Start with a question: ask as heartfully as possible in that precise moment. I like to close my eyes and put my hand over my heart, breathe in and ask “What is the most useful way for me to invest this next ___ minutes?”
Just before I started to write for this five minutes, I asked the same question.
My intention was to come to my keyboard and speed write. After all, I need to take Samuel to school in ten minutes so I felt squeezed to begin with but my heart told me differently, “Meditate for five minutes on the question, then write for five minutes.”
Our hearts are constantly ready for us to take note and listen.
We tend to scurry about with our to-do lists ringing in our ears, slightly off kilter or else so lock-step in focus we drown out those longings of our powerful hearts.
So today, I took five to meditate and then this five to write.
My eyes look up and I see a neighbor walking her dog, one I rarely talk to but instead we exchange eye contact, do a half-nod and smile. She takes time every day to walk her dog. She doesn’t walk quickly, but she walks. Picks a foot up and puts it down.
In five minutes I can do a quick sweep of my kitchen, a time of cleaning my counter tops. I can straighten my drawers, clean my bathroom counter, I can put together a sandwich, I can write a thank you note, a blog post, I can schedule social media. I can pick up my phone and write a note to use later, I can edit an image, I can write a few simple “I’m thinking of you texts.” I can scan headlines.
I can mindfully invest five minutes to make the world better because of my devotion to intention.
My timer applause ends, signaling to me this five minute investment is now over.
I took a chunk of time that seemed “unusable” between folding laundry and waiting to take my son that could have gotten lost scrolling my facebook feed or something like that. Instead, I meditated and wrote a blog post that will most surely make a positive difference in someone else’s life: perhaps in yours.
The world is waiting for your words: take five minutes and get them on the page.
Here I am writing by the graveside of Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women – a highly successful book that hasn’t been out of print for more than 100 years.
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!
To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.
Check out the links below 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.
