Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

Invite Your Buried Dreams to Return to the Open

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A question mark and some faces below the question "Why are you waiting? Invite Your Buried Dreams to Come Into the Open."

“I feel like I’m cheating,” I said to the other women in my mastermind group, “because I’m a performer.”

We were talking about going live on a social media platform: Facebook live, instragram live,

YouTube, LinkedIn or whatever places one may go live. The women were collectively complimenting me but I wasn’t receiving their compliments, I was shaking my head in denial of my gifts.

Maybe it is because I have done live theater for many years now and have been horrible on stage at times and have done some pretty embarrassing and frightening things like making sound effects I certainly wouldn’t want my parents or siblings to hear, wearing a bathing suit on stage – if you know me you would figure why that horrified me.  I also clearly remember what it felt like to be typing away on stage left when the chair I was sitting in broke. 

These are just a few live theater failures I have experienced in front of paying audiences. That doesn’t even begin to say the missed lines,cues or near misses on wardrobe malfunctions. 

What most people now don’t know is there was a thirty year gap in my stage experience. I stopped acting because I was an eleven-year-old with the role of (to that point) lifetime that got rave reviews except for the person I most wanted to impress. 

Thirty years later, I took an acting class not because I wanted to because I was never, ever going to go on stage. Theater and performance weren’t my thing. 

My interest was in improving my voice because of my radio show.

My voice was paramount but the class got canceled. I was offered a chance to take the acting class, instead.

Remember, I never wanted to do theater. My kids did theater, not me.

I had a lightbulb moment. I realized I could take the acting class to practice my voice until the voice class was offered again.

I figured what the hell. Why not?

I was aggravated about playing Improv games. How annoying, I thought. My acting teacher decided to be secretive about it and whispered a scenario to my scene partner,  a teenage girl. 

He looked at me and said, “Your job is to say no to whatever her request is. Keep it as realistic as possible.”

I can follow instructions, even if I had no idea what I was supposed to be saying no to at first.

In less than a minute I discovered I was supposed to say YES to taking my daughter off life support? My acting teacher did not realize he had touched a very deep scar in my spirit.

My scene partner was pushing and pushing and pushing and I was escalating and escalating and escalating. I remember my hands were rising and my shoulder was holding on and holding on and holding on.

At the time, I thought angels had surrounded me whispering, “let go, Julie, you can so this, just let go… drop your hands and let go…”

I took their advice and crashed through the present moment into a transcendent moment. When I came back up for air, I knew the art  I had abandoned thirty years ago wanted me back.

This dream, this love, was buried so deep inside me I wouldn’t allow myself to hear it. 

When I go live, however, that side of me has been known to come roaring back – sometimes because of synchronicity due to the subject matter. Recently on Instagram Live I have been doing improv topics combined with storytelling.

Rather than telling you what happened, I will share the video clip.

I wonder if you have something you do really well that is a sign you have a dream buried inside, asking to be heard and experienced again?

Any inklings?

I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Woman hugging a cartoon tree - white with black polka dots

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Creative Life Midwife with Julie Jordan Scott Weekly Highlights October 8, 2022

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I have not made it through a month of blogging for several years, so while I was trying again there was a part of me that wondered how far I would get.

Success = Affirming My Abilities after time in a dark tunnel of “not so much.”

I am pleased to say that today is the first day I am doubling up and that is only because yesterday got away with me while I was busily working on other aspects of my business: course creation and networking, primarily. 

My daughter was due early in the evening for an event and she came earlier than expected so…. I missed. This morning, one of my first tasks was completing the missing day and here I am with my Saturday recap, just as I expected to do each week.

Favorite 3 Posts this Week (with Links)

Highlights for me this week include learning how incredible Beatrix Potter is and weaving her story into two blog posts. The Beatrix Potter post about repurposing is a new favorite.

I was also pleasantly surprised by Thursday’s inspirational post. It wrote itself during a daily morning writing practice and has been getting favorable reviews from many readers.

Next Week’s Content Plan

Question for Creativity and Contemplation: How will doing something slightly scary change your life this week? Image is of a door opening behind the question.

The plan for next week includes stepping into a multi-passionate approach because I have discovered over time how helpful it has been to me to explore life through a variety of callings rather than “niche down, niche down, niche down” which I know fits for most people. I have finally concluded staying focused on passion itself is the best for me.

I also plan to write at least two posts that require courage from me. I added this journaling prompt in yesterday’s blog post. It is one I will visit personally. I invite you to do the same if you are having challenges with staying the course over the upcoming days and weeks ahead.

What is your plan for content next week?

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Are you Multi-Passionate? Mix your passions to see the resulting growth & expansion

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A book and a coffee cup and a woman's hand beneath the words "Writing experiments stir one passion into another and expand each exponentially." Julie JordanScottt

Three things I love: writing, reading and poetry. Beyond these I also love theater, performance, music, passionate discussions and learning. I love taking what I learn and using it in my writing, in the courses I teach, in my speaking and performance gigs.

One of the ways to integrate the varied things you love into the rest of your life is via experiments. Right now I am in the midst of several – many of which I won’t or don’t choose to talk or write about but this one, oh how sweet this one is.

Last week, I used a poem written by Teresa of Avila in my morning writing practice. 

I scooped up lines from it and used them as part of my daily affirmation, another part of my writing practice and every day living.

This week I am using a poem by Rita Dove, former Poet Laureate of the United States. Her poem, “The First Book,” is the opening or introductory poem in Caroline Kennedy’s collection, “Poems to Learn by Heart.”

The poem starts like this:

“Open it.

Go ahead, it won’t bite.

Well… maybe a little.”

Ahhhh. How illustrative of so many different things! When we are courageous enough to experiment in a tiny bit frightening way, we grow. In the Let Our Words Flow Creative Community on Facebook (join us here), we will also be using this poem and this experiment to encourage our creative impulse to swerve a tiny bit into scary places.

Journaling question for the Let Our Words flow creative community invites us to open the possibility of the transformative power of fear.

Last week I wasn’t expecting to have one poem make such a difference. It was astounding sometimes, it made me laugh at other times and the way the lines from the poem synchronistically answered questions I was asking or solved conundrums I was having was very close to divine.

As I wrote that sentence, my back got straighter, almost like my body was recognizing something my mind wasn’t ready to recognize yet.

Do you ever experiment in your life and work? I would love to hear about it in the comments. If you don’t experiment (yet) what sort of fun might you have with it?

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Our Story of Courage & Compassion

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Background is pink with white hearts and says "Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the braves thing we will ever do." Brene Brown. Included is a journaling prompt: How will you see your story (daily story, mountaintop story, yearly story) through the lens of deep, profound love this week?
What will you write?

Today hasn’t been easy. I didn’t sleep well – and I was slow to get going – and if truth be told, I might have been better off just going back to bed AND there were/are certain things I want to get done today so here I am, writing, using a prompt I wrote several months ago that is ideal for me right now.

Choosing what to write is easy with #5for5BrainDump

I created a method several years ago that is so simple and effective, some people might not want to believe how profound and meaningful the process was and how deeply everyday people can get with their writing so quickly.

Considering the dumps I am in right this minute, what have I got to lose?

Set the timer for 5 minutes and write, write without thinking or judgment.

Me: I didn’t sleep well last night.

JA: What happened?

Me: I didn’t sleep well. I woke up coughing, choking again.

JA: Ohhh. That sounds tough.

Me: It is tough, it’s scary. 

JA: Yeah…

Me: And it makes me wonder about a lot of scary things that lead me down scary paths and I don’t want to go there. I don’t feel like going there.

JA: Ohhh. I get it, I understand not wanting to go to those dark places. I am with you there. I know, I know.

Silence.

Silence.

Heartbeat filled silence.

Me: Will you tell me a story?

JA: I can write you a story, sure. 

Here we go. 

Wait. 

First.

Me: Yes? What?

JA: Do you trust me? Julie? Do you trust me?

Silent Nod

JA: Thank you. You trusting me is a big deal.

JA: I’m going to write you a note, so you may read it later when you start feeling this way again. 

Silence.

Silence.

More silence.

JA: Dear Julie,

I know it is scary to be awake at night in the dark alone.

You have come so far that sometimes it feels secure to be scared. It is familiar. It is as if your fear is an abusive friend but at least it is familiar. You wake up coughing and choking and you remember what it was like to be a nineteen-year-old version of you, sleeping on a bottom bunk in a dorm room coughing and choking and not being able to breathe at night when you were almost an adult but not quite.

You were taking on a lot and you were scared you wouldn’t be able to manage it all. 

When you got older, you called it a stress cough. 

You had kids and were working hard to raise them right but sometimes you were uncertain. You know you made mistakes.

You would cough, sometimes with people around, looking at you.

You would ask people to give you water, anything, to shut down the cough to take the horrible cough away because if the cough persisted… like that time you and Emma were in that Cracker Barrel in Indiana on the way to take her to school and you started coughing so hard and you couldn’t stop so you got up and went to the restroom and you coughed so hard you vomited and you cried and you couldn’t get it to stop but you did, eventually, and you went back to the table and Emma and you smiled at her. 

“Mommy is ok,” you told her, “I’m fine honey, all is well.” or at least this is how you see it in memory.

There were quick episodes when you were scared and long episodes when you were sick and now, after a long time without the coughing, they’re here.

Maybe they’re ready to say goodbye.

Are you ready to say goodbye, dear Julie?

Sometimes the writing takes you away for more than one 5 minute section, so you keep going.

That’s what happened here. I wrote for about ten minutes in this dialogue format, having a conversation with my highest self, Julianne, about what had been bothering me all day.

This just scratched the surface, but I got it out – and with a writing process like #5for5BrainDump, 5 minutes of prompted writing for 5 consecutive days, magic happens. Trust grows. A new relationship with words and yourself begins.

Devotion, Movement & Trust in Action.

Like I said, I have had a tough day and I didn’t want to show up. I’m still not convinced it was and… because I am devoted to you and because I am devoted to the healing that comes from unedited, non judgmental writing, I am not going to change a thing.

Yes, And….

Writing like this is similar to improvisational theater. In Improv, the primary rule is “Yes, and…” so with writing like #5for5BrainDump we say “Yes, And” to whatever shows up. Jodi Picoult said this about “Yes, And”

“In the space between yes and no, there’s a lifetime. It’s the difference between the path you walk and the one you leave behind; it’s the gap between who you thought you could be and who you really are; its the legroom for the lies you’ll tell yourself in the future.”

What you have read here – if you have gotten this far, is a page in my story. I am loving myself enough and loving you enough to share it here.

Are you brave enough to tell the pages of your story and love yourself through the process?

Julie Jordan-Scott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Northwest New Jersey (Sussex Borough, Nj) where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch exclusive reel videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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October Outlook: Grateful for YOU, dear Reader of this Blog

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Autumn leaves and a blue sky with text that welcomes friends, long time and new. Inspiration for writing, blogging and content creation with Julie Jordan Scott.

If I had to use three words to describe myself last year at this time I would say “hurting, perplexed, tenacious.”

IN OCTOBER, 2021

I was hurting because my father died less than six months before October last year. I had been my mother’s primary caretaker from April through July and spent much of that time simultaneously emptying her home before assisting my brothers in moving her into an assisted living facility. I was perplexed because I had managed to hurt my middle daughter by following through to move to New Jersey without adequate ongoing communication for a much needed sabbatical from my life on the west coast. I was tenacious because I didn’t stop trying to get it – life – work – my creative pursuits – better than they had since I had a near death experience in 2019 and quite honestly, for a few years leading up to that.

WHEN LIFE’S PLANS ARE DIFFERENT THAN YOUR OWN….

I didn’t know last October I would go on a wildly circuitous route to find myself starting over again. I am back to the manse where I started my “year of creative retreat and radical self-care” on October 6, 2021.  

I didn’t know it would devolve or evolve into a second period of intense grief, and crisis caregiving of an entirely different sort which lead me to spend January, March, May, June, July, August, half of the preceding December and half of September only to return right back where I started – as if my hopes and dreams chewed me up and spit me out – and I got back up, Slowly and sometimes quite unsurely I brushed myself and my circumstances off and insisted upon finishing what I desperately longed to start AND finish.

AND THE IRONY OF THINGS D/EVOLVING INTO BETTER

Ironically – and I wouldn’t have expected to be saying this – but experiencing that crisis caregiving time healed the rift with my middle daughter, strengthened my reserves and built my west coast family into much more of a team. Our communication is stronger. It is safe to say we all feel more resilient.

There was one important request I made before I got on an airplane and headed back east on September 15.

DOING LIFE DIFFERENTLY: THE SIMPLE THINGS

I said “You guys need to text me for no real reason. You need to let me know how you are, tell me how your day went, ask me how I am doing, because right now, I get scared with every text I receive. 

“When I left last year I only heard from any of you if something bad happened. I do not want it to be like that.”

It isn’t like that.  Our healing through tears, struggles, laughter, strength building and stubborn will changed us all for the better.

I am still grieving – with my younger brother’s death last December 10th there are still tender firsts to experience. I am still concerned about the health of my family members.  There is still left over sadness because I was hustling so much to be sure Samuel’s college tuition was paid I didn’t get to invest in as much time in work around my home in Bakersfield or connecting with friends AND.. things are so much better I am still wondering when I will wake up from this dream.

THE HEALING POWER OF POETRY

In May Swenson’s poem, “October”, one stanza includes this section:

“I sit with braided fingers

and closed eyes

in a span of late sunlight.

The spokes are closing.

It is fall: warm milk of light,

though from an aging breast.

I do not mean to pray.

The posture for thanks or

supplication is the same

as for weariness or relief.”

YOUR THREE WORDS… OR PHRASES.

For you, I am grateful for your presence, I am thrilled to connect with you again, and I am honored to meet and walk alongside new companions

I am relieved and thrilled to be back here for another October with you and another Ultimate Blog Challenge. I have not been stable through any of the months we have done this since… I don’t know when – surely at least since 2019  but that makes me even more determined to be here for the other participants as well as to honor what I have been through this year and what is coming next in the future.

I would love to hear what you are looking forward to in October and how I might help you either in the content I write or the encouragement I may be able to offer you.

I am beyond words grateful that you are here reading my words.

Woman hugging a cartoon tree - white with black polka dots

Julie Jordan-Scott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Northwest New Jersey (Sussex Borough, Nj) where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch exclusive reel videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Pause to Consider: How Willing Are You to Be….

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In my years of life and creativity coaching, I’ve witnessed one of the biggest barriers to achievement comes when a person confesses they want to do something but don’t know how to do it, are nervous about asking for help and might not even know who to ask or how to ask how to do whatever that “thing” is.

The second barrier is often… an unwillingness to be a beginner or get a part of what they want to do wrong. The results become IT rather than the experience.

The natural question to ask oneself then, on a scale of one to ten, how willing are you to be bad at something you have a strong desire to try? Can you be passionate and detached at the same time?

When I was in middle school, there was a required gymnastics portion of our gym class. I was excited to try the parallel bars but I knew it might be something I couldn’t do very well. I waited until the very end of class and my patient and probably insightful PE teacher offered to help me when all the other girls went into the locker room.

I wasn’t good on that first attempt.

I never tried again.

Pulitzer Prize winning author of “Understanding Creativity – A Journey Through Art, Science and the Soul” Matt Richtel writes of a shift that happens starting in the fourth grade when we internalize rule following and peer pressure that doesn’t allow us to try new things, to experiment. It is like setting aside our creative muscle like I set aside my gymnastic muscle for fear of looking even less athletic in front of my peers than I already did.

I wasn’t willing to be bad or worse than I already was at any aspect of gymnastics. This from a kid who two years earlier had spent an entire Saturday mastering the monkey bars at the neighborhood park. Between those two years, I stopped being willing to be bad and work through being bad to be better. Not great, but better.

How willing are you to be bad at something you really want to “get right”?

How willing are you to be bad at something publicly?

This week, take some time to consider what you are willing to do badly in order to get better. 

What small experiments might you try to begin to flex that needlepoint, cardio, writing, painting, dancing, French speaking self? What passion is your heart calling you to bring to life with passion and yes, detached from the outcome.

This first step isn’t making a declaration of what passion you want to explore, it is about considering, reflecting and opening up the treasure chest you haven’t been willing to explore… yet.

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Reviewing & Celebrating Your Past & Present Selves: From Joyful Writer to Almost Influencer

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Julie JordanScott reading "The Grieving Brain" in the Flower Fields in Carlsbad. She is having a reunion with her writer self, her current self, her grieving self and could not feel better.

I’ve been poking around my old images and my old writing. What I have found has delighted me. Earlier this week I reported about it on Instagram.

Confessions of a Social Media Almost Influencer

The post in question went like this:

I’ve been revisiting writing I did before my multiple crises in 2007 and what I have found has been astonishing me.

Who was this writer and why have I buried her words?

The exciting part of it is… the excavation is in process and soon these long buried works will be taking form, even better than before.

Some of the excavated pieces became a part of a Sunday Snippet posting on the #WritersFriendChallenge hashtag and a piece of content on my JJS Writing Camp Facebook Page.

On Hollywood Boulevard, tourists like me get their photos taken with characters like Elmo. This one was only slightly creepy but wait - what is this thing on his wrist?!

My former writing self even agreed to be photographed by this more than slightly creepy Elmo on Hollywood Blvd who had moments before whispered to my much -younger-then-daughter, Emma, “I like your Mom.”

Emma also posed with Sponge Bob

Who are you, as a Writer, in the Past and Now?

Oh, the things we don’t know that we later discover.

What would you like to do to keep moving towards your present moment writer self?

You don’t need to answer that right now.

Questions like this are often answered quickly and easily – and to borrow another writing term – in a first draft before your thoughts have a chance to fully ripen.

This is perhaps the primary lesson I offer myself when I asked this question earlier.

Who was this writer and why have I buried her words?

My in process draft is – The Writer who I am now recognizes there was an overwhelming amount of pain I hadn’t fully processed before – and rather than being cleared away and fortified by other materials, more painful experiences or experiences I felt responsible to aid in the fixing took me from deep, love-based, truly free writing as I had done so readily without even realizing it.

I came close many times in the last years to recover the qualities of that past-writer-me, but it was almost as if she was trapped in a mirror or just outside my reach.

I felt safer keeping her tucked away. I didn’t have the energy to be her in that way right then – so now I am getting reacquainted and realizing it isn’t scary anymore. It is fun. It is enchanting.

What I now know is – the happy ending is an ongoing process.

Staying the Course – and Moving Forward with Love (to Completion)

I am now having the joy of revisiting previously written material and bringing it back to life AND also writing new material, crafting a new narrative, from this much healthier, integrated perspective.

As I type this on a warm July day in Bakersfield, I don’t even know if it will make sense to those of you who have gotten this far in reading. Long ago a wise version of myself once said, “Sometimes the things that make no sense make the most sense of all.”

Is there a former version of the writing you waiting for an invitation to a reunion? Tell us in the comments.

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Empowered Beliefs + Core Values = More Attractive Writing (Plus a Bonus Video)

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How to make your writing more attractive to readers (and audiences) may surprise you. This article header invites you to explore here.

Bloggers, Novelists, Poets, Content Creators all want to create work that is attractive to others.

One of our dreams is often to draw people to our work as if our posts, books, collections were magnetized.

Here’s the thing: you may intentionally magnetize whatever you write through filling your writing with your most empowered beliefs and your values so that people are compelled by what you are saying or sharing. If you are writing unintentionally from limiting beliefs or concepts that are outside your values, you may be unconsciously sending people away from your writing.

How do these intangibles become attractive to your audiences and readers?

I am a multi-creative and once upon a time I directed the play “First Kisses”. One of my colleagues from the theater community approached me with a surprised and slightly embarrassed expression on his face and said, “Julie, I have to say I really liked this. I can’t tell you why, but I really, really liked it.” His eyes silently said “This is entirely not my cup of tea content wise, but there was something in it that drew me into the experience itself.”

What drew him in was the intention I created with the actors and technicians who brought the written words to life. His enjoyment and attraction to the work was based on what we added to the script, intentionally.

How have your favorite – and not so favorite – authors used this?

Have you ever started reading a book and realized although it was outside your usual genre, you didn’t want to stop reading?

Today, consider this: magnetism is because the person who created it took their empowered beliefs and their values and through the combination of these two intangible qualities created a work imbued with an energy that can’t be explained in a conventional way.

This is a lot to take in. Instead of exploring all the possibilities here – I will ask you to spend some time this week thinking about what you believe, underneath the chatter, the arguments and grandstanding, what rises to the top every time?

How to easily gain clarity about your beliefs and values that may be in hiding under the surface:

  1. Be gently curious with yourself. Instead of forcing yourself to “find the right answer” simply ask yourself, “What do I truly believe?” and then go about your activities of the day.
  2. Every evening, ask yourself the question again, “What do I truly believe?”
  3. In the morning, take time to write the question by hand and respond to it by hand, “What do I truly believe” and allow the thoughts to flow without thinking, planning or arguing before you start moving your pencil or pen across the page.
  4. After you have written, set your notebook or piece of paper aside and repeat for at least three days.
  5. You will discover a pattern you may not have noticed until now.
  6. Repeat with “What do I truly value?”
  7. Also notice what your behaviors prove you value. For example, if you state you value quality relationships but you spend zero time with your best friends and family, you are not leading a life aligned with your values. The good thing is, you are taking the time to fix this habit. 
  8. Remember to continue to ask the question, explore with writing and perhaps have some conversations with friends so you may talk out your discoveries. Just like with your writing, don’t edit or judge what you say – if your friends or families are judgmental, take note of that and perhaps try making a video for your eyes only  to watch instead so you may hear what you truly believe and value.

If you would like to begin the process here, write in the comments one thing you believe and/or one thing you value. If that is uncomfortable, simply let me know you were here.

Bonus Video to Gain Understanding

As a bonus, here is a brief video I made this morning for you on this same subject. It’s only three minutes and perhaps by watching it you will pick up something more than simply reading the words.

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Let’s Get Creative: Write, Journal, Doodle, Jot about Freedom

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This is the weekend we are celebrating freedom in the United States. To ignore our country’s current struggles on this holiday working feels unauthentic – so instead, I invite you to consider how you recognize freedom in your everyday life before making something inspired by freedom.

Use creativity to explore how you have or would like to experience freedom

Open a new document or get our your journal and begin with the sentence starters in the image. Write for at least five minutes freely, stream-of-consciousness style. You may want to get your juices flowing by beginning with a comment below before you leave.

  • Freedom feels like
  • Freedom is….
  • Freedom tastes like
  • Freedom looks like
  • I know freedom when….
  • I am grateful for freedom because…
  • I would describe freedom to an alien by saying….
  • Freedom sounds like
  • Freedom smells like

To further spark your writing and creativity

To further spark your writing, watch this video and use it as a prompt in addition or instead of the freedom prompt.

Please begin your response to the prompts that are offered here in the comments. I would love to hear from you!

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

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July: 2022 Begin Again”The Best is Yet to Be”

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I am a relentless optimist, usually. Today as we begin a new month, I am reclaiming my Optimistic Hat as will many of us in the community of bloggers in the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

Ultimate Blog Challenge banner for Fridays which will be recaps and refreshers. Today is all about goals: being and doing goals, intentions and writing goals.

Recap: The Year that Wasn’t

I had some ambitious yet also not too outrageous goals when 2022 started.

Unfortunately, my brother’s death with less than two weeks left to go in 2021 helped start everything off in a rather dark way. Two family deaths in a short time was nearly unbearable.

I didn’t factor in grief as well as the health failures of another family member in which were healing after I left California in February and came to a climax in March – when I returned for three weeks and then in May, when I returned for final stages of that healing only to find his health had slidden beyond the place where it had started getting bad.

It had become a crisis so I had to give up my sabbatical on the east coast for a time not just for standard caregiving but for crisis caregiving. 

Somehow the past me knew I would be best off by setting goals differently this year.

Refresh Intention: Goals of Being + Goals of Doing

CS Lewis Quote: There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." Relax about the year so far and settle into what is next.

Goals of Being are more like the Miss Congeniality winner intentions and goals: engaging, kind but not threatening – more like the one who builds up others confidence rather than setting the bar too high for the average person.

Goals and intentions of doing focus on accomplishments, achievements, tangible, measurable tasks and the like.

I revisited my goals for the year and was thrilled when I realized my crowning glory was in the goals and intentions of being. Here are some examples:

I am consistently 

  • Enjoy the process, whatever the process becomes
  • Be present to what is rather than what was or what is to be in the future.
  • Create small, daily goals and move forward with love toward a desired result
  • Practice clear, soulful communication
  • Do a daily self-belonging check in as a part of my work-prep session (since I have been caregiving and not business building, my work is showing tender loving care to my family member and others providing health care and service to my family member.
  • Playful experimentation and practicing passionate detachment about the results: I continue to write and do writing and creative experiments even while not working on building my business. This is as close to “doing” as these goals are!

Looking into July, I will be returning to my original 2022 goals and updating them on my Friday weekly recap posts here. My hope is I encourage you as well to look at your own goals and intentions as I do – with authenticity, courage and hope.

Caregiving, Grieving and the Creative Life

My professional life work includes creative life coaching, facilitating personal growth programs, classes, courses and workshops. My caregiving life this year has included several members of my family. Health, Grief, Aging, Support.

It is very difficult to schedule classes, clients, speaking engagements and live streams or set goals and intentions around this while grieving or caring for loved ones. I can barely schedule one hour ahead, much less a few weeks or months ahead.

Since April 2021 I have both grieved and taken care of others, simultaneously.

During these months I have continued to be active creatively: I’ve written a short play (it was produced in May and I was able to see it while I was in Bakersfield), I have been in a play in a new community. I have written many blog posts, poetry, completed a 377 daily challenge and while in New Jersey my primary task was working on the completion of several book projects while rebuilding my business. I have participated in other blog challenges and I hope to complete this one.

Since mid-May until now, in early July, the caregiving has taken over all other activities except for writing and creative practices in the early morning moments and late night moments. Most of the time, that is.

I don’t know if I could even attempt the Ultimate Blog Challenge without this continued attention to creativity. I am so grateful for the people who will visit in July and comment, share my work and get to know me better or get reacquainted. 

I’m grateful to celebrate with you in all your best hopes, goals and intentions.

I have come to value friendships on an even higher plane since my father died and the many tumultuous chapters since then. You may have helped me and didn’t even know it. For this and other things, I am grateful you are here, reading.

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

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