Each
day, a quote, an image, several questions and a writing prompt are
offered to you
to use for Your Blogging, Writing & Creative Inspiration in order to
increase your creative thinking as well as your personal and soulful
development.
Quote
"For all that has been, thanks. For all that is yet to be, Yes!" Dag Hammerskjold
Questions
What are you grateful for today?
What are you looking forward to today, tomorrow, next week?
Tell about the “evidence of yes” in your life. What have you said “yes” to and how does that show up in your environment and actions?
Lists
Make a list of 5 to 10 long-term gratitudes
Make a list of 5 to 10 long-term goals
Make a list of steps you are willing to take to shift your goals into tangible form?
Traditional Writing Prompts:
I am grateful for…
If I was completely honest, I would confess my heart’s desire to….
>> ---<<
One helpful strategy is to read the quote,
questions, prompt and list and not to "take them on" all at once, but to
allow them to simmer in the back of your mind throughout the day. Sure,
you may "write" one immediately, but don't call it "done" until you
have allowed your powerful subconscious mind to bring up some unexpected
responses for your conscious mind to create within.
Remember,
though - there are no rights and wrongs, there is only showing up for
your life and your creativity. Brava for being here!!
This Blog Series was
created to increase your creative thinking process as well as
inspire writing
and ideas to take form that may not have taken form without these specific
quotes, questions and prompts. If you find them helpful, I hope you will pass
them along to friends as well.
Yes, you can do this: take those small lost moments and turn them into an Artful Life
I built my creative muscle over the years through working it
out regularly, much as an athlete works out. I spend time at it, much of it
sliced in and of my everyday life. Yes, I have sacred, set apart time, but most
of the time I create in the midst of the everyday-ness of being a woman: a
mother, an artist, an entrepreneur, someone who keeps a home.
Last night during a slice of time after dinner my command to
create was all about circles. “Draw circles, fill the page with circles,” the book almost shouted into my mind.
I am working through an “anyone can draw” book originally written
for children. The book has the voice of my Mrs. Sopronik, my Girl Scout leader
from Troop 11 in 1972 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.
Naturally I never said no to Mrs. Sopronik so I did what the
book instructed me to do. I drew circles. I noticed when I drew a circle from
top to bottom from right to left and up the circle was slightly different than
when I took it from the bottom and went right to left and down.
Who said drawing circles had to be boring?
This morning I had eight minutes until Emma was to leave to
go to another day at lovely, very confident Bakersfield High School.
I used those eight minutes to begin scribing a found poem.
I pulled a page from a book and started circling words, thus
writing a found poem. I was using the prose of a spiritual writer named Barbara
Marx Hubbard. I had never heard of her until I pulled a random page from a book
sitting on my shelf to write this poem. Eight minutes later I had circled all
my words before circling Emma to start her day, this only September 26 of her Junior
Year, my only September 26, 2013 ever. I took some photos on campus of
Bakersfield High. I shot the choir window commanding S-I-N-G. I shot the water
tower that could only be read from the inside unlike Tulare High School’s water
tower that shouts to the world “Tulare, We’ve got it!”
I came home. I wrote a bit. I started laundry. In small
slices of eight minutes and ten minutes I continued to play with the poem
Barbara and I scribed together. I first made an abstract slice of life, country
day sort of image and then I added it to one of the pieces of wood I always
leave lying around for any creative whim that strikes my fancy.
It is now well on its way to becoming a one-of-a-kind work
of art.
Right as I wrote this, my timer went off. Yes, I work through
my day sometimes with a timer so that I can get everything done on my sometimes
thicker than time to-do list.
I review, briefly, my initial intention:
To illustrate how to build your
creative muscle in small slices, every day, amidst your other activities.
Be ready. Have supplies nearby, perhaps
squirreled away in drawers or disguised as simple pencil holders.
Be willing to see everything as a possible
creative subject. Windows, water towers, dumpsters, your ordinary city
streetscape when the day is new.
Stay focused. Someone tried to get me out of my
chair between 6:52 and 7:00, but I was busy building a poem with Barbara’s
generously offered words. I did not move. My children are fairly well trained
to leave Mommy be when she is creating. There was an 18th Century poet
who would put her apron over her head to let her seven children, always
underfoot, to let Mommy have some “quiet” time for writing.
Use a timer to train yourself. I literally set
five minutes on my phone clock timer. Use your kitchen timer. If your mind
says, “I have too much to do!” set the timer to five and feed your heart with
any creative process, even if it is rearranging a drawer artfully. It is your
choice to live artfully. It is your choice to live ART Fully.
Be grateful for each sliver of an hour you are
able to use for your creative process. Don’t expect finish, expect a
continuation. It’s sort of like flirting moving into full fledged romance. Take
your time, engage, move away and come back later, refreshed, with your make up
and a big smile across your face.
Julie
Jordan Scott is a writer, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Her
word-love themed art will be for sale at First Friday each month in Downtown
Bakersfield. 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.
One of my beloveds chronically gets smashed, headfirst, into
the concrete of other people’s opinions. Today I wondered how much longer it
would feel satisfying to come alongside and scrape the dust off him, showing
him the shards and deconstructing with him the fact from the truth.
How often are we tape recorders playing back what we think,
what we feel and who we are?
I have done so much work on this subject it is tip toeing on
the edge of annoying me.
When I heard my daughter echo back to me, “No one chooses to
have a lousy day. No one wakes up and says, ‘Today I am going to have a sucky
day and I will make everyone I encounter have a sucky day, too.”
It was like I was standing in a mirror staring at myself.
She took me aback. She has been listening all these years, hiding behind a
shadow of indifference? Could she be sharing my words with others? I pray it is
only ones like these, not others that I am afraid were spoken in haste, without
much conscious thought.
I wonder how many parents look at their children in the
morning and say, “Well, don’t you look awful? You shouldn’t expect chocolate
milk with your lunch today because it is just not coming… for you anyway…”
I remember one of those defining parent conversation moments
when my mother told me the story of my conception. I was thirteen years old and
at the height of self loathing when she informed me I was a product of complete
birth control failure.
I wasn’t only unplanned, my parents tried to be sure I
wouldn’t be born. Granted, they didn’t know this me was me precisely, but they
didn’t want a baby.
Somehow, even at my age of total personality malfunction I
had the fortitude to cover that label of “I am a product of birth control
failure” with “I must have a special, unique purpose to live – and that’s why I
was conceived in spite of birth control failure.”
On really bad days, the other label still comes up, but
there is a higher knowing that says, “This isn’t true and you know it.”
I don’t know quite how to help my beloved “get” this.
Is helping him “get it” part of my special, unique purpose
or is it more self-imprisonment because as a product of birth control failure,
I somehow need to earn my way out of the "unwanted" label?
I ask that rhetorically, please don’t surround me with well
meaning advice or concern.
Responsibility is such a heavy word. My shoulders clench
just hearing or reading it.
Today, excuse me dear Adrienne Rich, I will replace it with
“Honoring…”. Let’s try it on:
Honoring yourself means refusing to let others do your
thinking, talking, and naming for you.
Somehow that feels better to me. It feels more right to me.
It feels like something I can work with alongside my dear friend, who
is a significant part of my life.
I will continue to listen for divine wisdom concerning when
the honoring myself no longer corresponds to honoring him.
This makes me curious: how will you honor yourself today?
How will you speak for yourself, think for yourself, claim
and name for yourself?
What will you make “honoring yourself” mean?
Welcome to my fifteenth post (of 31!) for the January Ultimate Blog Challenge.
Watch here for Writing Prompts, Writing
Tips + General Life Tips & Essays.Word-Love to YOU!
Here I am, another Sunday. I cannot write about what is
obsessing me because it upsets me too much so I will purposefully write about
something else.
I should say I will not, I refuse not… to write about what
is obsessing me. I did that Friday.
I have another obsession? Women in History – especially in
the arts.
I researched Berthe Morisot the other day and fell in love
with her. Why don’t I know of these women? I still want to read the biography
of Elizabeth Vighee-LeBrun – it is free to read online. I need to do it and
stop talking about it.
Above: Berthe Morisot - The Cradle
It is so ancient I could even republish it.
Forbes has become a recent friend because they enjoy making
lists of the Top 100 this and that and I am waiting for their Top 100 Power
Women of 2012 so I may research more of them.
I have discovered some awesome modern day women from these
lists.
Two come to mind right away: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Prime Minister of the Ukraine, now
Political Prisoner Yulia
Tymoshenko.
I write about them. I reach into their biographies as deeply
as I am able with little published in English. I share what I find with people
via my blog. These women are doing it. They are bravely leading nations into
the future instead of being bewildered by a culture that too often squashes
their voices under ridiculous debate of what is legitimate and what is
illegitimate.
I have to be careful about “talking” about this because I
get too carried away.
Yulia Tymoshenko.
I’ve offered you some names of remarkable women. I dare you
to choose one and google it. Learn more for yourself.
At least come to know another remarkable woman a tiny bit
better.
This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s
five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the
rules…
Set a timer and write for 5 minutes.
Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
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 -
It happened when I took a course at Bakersfield College: Introduction to Women
in American History, even though I have my degree. I took
it as what I call “my non-chemical anti-depressant.”
I needed to be sure I had to show up someplace beyond schlepping my
kids around and being home. I figured if I had paid for the class, bought the
book, and starting going to classes I would be compelled to continue. I knew on
Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:30 I was expected to be in my seat, two rows from
the front in the middle.
I didn’t expect it to be so life changing. I only took this class
because Ethics of Living and Dying was full before I had the chance to
register.
I worked harder in that one class than many of the classes I took when
I was earning my B.A. thirty years ago. I was devoted. I talked about what I
was learning to my friends all the time. I was taught in the old school way. We
didn’t learn social history. We didn’t learn about women’s contributions to
anything important. We learned about wars and presidents, basically.
This was different.
I also identified myself as a feminist. When I started this class I had
been involved with the VDay Movement started by Eve Ensler to Stop Violence
Against Girls and Women, partially through using her script “The Vagina
Monologues” to raise money for local community groups.
I never gave thought for a moment about whether my fellow students of
women’s history defined themselves as feminists or not.
I can’t remember what the occasion was, but I was busily writing
something in my notebook when our professor, Ann Wiederrect, asked “How many
of you are feminists.” I raised my hand and kept scribbling.
My professor said, “Julie. I see.”
I put my hand down and my head up.
I was the sole person in the class who defined herself as a feminist. I
was dumbstruck at first. How could none of them call themselves feminists? Were
they still stuck in the stereotype that feminists were all man-hating,
camouflage wearing butch women who shook their fists at “the rest of the world”
and marched around occasionally spewing man hate into society?
For whatever reason, I had a photo of my daughter tucked into the back
of my notebook. It is one of my favorites and had been entered in an art show
in the past so it had a suitable name:
Feminist, Age 10.
When it was my turn to speak my words came out in flames. My words and
I were steadfast, slow-burning, hot but not scorching, passionate but not
condescending. “This is my ten-year-old daughter. She is a feminist. She wants
to be seen as equal with everyone regardless of gender” and other things which
got lost in my fervor.
I passed the photo around, said a few more words and sat down, still
mystified.
When the class was over, most participants – even the sole man in the
class – were newly identified as feminists.
Average, run-of-the-mill community college students who finally
understood just the tiniest spoonful of feminism and for some, were left
thirsty for more. Like I was and am and will continue to be.
For reference, feminism equals “movement to end sexism, sexual exploitation, and oppression”, including but
not limited to oppression based on race, sexual/gender identity, disability,
class, and age.
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 -
Let me ask you this: so naturally my mind went immediately to leadership.Whether you are prepared or not, I need to ask you this: what are you doing right now to prepare yourself to be a better leader?
You might think, “I am not a leader, I am a stay-at-home-Mom (or) I am a clerk-typist (or) I work part time at a movie theater as I am going to school.”
Try this on: We are ALL leaders, some of us just don’t know it yet.
Every time you are out in public or choose to live the life of a hermit at home, your actions are speaking and people are watching. They might not have a telescope or a microscope watching your every move and they might not be taking notes, but someone is witnessing what you do and what you don’t do and to them, it speaks volumes both about you and the life you lead.
Did you read that:
“It speaks volumes both about you and the life you lead.”
You might have thought before you started reading today that what you did or didn’t do didn’t matter, it didn’t make a difference, it doesn’t impact others but I am here to remind you it does.
Merriam Webster defines a leader like this: a person who leads: as a :guide, conductor b (1) : a person who directs a military force or unit (2) : a person who has commanding authority or influence c (1) : the principal officer of a British political party (2) : a party member chosen to manage party activities in a legislative body (3) : such a party member presiding over the whole legislative body when the party constitutes a majority d (1) :conductor c (2) : a first or principal performer of a group
Congratulations – you are the guide, the conductor, the person directing your life force. You are the commander of influence over your life and also its principal officer. You have been chosen to manage your life activities and preside over its whole legislative body!
WOW! You are the principal performer of your life, not the person who did or said or “made you” feel this way or that way. No.
YOU are the leader of your life.
YOU make a difference in your life and the lives of others so tell me, now: what are you doing right now to prepare yourself to be a better leader?
What WILL you do today to be a better leader right now and tomorrow and the next day?
You know what else?
I believe in you as a leader.
Perhaps that is your first task: to begin believing in YOURSELF as a leader.
This is my Ultimate Blog Challenge Writing for the Day. Be watching for my challenge posts which will include Writing Prompts, Writing Tips and General Life Tips and Essays. This is Blog 20/31 for July!
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 -
“ Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization. ”
— Eugene V. Debs
I was discouraged yesterday and believe it or not, I made that discouragement mean I was wrong. My not very productive thought was “If I was doing the right thing with my life, I wouldn’t feel discouraged. I wouldn’t feel discouraged.”
What I did next was important, though. I got up and moved away from my stuck place behind the keyboard.
I went about doing chores, taking care of my children, doing my afternoon Mom-Schlep and I allowed my mind to wander.
My mind wandered to my soul collage card from yesterday to Women and Leadership.
I had recently decided to leap into the discovery of current women in politics, especially those beyond the United States. I was an international relations major but somehow I had gotten way out of touch with the political world, especially on an international level.
One conversation knocked on my heart and helped me break through the inertia.
Last weekend I created a soul collage card that to me called me to personal leadership as well as the study of women leaders. I quickly discovered Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany.
I confess, I had never even heard of Angela Merkel until yesterday. Now, I am deep into a study of Merkel and other top women leaders. The Forbes list for 2011 includes two powerful wives, a handful of politicians and a smattering of business women.
This made me feel very uncomfortable. It made me feel squirmy in my seat and more than a little bit disappointed in myself. Instead of getting stuck deeper in the quicksand of “my shortcomings” instead I accepted that for the past and now, I have turned the corner into spending more time learning about women leaders so that I may also become a better leader in the work I do.
I may not be the secretary of state, I may not be the head of a multinational corporation worth billions, but I do serve on several educational committees and I run successful Writing Camp programs and am in the midst of raising three phenomenal human beings.
My discontent of today, my squirmy ickiness isn’t holding me back any more, my vision of being a better leader is pulling me forward.
What will you do, today, to become a more engaged, educated leader?
This may be as simple as a shift in thinking or a quick google search on a woman who intrigues you. Allow your vision of yourself as a better leader pull you forward. The discontent is the nudge and the vision is what gives you wings.
This is post #18/31 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 -
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