Goal setting – Creative Life Midwife

What Writing Poetry Every Morning at Sunrise Taught Me

July 31, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Before the end of 2019, I created a goal uniquely mine with one goal: to “have something to do every day that would help me feel better.” I remembered the past, when I would write haiku and post them on facebook before the start of the workday, one friend of mine enjoyed reading them and I enjoyed writing them. The number 377 ties me to writing one haiku – a Japanese form of poetry noted for being short and to the point.

I knew if I made it a difficult goal, I might run the risk of not completing it. I gave myself space to fail AND I knew if I paid attention and made sure I had a guideline to write before a certain time of day, I would have a greater likelihood of success.

In early July I had the idea to do a “sub” goal or a micro-goal. I created a specific intention within the initial one. This time, I was going to write a haiku poem every day at sunrise for a month.

I didn’t expect the potent impact this simple practice had on my life, especially since I had already been writing daily haiku for more than six months, everyday. This new tweak to the goal definitely put the entire project onto a higher playing field.

Micro-goals rock: Small, short-term and do-able goals build confidence and make the process of accomplishment even more fun.
Having accountability via public proclamation is both slightly intimidating and brings about an extra zap of love, hope and optimism. I used my facebook page initially. Now I share on other social media platforms and text to specific friends. During the last week of the month, I also share daily gratitude lists and invite others to share their gratitude lists, too.

Haiku 192 – July 2, 2020

Sunrise at the Panorama Bluffs in Bakersfield, California.

trees hold a secret

golden laces weave their leaves

lone bunny watches

Watching the first light of day is one of the most optimistic acts I can imagine during this particular point of our history. It is something I can trust.
Falling in love with sunrise is akin to falling in love with life, falling in love with the place I live, and falling in love with the people who show up and engage with my posts.

July 14, 2020 Haiku 204/377

A mallard duck family swims in the canal off Brundage Lane in Bakersfield at Sunrise

Urban pastoral

Mallard mama quacks fiercely

distant palm stands tall

Grace is a dear friend who embraces me, everytime
Doing unconventional things will attract attention and odd conversations.
Standing on a creative ledge is inspiring even if we are simply doing it for fun

Haiku 208/377 July 18, 2020

Loco Weed (moonblossoms) blooming at Sunrise beside the Calloway bridge in Southwest Bakersfield

poison loco weed

feels the magnetic charm’s call

time for you to sleep

When there is no boss to create goals or tasks for you, you may become the best task master you ever imagined.
My senses are improved because of daily attention and fine tuning.

Haiku 213/377 – July 23, 2020

A pumpjack (oil well) in North Bakersfield at sunrise.

silent old pump jack

sees another day begin

Skoal can on gravel

When we are prone to documenting how terrible things are don’t get up and witness the sunrise every day.
Witnessing sunrise is a potent non-chemical anti-depressant. Because I am well aware of the current news cycle in order to be an informed citizen, this sunrise haiku practice has kept me grounded and present as an optimistic realist.

Haiku 220/377 July 30, 2020

Organic citrus

north of Edison Highway

proud palm trees stand guard

There are two days left for this micro-goal, even though July is almost over. After this, I will be writing seven days of Coffee Haiku, inspired by a friend I made on Instagram. After that, I may return to sunrise because it feels so good to be outside when it is still cool during a hot Bakersfield summer.

Which of these photos and haiku poems resonates with you most?

Woman writing on the front porch of a brick home, — Write wherever you find yourself.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet.

Julie is also one of the Founders of Bridge to the New Year. Join us now in mid-2020 in #Refresh2020 to reflect, connect, intend and taking passionate action to create a truly remarkable rest of 2020.

Does Your Goal Feel Unreachable? Be Inspired Here

July 8, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Every day, I celebrate that I am one step closer to my biggest goal in years.

Last December I was seeking something to help me feel better. I felt myself sinking into a depression after a near death experience.

“What did I used to do that made me feel good, feel better?” I asked myself. “Whatever that was, I need to do more of that,”

After months of mostly sitting in a chair in the corner of my living room, on winter solstice I set a goal. 198 days later, I am still on task and have reached my sub-goal every single day since December 21.

Here’s the story in a short, engaging video:

After watching this video and hearing my story, what do you think?

Leave a comment below – I would love to hear from you!

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

Celebrate Your Goals: Be Trusting, Be Enthusiastic, Be the One Who Activates Your Passion & Purpose

June 29, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

woman standing in a river. She is inspired to be the one who stays the course - and lives with purpose and passion because she follows the energy of her goals.

I remember when we celebrated Emma’s first birthday at the beach. She had been walking for a little bit more than a month and had a fierce independent streak. She was surrounded by people who loved her. I watched her face as she appeared to be building up energy for some unseen by me challenge, something of utmost importance.

“I do it, I do it, I do it!” she said to herself. Then she charged toward the waves, still chanting and then laughing and shouting, “I do it, I do it, I do it!”

More than twenty years later, I can still hear the little Emma voice as she took action on her goal of conquering the ocean and the two -decades-younger-me ran after her, amazed at her will and her focus. She was going to conquer the ocean, by gosh and by golly.

Energize Your Goals Like a Toddler

Last December I said my own version of “I do it I do it I do it” challenge. Six months later, I am more than half-way to my goal.

It has taken a daily focus of consistency and a devotion to honoring myself every single day for the last 189 days.

Now as a part of my jubilant celebration of my continual goal reaching, I offer my top discoveries with you.

Self Trust is Key

As I grew with my goal, I learned to trust myself. I knew everyday I would write my short haiku poem. I decided the parameters: I would take a photo of whatever inspired the feeling of my short haiky poem. Next, I would write and post the haiku on my personal facebook page publicly as a way to document and celebrate my goal.

I trusted myself to do my best. To make the attempt and to gain trust as I took this one small action every day.

Once we trust ourselves, anything is possible. In the daily action of writing my poem, I was not only activating my passion, I was purposefully standing up to the world and vulnerably sharing – knowing all the time I might fail at some point. I took action daily, in public, anyway.

Quote: “We are trusted because of our way of being, not because of our polished exteriors or our expertly crafted communications.”

Lolly Daskal

Unbounded Enthusiasm, Infinite Results

2. Taking action on my goal consistently grew my enthusiasm and when I needed it, the stored up enthusiasm carried me through to the next daily action. I started with this goal because I tuned into what had historically made me feel better. I was watching a gorgeous sunrise – which always made me feel blessed and grateful. What was something I might do daily that would help me to feel blessed and grateful? Autumn was ending and that was the season I was in the hospital and almost died. I didn’t want that malaise to carry into my next season. Enthusiastically I created, continued and cherished my goal day after day after day.

Quote: “You need to have unbound enthusiasm for what you’re building. Energy is contagious, so your team and everyone you interact with feels it.” – Tyler Haney, Founder of Outdoor Voices

Consistently Do What You Say You Will Do

3. My gut instinct said, “Feeling better, every day, happens when we take aim and activate through more than just thinking – but when we do what it is we say we will do.”

My inner wisdom said, “What is something you may do daily, publicly, that you will be happy you did even if you fail along the way?”

Quote: “Every day in every way I am getting better and better and better.” Emile Coue

These three primary lessons have a lot more depth than may immediately be seen.

My hope and intention is you see yourself – and your vision – reflected in Emma’s voice ringing out, “I do it, I do it, I do it” as her life force called her to conquer the ocean. Maybe what she was actually conquering was her fear of the ocean and running towards it, anyway.

Somewhere in me and also in you is the “I do it!”that is calling to you.

Six months from now, what do you want to look back and say, “I wanted to do it and I did it?”

Write more effectively and have more fun while you do whether you are creating social media posts, the next great American novel, poetry, a sales page or blog post with The Joy of Writing for Magnetic Attraction, a ten day online adventure challenge starting September 21, 2020

How to Create a Goal that Moves Your Mind, Body & Spirit

March 7, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Sometimes a goal is much more than a bunch of colorful sticky notes on a bulletin board. It goes beyond setting goals, making plans, get to work, stick to it, and reach goal. Find out more why.

Sometimes a goal is much more than a “GOAL!!!”

It took me a long time to understand this fully and completely, with my whole heart. Recently I created a goal about travel. No, it isn’t about the Top 50 Destinations to reach before I turn 50, it is a goal about how I want to experience traveling.

It is stated in the present AND it is part of my overall life vision for the next ten years. Here is how I wrote my goal:

Travel is regular, sacred, joyful, smooth sailing and extra comfy.

Imagine my delight when the goal first came to fruition within two months of writing it. That trip became a good model for future successes with this same goal.

Last Fall I joined a book club. This is not unusual, I have a propensity for joining book clubs. I love books, I enjoy hanging out with bookish people and this particular book club filled a different niche – it is an empowered women book club. It only meets once a quarter so why not? I have a goal to read 52 books this year, so adding another book club helps me to keep my reading choices unique and fresh because they aren’t necessarily what my hands would reach for first.

I was also meeting some brand-new-to-me people.

One of these younger women recommended a book to me by Rachel Hollis called, “Girl, Stop Apologizing.” I quickly discovered the writing voice of the author is not one that is appealing to me. Her personality was not one that was appealing to me. Her content was extremely familiar and I might have put it down and forgotten it under other circumstances, but since it was an ebook I checked from the library, I breezed though it grumbling much of the way until…. Rachel Hollis wrote of crafting a ten-year-vision plan.

At first I scoffed at this. Let’s be real, I am too old to be reading this book by the chirpy Rachel Hollis whose other New York Times Best Seller was “Girl, Wash Your Face.” Furthermore I am too old to be writing a ten-year-plan.

“I almost died in October” seems to be a common refrain for me lately.

There was something in her message, though, something that compelled me to consider and complete a list of ten separate goals to make up my ten year vision plan.

That one small yet not small action has changed everything for me.

Twenty-two-year-old Emma sits at a kitchen table in Flagstaff with her two elderly Grandparents. The sun is streaming in through the window. Everyone is smiling and happy. Traveling to visit family is important, always.

Last week I returned from visiting my parents in Flagstaff. This is something I had wanted to do since last May but never did. In December when I visited Katherine and Donald in New Jersey, I declared I would be going to Flagstaff and nothing would stop me!

I would visit for my birthday! It would be great!

January 29 rolled by and I was still in Bakersfield.

I became even more vehemently determined, possibly because between my visit to my daughter and her husband, I created this goal as a part of my ten-year-vision plan.

Travel is regular, sacred, joyful, smooth sailing and extra comfy.

The thing about a ten-year-vision-plan is it isn’t something “to do later” it is something that is perpetually living and breathing and morphing.

My trip to Flagstaff with my middle daughter, Emma, was the first challenge of this goal. It was my first test of the ten-year-vision plan. I originally wanted to go on this trip alone (which would have insured the “smooth sailing” part of it) but I didn’t want to leave Emma behind.

I wanted to see my parents more than I was going to let a possibility of not smooth sailing or not comfy get in my way.

My elderly parents live in their own home in a neighborhood on the western side of Flagstaff. They bought it “when we were young!” my father said. They were about my age now, which I will gladly claim as young.

My mother now has Parkinson’s Disease and has balance issues and moves much more slowly than she used to move. My father is also much slower. Their daily highlight is going to the senior center for exercise classes. For the most part, they stay home other than that and running errands like going to the grocery store.

This required our daily visits to their home to be much more of a collaborative art of… sacred, joyful, smooth sailing and comfy. My parents didn’t know of my goal, yet they gracefully helped me fulfill it.

No one was rushing, no one had anywhere else to go or anything else to do except be exactly where we were. Everyone was in a good mood and happy to be together.

Emma and I stayed at a nearby motel that included an indoor pool and Jacuzzi and was located next to a bookstore and was close to downtown. We were able to explore what fascinates us – for Emma that meant Vegan dining and an fabulous crystal shop, for me it meant lots of places for haiku writing and photography in tucked away alleys and places with history. I also visited a park and took a short hike I had forgotten I meant to take more than ten years ago.

Do you have a travel goal as a part of your overall life vision?

2020 is the first year I am able to respond with an unabashed “Yes!”

In my ten-year vision plan, my overall travel goal sounds like what you have read repeatedly in this article:

Travel is regular, sacred, joyful, smooth sailing and comfy.

I am thrilled to report we met all of these goal-oriented sign posts during this trip to Flagstaff. The visitwasn’t about sprinting around to see how many places we would visit or doing any particular activity, it was about the quality of the experience.

I’m looking forward to deciding where I will visit next: I have a feeling my nomadic adventures are going to start sooner than I thought – and with this visionary goal crafted, I know it will be achieved in a soulful way.

How may you create and fulfill a travel goal with the same amount of pleasure and ease?

Consider how you would like to feel during your travel.
Consider the sort of memories you would most like to have when your travel is over.
Think about your traveling companions and modify your plans accordingly.
Stay committed to clear communication throughout the experience.
Set your date for travel and start reserving accommodations!

Stop putting off what is most important to you. What October taught me was not only about my mortality, it is about how interconnected we all are – and how much joy the simple things in life bring.

If it will help, commit in the comments to your next travel adventure. Next, return to let me know how it went.

woman in a hiking hat creating mixed media art.

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.

Speaking of Creating a Vision Plan: Goal #1

January 28, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Yesterday we talked about creating a ten year vision plan and then writing it by hand, daily, as I have been doing as a part of my daily writing practice.

Writing is my both my anchor art and in a way, one of my deepest, most long term ongoing relationships. Because of that, I will be vulnerable and share a bit of writing on each vision here for my next ten blog posts.

My first vision/goal/intention is this:

I provide the world fuel for creativity, intentional connection, and purposeful passion to eradicate loneliness and depression.

Loneliness and I know each other more intimately than I often let on. As my mother wrote in my baby book, “Julie smiles all the time, even through tears!” as if that was a blessing – perhaps it was/is – yet in a way I fought against loneliness so much it has had a tendency to suck me back in if I am not mindful or if there is so much happening outside of me I surrender (and not in a good, conscious, empowered way.)

That was, perhaps, the first connection between loneliness and me. My first baby brother was born when I was thirteen-months-old. I was still a baby myself and he had a unique gift that was, I imagine, more than distracting for my parents.

My beloved brother, his name was John, was born with Down’s syndrome. I can only imagine how it rocked my parents, even though “the river denial” flows strongly through our family constellation, too.

My guess is a part of little-baby-not-yet-walking-me surrendered to my brother’s higher needs and that became a lifelong pattern. I am crying as I write this, so I know I am onto something.

When John and I were both preschoolers, we were inseparable companions. He never had the best verbal skills, so we had a silent language that spanned space – after we grew up and lived distances apart, he and I were still able to communicate. This came into play when he was hospitalized before he died.

60% of Americans (or more) experience loneliness on a regular basis. Imagine with me how much better life would be for that group of people if they didn’t feel loneliness anymore.

Studies have found that loneliness leads to illness and absenteeism from work. It leads to mental health problems, it leads to economic instability and job loss. For children it leads to lower grades, it leads to students being shunned and left out. To minimize some of this fires me up from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.

There is an indelible loneliness that comes from not speaking up about what is most significant and having the desire but the inability to say what is so. Taking it further, there is an unforgettable sense of hopelessness that comes from speaking into a void, where no one hears and furthermore no one seems to care.

The vision I created for ten years in the future is also alive today.

How I fulfill it now is multifold.

I am in the process of rebirthing my newsletter mailing list because so many people have asked for it and I am finally ready to show up for it again.

I am remembering a woman from Australia who once wrote to me about the newsletter I used to publish and how during a time of grief and loss and loneliness, the fact I showed up via my newsletter in her email box gave her a sense of encouragement, even though I wasn’t writing about grief and loss, I was writing about passion and purpose and life and telling stories – asking questions – creating a space that said “You care, you matter, I’m grateful for your presence” even though I didn’t know or realize she was reading there was that sense, in the words in my newsletter – I was with her. Loneliness lessened.

I am creating in-person programs and events that incorporate story sharing, intention and connection so people may practice speaking up and being heard and then following up with the people they meet in the groups. Loneliness lessened via intentional connection and stretching comfort zones.

I am continuing to create and am simultaneously expanding online (via zoom and groups) spaces for people to connect intentionally to practice being seen and heard and growing purposefully, with passion using a variety of creative processes including creating social media presences based on passion and according to purpose rather than shoulds or lacks or “because so-and-so said this would be good.” Loneliness lessened via connection with oneself and with others, mindfully.

By writing my list of all ten every day and then focusing on a specific goal that leads me toward realizing my vision, I am fueling the world and myself. I don’t remember when I felt this good as consistently as I have in the recent past.

I provide the world fuel for creativity, intentional connection, and purposeful passion to eradicate loneliness and depression.

To begin to eradicate loneliness and make people feel excited about life, connected deeply to themselves and others fires me up from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.

I smile ear-to-ear when I think of the lives that have been changed and are changing and will change into the future because of the simplicity of intentional connection, reflection and direction through coaching, workshops, videos and more.

What makes you smile ear to ear? How might you make what you are excited about into a part of your vision for tomorrow, next week, next month or all of it, including ten years in the future?

Create a Remarkable Life: Celebrate Your “Small” Wins (because truly no win is small.)

January 10, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Building blocks make their way to success.

It is mid-January: do you know where your goals are?

A bit over a week ago many of us boldly spoke proclamations about what we aimed to achieve in this momentous first year of a brand new decade!

You may be one of those people who rolled your eyes at others enthusiasm and lamented “What’s the point?”

It may be because I nearly died in October, but I took a different approach this year and it is working brilliantly. I created three goals for the New Year that aren’t grand and glorious, they aren’t outrageous or audacious. These goals and projects are tiny goals I approach daily as if they were brand new.

Let’s look at one of those goals and see how you may use it to craft a small, daily goal for yourself.

Daily Goal: Write a haiku in the morning to post on social media based on a morning photo I take.

Here’s how I have been creating this daily for the past twenty days.

Be ready to take a photo daily, whether or not there is something inspiring or even pretty to take a photo. It may not be at all interesting. Take a photo anyway.
Throw words and syllables (I call them units of sound) together without worrying about whether or not they are any good – at this point this is more about creating a ‘word pool” to choose words from to sculpt your short poem. Play around with different variations to discover what thoughts might make sense and also fit into the famous 5-7-5 haiku guidelines. By the way, haikus are very short poems. They are of Japanese origin and in English are commonly seen as three lined poems with the first and third lines having five syllables and the middle line having seven syllables.
Become more comfortable thinking there is nothing to say.
Some days you will take lots of photos to find one I find remotely good enough. Other days you will take only one. A fringe benefit to the daily nature of this goal is it is naturally a great healer of perfectionism. It teaches you to say “Yes. This will do.” I have been pleasantly surprised by photos and poems that did nothing for me yet somehow magically spoke to someone who found it on my social media feed.
Don’t worry if people “see” you out and about taking photos of unusual or not often photographed things. Today I bumped into a gentleman who was headed into a museum to do volunteer work. He asked if I was also a volunteer, because he didn’t seem to understand why I would be taking a photo of a wall. I asked about his volunteer gig. I like to think I brightened his day. He didn’t ask about my photo and I didn’t share, I focused on him. People love being seen and heard. Brightening other people’s days is a bonus from this goal on many levels.
Offer myself grace if I don’t post my photos and poems in the morning.
Do a happy dance when I write a haiku and/or take a photo I really like.
Embrace revision as a part of the process. Note to self: Share that process! It gives others permission to “not get it right the first time.”
Give yourself milestones along the way to bigger milestones. Celebrate EACH day for the success you have created that day.
This is my recipe for small goal leading to remarkable life success. You may choose to follow it, modify it, ignore it or even laugh at it. As Louisa May Alcott said, “Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth’s sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.”
Be prepared to be satisfied and surprised with what comes as a result. You’re allowed and encouraged to brag but as with everything else, there are no requirements – simply lots of love.

Final food for thought: New Years is not the only time to create new goals and vision for yourself. I actually start my own new year on my birthday. This year I am doing my weekly goal checks and planning on Wednesdays because Mondays tend to be hectic plus people complain about Mondays. When they talk about Wednesdays, they’re usually talking about happy activities.

What will your first or next small, do-able, fresh new goal be?

4 Simple Ways to Start and Nurture a Daily Personal Growth Practice.

January 1, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Henry David Thoreau

2020 is arriving in several hours and here I sit, after declaring I would write this HOURS ago.

It is still 2019, I still have latitude between declaration and execution, right?

My lack of remembering was valid: there was the clogged toilet incident I was solving. After that, I was assisting my long term friend who fixed my roof right before I left for my cross country trip and prevented havoc during wild weather while I was gone. Who knew four hours to help trimming dog’s nails and getting pictures developed was going to turn into accompanying him to the dentist office and securing meds? I knew if I didn’t push the pharmacy pick up it might not happen until tomorrow afternoon and being the responsible, deliberate person I… realized how unintentionally I almost forgot Thoreau.

My actions today reflected my forgetting.

I was not living deliberately. I was living reactively, as has become my habit.

Being reactive rather than responsive is one of those unconscious habits I aim to shift as this new year and season and decade of my life begins.

The cost of this habit brought about a rather unremarkable life ruled primarily by fear with spurts of passionate living. The person I was I was twelve years or so ago, lived a very passionate life with only occasional spurts of fear.

As 2019 came to a close, clarity spoke to my heart and my mind loud and clear.

I aim to live deliberately – with passion, purpose and intention, every day.

This doesn’t mean building a small cabin in the forest like Thoreau did, this means I don’t miss the individual trees. This means I submit to delicious daily practices to feed my overall intentions.

I started this by asking, “Back when I was at my happiest and most productive, what consistent practices was I engaging in to help me feel so good?”

I was writing daily haiku and taking photos of everyday activities and actions, every single day without missing a day. If I did miss a day, I offered myself grace.

I want more of that, again.

Eleven days ago I started writing a morning haiku (though any form of short poetry or micro-poetry will do.)

I snap an accompanying photo and post on one of my social media accounts where I once had a regular audience cheering on my short poetry.

How do I feel, eleven days in?

Accomplished, satisfied, and delighted to have something daily an audience is waiting to read.

Choose a practice that won’t take too much time or effort so success will come easily to you.
Scan your past successes and use those as a compass for what is likely to work now.
Share your intention with others who are supportive of you rather than the naysayers in your life who stare down their noses at your ideas.
Start your practice and if it helps you to continue, share publically and ask people to respond.

Here is what you don’t know yet.

Three months ago, I came face-to-face with death. I stood on the edge and decided I had life yet to live, there were connections left for me to make.

When I come to those crossroads again, I want to be able to recognize that from now on I am choosing deliberately to create a life that reflects my beliefs and my vision, my passion and purpose.

What choice will you make the next time you arrive at a significant crossroad in your life?

Let’s talk about this in the comments.

If you would benefit from going deeper, let’s have a conversation. Here is a link to request a transformational coaching conversation session, please visit here.. My gift to you.

Energize Your Goals Like a Toddler

Self Trust is Key

Unbounded Enthusiasm, Infinite Results

Consistently Do What You Say You Will Do

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