Julie Unplugged

Wednesday #Wishcasting a la @Starshyne: I Wish to Transform.....

 I wish to transform.

I wish to transform how people see and assess what they see.

I wish to transform: opinions of rusty, smelly trash cans. See? Life grows there. It is transformed from smelly and rusty into an artful expression of hope. Yes?

Way back when, in the days of being a county bureaucrat an idea for a business was born. I first called it Transformation Times. This was back in the late 1990's. I saw a website and a publication, a newspaperesque thing of the same title. I remember thinking I needed to lose weight and transform my body before I started such a thing and then, shortly after that, 5passions.com was born and my first logo had the slogan, "Transform Your Life, Transform Your World."

The two, ever and always intertwined and to this day - so many years that feel like days later, it is still what makes my heart flutter.

Personal transformation and my life work out there, on the streets, with the people, helping them to see and live differently.

I never got rid of the weight, by the way, but my relationship with my body now is rather yummy anyway.

My biggest dream is to be a part of the positive transformation of this planet: a transformation I wholeheartedly believe is underway.

My wish, I see, is to collaborate with others to see this transformation into fruition. I make my way into it through reaching out to people, introducing them to the concept of personal empowerment and creative expression so that they may be a part of the world transformation, too. To see how this world transformation lives in our individual, every day choices.

I am thinking how the simplest activities are a part of that: like when I was invited to take Writing Camp into a local high school and suddenly a classroom of eclectic kids with different interests and ideals became a single community. Kids were partnered with kids they don't normally partner with and all the voices were heard. Nerd kid heard popular kid speak passionately about what loner kid wrote. Faces lit up as other faces across the room read a word combination they found delightful. They discovered that not only was writing fun (something many of them had hated until then) but that their classmates were actually interesting rather than adversaries.

Relationships transformed, classrooms transformed, abilities transformed, connections transformed, personal self awareness transformed. A bonus was all the kids learned the word "caboodle" and chanted, perhaps for the first time.

Yes, I wish to transform. With any of you who care to join me in this? I would be ever so grateful and gracious to play with you as together, we create global and individual life transformation.

I wish, I wish... I wish.

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© 2011
Julie Jordan Scott

 

 

D is for Anti-Drivel (among other things) #amwriting the #AtoZchallenge

 

I was reading one of my old notebooks this morning - no, not for a past December, but a November issue from 2009 and I was rambling in it about "Living the Question" and I found my now self sneering at my old self. "Drivel, Julie, drivel. We know you love Rilke and all, but seriously. Must you write the same basic stuff so redundantly?"

That's the thing about notebooks: they aren't meant for public consumption so drivel is at times most welcomed there, safely tucked away on the blue lines which I foolishly think may want to be read years from now by a descendent of mine. What I found that surprised me was amidst the dank, vague, uninteresting ramblings there were also moments of clarity and word combinations the now me found to be quite delightful.

I wrote, "Almost noon at my cluttered kitchen table... I return to the page, my pencil leaving its non-xeroxable faces against the paper truths which refuse to be replicated."

A smile covers my face upon reading that run-on lovely. It is difficult to photocopy pencil, I have found, though digital photos work well.

A couple days later I mused, "I wonder what would happen if I treated each poem I finished as if it would be the last?"

Rilke would undoubtedly agree that is a question to be lived.

I created a block for myself this morning when I pondered writing "D is for Death" and thought it would shut people down. They wouldn't read and might not come back. I couldn't lead with "D is for Death" but perhaps I could lure them in with "drivel". It would be even easier to use some chipper word like "D is for Delight" or the non-specific "D is for Dancing" but that is not what I wanted to say.

I want to say, "D is for Death. In April, I celebrate the memory of five people who I loved who died in May. My brother John, My beloved friends: Tom, Kevan, Berni and Kathie. All in their early forties or younger when they died of cancer.

I could say it is unfair to have so many friends who have died so young.

I like to look at it differently. I say I am blessed to have loved so many people. I am privileged I knew these folks, even if it was too brief.

When we forget to remember death, we forget to remember the power of a life well lived.

If this is the last bit of writing I ever put on my blog, it would be enough.

The giggles about drivel, the speaking my friend's names, the question I raised?

Delightful. Daring. Not the least bit Dainty.

I am grateful for what I have said today. It is enough. 

 

 Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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C is for Creative Every Day Weekly Check In - #CED2011 #AtoZchallenge

Tonight even my eyes are weary.

I have had such a Creative whirlwind week - even more than normal - all I can think about right now is my pillow and eyes closed and all my muscles completely relaxed.

Almost time, almost time.

My biggest creative adventure in the past week was writing Upper La Cresta Sojourn. I thought I would be ready to edit it by this Monday but I am not. I will shoot for next Monday and be open. Remain heart open and word-love open.

One of my favorite parts of this adventure beyond the writing of the book length poem was taking photos and videos to document the event.

I wanted to share a couple of them here to be my Creative Every Day Monday Check-in this week.

First - in the Mid-Morning I had a soulful moment and quite a discovery within a tunnel not far from my home.

What do you see in what I saw?

 

Second - as the Sun was heading toward the horizon, Samuel and Hank walked along the bluffs as I walked and wrote and sat and wrote. It was heavenly.

 

What does this photo inspire in you?

I am smiling contentedly, thinking back to Katherine's comments when she was just a little girl.  She stood on these same bluffs overlooking the oilfields and said, "Sometimes you just have to admit it, Bakersfield is beautiful."





 

 Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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Don't Worship at the Temple Busy ~ Awaken to Your Rich Life Now: #AtoZchallenge ~ B is for Busy

 

I get tired just thinking about it and you may, too, without realizing it. How often do you hear versions of this conversation?

 

 

 

 "Hey, Linda, how are you?"

"BUSY!" Linda replys, her face flushed or perhaps, droopy. Mario, Frank and Jen will sing their own versions of the "I'm so busy!" song. Somehow "BUSY" has become the favorite word, almost the badge of honor word that says, "I am important. I have a calendar chock full of stuff to do. People like me and want me and my date book proves it. I am BUSY!"

I have come to abhor this word even though people put it on a banner across my forehead all the time and have for years. No matter: I have given it up: not only for lent, I am hoping forever.

Many years ago when I read my first Personal Development book - Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins. In those pages I decided to stop using the phrase, "No Problem." This is another culturally admired phrase which to this day makes me cringe when I hear it. I learned from Tony is a no-no because the subconscious mind hears "problem" and that is what it sets out to see: "problem!" I don't know about you, but problems are not my favorite scenario. My response, ever since that day in 1990 has been to put "pleasure" where I once put "problem." When people thank me for something instead of saying "No problem" or "No prob" I now say, "My pleasure."

My replacement for a wide-eyed, frazzled face "Busy" response to "How are you?" is "Life is rich" or some variety of the same. "Abundant." is a possibility or "Life is blessed" is another. Just saying those words makes me want to smile. Serenely.

Much different than that other word or what I see as a place people worship, "The Temple Busy." I don't worship there anymore. I am exploring the riches and abundance of a full life of people I love, activities that suit me, a calendar ripe with things to do and projects to complete.

Perhaps you recognize yourself here. Hooray for awareness.

And yes, my love, you may stop Worshipping at the Temple Busy and open your eyes to your wondrous, rich life.

How are you, My Love?

Respond, "Life is Grand. Life is Rich. Life is Abundant. Life is blessed. Life is filled with love and joy and hope."

Doesn't that feel good?

 

 Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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A is for Rebirthing Abondanza in April....Post #1 for A-Z Blogging Challenge #blog #amwriting

So excited, I completely forgot

I signed up for the challenge! 

I am fixing that now because there are a lot of people registered and there is a big emphasis on writing across the blogosphere right now: NaPoWriMo (which I am also doing) and Scriptfrenzy (which I am not doing) to name two.

I love these opportunities to connect with people on writing challenges so even though I had forgotten registering, I am starting... now. At 4:04 on April 1.

ABONDANZA is my theme for this year. I know, I know, why can't I just choose a normal word to focus upon like other people. Anyone else would have said Abundance or Prosperity but I said... Abondanza. The Italian version of Abundance.

Why? Well, I may not have a drop of Italian blood but my heart beats to an Italian rhythm and the word "abondanza" is so much fun to say.

Ironically with the start of this challenge, I have also realized this is a rare year for me. I have yet to set any goals for this year, even though at the end of 2010 I set a goal to create intentional goals for 2011... so far. Nada. Nothing.

Perhaps April Abondanza will include some of that better-late-than-never goal setting and besides that, Spring always feels more new to me than January, shoved in the middle of the holiday season new year.

It is all artificial, anyway, isn't it?

I had an incredible experience this past week which is telling me... its all exactly as it is meant to be. Rebirthing Abondanza in April.

 

  Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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2011 Goals. Zero. 2011 Sacred Moments. Infinite. #postaday2011

This has been a different year for me. The first quarter is over and I have yet to set succinct, clear goals for 2011. I always set succinct, clear goals.

Yet amongst the goal-less life scenario, I have had two magical experiences involving wild life - the most recent one happened Sunday. I have had some magical bunny moments, but those were almost expected in my urban nature spots. These other "wild life" moments were on treks, sojourns, definitive moments set aside as sacred.

I was alone on both of these moments. On Sunday, I was with a group, but they had moved along on the path and I stayed behind to keep Emma company when it happened.

 

A wild creature, almost mythical and rarely seen in daylight, came out of his home and spent some time with me as I sat, sketching his home.

In fact, it felt like my intent focus on his home is what brought him out to greet me.

I was in a grotto sitting on a boulder beside the river. I had failed miserably at sketching the water falls at this spot, so I decided to focus, instead, on a tree that had an incredible patterned bark. Emma was about 50 yards from me, close enough that she knew I was present to her but far enough that our separate silences were cocoon like. My animal friend took me completely by surprise, so much so it took me a few moments to realize what I was seeing.

 

It was a little brown bat. Tiny and so energetic at first I thought I was looking at a hummingbird. He dipped low to the creek to take a drink and at one moment, he came very close and I gasped and he veered off, away from me.

I was more than a bit freaked out. I was curious. I was astonished. It felt dreamlike, the entire experience. There I was, sitting silent and still, no expectations beyond passing the moments because my daughter didn't want to move any further on our hike and I wanted to support her. I had zero attachment yet this exotic animal came for a surprise visit.

He waited until I was alone to show himself. When the group came back later, there was no sign of him.

When I got home, I was naturally driven to research the meaning behind this meeting between me and the little bat.

The bat is a totem of rebirth and awakening. He comes to warn of changes at times, to be aware of fear yet also know there are opportunities within those fears. This bat reminded me I didn't need to be afraid of the dark, to trust.

It has taken me nearly five days to write about my moment with this bat and I am sure more will be written.

For now I am simply grateful to have had this time to spend with him: sacred, set apart, special.

 =====

 Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot

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Julie Jordan Scott