What is the Admission Price to the Path Out of Fear?

November 20, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

A small part of the Appalachian Trail is a piece of the story of the Path out of fear - and overcoming a challenge as written by Julie JordanScott

Yesterday I was writing a fairly innocuous seeming caption to a photo on facebook. I post photos to facebook on most days because of my personal #377TreeHug project. I use my facebook page as a means of documentation and accountability. Yesterday was no exception.

I had a marvelous tree hug of a hickory tree on the Appalachian Trail and I was extremely excited to post about it.

In one caption I wrote, “I love how the nuts are here to feed the animals. Once in childhood we saw a porcupine near the trail. I was scared of everything (even lightning bugs) so I had visions of the porcupine shooting quills at me from a distance… and was also convinced there were bears lurking inside fallen trees. How I survived and even loved these adventures even while petrified I’ll never know.”

I re-read my words and sat back in my chair, shocked at the truth within that seemingly simple, ordinary caption.

I was scared of everything (even lightning bugs)….. How I survived and even loved these adventures even while petrified I’ll never know.”

I was also teased unmercifully for my fear, which made it even worse.

I was afraid of things. I was afraid of being afraid of things. I was afraid to express my fear so I did my best to hide my fear, at all costs.

Somehow I did all this as a child and it continued – and in some ways continues still, today.

I realized the facts were to spend treasured time with my father, I would need to pay the price of admission. The fee was a lot of faking courage. I needed to be comfortable with pretending my fear didn’t exist or hiding my fear under an enthusiastic seeming smile.

I hid my fear by proclaiming my trust in God.

I hid my fear by looking on the bright side. I remember when my daughter died, for example, I comforted myself by saying, “God must have chosen me to have my daughter die because He knew I am strong enough.”

I hid my fear by doing things other people fear like being an actor and performing poetry in front of audiences and becoming a public speaker.

The thing is, those things don’t scare me, they exhilarate me.

Slowly, I hid myself and withdrew almost completely when I had too many sequential challenges. I no longer had the energy to show up because hiding one’s fear is exhausting. Exhausting one’s shame over being afraid is even more exhausting.

It was easier to disappear and infinitely painful when the people you love don’t even seem to notice.

Mary Oliver wrote in one of her most well known poems, “The Journey”

But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

In the depths of my sorrow and sadness of hiding and pretending pain didn’t exist, I had many difficult conversations with myself.

Shonda Rimes in her book “Year of Yes” reminded me eloquently this week, “I know on the other side of that difficult conversation lies peace. Knowledge. An answer delivered. Character is revealed. Truces are formed. Misunderstandings are resolved.”

Having time alone here in my “Long Term Self Care and Artist Retreat” I have had a lot of time alone to have tough conversations with myself. Real conversations with myself. Experimental conversations with myself.

There have been tears and laughter, tree hugs and walks, deep dives into memory, discovery and my dear old companion, fear.

It feels like everything up until now has just been practice for this and what is coming up in the next few months as I finish my book projects and continue to build my life coaching practice, do more speaking and keep showing up on video and here, on my blog and on social media.

I am doing things that scare me every single day, sometimes subconsciously I am getting tapped on the shoulder divinely or intuitively to take a closer or deeper look. I am no longer afraid of lightning bugs or bears or porcupine quills.

I still get a bit nervous about criticism from people I love or worse – people not caring at all.

I am not hiding and that, dear reader, is the best victory of all.

I could have told you today about my near death experience or many other twists and uncomfortable turns along the path, but this feels most like what we needed to talk about today.

What challenges have you overcome?

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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The Joy, Struggles and Satisfaction of 698 (and Counting) Days of Daily Consistency

November 19, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Last year I realized how important consistent creativity was to both my healing and my growing confidence. I also learned if I created a particularly ambitious goal I didn’t think I could complete, I was more likely to abandon it – like leaping across a divide that was too wide for me to accomplish.

Learning to “not quite” reach a goal while also absolutely shining on another goal created success & self-compassion practice.

Because I was continuing to be successful with my daily haiku writing, my hiking goal “fail” was more easy to accept.

Seth Godin, one of the models of creative consistency, wrote in his book “The Practice” “Learn to juggle. Draw an owl. Make things better. Without regard for whether it’s going to work this time.” Sometimes we hit our goals and sometimes we don’t.

We may hear that showing up consistently is where the reward eventually comes, but in the early days of consistency the distance to our intended result may make it challenging to continue. The detachment from outcome and optimistic spirit is fuel for the ongoing effort even when you may not feel like moving forward on a less-than-stellar day.

Permission to Try Again:

I recently decided I am going to attempt the hiking goal again in 2022 AND I am going to continue my tree hugging I doggedly introduced at the end of 2020 and continued in 2021, even as it has proven more challenging than consistent haiku writing I started in December 2019 and continued for 377 consecutive days.

In 2022, I also plan to return to some form of daily poetry.

In the recent days my make-shift writing practice experiment of #rolloverandwrite has expanded into much more prose – from a scribbled and hurried maybe paragraph note to self to a note to my highest self and observations in the night before sleep and a waking written meditation. I am also laughing to myself because this morning’s #rolloverandwrite was the most terse I have written lately.

The most surprising discovery from consistent daily activity:

One of the most important lessons of 698 days (so far!) of intentional, consistent daily action of some form is I feel more centered, more content and more accomplished now than I did before I started this experiment in 2019.

From having a self-created goal simply for the sake of having a reason to show up – which continued during the pandemic and an ever-widening divide in my country – the process of knowing every day I would take a specific action gave me something to look forward to, always. Even after the death of my father, a murder of a friend and many more subtle and not-so-subtle losses – having a space to share my consistent practice that morphed from haiku writing and became tree hugging at the end of 2020 and will continue into early 2022 – with friends and strangers on my personal facebook page – has become a space of strength and healing.

Most people who are my facebook friends don’t know I consider them important accountability partners, but they are accountability partners to me! Especially since I moved across the country and doubt myself at least every other day, knowing people are curious about what sort of tree I discovered to hug on any given day helps me move forward with the project even when I don’t feel like it.

The reward is evident in both personal resilience and trust in the body of work as well as in my growing knowledge base and practice of speaking up with my discoveries.

Is all this tree hugging and poetry writing and hiking adding to my wealth?

Is it making me famous?

Not yet to either financial abundance or recognition, but I’m not counting it out yet. My writing improves with everything I write and my awareness and knowledge of trees has surprised me.

Have you ever tried a quirky, outrageous goal in daily consistency? What happened?

Julie JordanScott is a multipassionate creative who delights in inviting others into their own fullhearted, artistic experience via her creativity coaching individually or in groups, courses and workshops. To receive inspiring content and videos weekly and find out more about Coaching, Courses, Challenges and what’s going on in the Creative Life Midwife world? Subscribe here:

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3 Effective Ways to Get (and Stay) in the Flow while Creating Content

November 17, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

An alarm clock is ringing to help remind us to stay in content creation flow

Sometimes I whip up a lot of energy while working on content creation for my blog and social media posts. I get excited as I notice I have created three excellent posts in an hour. “I’m in the flow, I’m in the flow!” says my happy heart. A part of me wants to keep pushing, wants to keep going thinks “If I stop now, I won’t be able to get back into the flow!”

Recently I had this exact experience. As a creative entrepreneur, I am in control of my calendar so I could have set everything aside in attempts to continue the flow OR I could instead choose to stay with my original plan: run errands and go for a walk.

When I went for errands, it temporarily broke the flow AND it re-energized me to return to content creation later in the day.

What I have discovered is managing the transition times between activities is where flow is birthed. When I am mindful and attentive to where my energy is going, my overall output is more engaging and from the heart. I am less frustrated and end my work days and work weeks feeling deeply satisfied and it shows in the work I do with my clients and students.

Test your effectiveness in blocks of time in order to measure what amounts of time are the most fruitful. Set a timer to different segments of time. Start with raising your chunks of time by 30 minutes. Within a week or so, you will be able to see patterns, including when during the day you are less productive at the keyboard and might be better off using the time for exercise or chores.
Experiment with short, medium and longer times – and begin to plan for segments of time when your productivity drops off.
When your time is up, leave they keyboard right away and begin transitioning to another activity.

In an article soon, we will explore how to make the most of transitional times.

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How to Use Journaling to Become Clear on Your Weekly Goals – and Beyond

November 15, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Because I am an artist, I have a lot of friends and coaching clients who are also artists – and many of my creative friends have an aversion to setting goals. While I know this is true in other fields, I must confess in my informal research from years of working with people on reaching their goals and fulfilling their hopes and dreams, we turn away from naming and claiming our goals for several reasons:

We are afraid to speak our goals because if we speak them and we don’t achieve them, we convince ourselves this will mean we failed. It doesn’t mean we failed at all. If our goals don’t work out exactly as we planned means your results were different than expected. You got feedback. You experimented. You won!
We are embarrassed about where we are or by what we want. People won’t understand us, won’t want to spend time with us anymore and worst, will judge us, abandon us and no longer associate with us. I can tell you, some of my wacky goals have helped me immeasurably in the “I don’t want to get tangled up in other people’s opinions” categories, so if I want to set and work toward a goal of leaving 100 pennies in random places for people to find, pick up and feel happier because of it – you and others may think I am incorrigibly silly. And that’s ok.
We don’t believe we can achieve the goal anyway so… while the heart-call is there, the energy isn’t so we ignore it. Ignoring or denial is among the most dangerous actions to take. This is where block begins to build. When we resist the desire and pile up lots of over-thinking, underappreciative energy on top of the overthinking, the mindclutter can translate into life clutter. Even taking micro-actions will keep energy flowing and will help you gain evidence that you CAN begin and you CAN move forward.

Even if it is just for this week, try this exercise as an experiment.

If you feel doubt seeping into your thoughts, consider this wisdom from Eckhart Tolle, best selling author and thought leader who wrote, “When the basis for your actions is inner alignment with the present moment, your actions become empowered by the intelligence of life itself.”

We gain clarity when we write without editing, judgment or forethought. Our inner wisdom is given room to roam. We can explore what we truly want without letting other people or our own negative thoughts get in the way of becoming energized and empowered to move forward.

Write using a stream-of-consciousness or free flow,journaling style for five minutes following the framework in the prompt:

First free flow write or journal for up to five minutes using the prompt:

This week I want – and consider what you want to feel, what you want to achieve, who you want to connect with, what you want to let go.

Build on what you want by creating a connection with

This week I intend: and base your intentions on what you discovered from writing about what you want.

How often are our intentions the same thing we have automatically been speaking for weeks, months or a season but not related to our heart’s call?

Using journaling as a tool of clarification will help you align your desire with your intention and then tie back together with what actions you will choose to take in the final prompt:

This week I will choose….which is where our goals, intentions, and vision takes form. You can want something for years or decades but if you do not set intentions and goals and move forward with love through action, you will more than likely find yourself ten years in the future in a very similar place now to where you were when you started.

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What Happened When the Inner Critic Crashed the Forest Bathing Party

November 10, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Woman writing in a notebook in the middle of the forest. Words say "Hello, Inner Critic! Fancy meeting you here!"

Forest bathing is one of the most pleasant experiences anyone may enjoy – it doesn’t require equipment or skills or new shoes. All it requires is one have a willingness to be in a wooded area – a forest or park – even an urban park or a back yard with numerous trees will work. The technical definition (if you don’t know it yet) will show up later.

Last Monday, I visited High Point State Park in Sussex County, New Jersey which is where I am living right now. I brought my notebook with me to possibly write, but that was a second part of the plan. The true plan was to be with trees and hug a tree or two for good measure.

How did I end up laughing in the Forest with my Inner Critic?

Even as I typed the words “Laughing in the forest with my inner critic” I realized how foreign or flat out wrong this may appear to some people. Who laughs with the villain?

Who chuckles with the one who makes us feel unworthy of praise?

Admittedly as a writer and as a writing coach, I have some unconventional ideas – and trusting the process is one of them. Stay with me as the story unfolds.

These moments among the trees were like a tree fest of profound, beyond language joy. Gratitude is a close description and the feelings were – if possible to understand – so much more than simply gratitude.

Definition of Forest Bathing.

My plan was to do some forest bathing and tree hugging. What is forest bathing? National Geographic defines it like this: “The term emerged in Japan in the 1980s as a physiological and psychological exercise called shinrin-yoku: “forest bathing” or “taking in the forest atmosphere”.

I brought my notebook “just in case” it felt right.

There, in the forest, I came upon a companion black oak tree which invited me to take a seat on a makeshift stool and experience forest bathing with words.

This is where my inner critic (or perhaps the spirit keeper of the woods) stepped in when the very first two words off the tip of my pen were “majestic oak.”

Woman sitting at the base of a tree, writing in her notebook. Julie Jordan Scott (Julie JordanScott) is the writer.

Smack! I felt the energetic sting of a ruler on my pale, bent fingers cradling my trusty writing utensil. I kept my head lowered as I mumbled, “I know. Horrid. What was I thinking?”

This is when my Inner Critic and I started laughing.

My inner critic was being helpful. That’s what editors do, after all, they make our writing better.

How often do writers trot out the most maligned and overused meaningless words in the beginning of their writing?

Here I was, sitting in a forest surrounded by oaks of orange, brown, and assorted mottled spotted leaves. There were enormous green-yellow leaves on baby oaks that didn’t seem capable of bearing the weight of them. Deep blue sky over head with wispy clouds like smoke from candles that have been blown out. Leaves, sounding like foam on the Atlantic’s waves or perhaps imitating rocks on the flow of the river.

Woman hugging an oak tree in the forst. Tree hugger who is forest bathing.

Here an oak, there a beech, similarly covered with lichen.

It was possible, when I close my eyes, to smell the leaves returning to soil.

I noticed there wasn’t evidence of many other feet walking here in recent days.

My focus pulls aside when I turn toward the hum of a truck on the highway. After the truck I notice the hum of a small airplane, a motorcycle, a sports car.

The trees patiently wait for me to notice them again.

The tallest yellow tree, an eastern oak, seemed to call out to me.

“Let people know we are here,” he said, seeming to give my notebook and pen a half nod. “Let people know we are grateful for when they visit us and sit a while.”

Looking more closely, I see signs of a broken bough, a torn branch or two up his spine. This tree, like me, is healing and whole at the same time.

Just like I am healing and whole at the same time.

Just like so many writers and creatives are both healing and whole at the same time.

Somtimes that wholeness is when we are able to laugh when our inner critic gets it right and she becomes a collaborator. Special note: you are best knowing how to write free flow style well before you allow the inner critic to interject her corrections and suggestions.

One of the reasons I was able to shift gears into better writing was because I knew my word choice was tired and cliche almost as soon as they tumbled off the tip of my pen. I didn’t respond to the appearance of the tired, cliche words with a gasp or a barrage of negative self talk, I laughed.

What would happen if you decided to play with your inner critic instead of making your inner critic wrong?

The most effective way to work WITH your inner critic

The single best thing you can do is give your inner critic space to help you AFTER your first draft is complete, after you have allowed your words to flow wherever they wanted to flow – even if the first words are trite and cliche.

Did it occur to you if my inner critic hadn’t showed up and overstepped her boundaries while I was forest bathing, you would not be reading this? Maybe YOU are the exact reason she showed up with me while I was minding my own business, enjoying nature with my notebook and pen in hand.

Consider this an invitation to take your notebook outside and find some trees to spend time with soon. Bring an open mind and heart. Enjoy finding words that fill you with delight as much as the experience fills you with delight.

Reach back here and tell me when your mission is accomplished, please.

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Top 7 Writing Micro-Goals for Creative Entrepreneurs

September 18, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I’ve seen this happen with more of my coaching, healing arts and creative entrepreneur clients than I can count – and I have even done it myself. We plunk down at our desks at our designated writing times and absolutely nothing happens.

Here’s the thing: creating a small, micro-goal specifically aimed to help you with consistent content creation is deceptively simple. Try one of these on for a week. If it doesn’t appeal, try a different one for seven days. Repeat as necessary.

My secret success is from having one solid “writing not for content but for exercising the writing muscle” practice, for me it is a daily stream of conscious journaling in the morning, and then have a second micro goal I mix up and serve differently, like a writing buffet.

Watch the video here and read below for more details for each tip.

My newest accidental micro-goal is a daily #RollOverandWrite. That’s it. Wake up, roll over and pick up the notebook you placed at your bedside before you went to sleep and write a few sentences.

Write an affirmative intention daily in the morning. “I am capable of writing effective blog posts.” “People enjoy what I write.” “My sales letter is both effective and engaging.”

Exercise for 20 minutes and write immediately after. Set up your writing space before you go for your walk, job or attend your zumba class. If you work out someplace besides your home, bring a notebook with you and write in your car or at the gym or at a picnic table in the park. Your subconscious is watching to see how important your writing is to you by the consistent time you give it.

Journal/free write for a set amount of time or set number of words/pages each day. You may write as few as 250 words (approximately one page) or for three minutes. The amount of writing matters less than simply flowing with your writing rather than attempting to mold it or edit as you go along. That comes later – and believe me, if you can get the words on the page to begin with, editing will come easily.

To practice writing concisely and with the most writing “bang for your buck” write a daily haiku, six word story or American Sentence poem. Any of this “very micro writing” will help you be use your best words. It will help you write compelling copy and/or characters with a more curated conversational style than you may usually write. It will teach you to cut out unnecessary words that often bog down our readers.

Write a 5 item gratitude list before you go to sleep. You may also make a list of “What went well today” or “5 Good Things that happened today” list. Thesetrain your brain to focus on what is constructive and helpful in your life. A bonus is the subject of each item on the list may easily become a blog post, a social media post or a chapter in a book or poem.

Use a timer to write 5 minutes a day for 5 consecutive days, #5for5BrainDump style. You may try unprompted or prompted writing. In the Let Our Words Flow Creative Community we have prompts and videos to guide you as you practice this – plus it is free to join the group which also has a thriving community, lots of tips, video teachings and daily discussion for creative entrepreneurs.

Julie JordanScott is a multipassionate creative who delights in inviting others into their own fullhearted. artistic experience via her creativity coaching individually or in groups, courses and workshops. To receive inspiring content and videos weekly and find out more about Coaching, Courses, Challenges and what’s going on in the Creative Life Midwife world? Subscribe here:

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

Writers: How You May Use Fear of Failure to Fuel Your Success in Going Live

August 10, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Think about your response to this question before you continue reading:

How often have you given up before you had any real evidence that you might not succeed at whatever your most recent sense of close-to-failure might be?

How many of us look forward to making mistakes and worse than that, how many of us look forward to failure?

Keep reading: this is important.

Successful Power House Sara Blakely Aims for Failure

Sara Blakely, founder and creator of Spanx Shapewear, credits her tenacity amidst failure to her father’s attitude.

She wrote, “We’d sit around the dinner table and he’d ask, ‘What did you guys fail at this week?’ If we had nothing to tell him, he’d be disappointed,” she said. “He knew that many people become paralyzed by the fear of failure. My father wanted us to try everything and feel free to push the envelope. His attitude taught me to define failure as not trying something I want to do instead of not achieving the right outcome.”

I teach writers how to successfully go live (live-streaming) the easiest ways possible. I love going live myself, so this is a natural extension of that love and then I discovered many have challenges because they are afraid to make mistakes.

What would happen if you made making mistakes fun?

I even made a video about it for you – watch the video here.

Sarah Blakely has continued her quest of mistakes, failure and embarrassment. You may read of her latest conquest here.

Now it’s your turn: More on Success & Making Mistakes

How do you feel about making mistakes?

How might you use fear of making mistakes to fuel your future successes?

Comment below to continue the conversation!

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August Please: Intentions/Goals/Vision & July Recap

August 2, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

July was a busy, busy, busy month.

July 2021 Highlights Recap:

I did 29 straight days of Three Good Things. This is a miracle because I have wanted to do an evening practice for a long time. Now, I look forward to keeping it up.

You may look at my JJS Writing Camp Facebook Page to see those:

I spent time in Flagstaff – about two weeks, actually, and I also spent time in Phoenix.

I started my Fall in Love with Livestreaming Adventure, Exploration, Experiment challenge – one week down and one week to go – so yes, a July and August combination. If you are interested, the content is in the Let Our Words Flow Creative Community – Join Us!

August Intentions & Goals for Creativity and Entrepreneurial Practice

In August I plan to —

Participate in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. One of my areas of focus will be repurposing videos from my large YouTube library. I’ve made a lot of videos that will be quite helpful to bloggers and creatives – they’re a resource I sometimes forget! This is my first blog post for that challenge. Below is my free flow writing YouTube Playlist: be sure to subscribe and follow me on YouTube so you won’t miss a thing!

2. 750 words a day on my top secret writing project.

3. Completion of my Haiku Book. Natalie Goldberg has a Haiku book out, published in 2020 and in the past that would have discouraged me but now – I am seeing it as an inspiration. Question: Ought I write a tree hug book? It is really gaining momentum since I created a blog post after I reached the 200 Tree Hugs milestone.

Content Creation for The Creative Life Midwife Courses and Coaching Groups and Individuals

Decide what to do with the content I am creating in the Fall in Love with Livestreaming Challenge – is it a book wanting to be born? It might be!

2. Hold my first Writing Camp Intensive of 2021.

3. Schedule the Short Form Writing Course.

4. Open up membership for my new Writing Home – in at least one small groupWriting Circle (or 2 or 3) Stand by in August and September to hear more about that.

A Healthy Challenge: and I’m all in to make the world a better place.

For my entire life I have been able to achieve more in less time than many people. I am kicking everything up a notch now – and I am excited to bring these words and programs to life in a bigger way this Fall.

Thanks for reading – and supporting me as I continue to move forward, with love, as I reach my goals and create the intentions that will have a positive impact on many.

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Fall in Love with Video and Live-Streaming: From Fear to Freedom

June 25, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

A screen shot from a livestream video reminds me of the early days when I had more fear than freedom with video making and live stream video. Now, I love live streaming and I hope you will, too!

Not long ago I livestreamed every single day, sometimes more than once a day, for four years straight. I loved livestreaming for many reasons: the friendships that were born, the skill set I built, and the access to ‘instant research’ and “rough drafting” of content I was trying out.

I started wondering why I stopped live streaming, especially since I found so much joy there.

Toward the end of Samuel’s senior year, I became overwhelmed stirred up with disappointment, longing, and grief about the end of this significant phase of my life.

When we dropped him off at UNLV I started falling into a funk which I didn’t recognize at the time, The life that tumbled around me that season and for the seasons after that gives me a clearer perspective of why I stopped.

October 2019 brought me the gift of Valley Fever, a hospitalization that nearly killed me and the start of a long physical recovery period.

Toward the end of my recovery, the Covid19 pandemic and stay-in-place orders started.

A year and a month later, my friend was murdered. Her funeral was the first large group event I attended. Masked. Sitting with a handful of friends and speaking up for the positive nature of her life.

In the days before my friend’s funeral, my father died.

Immediately after that until last week my siblings and I were immersed both in funeral planning and helping Mom decide where she would most like to live.

A-ha: Reflection cured the live-streaming and video mystery.

This is why I haven’t been live streaming lately, but what kept coming back to me has been “I always felt better after I livestreamed consistently.”

I also noted my YouTube channel was much less active. I no longer regularly offered even short YouTube videos and rarely checked in with my previously made videos. I have the skills, but the motivation wasn’t there.

It was like my video – love – balloon had deflated so I put up a tentative new video trial balloon in my private Writer’s Facebook group to see if any of my closest creative friends would be interested in gathering to explore video-making in the privacy of the facebook group.

Enough people are interested to give me the energy to do my best. That is what I am promising: only my best. We will be in this together, collaborating and cheerleading and the intention is to enjoy the video making process.

Let’s Transform Video Creation Fear to Freedom to Make Videos Playshop Adventure Challenge

I am still working on dates because I am still traveling back and forth to Arizona and home to help Mom during her transition, but it looks like it will be sometime after July 4th.

Some of what will be included:

Basic skills teaching and practice with coaching and feedback geared for creatives, especially those who write or journal.
Foundational clarification of the purpose, mission and reason why participants would like to use video.
Prompts people may use for the videos plus tips on how to take the prompt and relate it back to the participant’s “why” for live-streaming.

It will run for 10 days with 5 prompts and 2 option livestream trains where participants will practice live streaming either in the group or on their own facebook page and we will all join the livestream to support and help one another practice what it is like to have an active, conversational livestream – it helps make it less scary to have friends “in the house.”

I made this short video in 2018 – when I was still going live every day. I look forward to the increased energy and excitement once again.

If you have an interest in participating, head over to the Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook where all the fun will happen. 🙂

By the way, if your knees are knocking at the thought of this, that’s a good thing. Mine are, too, actually. It will be fun listening to the chorus of our knees knocking like a chorus spread out across videos across the world.

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, Writer, Speaker and Mom extraordinaire who loves working with creative entrepreneurs, artists and healers to get their words written on the page, spoken in their videos and shared across social media platforms with confidence. She has learned the power of daily consistency and currently is on day 191 of 377 days of tree hugging!

Not on My Bucket List: Growing from the Unexpected Curves in Your Life’s Journey

February 25, 2021 by jjscreativelifemidwife

A bucket list on its side asks the question, "What to think about things that aren't on my bucket list?" and yet they may be significant growth experiences.

Today another item I never wanted to have on my bucket list will be quickly added and crossed off.

A needle will be inserted into my chest to withdraw fluid from a mass of unknown origin. I am hoping it is merely an infection. I am hoping it is not Valley fever. I am hoping it can be excised without much trouble. I am hoping.

What happens to items on our bucket list when the unexpected occurrences we never wanted to happen, happen:

I have not been writing much because having something frightening like this tends to silence my words. Even when I have a lot of stories to tell, the fear hovers. It gets stronger the longer I sit and stew even as I want to talk about it and process it with others.

I have wanted to toss it into conversations about completely unrelated topics even when it makes no sense at all.

A spirited discussion of a well written book is overcome by an avalanche of thought in my head that sounds like this: “what if this thing in my chest is cancer? What if this thing in my chest is a danger to my future? What if this thing in my chest is another chapter in my ‘so close but not quite’ which could very well be the title of the movie of my life.“

I miss the discussion that is actually happen and get caught up in my tangled thoughts.

The anti-bucket list item turns into a quickly turning road going nowhere particularly constructive.

I think of making a rag doll to sleep with, a toddler sized one with brown braided hair and blue eyes, a mini-me who might have matching heart scars to mine. Maybe we will both wind up with non-heart-shaped scars over our collective heart space. Maybe that would be cute and sweet and comforting.

This may be absolutely true and how constructive is this path? Creative output does heal – and is this something I really WANT to do with my time right now or is the idea comfort enough?

Maybe this twist in the bucket-list road would be better?

Last night I found myself lying in my bed in a cocoon of pillows like when I was in the hospital, valley fever no one knew I had, sepsis, organ failure, near death. Last night as I settled in the pillows helped it feel so much better than anything else has felt in a long time. It was cloud-like yet solid, so supported I wished I had someone there to read to me. A soothing voice to read from the novel I am reading or to read pages from the book of Julian of Norwich or perhaps even read about how to create supportive loving habits.

For now I don’t have anyone to do that but I do have the pillows. I can recreate soft holding support. Yes! Something I can actually do easily.

The end of the road leads to Ralph Waldo Emerson?

I am reminded of the message I meant to send today, the one inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

A curvy road is much like our concerns when we are facing the unknown. The quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us "Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year."

Today, even after all I have spoken I can still say I am waking up to the thoughts of Ralph Waldo Emerson, he who wrote “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”

You might be saying “This does not jive with what you wrote above this fold – you just said you aren’t familiar with the ‘not tragic’ and ‘I never wanted’ and ‘frightening’ how does this add up to “the best day in the year”?

Quite simple, actually.

I am alive. My heart is still beating. I am able to create as I want to create. I have clean water to drink. I have a future in the works. I smelled almond orchards in bloom last night. I walked this morning. I am writing now. I am able to say what I most want to say.

I am awake on this, the best day of my year so far. And tomorrow, I will live the best day of my year so far because I am choosing for that to be how and what it is.

What if every day was a bucket list celebration?

In the meantime, I will be thinking of some other word for “bucket list” because that is focused on death – kicking the bucket – and after two cancers, a couple valley fever episodes, sepsis, kidney failure – I am all about the living and loving and being with whatever is and choosing the best even when it looks like it completely sucks.

It isn’t about the lessons I am learning, it is about the breath I am breathing and the love I am knowing more deeply every single day.

Julie Jordan Scott is the Creator of the Radical Joy of Daily Consistency Course which helps people practice consistency and completion daily in order to experience a more incredible life experience. She also founded the free, private facebook community for writers and creative people at all levels of experience: the Word Love Writing Community. Join us!