Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

How Writing Into Your Sense of Mystery Builds Trust:

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How Not Knowing and Allowing the Energy of Wonder Will Make Your Writing Better: Writing Prompt inspired by Lucille Clifton

Sometimes writers create elaborate schemes and outlines and wildly detailed storyboards regarding where their unwritten story, novel, screenplay or poem will take their reader.

This is fine AND I question writers who are only willing to use this format become stifled by the format itself.

What if the writer instead allowed the magic of the process to carry them and their characters into unexpected places?

As a creative, we may stretch ourselves right into a creative downpour when we veer off-course, like the surprising sites when we take the two lane highway rather than the slightly faster interstate highway.

Today, let’s allow ourselves that special flavor of delight. Let’s invite mystery and wonder into our writing.

Whether you are writing fiction or are journaling or playing with dialogue in your screenplay or journaling: choose this prompt as a way to bring the mystery into the scene. Allow your character work to fill it with breath and light and surprise.

Prompt 1: The fear of being lost is real to me. I remember when I was lost in the…… (share the place where you or your character got lost. Take 5 – 10 minutes to tell the story of being lost – taking care to note each of your senses.)

Prompt 2: The moment it all became clear to me felt like nothing short of a miracle. After all, who would have thought….. (write for 5 -10 minutes about what happened next in your life or in your character’s life. Make it colorful and vivid.

This post is a part of the Women’s History Month Writing Quotes & Prompts series from Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, and her Word-Love Writing Community you may join for free on Facebook. During March, there will be daily discussions on the quotes and prompts we present here, too. Join the conversation and improve your writing at the same time!

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astonished: an everyday guide to a more satisfying life

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Astonishment:to strike with sudden and usually great wonder or surprise.

I didn’t get to make a list of moments of astonishment like I suggested in the writing prompt for day 1 of the women’s history month writing prompt series because a perfect moment of astonishment seemed to be brought to life simply because I noted the need to be astonished.

Here is what happened: at the same time as I was busily making a graphic for the prompt, my friend Faith sent me a message saying she had a book she wanted to give me. “The Bone People” by Keri Hume. It was published in 1986 when I was an optimistic newlywed and never believed my life would become overly bothersome or filled with grief.

My friend said she had intended to read the book, described on Amazon as “a mystery, a love story, and an ambitious exploration of the zone where indigenous and European New Zealand meet, clash, and sometimes merge.” As she held it in her hands, though, she had an unexplainable urge to give it to me.

When Faith arrived shortly later with not only “The Bone People” in her hands but several others tied with a purple and white ribbon, I assured her of my gratitude and my understanding that sometimes intuition rises fiercely and we are, at all times, to listen closely and follow it’s call as odd as it may seem to others.

I am one who doesn’t expect gifts.

Having her deliver an absolutely perfect gift to me was phenomenal, slightly confusing and absolutely wonderful. I am finishing my next fiction book and then, I will read this one, which she also doesn’t want back. “Use it to make black out poetry, or whatever you want with it. It is yours, not mine,” Faith said.

What would the world be like if it wasn’t so astonishing to receive an unexpected gift that was a perfect reflection of who you are, even to someone you are not particularly close to?

What would the world be like if this was completely ordinary – not to the point where we feel entitled to surprise gifts from friends, but it was like the expectation of seeing the crossing guard at intersections around an elementary school or the ubiquitous question of whether we would wear a sweater when the weather started to get cold?

This morning I had a humorous interaction that in the past might have upset me. Today, it simply made me laugh.

Not being hurt by someone else brushing me off like a piece of lint was a surprise, even more to retell the story and be compelled to laugh instead of being offended. Yes, this is definitely astonishing.

Over the next several days I will remain open to more astonishment.

I will continue to be grateful for the moments of awe and wonder – even at simple things – and invite surprising synchronicities to greet me as they will.

What has astonished you recently?

I encourage you to check out the prompt and use it to create. If you do, please come back and comment here so I may see what this astonishment inspired in you.

This post is a part of the Women’s History Month Writing Quotes & Prompts series from Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, and her Word-Love Writing Community you may join for free on Facebook. During March, there will be daily discussions on the quotes and prompts we present here, too. Join the conversation and improve your writing at the same time!

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Women’s History Month Writing Quotes & Prompts for Your Inspiration

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How does a person become astonished in our snarky, competitive, disconnected world?

I’m reminded of the days when my peers wore plastic, slightly stretchy bracelets with the letters WWJD as a reminder to ask themselves, “What would Jesus do?” In the case of astonishment, I would vote for “What would Mary do?”

What would Mary Oliver to sustain a life of astonishment?

We know she work up early and highly valued the “early riser life.”

We know she loved to tromp around the woods sometimes with her dogs, almost always seeming to commune with nature. She was a forest bather before forest bathing was a thing.

Come to think of it, I find Mary Oliver’s life astonishing.

People compare her writing to Thoreau’s. Wouldn’t it be an honor to have your work compared to Thoreau, he who closed his seminal work with the following words? “The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.”

It would be astonishing to be compared to Thoreau or Mary Oliver or indeed any of the writers I will be featuring here during women’s history month.

Some of the best ways to climb into discovery is through lists – so for today, I will ask you to compile a list of astonishing moments.

Our tendency is to limit “astonishing” to mountain top experiences: trips to Paris or childbirth or overcoming nearly unbelievable obstacles. I invite you to look instead at “everyday astonishing” – and know I will be looking for the same and sharing this time of unearthing of words.

After you have compiled a list of seven astonishing incidences – big, medium sized and tiny, start with one and use it as an inspiration to write about it for five minutes. Write in a free flow, stream of consciousness style, not worried about where your words are going – simply move your pencil.

Choose another and write for five minutes. Go for a third and again, writing for five minutes.

In doing so, you will get to know astonishment like you know your inhales and your exhales: as natural as living your everyday life.

And then, as Mary advises “tell about it” in words, on video, in a painting or journal of any kind.

You, my beloved, are worth your astonishing experience. The world has been hoping and wishing and waiting for you to tell about it. The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.”

This post is a part of the Women’s History Month Writing Quotes & Prompts series from Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, and her Word-Love Writing Community you may join for free on Facebook. During March, there will be daily discussions on the quotes and prompts we present here, too. Join the conversation and improve your writing at the same time!

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Truth or…. Consequences? Better Writing? Freedom? Vulnerability?

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What truth am I ready to tell?

I feel increased frustration. Why did I write this prompt?

Why did I decide to write from it first instead of offering it to other people first?

How am I supposed to even begin talking (or) writing (or) be willing to be vulnerable enough to take this one in any decent narrative?

Right in that moment I wanted to shut down completely, but something jostled me so I finally stop worrying about narrative or getting it right or anything except filling the five minutes with the tapping on the keyboard.

Five minutes on the timer and… write. I started with something easy to address, something obvious.

I am ready to tell the truth… I am happier with my hair colored than when I was attempting to grow it into its natural state.

Maybe if I hadn’t gotten sick I would be rushing back to going grey/white again but I simply feel more bright spirited with my hair the color it is now – I actually feel more freedom to experiment with it again.

In all honesty, the only thing I liked about my grey adventure was the whitest part of my hair and the purple streak Jolie painted into my hair every time I visited her.

Other than that, I felt pretty hideous about my appearance most if not all of the time. I stopped looking at myself in mirrors. It certainly didn’t help with the overall malaise I was feeling.

I am not ready to tell the full truth of my near-death experience in October. Recently I found myself quite willing to tell one friend more details than normal. That was a surprise and actually felt optimistic and eye-opening.

I am ready to tell the truth of my anger about some of what I observe in special education. I am ready to tell the truth (with some changed names) in the book I am finally editing – again.

Again, more truth tumbles out: when I reviewed the last edits, I will tell you the truth that version of me had it a lot of it wrong. J Sometimes when editing, our true writing voice gets sucked dry. That’s not what this book is about, especially.

This book is messy and tired and frustrated and ebullient.

I am ready to tell the truth – and grow in my ability to share what I feel and know and think – without fear of retribution and abandonment.

Truthfully, I am stronger to face both of those because I have experienced both abandonment and retribution and discovered through the process I am bolder and more resilient than I could have ever known without them.

Five minutes later – time is up and I feel infinitely better than I did when I sat down to write.

What a joy!

And now it is your turn to write:

  • What truth are you ready to tell right now?
  • TIPS:
  • Start with an “easy” truth if you have any hesitation, like I did with my grey hair. You might start with “I don’t like broccoli” or “I love watching the Bachelor.
  • Keep writing until the five minutes are up.
  • Allow yourself to follow the flow of the pencil (or pen or fingers on the keyboard). They will take the writing where it needs to go.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is committed to Eradicate Loneliness through intentional connection, passionate purpose and creative expression. Sign up now to stay connected with the movement and receive inspirational emails to insure you will minimize loneliness for yourself and those you love. Visit EradicateLoneliness now to sign up for free.

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Care and Compassion Question for Transformation: What if…

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How many of us treat others with much more care and compassion than we do ourselves?

What is up with that?

Today I am thinking about how I might feel about myself if I spoke myself with the same kindness and curiosity I speak with others.

In fact, it just happened. I started straying off course, I was searching something about “my why” via the work of Simon Sinek and the next thing I knew, I was about ready to start watching another 15 minute video.

I had forgotten I committed to writing for 20 minutes: or rather, writing this blog post (which I wanted to also make into social media posts in Instagram and maybe twitter and on my facebook page and group.)

I actually said aloud, “Oh my gawsh, I got lost again.”

Because I had just read this prompt, I stopped myself and said, “What would you say to a loved one?”

Soft smile, “Julie, hey… let’s come back here to the prompt, remember?”

The Version of me that was off course would look up, sheepishly…. “He is just soooo good!” and then, “I can’t believe I got lost again.”

The compassionate soul-leader-me would respond, “You were just distracted momentarily. You know who and where you are and you know how delightful it is to find people who believe optimistically about humankind like you do… so let’s spread the word….”

And the two-versions-of-me merge again.

All is well.

All is better than well when I treat myself with the same tenderness and care as I treat others.

Prompt: What would happen if you treat yourself with the same tenderness and care as you treat others?

Julie JordanScott writing personalized love poetry.

Julie JordanScott is a multi-creative who lives in Bakersfield with her daughter, Emma, in an eighty-year-old house with two palm trees in her yard. She loves writing and reading poetry, sitting by the Kern River and learning new quirky facts about literary grannies and what makes people tick. Her current project is finding ways to end the secret epidemic facing the US – with 60% of Americans affected by it. This love poetry project is another way she is working to eradicate loneliness – more information may be found on how you may be involved in the cause at EradicateLoneliness.com

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Today: A Two-Miracle Discovery Day

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It looked like an otherwise ordinary day but deep inside, I knew it wasn’t.

I made two back-to-back miraculous discoveries once I survived the early morning extreme cold.

Yes, the miracles started with a freezing cold breath of air – to people in Central California, temperatures dipping under freezing may as well be the arctic tundra. We aren’t accustomed to such cold and in this case, neither were my lungs.

Since my bout with pneumonia which lead to sepsis I have been keenly aware of sudden pain, especially in my lungs or in my upper chest. I know the most recent CT scan showed there is still an unclear spot on my lungs and this causes concern for me.

My morning haiku went like this:

Surprise! Freezing inhale
Ice pick poking in my lung’s
upper right portion –

I went inside, started making coffee and sat with my notebook, using my writing practice as a container for insights of wellness and a catalog of what my mind was holding onto.

Two pages down, I decided to eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast and take my morning vitamins. It was here when the miracle came clearly into form.

First, I realized Aldi’s fake Life Cereal tastes better than the original. It is the perfect level of sweet, yet not too sweet. Normally I am not brave enough to try off-brand cereals, but this makes me willing to try their fake Special K next, which is my favorite cold cereal.

Second, Geritol truly is a miracle elixir. Whenever I take it, especially on a regular basis, everything in life feels better. It is right up there with daily writing practice and creative collaboration of all types.

My lungs feel better, I am ready to take on my day after yesterday’s rather disappointing end, Emma is even cheerful. After all, I suggested she take Geritol as well. It seems to have worked.

It didn’t take a trip to a faraway island or an expensive gift, it simply took a shift in mindset from moving my pencil and lovingly taking care of my health continually.

Writing practice and Geritol, anyone?

Miracles are around us all the time. The simplest question is, are we ready to notice them?

Your prompts for today:

What miracles have you noticed so far today?

What was a recent “big” miracle in your life? What was a recent “humble” miracle? Set your timer for five minutes and write about them, right now – or commit to doing so, later.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, has been working with people to clarify their life purpose and inspire artistic rebirth since for more than two decades. Her work on stage and as a theater director have magnified her passion for the poetry of living. She currently has two openings in her life coaching practice. Perhaps you are ready to experience a transformational coaching conversation to see how you would best work together to collaborate on creating your next big thing? Click here to request your complimentary session now.

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The Mini-Counter Cultural Guide to Loving Mondays

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I love Mondays. I have for years – since I stopped being employed by local government, anyway.

Monday is a fresh start, a chance to begin again. A new calendar page, a renewed attitude, different chapter, a white canvas to splash colors upon all await on this first day of the week.

Intellectually I know this is a false construct. Logically the realization is there.  I could just as easily choose to do as Mary Shelley advised “The beginning is always today” no matter what day of the week it happens to be.

In 2020, for example, I have been reviewing my weekly goals and plans NOT on Monday, but on Wednesday as an ongoing homage to the beginning of the year being on a Wednesday. It is refreshing – and fits in with a mid-week review that brings me to a mid-week revitalization.

For this week, I intend to look at every day as a fresh, brand new, just opened canvas for me to paint anything I would like upon it. My intention is gesso, the colors are my perspective and off we go.

What might happen if you lived as if every day was a brand new white canvas?

Portrait of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, who also loved new beginnings, every day.

What might happen next week if this week you decide to love Mondays?

Take a moment to write along with Mary Shelley – who was the woman writer who brought the world “Frankenstein” and was tangentially the second wife of the poet, Percy Shelley.

Prompt: If I lived like today was a brand new start in my life, I would….. write for five minutes, free flow writing style, and afterwards determine what message your renewed life wants to tell you.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, has openings for two creative life coaching clients. She works with people like you who are ready to move beyond their previous blocks and into a purposeful, productive and satisfying life. Request your Complimentary Transformational Coaching Session today here.

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Mark Twain Made Me Do This!

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This is all Mark Twain’s fault. Mark Twain, the alter ego for  Samuel Clemens, as in the man who was a humorist and once a journalist and has created many well-known characters like Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher, as in the man portrayed in countless one-person shows often played in middle schools across the US.

Mark Twain is the one who reportedly said, “The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.”

How do I bring this up, the question I most want to ask you?

I realize I ought to try bringing it up like I bring up many things – by asking questions and telling stories and offering you some prompts to write, journal and make things – like conversations and photos and paintings, for a few possibilities.

How do you know when you are comfortable with yourself?

At first I was thinking like this: I am not comfortable with myself when I want to ask you (or anyone, actually) something that feels uncomfortable to ask and if you are to respond, “What do you mean by that, Julie?” I am not sure I could give you a decent answer on this one.

Maybe I will forget this idea for a blog post and go along my merry little way and no one will know I even thought about writing it.

Then I remember I am at the tail end of a blog challenge which is something like a promise – and I missed posting on another day this week and after that, I forgot to add my title before I posted which is close to not posting at all so what I will do is just take a deep breath and ask you a question I don’t know how to answer myself.

Then I realized the problem I had was in this precise moment I am much more equipped to answer “how do I know when I am not comfortable with myself?” like right now, as an example.

I thought of writing right away but then I looked at the clock and realized I needed to pick up my daughter from her class so I stepped away and my mind started working on this concept again.

Here is your prompt, to write along with me – be sure to put your writing in a two to five minute container and end your writing with gratitude.

  1. I am not comfortable with myself when….

And now me (my turn to write)…. I am not comfortable with myself when I am smothered by fear, whether or not it is rational. This happens when I am stuck under the rock of history, the big pile of mind clutter and argument I built for far too long because I believed the “less than” and negativity other people have shoveled and I have agreed to by staying on the ground, limp and sad and lonely.

I am not comfortable with myself when I bump into people I am in a broken relationship with, someone who I believe doesn’t like me or has hurt me in the past.

I am not.. and the timer went off!

And now you… write it, now…..I am not comfortable with myself when

2. Second prompt….I felt the most comfortable with myself when I….(and now, I write) I felt the most comfortable with myself when I had the feeling of being successful, when I knew I was where I was meant to be. When I facilitate workshops and see people making discoveries they wouldn’t have made if we hadn’t joined together: that’s one example. On stage, I have felt it both in plays but also poetry performances – especially improv style poetry performance. Deep conversations does this, singing does this – being in a meditative sort of space I feel so comfortable in my own skin.

When people see me and hear me and love me anyway, I feel so comfortable in myself, with myself and with whomever I am with – whoever has blessed me with their presence.

Timer – went off.

And now you…. write it, now….I felt the most comfortable with myself when I….

Take time to write in response to these prompts. If not now, copy them into your journal or notebook or a document on your computer and give yourself the gift of time to respond. Blame it on Mark Twain if it makes you feel better: writer of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and my favorite, the lesser known Pudd’nhead Wilson.

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How One Small Shift Lead to a Powerful, Continual Result

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One of the most recent changes to my daily writing practice is to include writing by hand the ten-year-vision statement I created for my ideal life in the future.  

I think of my vision statement as a ten-year-plan that is similar to a written vision board.

Here’s another thought: I think it would be a great idea for you to try it, too.

Before you turn away, please hear me out. There are numerous reasons I thought making this vision plan sounded crazy. I collected even more reasons it was irrelevant and a stupid way to invest my precious time.

  1. Ten years sounds like an extremely long time to someone who is my age. Seriously – I know how old I will be in ten years.
  2. Ten years seems slightly outlandish considering I almost died a few months ago. Since then, I have been living much more day-to-day. I rarely commit to invitations more than a week in the future, much less a month or a season or a year away.
  3. I’ve spent the last ten years focused very intensely on educational advocacy, especially for my son, and caretaking for other people. I am way out of practice in “creating my dream” or “manifesting my heart’s desires” so doing an exercise like quickly got stamped in my head as ridiculous.

I did it anyway.

This simple yet visionary exercise has made a huge difference in my attitude and my confidence. I am feeling a shift into getting more done right now, today, in more than one aspect of my life. All because I took the time to think about what my life would be like, ideally, in ten years.

I realized as I wrote out my ten-year-vision, I was reconnecting to many of my past hopes and dreams, the ones I buried while I was focused on educational advocacy and serving others not in an intentional way but mostly because needs appeared and I leaped in.

It felt good to take out my old intentions, like rediscovering an old pair of jeans a size smaller than your usual size and they fit and you even look surprisingly good in them!

Here’s a suggestion for you, right now, to connect more with yourself in the here and now if the ten-year-vision feels like too much.

Consider a month from now. Just a month from now.

Consider what you have going on in your life, on your calendar.

Consider what you would most love to see on your calendar if you were living your ideal life.

One example of how this works is when I made a list of my ideal life and I wrote, “lunch with a friend at least once a month.” At the time it seemed like a huge stretch and then it became a lunch and a couple dinners and some coffee with all different friends.

I manifested that ideal and more.

So it doesn’t have to be huge at first.

If you had this as part of your ideal it would be one meal, shared this month. And when you go to that meal, be intentional with your friend.

Talk about subjects that matter to you. (If you would like guidance with that, check out the writing prompts on my blog or the Transformational Questions on my Instagram account and use them to launch into conversational topics).

Maybe the person you would most like to take time with this month is yourself. You may do the same with yourself as I suggested with your friend. “Converse” through writing in your journal or writing a blog post or making a quick video. For the bold among us, I challenge you to make a 5 minute video and share it on facebook, Instagram or youtube or perhaps even go live.

One month from now, what do you want to look back and say, “I did that?” and “I felt that!” and “I am so grateful I did that and I felt that way.”

Julie JordanScott typing a love poem on the edge of a foothill of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Julie JordanScott typing a love poem on the edge of a foothill of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Julie JordanScott is a multi-creative who lives in Bakersfield with her daughter, Emma, in an eighty-year-old house with two palm trees in her yard. She loves writing and reading poetry, sitting by the Kern River and learning new quirky facts about literary grannies and what makes people tick. Her current project is finding ways to end the secret epidemic facing the US – with 60% of Americans affected by it. This love poetry project is another way she is working to eradicate loneliness – more information may be found on how you may be involved in the cause at EradicateLoneliness.com

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Last night I didn’t feel, this morning I wrote…

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Last night I didn’t feel well, so I opted out of book club and then tossed and turned and kvetched the night away, shaking my fist at the new moon until I allowed her to hold me close.

This morning I wrote my 35th haiku in thirty-five consecutive days. I haven’t left my porch yet. I continued with my morning writing practice and lit my candle in another new, sustaining ritual pointing towards intentional connection in all I do, make and live. I did this before I drank my first cup of coffee.

I don’t know what today will hold specifically and I have several distinctive containers – a toastmasters meeting and a book club meeting – for deliberate connections with people. As I wrote that sentence, it occurred to me I may take those appointments (before this I saw them as duties) as ways to truly see and hear specific people who also gather in these groups.

What I mean by “seeing and hearing specific people” is I will not only mindfully listen to people as they speak, I will also initiate conversations with people who may not be engaged – those who may be feeling left out or unimportant to others in the group.

When I show up this way it isn’t so much of a battle to get there, although I believe a shower is in order and I have yet to achieve that!

Why is this worthy of sharing on my blog?

It is worthy of sharing because our future is built on our everyday moments, our conscious intention or lack thereof. If we choose to stay focused on anger and disassociation from everyone who doesn’t think, feel, create and move through the day exactly as we do, we miss opportunities for surprise, delight and increased meaning and creativity.

What of this message today resonates with you?

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