Here’s what I read:

“Centering is a verb. It is an ongoing process.” Words from Mary Catherine Richardson, the author of the book I almost threw out. Synchronicity. Another way of the divine remaining anonymous with an insistent knock.

close up of women's face, with art in front of it, illustrates the mystical tone of centering.

“Centering, a verb – like healing – an ongoing process,” I thought.

Richardson continued: “Centering is not a model, but a way of balancing, a spiritual resource in times of conflict, an imagination. It seems in certain lights to be an alchemical vessel, a retort, which bears an integration of purposes, an integration of levels of consciousness. It can be called to, like a divine ear.”

I lifted my eyes, I had read enough. I don’t need to know more now. That time will be here before I know it. “I don’t need to overfill my mind immediately,” I thought, “I need to honor my learning process and take time to weave it together.”

Yesterday at book club one of the members mentioned the book by Rachel Hollis, “Girl, Stop Apologizing.” I almost poo-pooed it the book right away, except I knew Hollis was successful and even though I am much older than her, I still aim for similar success.I even have the audacity to be optimistic: I may reach much higher levels of success than I now experience.

Stacks of books on a curved shelf from the library

Today when I checked my Libby library app hoping my short term “Dare to Lead” audio book by Brene Brown was still there. It wasn’t. Who do you think was smiling at me from the face of my Libby library app?

There she was, Rachel Hollis, on the cover of her best selling book “Girl, Stop Apologizing” which was available in ebook form.

Synchronicity, again: I checked it out. When I first started reading I thought, “Oh, this writing style is grating and I am clearly not her target audience I don’t know how….” and then a phrase leaped out at me.

A basket with the 1962 publication "Centering" and an ebook of "Girl, Stop Apologizing" together.

And another. And I thought, “What if I read “Girl, Stop Apologizing” and “Centering” side by side? they both have optimistic, forward thinking, empowering messages – they are simply told by writers decades apart. I am right in the middle of that spread so why not try it? What if it made both experiences better?”

What will it hurt to try? What if I enjoy it and gain more than I imagined that I may pass on to my readers?

“Centering” and “Girl, Stop Apologizing”: a side-by-side, mindful exploration of what the content is speaking at the core of two women writing to the core of one woman reading.

I’m doing it.

What book(s) are you reading or thinking of reading? Do you have a reading goal this year?

How to Ignite Your Journaling or Daily Writing Easily to End Journal Burnout

January 4, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Are you interested in revitalizing your journaling or daily writing practice?

Three months ago I made a change in my writing practice routine and it has made a huge difference for me. Considering I literally lost one of the last three months because I almost died from sepsis, this is even more remarkable.

As the new year begins, I am even more excited to bring the message of reawakening, restoring and being fully alive into the world.

Ready to try it? Watch this simple 4 minute video and read below to see some of the nitty gritty “how to” in the “What I did yesterday” sequence.

What did I do yesterday?

Tried to go to Open Mic at Dagny’s
Took a shopping cart photo and wrote my morning haiku
Enjoyed breakfast at Denny’s with Parker.
Drank coffee
Made Samuel his favorite meal
Listened to “Dare to Lead” by Brene Brown as I drove around
Wrote a blog post
Went on an adventure at the river bread (delivered sheer joy and a bunch of content.)
Decided not to do laundry

This is about when I start to lose steam, so I continue my numbering and go back and fill in as things pop into my head. Things can be simple – ridiculously simple like “Wore my black thrifted sweater I love so much.” Or “responded to an email”.

Even if you can’t come up with twenty “things I did” yesterday, simply starting this practice will help you to notice more as you experience life that you may take into your journaling as well as into other types of writing.

You may even make it into a game to think how much fun you are able to create in one day!

Tomorrow I will share 21 easy ways to make your day more “write-about-able”.

Come back to explore with me further as you not only revitalize your journaling, you may find yourself revitalizing your entire life!

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, has found herself revitalized after a near-death experience in October. She is more than ready and able now to take you to a richer, deeper, more passionately alive life experience. Join her free facebook group for writers – the Word Love Writing Community – now to become a better, more consistent writer.

Stop Rushing, Continue Growing

July 22, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Healing comes with time and space: This mixed media artwork is an illustration of the healing process Sometimes it feels like I am always rushing. Today I created a time buffer and I was still racing around due to a misplaced debit card I hadn’t discovered was misplaced until I was at the ATM halfway to my destination and I fumbled in my wallet for the absent card.

I managed to rush home and race back to the ATM and slide into place with ten minutes to spare, but in the midst of the rushing back and forth I was giving myself a quiet, calm pep talk.

“The old Julie would give up, the new Julie knows it is more important she show up and participate however that looks.”

“The old Julie would be critiquing her forgetfulness, yelling at her inability to be organized and with foresight to realize her shortcoming before it happened. The new Julie recognizes her own humanity and mirror compassion back at herself.”

“The old Julie would sentence herself to solitary confinement until some magical day when she started to ‘do better’ which is difficult to ‘do” when she has no measurement of social improvement in self-imposed exile. The new Julie is grateful she has a friend who invited her out, who she could safely confide in her dilemma, and who trusted her in every step she made along the way.”

My friend saved my seat: all was well. I filled myself with deep breaths. I made space to restore calm prior to the “main event” – absorbing new knowledge from the meeting I was attending, connecting with new people and old friends, deciding what applications to take with me afterwards.

When I was spit out from that womb of safety two hours later I was right back into the race, this time on mom-delivery duty.

Somewhere in those precious two hours my friend saw something in me that prompted her to text me saying “I keep learning new things about you. You amaze me!”

I texted back, “I wish I would amaze myself more!”

She gave me a smart suggestion I often overlook, “”Look at yourself from the perspective of other people.”

I sent a smile emoji and wrote, “I’m working on it….”

I’ve had a long practiced unconscious habit of not valuing myself.

I ask myself: How much praise from myself will it take for me to believe it?

It isn’t the amount of praise that matters, it is me believing these things about myself are valuable that matters.

What will it take for me to change these perspectives and transform them into beliefs? In the past I would harp on myself to create more evidence in order to manifest greater levels of belief in myself.

Maybe that is what I am doing without even knowing it.

Lately I have been spending more time in meditation. I have been purposefully feeding my spirit with a healthy dose of kudos from others. I have been pampering myself with loving self-reflection and spending time with people who like me not because of what I do, but because I exist.

These people remind me the world really is better because I am here in all my quirky, silly, unique-viewed, word-loving self.

I recognize healing like this doesn’t come overnight and it doesn’t come in one mountain top a-ha. It is a process it is a (choose your favorite journey, path, etc metaphor.) It doesn’t end, it integrates. It resurfaces for a variety of reasons none of which say “You are less than” or “you are not worthy” or “you are not enough.”

Healing comes in repetition, like the sunrise repeats itself every day.

Feeling better comes from multiple directions from multiple sources: different people at different times and different circumstances. Practice saying “This is all good” because it is, all good.

Julie JordanScott looks to heaven as she takes a pause in her writing. Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. She spent a year working as a leader of an Instagram Group and is now leveraging that experience to create a learning workshop/playshop experience about instagram based on having fun called Summer Lovin’ with Instagram. Click this link to find out more. To set up a complimentary exploratory session, please visit here. Be sure to follow her on Social Media platforms so you may participate in one of her upcoming events. You won’t want to miss a thing – your future self will thank you!

Self-Care Sunday is Not Always What You Think!

July 7, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I am doing something radical today: I am celebrating the entire day as Self-Love Sunday.

Maybe it is because the earthquakes got me rattled and everyone else seems to be running around buying supplies, but I need a day to focus on what makes me feel better.

So what I have been doing?

Well, I started with a chore I don’t like to do necessarily but the end result I love. Then I did some writing: a blog post and I finished writing a sales page I’ve been procrastinating about for far too long. That felt great – and this feeling of satisfaction is marvelous.

Next I washed and put away dishes, did some more writing and organization and then I made lunch.

There is no massage or pedicure or nap that feels as good as seeing the grateful smile on Samuel’s face as I bring him a yummy lunch made with all his favorite components.

Now here is where I got really crazy. I sat down with my lunch – a bowl of special K and a cup of coffee – and watched my favorite classic TV show. It was filmed in 1964 and was already old when I watched it!

I decided to make a bit of it into an Instagram Story and this alone made me laugh harder than I’ve laughed in days. Yes, even social media posts can be a form of self-care!

Next up is journaling and art-journaling and perhaps some attention to my content calendar for the week. You may think, “How is any of this self-care?”

All of it is self-care. Self-care isn’t a “one size fits all.” On some days, I may decide to get a facial and go out to an overblown lunch with a gaggle of girlfriends. Today, the inside-take-care-of-business feels great. Self-care, my dear ones, is about self, not others.

woman journaling to relieve stress and show self care

I can’t think of a better way to spend my Sunday. I can’t think of anything that could be more refreshing!

How about you? What are you doing on this Self-Care Sunday?

If you want a chuckle, head over to my Instagram and check out my Instagram Story. Fill in the blank… I’m sure you are a creative, too, like me!

Thanks for the visit! I’m grateful you were here!

Julie JordanScott is a Life and Creativity Coach who is thrilled to have an almost-empty-nest, a long-time creative practice, and has just launched her most recent program, “Summer Loving Instagram! Demystifying Social Media for Creative Entrepreneurs, Writers and Artists: She is proud to say she has won awards for storytelling, acting and activism. You may follow her on Instagram, YouTube and join her free Facebook Groups, “Word-Love Writing Community” and (along with Paula Puffer) Bridge to the New Year.

When Flowers Speak about Abundance, Listen!

July 1, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Join the Conversation. Allow Yourself the Surprising Joy that Arises as a Result.

My love affair with moon blossoms started during an exceptionally happy, satisfied time of my life when I would go to the river bed – an arroyo, a space that would house water if there was any to be housed, but at its best that season it was empty. This allowed me to sit in the center of it all and have great conversations, watch the sunset, howl with the moon and be surprised by the sounds of urban nature.

I fell in love with absence during that time: I understood something didn’t need to be there at all for one to acknowledge and love it anyway.

If the river had been flowing, I might not have noticed the heavenly scent of the moon blossoms, so pungent at night.

Last Friday night, I came upon my first blossoming patch of the season near twilight. None were fully open. They sat alongside a different portion of the flowing river. This summer, a lot of flow due to last winter, lots of rain and snow.

I had to go take a look, to pay homage to who I was and who I am and the presence of the moon blossoms amidst all of it.

Considering the current work I am doing, I made this two-minute video.

Please take a look:

Now, consider the prompt as an invitation to conversation. Bring it up with friends and co-workers. Ask on Twitter and make an Instagram post. “What is prosperity to you? How would you define it? When have you experienced it?”

Now – consider the moon blossoms.

“What is calling you to blossom, in darkness or in the light or anywhere? What is calling you to blossom into abundance and prosperity?”

Let the words flow, either on the page or in conversation.

A couple things before you go:

Take a moment to follow me on social media and on YouTube. If you are a blogger or writer across any genre, I offer valuable methods to keep your words flowing.

Leave a comment here, as a way of pledging your devotion and commitment to keep your writing prosperity, your word abundance flowing. If you would enjoy additional support I am offering to tag people in my daily instagram story time lapse posts as a way of saying “Ta-Da! I did it! I did my daily writing!”

The world is waiting for your words… let’s get them on the page now.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. To set up a complimentary exploratory session, please visit here. Be sure to follow her on Social Media platforms so you may participate in one of her upcoming events. You won’t want to miss a thing – your future self will thank you!

How to Be Open to the Art of Receiving

June 29, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Receiving: it is one of the most important skills on your journey to living a passionate life.

Yes, I said “skill” because so few of us are as adept at it as we could be and if we mastered it, truly, both our abundance and passion would grow exponentially. I’m not alone in this thought, I learned it from other experts. Look at what Alexander McCall Smith says: “Gracious acceptance is an art – an art which most never bother to cultivate. We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be much harder than giving. Accepting another person’s gift is allowing him to express his feelings for you.”

1. Truly receive your next compliment. No matter what your next compliment is, your task is simply to say “Thank you.” You may not rebuff the compliment, for example, say “oh, that’s nothing” because it is something. Receive kudos well and more receiving will come your way.

This video not only shares a valuable writing prompt, it goes more deeply into the concept of accepting compliments as a means of receiving and accepting gifts as a receiving practice.

2. Give without expectation of being “paid back” or “receiving in return” for what you give or what you do. Practicing practical, daily detachment is a heart opening way to invite more receiving into your life. When our motivation is giving-to-receive the greatest point is left behind.

3. Gracious acceptance may mean accepting both what we see as positive and negative. One of the most important skills we can learn, alongside with receiving is also being able to receive criticism and news we don’t want to hear with grace as well as a clear heart and mind.

4. Communicate to others what it is you really want. Oftentimes those around you have no idea what that may be because you haven’t yet communicated with them. One of the techniques I regularly use is asking the question, “Do you know anyone who….?” and then fill in what you want or need. It is like a magic wand to receiving what is wanted or needed.

5. Visualize yourself receiving what you want down to the tiniest detail. Jim Carrey is one of those well-known people who visualized his success long before his success was apparent to others. Athletes consider it “mental rehearsal.” Those who rehearse more often in the mind are also successful in the rest of their lives. Practice this and receive more abundantly.

Before you go, please remember to write to the prompt:

Today I am open to receive….

Below is my unedited response.

I am open to receive surprises. I am open to receive gentle words and refreshing gifts. I am open to receiving the energy to do some of the tasks that aren’t thrilling me. The idea of cleaning my desk, for example, felt so great when I initially planned it as homage to Maria but right now it doesn’t feel so great.

It is almost like she just whispered, “One drawer at a time, Julie,” so I will at least choose to start that project.

I am open to receive financial abundance via my expertise and gifts and talents. I am open to receive new people and connections that will serve as bridges to more abundance in experiences and opportunities.

I am open to receive a splendid sleep and to wake up with plentiful time to hang out with my online friends at 6 am and my new group of spiritual friends at 8 right here in Bakersfield. This, by the way, is so prosperous! Great new friends in Bakersfield!

I am open to receive direction, I am open to receive hugs and praise. I am open to receive new subscribers to my YouTube Channel and social media channels. (This feels almost silly to say but hey, I am open to receive them!)

I am open to receive flowers and chocolate before I die.

I am open to receive shared laughter and deep conversations with surprising people. I am open to receive smiles and acknowledgment and praise. I am open to receive apologies and authentic requests which I pray I am able to fulfill.

Today I am open to receive. I am open to receive.

I am grateful for cooler thn average temperatures. More walking than usual, clean-house-cleaning supplies. I am grateful for pencil sharpeners, good conversations with friends and fluffy pillows.

I am grateful for abundant receiving practice.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, and a Mother of three. One of her
greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. To set up a complimentary exploratory session, please visit here. Be sure to follow her on Social Media platforms so you may participate in one of her upcoming events. You won’t want to miss a thing – your future self will thank you!

Paradise Found and Tossed About and Found Again.

June 26, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I tend to feel a slight twinge of guilt when I don’t agree with my favorite writers. Today, I feel sheepish because I disagree with this quote from one of the most revered women’s voices in current literature. Today, I agree to disagree about the other side of paradise with a favorite writer and poet I’ve been reading and quoting for years.

“Happiness is a garden walled with glass: there’s no way in or out. In Paradise there are no stories, because there are no journeys. It’s loss and regret and misery and yearning that drive the story forward, along its twisted road.”
― Margaret Atwood

On a warm June afternoon I considered this quote and I don’t want to agree with it.

In fact, I am feeling the excitement of victory above and over the damn thing.

Loss, regret, misery and yearning alone move stories forward?

It can’t be so, this can’t be the reason or the magnet or the finish line or the goal posts rising toward the sunset and champagne and accolades and hugs and happy high fives. No no no no and no.

I respect Margaret Atwood AND no, I don’t believe her assertions here about happiness and paradise. Do you believe what she says?

I’m going to think of today as a microcosm of story.

I had a blast of a morning: so much fun in my virtual co-working experience where we all got more than the norm done. We all moved forward perhaps along a slightly twisted road and I heard nothing about misery.

We had some technical glitches and stuff took a little longer than we had hoped, but loss and regret?

I’ll look at something else from today. Lunch with Emma. Found out a server at a restaurant we go to died in a car accident. Definitely loss. Discovered a gofundme I can share, something I can take action on, which made me feel slightly better.

Next Emma and I went to Kaiser. I felt annoyance due to poor communication but at least we took action. One might argue we were focused on avoidance of misery if a broken toe is misery. Perhaps it could be misery?

I put her car key on a cute key chain I found. I have no idea where the key chain came from, I just know I felt ridiculously happy because I have a horrible habit of misplacing keys and this one simple tool would make it much easier… to avoid loss and or regret?

Perspective, I think as five minutes of writing passes and I start yawning, wanting to avoid more discovery of loss or regret or misery or needless misery.

Happiness is unexpectedly seeing an old friend who values you more than you believe you deserve.

Happiness is forgiving yourself for being afraid and then finally taking action. Happiness is having the action netting authentically pleasing results.

Happiness is framing photos and art after waiting a while, and then hanging that art which makes people smile and then create their own art.

Happiness is going to a meeting where people appreciate you and a meetup with a friend who finds you funny and interesting and surprises you with the memories of you she shares.

I totally forgot the loss and yearning and misery as I recounted happiness which is probably why I feel so strongly about using gratitude as an ending point for free flow writing exercises.

I have experienced a lot of grief in my life. I have lost friends I cherished, I have fallen upon hard times with my face squarely in the mud for a lot longer than was healthy.

What helped me pick myself up and begin again was not the misery or the grief itself, it was the awareness of the sun rising, again, even after a lengthy darkness.

It isn’t an either misery or ecstacy, it is the awareness that even with misery or is currently great loss, there is also room for joyful ecstacy. It isn’t one or the other, there is one and there is the other.

Paradise has stories. For some reason, I am smelling vanilla – rich vanilla, not cheap, mild flavored vanilla – when I think of paradise stories. I see maps and diaries detailing journeys into and out of and over paradise and journeys into and out of and over and into hell: which is the only antonym for paradise (heaven, bliss, cloud nine, utopia, wonderland) and many other synonyms to happily, contentedly and transformatively describe a space many of us aim to inhabit.

Misery might love company, paradise loves permanent residents: especially those who are compassionate and kind to those who live outside. Those who haven’t learned about the joy of experiencing the richness and fullness and sweet losses of life with grace and hope and a future.

I can’t think of the perfect red bow to tie this up and I want to be finished.
Maybe you have a more proper ending? If you do, add it here.

As for me, I am off to today’s next paradise, next regret, next happiness, next loss, next story and next dissatisfaction and next moment of deep belly laughter, and the next story I tell about it all.

Julie JordanScott is the Creative Life Midwife: Her work as a life coach, muse and group facilitator has inspired best selling novels, new careers and knocking knees during speeches, performances and video releases. Right now she is enjoying hosting Ta-Da Tuesdays and preparing for her next Summer and Fall programs.