Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

The Magic of Lowered Expectations: the Joy of Meditative Writing

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If I were to ask you about your expectations for yourself, my guess is your expectations are quite high.  I know my expectations are high. 

High Expectations can wreak havoc on your self worth.

Even now, when I am here in Flagstaff with my Mom serving as caretaker, I have had high expectations. This morning I realized my schedule right now is a lot like it was when my children were young. My schedule is not about what I would most like to do, it is about what my mother’s needs are – and my schedule will be molded around her schedule.

Because of this, I have lowered my expectations about how many hours I can work on my writing and my business right now. I am in the midst of studying how I am investing my daily time over this week and then in future weeks, I can plan accordingly. 

Almost magic: set aside a time that works – a very short amount of time

I have also discovered I fare better no matter what when I set aside time for writing, even a small set aside-time rather than left over time. For me that comes in early morning and late at night.

The most important part of writing is to show up at the keyboard or notebook or screen and string together words.

Sometimes your words won’t be good at all.

Poet Mary Oliver wasn’t always perfect with her writing, either?

This morning I listened to an interview of Mary Oliver on the “On Being” podcast. She said many of her poems get thrown away almost immediately. This made me feel such a sense of relief! Mary Oliver sometimes wrote badly?

After winning many awards including the Pulitzer and being one of the top selling 20th Century American poets, the fact she continued to throw some of her writing away gave me peace and reminded me – my expectations are better served in the time I show up rather than the results of the writing. 

Where Meditative Writing & Lowered Expectations Meet

There are three distinctive ways to keep yourself in a meditative state of mind as you write instead of a judgmental, closed state of mind.

  1. Celebrate the fact you showed up to write rather than the results of your showing up. Witness the pleasure of the practice.
  1. Praise your efforts rather than your outcomes. Rejoice in the perfectly imperfect.
  1. Shine a light on the lessons learned instead of your lessons missed, lost or unnoticed. This is a space of love and possibilities.

We write meditatively when we pay attention to our breath, our body and our surroundings – while paradoxically letting go of everything except the writing itself.

Inhale: set your intention

Exhale: pick up your writing tool

Inhale: Start and continue your writing.

On the way to writing this article, I researched negativity bias and how that impacts the creative process. Is this a subject that would interest you? 

Please let me know in the comments.

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 and workshop facilitator whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

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

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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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She didn’t simply come back to life, she came back to being fully alive.

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While texting is convenient and as much a part of our lives these days as breathing, lately I have found myself “forgetting” my phone at home when I go out.

This wasn’t the case when I was texting my friend Parker the other day. He was bordering on lecturing me via text, at least that is how it appeared to me from my screen. He thought I was roaming about in unsafe zones near my home where unsavory people might venture in the early morning.

 I declared this in my text response “I refuse to be afraid. I’ve been afraid for too long when I stopped doing what I love to do most. If I die, I die. Not a big deal. We’ve had the dress rehearsal already. I won’t live by being afraid, I would be dead-while-alive. I won’t have it anymore.”

He thinks I am having some sort of post-near-death experience break down but actually, I am having a post-near-death experience breakthrough, one day at a time.

Alongside the Kern River as it runs through Bakersfield, new trees have sprouted in the last few years.

This morning I was walking alongside the Kern River in the same space where I went when I lost my brother. I went there before to howl with – and befriend coyotes with my friend Coryn. It was the place I found the courage to love the darkness. Today it was barely light as I took photos in newly minted day. No one else was around.

It is much less quiet these days: a new freeway buzzes over it to the east and from the last couple rainy years new, spindly trees have remarkably taken root. I am not sure if there are as many kit foxes and coyotes as there once were.

I didn’t spend much time there this morning, but each moment was precious. The top of my lungs felt tender and achy as they do when I overextend myself. That’s simply a component of healing and one I am more comfortable with – and can’t solve until my next pulmonology appointment.

This park is part of the Kern River Parkway - a lovely bike path experience stretches wide across the town - and makes getting from CSUB to Oildale and Bakersfield remarkably quick!

I laughed to myself because there was no one else there to hear. How marvelous to be this alone in such rich, poignant solitude.

Mary Oliver sprang to mind. She would know this feeling. Her words whisper-shout

“I want to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable, beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.”

She has been ever present in my mind as we are coming up on the anniversary of her death. What an honor to hold onto her words.

I looked into the sun, rising up above the trees and imagined wings sprouting from my back.

This is what it feels like to be alive in the early morning.

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Your Writing Life: Write Your Love to the World

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Poet Mary Oliver long ago reminded me, “My work is loving the world.” in her poem, “The Messenger.”

This single line in her well-crafted poem has shaped many choices I have made by asking myself, “How am I loving the world in this action I am taking?”

Sometimes I do a slight translation or edit to the original work when I ask “How is my writing loving the world?”

I write for different reasons at different times. Sometimes I write because my words may be of service. I write because I must. I write because I am a better human being when words splash on the page.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love wrote: “I write regularly, but in bursts, if that makes sense. I’ve never been burned by writer’s block, either. Writing is my love and my life, but it’s also a job.”

You may be in a couple spaces: you don’t have enough time to write.

You may be in a space where your writing lives within the “I gotta do it, I gotta do it, I must publish this blog post, but wait, there is laundry and my child’s soccer practice and…. Oh, here’s a writing assignment that will pay me $25! Throw all my personal goals to the side to make $25 so I can call myself a pro!”

I know these well because I have lived each and all of them.

When I do my best and my writing is the best is when I think of it as my “work” not “just another crummy gig.”

Each writing job I choose to take is honorable. I am blessed because my work, my writing, is loving the world.

How do you show love to the world through your writing?

How do you show your love to the world through work?

Consider these questions – and consider adding your comment to this post. I so enjoy connecting with you.

Julie JordanScott is the CreativeLifeMidwife who loves creating life changing content to inspire you into passionate action. She has a writing circle starting on February 1 and several other challenges and programs in the near future where you may participate as well.

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