Sometimes that is the best medicine. One sentence – no, one word
- at a time.
Slowly, methodically, letter by letter dropped onto the
page.
Phase two: Let the words sit without you hovering.
Get up and leave, do something else, remembering what you have written even in the
vaguest sense.
In case you didn't "get" that, what I said was...
Get up and leave, do something else, remembering what you have written even in the
vaguest sense.
Return and repeat:
one sentence at a time
Our best medicine may be a word at a time.
The most important ingredient in the word-love writing medicine
is action. You pick up your pencil (or pen, fingers on the keyboard, etc) and
you write that one word.
Simply start and continue and take a break and start and continue and take a break.
Here is how I did it just now for a story I want to write
but can’t seem to get it to work how I want it to, right now.
Instead of sitting and doing nothing, I am choosing to write
one word or a phrase and then one sentence about three images from the story I
want to tell.
Waiting - - - The farmer’s recent presence is left behind as he takes his claim upon the still sleeping trees.
DIY – The Farmer made a stop sign from agricultural scraps. Such a human element amidst so many growing things.
Dancing. The upturned tree exposes roots as their ghosts take the opportunity to throw a celebratory ball.
What images or words or sentences are calling you to put
them into language form?
Instead of rushing to write, “rush” to allow yourself to take action to
write slowly.
Allow your write action to be a peaceful waterfall of words
rather than a freight train rumbling through a busy intersection, upsetting the
normal traffic patterns by shouting with its horn and making the buildings
around it shake.
One word.
One phrase.
One sentence.
Repeat. Allow the words to guide the growth of the writing
itself.
Take action, slowly....
Click here to join the Ultimate Blog Challenge, too!
This was my first post (of 30) for the Ultimate Blog Challenge, April 2013 edition. Follow here for some "Writing Word Love" which is my theme for this month.
My experience with melanoma this September has
lead me to reach into my magic chest for different creative endeavors than the
norm as Autumn stretches her orange, yellow and red carpet at my feet.
My heart shaped scar right on the apple of my cheek is scary
and beautiful. It also pretty much counts me out of stage productions for at least
six months.
Instead of theater, I am going to work on my business,
creative projects and complete long overdue tasks – the biggies that usually
hover over me until they get ignored out of existence.
One of the challenges I signed up to do as a way to stay
inspired in October is ….
I am, by nature, fairly organized. I am, by practice, better
when I have more time and am all set up. This is where I have gotten lost over
and over as an entrepreneurial mom, volunteer, active community member and
artist-about-town. My tendency to “get everything set” has wavered.
I haven’t done the best at training my family to keep everything
set, either, so this October we will focus on exactly that: getting – and
staying – organized in our household and school/work/life work.
This is an invigorating time for me.
It is true what people say about cancer: it definitely
causes one to take a different perspective than the norm. What I am enjoying is
my lack of resentment and newfound relationship with grace.
I would love to share my organizing adventure with you and
alongside you. Are you up for it?
so
that everything has a place when it enters your home
Week 2: Establishing Routines
to
help you stay organized and prepare yourself for the day or week ahead
Week 3: Calendars and To Do Lists
Week 4: Getting Ahead of the Game
menu
planning, grocery planning, after-school charts, and more!
I don't know about you, but I am excited to end this year with a more organized home and business than how I started this year.
Collect strategies, tips and the best Sharon Romney, a Mom of 6, offers along with a supportive community of fellow Boot Camp adventurers. What more could I ask for than this?
“The care of rivers is not a question of the rivers, but a
question of the human heart.”
Tanaka Shozo
I haven’t spent much time this year visiting my river. MY
river. Notice how I call it that?
I went for a couple picnics this Spring, but there was no
lazy time of river wooing where I would sit beside the river and write and take
photos and scribble inlets of thought in my notebook praying they would make
sense later. I drove through with a couchsurfer or two.
We got out and they were amazed by the flecks of gold in the
water. Yes, we are the land of the gold rush. That isn’t just a folk tale, it
is how California came to be who she is today.
2012 has been a squeezer year: that time when I expect to
have bushels of time when what I get is a tablespoon of leftovers after I’ve
done everything else I’m supposed to do.
I imagine my favorite spots along the river miss me. They
wonder where I am and even more
importantly, when will I return.
I think of my calendar. The weekend after this one is
completely booked up now, a week out. The weekend after that I plan to go out
of town.
I think I need to take a mental health day during the week
to be with my friend, the water, the falls, the surprising coves and the
changing face of my beloved.
It will be intriguing to see now that I have set this
intention, how long will it be until I realize it?
I am thinking as you read you are daring me to make it soon
and make my time there well invested.
Be watching here, for more. Right now photos and in the
future photos: they will be here soon!
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity
Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since
1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director,
Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the
StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield.
Did
you enjoy this essay? Receive emails directly to your
inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion
Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost)
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Now, for all of you out there – one of the best features of this GO TO recipe is - uniqueness and creativity.
I use some consistent “materials” and otherwise, I
improvise. No matter what I use, though, it gets raves.
If I am having friends to a casual dinner or want to feed my
family something healthy and cool on a warm summer evening or having folks for
lunch, this is my biggest hit. If you are having a lunch with friends, you could actually make it seasonal. (I am thinking adding craisins for the Fall, for example).
Chicken breast, marinated in either Balsalmic Vinaigrette or
what you have on hand that leaves it tasting spicy in your favorite flavors.
Raw broccoli, stirred in Italian dressing or regular old Oil
and Vinegar
Spring Salad Mix or any sort of DARK lettuces as the
foundation
Add other raw veggies to taste
Optionals: pine nuts or almonds, seasonal fruit
You can treat this sort of like a crock pot meal: get the
main stuff prepped and then just throw it all together right before you serve,
like ten minutes before your guests
arrive (or your family comes shrieking in yelling for dinner).
Phase One: Slice
chicken breast into small chunks and marinate at least three hours. You may
stir a couple times if you like but if you don’t it isn’t a big deal. It might
sound weird, but I enjoy doing this as I make my children’s lunches in the
morning.
Phase Two: Perhaps just after lunch or again,
whenever as long as it is between eight and four hours before serving:
Pour Olive Oil into medium skillet on medium heat
Add chicken and marinate into the skillet and cook on medium
heat, stirring occasionally.
Wait until thoroughly cooked, usually 15 minutes or so. Put
in a bowl in the fridge so it can cool before serving.
Chop broccoli and put them in a bowl. Drizzle with Italian
dressing – drizzle, not drown. Stir. Set aside.
Do a brief inventory for lettuce or lettuce mixes. Note any
additions you want to throw in for extra texture or flavor. (Carrots, celery,
nuts, tomatoes that sort of thing.)
Phase Three: Ten minutes before serving - Assemble the
salad. Start with salad mixes and lettuce, add chicken and then throw in your
extras. Toss with great exuberance. Do a taste test and see if more dressing is
necessary. I usually DON’T add dressing, but I am not one who likes salads to
be served like “having some salad with your dressing.” You may serve as is and
have dressing on the side so people may add as much as they like.
I can’t believe I don’t have any photos of this, but trust
me, its YUMMILICIOUS! I got the inspiration from a local restaurant and even
people who don’t believe a salad can be a meal are convinced after eating this.
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity
Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since
1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director,
Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the
StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield.
Did
you enjoy this essay? Receive emails directly to your
inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion
Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost)
every week day. Subscribe here now -
You know that restless, you’re sitting at your desk or
trying to get your household chores done but every move feels like it is being
swished around with a bunch of molasses?
I had that earlier tonight and remembered a thought I had
this morning. I said then I wanted to watch the day become night. I wanted to
focus on that transition in addition to the sunrise which I know exceptionally
well.
I told my family, “I’ll be back in 15 minutes!” and I went
three blocks from my home to the Panorama Bluffs where there are benches and
paths and trees and views. My notebook was with me and I brought along some art
inspiration I’ve been toying with as well as my phone for its camera and whew.
In just fifteen minutes I was able to experience more
creativity than I knew was
possible.
I wrote a list of today’s wins, today’s “couldas” (missed
opportunities primarily due to procrastination) and tomorrow’s “I wills” – the beginnings
of my possibility list for tomorrow.
I watched joggers and walkers and chatted with a Mom and her
curly haired toddler with deep brown eyes who was riding on a fancy
car-stroller toy and desperately wanted to tell me… something he was pointing
to was very significant.
I wrote a theater inspired sunset haiku:
Light's memory fades
Nightfall moves down left, just... so
Ponytail points east
And I headed home after fifteen extravagantly stretched
minutes.
How did I accomplish such serenity in this tiny little
mini-retreat on the bluffs?
A pure intention guided me ever since I wrote it
this morning: I wanted to try writing sunset haikus as a counterpoint to my
regular sunrise haiku practice.
I put my mini-retreat into a timed container.
Yes, I literally timed myself.
I asked permission of myself first and then my
family. I was very specific, “Is it fine with you if I go up to the bluffs for
fifteen minutes? I want to write and take photos.” They are used to me both writing and taking
photos so it seemed 100% reasonable.
I took advantage of every single moment I was
there. Not a single second was wasted thinking negative thoughts or critiquing
anything. I was open and willing to squeeze the marrow out of the bones of
these fifteen minutes I invested.
When my timer went off, I packed up and headed
home. I honored my commitment to my family and myself. It was so gorgeous, I
wanted to stay longer but… I didn’t.
These fifteen minutes were transformative. I was able to
consciously survey my day in a short, non-judgmental and constructive way. I
was able to experience joy, beauty and hope.
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity
Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since
1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director,
Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the
StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield.
Did
you enjoy this essay? Receive emails directly to your
inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion
Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost)
every week day. Subscribe here now -
First, take a nice deep breath. Feel where your muscles are tense and relax…. Again… deep breath and relax…. Deep breath and relax….
I remember when I was a new parent all I wanted to do was be the absolute best parent that ever was for my daughter. I did everything right: breast feeding only, cloth diapers only, spending days cuddling on the sofa just idly watching television never putting her down and of course please don’t forget attachment parenting times a bajillion.
What I have learned in the twenty years since then is your baby will love you whether you are the perfect super parent or just a parent trying to do his or her best in the moment.
I found a better strategy is to do what is best for that particular baby in that precise moment.
This morning I read about gold mining in the 1850’s. Yes, I know – not your usual reading and yes, it is relevant. Just listen – it is a brief analogy. It was a letter from a woman known as Dame Shirley who lived and wrote glorious letters home to her sister in New England. My favorite was a letter she wrote about when women joined men in mining.
The men loved to have the women around, so they would encourage them by passing the women plates that were pre-filled with gold dust to encourage women to continue mining. It wasn’t easy work and most women approached mining as if going on an afternoon picnic, especially when the gentleman miners proved to them how simple this work was!
Truth is, the work was hard and rarely was it very fruitful for the average miner, male or female.
They spent hours sifting the “ordinary dirt” from the gold dust.
This is what I think will help you most in parenting after discerning what is best for each child in each particular moment. Take the advice you receive and sift through it. There will be gold dust for you in other people’s words, but it is best if you find it yourself.
It is best if people don’t give you so much that the muddy water makes it impossible for you to sift out the advice that is right for your little ones.
Let’s go back to the beginning:
Take a nice deep breath. Feel where your muscles are tense and relax…. Again… deep breath and relax…. Deep breath and relax….now love your baby with all your heart every day.
Forgive yourself when you fall short of what you think is “The Super Mom” or “The Perfect Dad.” Just being you and doing the best you absolutely can is what will fill up your children’s love sippy cup now and for the rest of their lives… and for your Grandchildren, too. Imagine that!
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.
Did you enjoyed this essay? Receive emails directly to your inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost) every week day. Subscribe here now -
(Special Note - the only images remotely resembling what I had in mind for this on flickr were both obscene. Please accept these goofy, loveable yet heinous critters in their place.)
Have you seen this big old hairy wort covered monster?
It huffs, it puffs, it continually blows down my house-of-cards-slice-of-time calendar and drives me into Mama-etc, insanity!
Because I have the super power of intuitive mind reading even now, I can see some of you nodding, smiling and yes – I even hear a groan or two.
My Super Power of Choice – The Time Stretcher!
Yes – when need be, I am able to stretch moments of time so that I can get what I need to get done, done without becoming a crazed whirling dervish at the same time – unless, ofcourse, I feel like being a Sufi Dancer – which is what a whirling dervish is so perhaps, if your super power is “I have to learn more cool interesting trivia” with that fact, you are now on your way.
I don’t need much, I just need that.
You know, when your best friend is coming over and you haven’t mopped your hard wood floor yet? It will only take ten minutes but there she is, pulling up in front of your house?
Zap the Time Stretcher into motion and the entire world, except for you, is on slo-motion.
You can get that floor mopped, calmly whisk on some mascara and lipstick, and greet her at the door with her favorite cup of tea and a smile on your face.
Plus you haven’t even broken a sweat.
My timer just went off. I was able to stretch time enough to write a respectable blog post in five minutes. I’ll take that, too.
(Special Note: There need to be more Moms posing as Super Hero's for the next round of Summer Blog Challenge. This is why I am stuck with a Mom Mobile image which is quite cute, but not exactly what I hoped to use! Grateful, though for the usage -
Yesterday I caught an Apathy bug. It is sort of like a flu, this all too common illness and if not watched, it may become long term or in the worst case, it may become lethal to your passion.
Thankfully it was only a 24 hour Apathy bug, but oh, it reminded me how simple it is to fall from the inspiration train and into the murky mire of “Is the work I am doing important enough to the world to continue doing it?”
My brain felt as if it was coated with a sticky malaise.
I didn’t allow myself to fuss about it, I just relaxed a little bit and focused on different things: helping a friend with organization and chores, chatting with other friends, purposefully staying away from the keyboard.
This morning when I got up, I did my usual routines with my son, Samuel. I read some Rilke as we sat at the kitchen table. I googled some quotes of one of my newest heros, Angela Merkel, the current Chancellor of Germany.
I then discovered another European Woman Political leader, former Ukrainian Prime MinisterYulia Tymoshenko, who is now in prison while keeping her name and image in the headlines. I don’t even know her politics but I can’t help loving her.
Once again my writing flows, proving sometimes the best medicine for what ails you is to step away and focus anywhere except “the block” or “the problem” or “my ridiculous inabilities.”
1. Leave the problem where it lives. Walk away and restrict your thought about it, especially if those thoughts are coated in negative self talk.
2. Do mundane, meaningless activities, especially if they will be of service to others.
3. If you are compelled, research another area of passion in your life.
4. Stay away from the “problem” until you are at peace with “it” and, in fact, are able to not consider it problematic anymore.
5. Remember, it isn’t “the problem” that is the problem, it is your opinion about the problem that creates the lack of movement and the sticky malaise. A philosopher from more than twenty centuries ago taught me this: a one time Greek slave named Epictetus. He was a very wise fellow whose wisdom has never let me down.
The next time you catch the Apathy Bug, don’t beat yourself up about it. Instead, follow these five simple steps and come back to your passion refreshed. Why? Because you know deep inside your work is important enough to the world to continue doing it. I am certain it is.
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & soon will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.
Did you enjoyed this essay? Receive emails directly to your inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost) every week day. Subscribe here now -
I have taught myself how to be cheerful in the morning. There may be a bit of a hereditary piece here, but I believe all people are capable of waking up with a brighter perspective in front of their eyes. Please try at least one of these tips to see how it will change you.
Ready to Wake Up?
Know what you need to get done – and start the day doing something you are passionate about doing every time: This may mean to start the day writing in your notebook or taking photos of dawn or, if you’re like me, sitting on my porch writing haiku.
Use yummy smelling (to you) morning things: soap, face cleanser, toothpaste… or if you use unscented personal items, how about waking up and lighting a candle – initiating light into your day and dedicating your day to passion, love and light (or your greatest intention.)
Don’t rush, don’t delay. If you wake up with an alarm, get up when it goes off. Stretch when you turn it off. This is so simple and it works. Arms up over your head, stretch and smile! Greet yourself (even if this sounds corny.) If you keep a dream dictionary, write in it.
Play music (softly) preferably “language free”. Words are so powerful, they punch your subconscious mind with all sorts of suggestions. Early in the morning, instrumentals are best to keep your mind clear and your attitude moving forward.
You’ve heard it a thousand times before: have a healthy breakfast. Sometimes a smoothie is the best breakfast there is. A donut and coffee definitely don’t count as a healthy breakfast. If this means rethinking your routine then rethink your routine.
Start your day with radical self care and if you are one to add spirituality to your self-care, do so daily. Meditation, Free writing, Yoga, Pilates, a Walk or any combination of the above to begin refreshed and renewed: These work.
Stay Unplugged: Give yourself an hour before you turn on your computer or check your text messages. Really, all this can wait. No email with barely awake eyes, please. Settle into your day away from the keyboard or television. You will be grateful!
Tell your housemates what works best for you. This includes children, spouses and parents. My children know I write every morning, so they will sit at a table with me, quietly. I simply set that expectation and they know the expectation. Once I arranged it, everything has been just right.
This is post #13/1 for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Slowly and surely I am getting caught up!
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.
Did you enjoyed this essay? Receive emails directly to your inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost) every week day. Subscribe here now -
This blog post had its genesis in two places: The Bloggy Moms Blog Dare who provided the prompt: "Don't let it bother you" and the Ultimate Blog Challenge, which reminds me daily I need to keep writing blog posts to keep up with the challenge. I am several posts behind right now, but I have committed myself to write write write for the next two days with the intention of being ahead by the time I go to sleep tomorrow night.
Yesterday in the Mommy Blog Darel, I wrote from a prompt that said, "Don't let it bother you." You may read my blog post here.
I took inspiration from this paragraph of stream of consciousness, free flow writing from that blog post and came up with a new line of content:
Don’t let it bother you because the bother lasts so much longer than the originating choice and follow through did. Make reparations. Smile. Breathe deeply and aim for now and your next nows.
How often do you make choices you wish you hadn’t made?
There are days when I make not so great choices which have a domino effect: one bad choice after another bad choice after another bad choice.
There are days – weeks, perhaps, when my choices all seem to follow my life intentions: from the clothes I choose to the toothpaste I buy to which item on my to-do list I decide to do first to how I create my schedule. I hum along life based on the right choices until one of those other sort of days, The Domino Days, catch up with me.
I could call those days curses and I could call those days paths to higher learning.
It is up to me to choose how to label them.
What do you think?
Could they be curses which lead to higher paths of learning?
Are they curses?
Are they paths of learning?
Are they just days in a long course of the other 364 (or 365) days in a year?
Consider which of these suggestions rings true for you. I know I tend to the “path of learning” idea and the “just days in a course of other days” concept.
You may know people whose idea is widely divergent from yours. Two of my closest friends would immediately label themselves and the day cursed.
Instead of shaking my head at them or putting my head in my hands in frustration, I give them space to work it out for themselves. What usually happens is they end up laughing about their initial assertion of the day and themselves being cursed.
Instead of me prescribing their shift, I stay beside them, perhaps gently questioning with something like, “What makes you say that” or “tell me more about how you see this day as cursed” and patiently follow up perhaps with silence or with no language sounds requesting more – mmm hmmms or ohhhhs or smiles.
You may eventually do a Scarlet impression complete with southern belle accent, “Well, you do know tomorrow is another day!” or you may let them say the first laughable line.
Choose to make space for your friends or family members who see it differently than you do.
That alone turns a “cursed” day into a blessed day.
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.
Did you enjoyed this essay? Receive emails directly to your inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost) every week day. Subscribe here now -
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