There are some words that make me swoon.

There are some smells that actually have been known to make me close my eyes and moan from someplace deep in my gut, beyond my physical hunger there is this place that understands the smell of rosemary and flour, a soft tickle of a breeze in the mid-summer desert heat, an especially tight harmony all land there and my response is a pleasure-sound from that ancient depths place within me that doesn’t even have a proper name.

(Perhaps its name IS a sound?)

Contemplative is one of those words.

Four syllables whose definition is pleasurable and the experience of it moving from my throat across my tongue and teeth and the sound like a prayer, “Con – tem – pla – tive” bursts forth, almost prayer like each time.

Is it possible to have a crush on a word?

I talk about spreading the word-love virus and I am serious about that. Words are potent and getting more adept at their use provides a power few understand yet. We are at a point of word-breakthrough here yet my fascination with contemplative feels almost like – dare I say it? – word lust more than word love.

Is this why I enjoy onomatopoeia, internal rhyme and assonance? I’m not a big fan of overused alliteration – too ordinary.

Oh, for a well-placed combination of vowel sounds. See what I mean. Say that aloud, “vowel sounds”. Now wait, this entire sentence. Say it! “Now say that aloud, “vowel sounds.” All those round, muscular “o” moments.

If you will excuse me, please. I need a drink of water and perhaps my notebook and some pens. And some uninterrupted time.

You understand now. I know you do.

We often make choices based upon the things other people say to us or have said to us in the past.

“Monday isn’t a good day to…” and “People don’t like people who….”and sometimes as ridiculous as “only skinny girls may wear skinny jeans.”

There are times we don’t give any conscious thought of who from the past or present is actually steering our life. Think about it with me for a moment.

Your life may be driven by a belief implanted by someone long gone from our every day experience.

My thoughts go to my third grade teacher, who I often hear scolding me for my ugly handwriting or my siblings as children who were, like me, just doing the best they could to survive in their everyday existence, too.

Now that we are adults, we are able to – and privileged and honored to – make choices according to what we know is true. Sometimes this takes stretching our belief muscle to fully integrate that belief, to make it show up daily in our conscious actions.  When we do so, we practice making other potent decisions based on passion and purpose rather than fear and scarcity.

When we choose to take passionate, conscious actions we will shape our life experience so much more richly. “One choice defines your belief. One choice can transform your life,” said Veronica Roth. Every action, every choice we make proclaims to the world what we truly believe, not just what we say we believe.

Will you make a different choice today?

Will you choose to transform your life and world today through making choices that match with what you say you believe?

Today, I’ll devote myself to following my own heart-mind-soul beliefs rather than be limited by endlessly playing loops from the scolding or just limitations imposed due to unconsciousness from others.

What about you?

Will you devote yourself to consciously make choices that serve you and the world? Will you devote yourself to consciously make choices that are in alignment with the world you want to inhabit?

Share with me as your day goes along.

I’ll be tweeting and snapchatting my adventures as a way to stay accountable.

I would love to hear your adventures as your life is transformed through the conscious choices you are making now.

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Stream of Consciousness Sunday: 5 Minutes on Solstice

Today is Passion Activator Friday – a day of intentional productivity many of us settle into as we end our week. I also use it as a platform to leap into the week to come.

On our opening Periscope Broadcast we collectively created this question in the form of  a writing and creativity prompt:

“Where is intention inviting me to play?”

Imagine for a moment "Intention" the energy or life force that fuels your goals, your mission, your purpose, was a being of some sort.

Flex your imagination muscles for a moment.

This is something that comes naturally to actors, artists and writers. I imagine if you've found your way here you are more than likely in that category.

Just let your mind go and allow yourself to engage with "Intention" as if she was living, breathing, had a voice and perhaps even a magic wand or pixie dust or the power of breath energizing her in a particular direction.

I brought to mind a Sylph character I frequently find myself doodling or painting.

Here is what I wrote:

I settle into my chair, music in my ears, Alice by my side. I vaguely hear my fingers tapping on the keyboard. My space bar isn’t catching up yet and I know she will.

My hands and words feel connected with other writers out there, writers who may feel stuck or wounded or unable to speak (because I’ve been there) and intention is inviting me to reach out to them and others who are passionate… yet perhaps disconnected. My people who don’t know it yet who are ready to be who they are meant to be, to express themselves more fully… to once and for all open themselves… to let go of the shackles around their wrists, their throats, their personal intentions.

My people are waiting to join me. As I type, I see intention pointing to the crowds gathered…

I see their fingers on their keyboards… I feel their hearts beating toward mine. I feel connected to their rhythms, their happiness… right on the edge….

With my words I step up and knock, I issue the invitation…. Intention has invited me to play. “Can Sue (Katie, Martin, Prima, You) come out and play with me?”

= = =

Are you a writer who uses Periscope? Join our facebook group PeriWriters today for inspiration and activities to fire up your writing and broadcasting experiences. Click the image in the link to connect with us.

Are you interested in Passionate Productivity with an Intentional, Mindful twist?

 Do you wonder if you are visionary?

Do you consider how to use the secret methods of visionaries to bring your projects and ideas to life?

It is so simple to access their ways of being, doing and creating: look at these five steps as a pathway to your own brand of "Visionary."

1. Visionaries PLAY: they remember how it was to be a child in a land of make-believe.

A visionary is simply one who remembers how to play "make believe".  They aren't controlled by other people's opinions. In fact, they shock ordinary minds with the way they take something that seems like a fantasy and turn it into reality.

An example? Facebook.

An example? The Telephone.

An example? The car, the train, the airplane.

2. Visionaries EXPERIMENT – they don’t get angry if their hypothesis was wrong, they see what may be “more right” and choose to follow that.

As visionary adults we continue to playfully experiment: we get giddy with excitement about an idea and a visionary holds tight to that idea and sees the good ones through to fruition and let’s go of the one’s that aren’t so great although she may allow it too “percolate” in her subconscious mind.

3. Visionaries are PASSIONATELY EXPRESSIVE – even though they may be quiet, they are cauldrons of heat waiting to be served to many people who are hungry for their particular brand of Vision. 

That way she doesn’t abandon it fully, she just allows the “water to boil” because as all children have learned from their grandmother’s “A watched pot never boils,” visionaries remember quotes, proverbs and wisdom from ages past.

We don’t “throw the baby out with the bathwater” and when we are smart, we use stories to communicate. We don’t use language people have to spend time translating in order to understand what we are trying to say. We meet people face-to-face, heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul.

4. Visionaries see time differently than others. Visionaries see time as expansive and dynamic.

Visionaries remember how as children we mastered the art of seeing time as expansive, those days when we were busy building castles in the basement and our mother’s called down, “A half an hour until Julie has to go home!” and Danny and I squealed in delight at that glorious time left to continue with the castle.

We might finish it, we might knock it down and build it up several times. We had a vision which held our passion and we loved the thought we had so much time because… we did. As visionaries, we remember this expansiveness and reach into memory to manifest this childlike positive energy.

5. Visionaries LEARN FROM EACH OTHER – They make discoveries when they hand over leadership, even if just momentarily.

Visionaries remember to joyfully play follow the leader (readily swapping out leaders and learning from one another collaboratively only they don't use big buzz words, they say "yes, let's!" instead of blabbering on at length about engagement, they simply are engaged.

Children and visionaries who play follow the leader laugh, mimic, grow and learn without knowing this fun stuff is actually adding to the increase, making the world a better place, changing lives if and when they remember the power of make believe.

Remember, say it aloud and write it down:

A visionary is simply one who remembers how to play "make believe".

Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter:   and on Periscope for writing prompt, tips and inspiration daily created to ignite your artistic rebirth.

Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

  Follow on Instagram  And naturally, on Pinterest, too!      © 2015/2016

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in Fall, 2015 and beyond.

  To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735

  Check out the links above to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

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What if your knocking "I am so scared" knees are actually your knees, dancing?

Today I was committed to beating myself up with negative self talk.

I was haranguing and harassing myself, replaying old attitudes and declarations of less than, telling stories about ways I had proven myself wrong in the past and would obviously – or so I believed in that moment – continue.

Thankfully I caught myself before it got too damaging by asking this simple question, "What is going right?"

I asked myself that, I Periscoped and SnapChatted about it – and immediately positive feedback started rolling back toward me. People saw eye-to-eye with me and reminded me of what was going right for them.

My question helped shift their perceptions as it helped me.

I sat and wrote five minutes stream of consciousness style.

I figured you might need this, too – so it's your turn. Before you go to sleep today either write something or take a photo of something that fits this prompt.

Take a photo and tag me on Instagram or LiveStream it, tweet or Tag me onPeriscope @juliejordanscot – just one "t" in those places. It's time to focus on what's going well for us. Let's do this!

I used the writing prompt that is at the top of this blog post. Why not read what I wrote here and then write for yourself?

This is what I wrote in a five minute writing exercise, stream of consciousness style:

So this morning I forgot during the course of going to sleep and waking up I forgot I meant to get the trash to the curb early.

Yes, it is garbage day here on Alta Vista Dr and last week, I blew it and forgot.

This week the trash can was very full, so before went to sleep I told myself, “Get up early! Get the trash to the curb as close to 5 am as possible!”

In the morning Cameron and I spent some time talking to strategize our day – which would be spent accomplishing our separate agendas – and I went to the bank to get cash to distribute to my kids for their needs and felt on top of my game and somewhat smug when I turned the corner on Alta Vista Drive only to be reminded it was trash day and I hadn’t taken the trash to the curb.

It looked as if the trash man hadn’t come yet though I couldn’t be certain and then I did the optimistic thing and took the trash to the curb, anyway.

Forty-five minutes later I heard the rumble of the garbage truck moving toward my house.

Trash collection complete. My optimism won. Something went right!

I also realized I feel better about life when I take five to ten minutes to curl my hair. Such a simple thing, but when I go on scope I feel better somehow when my hair is curled. It might simply be a "girly thing" and if it is I don’t care I just know I feel better about me and it is more evidence of something going right, something going well!

Last night I went to a beer tasting for the first time. I didn’t really want to go. I showed up, though, met some friends, drank some beer with cool names because that’s how I choose beer: no logic, just romance of Dust Bowl Brew or Whatever Ale that was. I didn’t get the Peanut Butter Stout, but my friend did.

Before I got there, though, I had taken a nap and realized “I need to feed Emma and Samuel before I go. Oh no, I don’t have time!” I said as I stumbled toward the kitchen.

I have the vegetarian teen and the growing boy where does he put it all picky eater to feed. I had about twenty minutes to get it placed in the direction of their bellies.

I did it.

Pans twirling, steam rising.

Spinach and ricotta ravioli with Pesto for the vegetarian.

Pancakes and Bacon (the party dinner from early childhood, reborn) for the teen boy.

They were happy and I felt bad ass, even if I got to the beer tasting ten minutes late I was wearing a dress and lipstick. SCORE! More of “what’s going right.”

Now it’s your turn.

Tell me, in five minutes, stream of consciousness style writing, what is right in this very moment (or in your last little 24 hours or so…)

PROMPT: What is going right in this moment is…

What went right before this was….

And when you are done with your writing, look at some of the coolness coming up around here —

= = =

Are you a writer who uses Periscope? Join our facebook group PeriWriters today for inspiration and activities to fire up your writing and broadcasting experiences. Click the image in the link to connect with us.

Join PeriWriters on Facebook!

 Are you interested in Passionate Productivity with an Intentional, Mindful twist?

Join us for Passion Activator Friday today and in the future – find details here –

Join us for Passion Activator Friday!

 Simply fill out the simple subscription form below to receive reminders and updates as well as the dial in number for our calls.

If you have any questions or would like to receive any passion activator pointers from me, email me:

Email Julie at [email protected]
 or talk to me via twitter  @juliejordanscot    

or call or text me – 661.444.2735

CHEERS to you all for a Happy, Festive, Productive Friday!

Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter:   and on Periscope for writing prompt, tips and inspiration daily created to ignite your artistic rebirth.

Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

  Follow on Instagram  And naturally, on Pinterest, too!      © 2015/2016

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in Fall, 2015 and beyond.

  To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735

  Check out the links above to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

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5 Steps to Feeling Better When Circumstances Look Really Bleak

(Sometimes I Hate Writing Poetry)

 I have a recipe for breaking through barriers to writing.

When you believe you are blocked in your writing, when you think you have nothing to write about, show up wherever you are, look at your surroundings and write what you see.

Write what you hear.

Write what you smell, touch, taste.

Write the associations with what you see, hear, smell, touch, taste.

Write about the memories associated with the same.

Today I sat in Hart Park and mid-live broadcast when someone asked, “What inspires you to write?” I spoke aloud a riff of all the inspiration write in front of me.

It went something like this:

I may write about the trees here, that tree, the cottonwood I used as a chair a moment ago, I could write about all the seed pods hanging from that tree or I could write about all the types of trees. I could write about this picnic table here. I could write about memories from being at picnics. I could write about the sadness I feel when I see an empty table – empty of all the people I loved who I once sat with at picnic tables. I may write about that water fountain, see it there? It was at that water fountain in November, 2015 – I came here one day and it wouldn’t shut off. I took a photo and I captioned it ‘Show up. Look up. Translate” – and you know, I’ve been reminded of that and called to continue showing up, looking up, and translating ever since.

I know, this isn’t a recipe for something you may cook but I’ll share a quick one with you I shared with my daughter today.

For the most simple quesadillas ever, take two tortillas. On the inside, put whatever your heart desires. The simplest is naturally, just cheese. Microwave for sixty seconds. You’re done! Play with it, experiment! Quick, easy and tasty meal.

To my eighteen-year-old daughter, this was brilliant.

My writing recipe, for the folks on this morning’s scope, was brilliant.

I’ll settle with “it works for me.”

In case you thought, "I want to see that broadcast Julie is talking about" here it is… just for you – –

LIVE on #Periscope: ✍? How to Prepare for a Successful Writing Session #5for5BrainDump #amwriting https://t.co/h06MR6H254

— Julie Jordan Scott (@juliejordanscot) August 7, 2016

====

Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter:   and on Periscope for writing prompt, tips and inspiration daily created to ignite your artistic rebirth.

Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

  Follow on Instagram  And naturally, on Pinterest, too!      © 2015/2016

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in early Summer and beyond.

  To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735

  Check out the links above to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

Are you on SnapChat?

I am to provide value for folks there mostly about writing, art and life coaching. I do my best to NEVER be boring because we know that's the worst thing for an artist to do.

To follow me -hhere is my….. SnapCode? Is that what it is called?  

I thought I was posting a photo on Instagram about gratitude.

The reality is, that IS what I was doing.

I wasn’t planning to make a discovery about improving writing. After all, I’ve been facilitating writing programs since 1999. I’ve got most tips and tricks possible rumbling around my head someplace so I wasn’t expecting to have a “Eureka!” and an “A-ha!” and a “By Jove, I think Instagram’s got it!” all at once.

It was a simple enough photo, after all, nothing fancy. It was nothing fancy on purpose. I was attempting to convey visually that Gratitude didn’t have to be a mountain-top, sunset on the beach, “some enchanted evening” sort of experience. Gratitude is in the puddles after a March rain, it is in every day architecture and the fast food restaurant getting your order right sort of moment.

Here’s what came out in a rather curvy, meandering fashion.

I woke up grumpy after falling asleep angry. I know better than this. Guess I needed a refresher… Perhaps you did, too. Reminded of a going to sleep gratitude practice a la Meister Ekhardt and apparently Alice Walker has a similar quote. Love this image being decidedly ordinary. We don't need sunsets on the beach to be grateful, we simply need to open our eyes to what is and let our hearts offer the narrative.

•  I wasn’t looking to “write well” I was simply allowing my thoughts to unfold on the page. I didn’t recognize it until the last sentence came out, but I was allowing my heart to offer the narrative.

Let me repeat that final sentence:

We don't need sunsets on the beach to be grateful, we simply need to open our eyes to what is and let our hearts offer the narrative.

• Sometimes on the way to writing well we forget to have fun with the process. When I was writing this Instagram description, I my only aim was explaining gratitude and having fun with the process. What would happen if I took all my writing to be based in fun, gratitude and surprise?
  
• Instagram is not a space we look to for spectacular writing. We look there for images and perhaps for hashtags. Lately there have been more paid ads and now there is talk of it becoming more "like facebook" with our feeds being based on relevance. I note in my profile I include – almost as an aside – "expect to be surprised!" What if each of us looked to bring more surprise into our social media activity? What if we each brought more surprise into all aspects of our lives?

What will happen if I don’t keep all my writing fun, even social media snippets? Writing will become another chore, another “must do” in an endless string of duty instead of the love affair I have known it to be.

 Are you ready to experiment with Instagram?

Here’s your challenge:

Sometime in the next twenty-four hours, choose a photo to post on Instagram. Decide on a maximum time to spend on writing the post. I suggest no more than five minutes.

Then simply write. Five sentences should do the trick.

Don’t try to write well, don’t try to write anything insightful, just write what you see. Tell the photo’s story – and perhaps your place in that visual narrative.

I tried this a moment ago at the same spot where I recorded my Periscope video this morning.

I’m not thrilled with it, but it certainly cracked open a metaphor for me.

As the Kern River tumbles through the canyon into the valley, there is a long stairway and a door leading into the side of the mountain. I've never known where it goes, I only know it looks frightening. I've never seen anyone walk the seemingly infinite number of stairs to get to the door. Where could the door lead? What could make someone brave enough to take the journey in the first place? The fear I feel just considering these questions squeezes my heart. I don't want to ask, I don't want to look, I don't want to think.

And now, for the Periscope Videos that continued this particular stream of engagement:

 Part One: How to Use Instagram to Be a Better Writer:

Stop trying so hard and simply write. Please.

Part 2: The Perils of the ShortScope

By the way, in the comments Marilyn said she tried and failed. Guess what? She tried again and she did a beautiful job.

Kelley accepted the challenge and I have yet to hear back from here – maybe tomorrow?

How about you?

What photo will you take and what words will your heart narrate as a result?

+ = + = + = +

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My Task in Creating Life Work that Hums in 2015: Integrating Heart Leaping Into It All

I know you can. I know you can. I know you can!

I was excited to sit at my desk and write this morning, but when I logged on and puttered around a bit, I lost all interest in writing. It was as if my desire to write a blog post was like a balloon with a slow leak.

 “I have to write something!” I lamented. I had a writing challenge to consider.

I poked around my “unpolished gem” file, otherwise known as place I put writing I think I may use someday but have not quite finished yet, and found the makings of an article rich in images and ripe with one of my favorite topics.

I did some editing and adding of photos and instantly, I had a new blog post.

I still thought, though, I should write about how I dealt with the slow leaking balloon, though.

1. Move away from the keyboard. DO NOT putter on twitter or pinterest or facebook or linked in or your email. Your intention is to get words on the page, not gush over other pages. REMEMBER THIS first and foremost.
2. 

   Getting a break from the keyboard ALWAYS helps!

   Do something other than writing but still creative. I worked on very simple collages of old dictionary pages and vintage illustrations from a children’s book. Along the way I learned Thalia is “The Muse of comedy and idyllic poetry” which intrigues me and may become another blog post or I may name a future character Thalia.

3. Move. If you are able, walk around the block. Do the twist, wildly, up and down the hallways of your house or apartment. If you don’t end up laughing (naturally) do it again and laugh unnaturally until you get to laughing naturally.
4. Use free flow writing (on a paper with pencil and pen) as your dearest friend. One way to use it is to put a paper and pencil at your kitchen table. Get up and do the twist around your house, wildly, until you are laughing and then start to write from the simplest and most effective prompt in the world, “I remember….”
5. Take photos with your phone or camera, inside or outside your home. Experiment with taking photos of things you don’t normally photograph. Take some macro shots. Take some shots of the ceiling or the sky. Stack up your favorite books (or current reads) and take shots of them.

Once you patch the slow leaking balloon of writing situation, take steps to help you the next time this comes up.

1. Keep an “Unpolished Gem” file.
2. Keep a notebook of random thoughts and ideas.
3. Revisit your “Unpolished Gem” file and your notebook regularly.
4. Pull images and stories from the newspaper as prompts and put them into your notebook for future use.
5. When you watch your favorite television show, notice what topics are being discussed. Pay attention to how the actors, the director, the writer and all the other crew members are telling the story. Write your observations in your notebook.
6. While waiting in line at the check out, scan the sometimes ridiculous magazines that are lined up in all their colorful glory in hopes you will buy them. What headlines either draw you or repulse you? What images work the best. Since you will be carrying your notebook with you always, scribble in your notebook or use your cell phone to take notes and then email the notes to yourself to put into your unpolished gem file when you get home.
7. 

   Go on a Writing Playdate (like at Writing Camp with Julie Jordan Scott, seen here.)

   Collect quotes as a hobby. I am a new GoodReads member. I was shocked at how few quotes they had for one of my favorite women writers, so part of my fun in reading women writers is to add the quotes I find in their collection on GoodReads. I tend to make activities like this just for fun and for me? It works. Collect from your reading or search for quotes along the line of what you are writing, say “inspirational quotes” or “Virginia Woolf” quotes. You name it, you’ll find it.

8. Give yourself a limited time on Pinterest – no more than five minutes. Find a couple images to repin and then use those images to prompt some free writing. If you don’t know where to start, start with a visual description. What do you see in
   

   Remember Why You Write….

   the images.

9. Remember WHY you write. I write because I am deeply in love with words and believe the world will experience positive transformation via writing and other arts. My contribution to this change is to use my writing (and my ability to write) to make the world a better place. If you need to write your “WHY” on a notecard or poster and pin it beside your monitor, do it. Your writing will be rejuvenated.

© 2013, 2016  by Julie Jordan Scott