What does it mean to be “woo woo”?
I learned today from google that “woo woo” is a cocktail that sounds pretty darned yummy and what I was looking for was a classification of people or the way some people experience… again caught in a web of words.
It is almost a pejorative when someone says “woo woo”. When I say it, I am often describing myself, the mystical me – the one who believes in a sort of alternate way at times that people who are more linear or scientific or stodgy might not understand. They might say I am cooky or nuts or… out there.
See, words can be tricky.
This is how it relates back to the Untalkaboutables.
I remember before Samuel was diagnosed with autism. I didn’t want to talk about his autism in certain circles because I could hear them say things like “don’t use labels” even in a movie I loved recently they kept saying “quirky” instead of autism. A women behind me said “He has autism.”
When we dance around or use metaphor or refuse to face what is so – we cloak that topic in being wrong and our mind hears “wrong” and this can be, at least, frustrating to those of us who thrive on accuracy and damaging to those of us whom “people pleasing” flows through our veins whispering “don’t do it wrong, don’t upset the apple cart”.
Who even pushes an apple cart anymore? Who even uses an apple cart anymore?
Practice in talking:
1. Practice being as factual in your conversation as possible.
2. If you are uncomfortable with just starting being factual, add a preface in your conversation – something like “I am attempting to be as succinct and close to the facts as possible, like an old-time journalist be.”
3. Do the opposite: be as ridiculously, flagrantly un-factual as possible in your conversation. This is actually a lot of fun and quickly brings us back to the facts.
And as always, we may start this practice with our writing. Take the three steps above from conversation and write them, instead.
I would love to hear from you about your progress with talking about your “Untalkaboutables”. Please comment your thoughts, experiences with woo woo and/or applecarts and maybe you would benefit from watching more on my YouTube channel, too. This particular video is about the twisting, curvy road of transformation. Take a moment to watch this video and then subscribe over there as well.
You know those beliefs that are stuck so deep you don’t speak them ever for fear of… well, for me I suppose it is fear of amplifying that belief no matter how false I pray it is.
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 
Today I used a quote as a writing prompt, simply writing whatever flew off the ends of my fingertips in response.
Ouch. Sting. I reach for my face – my heart shaped scar, the tears that want to pour out but stay continually stuck. Frozen.
Note to self and you: this is normally when I abandon my writing, when I stop going any deeper with my words because it looks and feels scary and I don’t want to face whatever might come next. In so doing, I have missed a lot of light, a lot of hope, a lot of joy and who knows what else.
I remember feeling panic about my cat, Tina, being trapped and how we could possibly get her out. Samuel came with me and we brought a can of tuna to coax her. I was worried about getting any dust specks on their hard wood floor. I was afraid when Samuel came out from under the house he would leave traces of dust or worse, dirt, and they would be made at me (as if that was anything unusual.)
Old Narrative: People who don’t like me are always ready to find me in the wrong and make me feel more shame than I already do, naturally.
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 soon!
I remember visiting Canyon de Chelly with my children: a favorite place for spiritual reawakening and profound joy, a place I have not visited nearly enough.
This was originally written as a #5for5BrainDump style piece of writing. As often happens when we allow free flow to have its way, some powerful words flooded through. I did not edit so please excuse grammatical and spelling errors. Around here we stand by “process is the new perfection.” (polishing comes, later).
Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via #5for5BrainDump, livestream broadcasts, creativity 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 soon!
Let’s try that today: take any scene from the movie of your life and replay it, starting with the words, “Once upon a time” and then let the words flow.
I just started the same sentence several different ways because the first few attempts just didn’t feel good, didn’t feel right, didn’t feel like me – so here I will say it again, this time like this: