After The Final No

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Julie Tallard Johnson

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After the final no there comes a yes And on that yes the future world depends. – Wallace Stevens I led my first book, Hidden Victims Hidden Healers with this verse from Wallace Stevens. I chose it to remind myself, and the reader, that there is a yes there, somewhere. You know as well as me, life is full of various versions of “NO:” rejections, pit falls, mistakes, losses, disappointments, misses, and more rejections. With the above book it took three years to find a publisher and I could have wallpapered my … Continue reading →

Which Goes After Which?

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Julie Tallard Johnson

The centipede was happy, quite! Until a toad in fun asked, “Pray which leg goes after which?” This worked his mind to such a pitch He lay distracted in a ditch, Considering how to run. Zen poem (memorized from childhood) Sometimes we make writing more difficult than it needs to be. We feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of our project or find our selves distracted by details. We get caught up in structural questions, like, what goes where? Then, like the centipede, we get stuck in these distractions. This is the reason I recommend we start and return to our list of pivotal moments. … Continue reading →

So Much Here

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Julie Tallard Johnson

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“The entire heavenly realm is within us, but to find it we have to relate to what’s outside.” –Joseph Campbell No signs of our cranes this year, although a male crane appears each sunrise calling out his primordial song. My husband claimed this could mean a female is there on her nest. I doubted it because there wasn’t any sign of them doing their usual mating dance or nest building. I’ve been holding a conversation with the pond and its inhabitants for nearly two decades. Most of my attention has been on the comings and goings of a certain pair of … Continue reading →

This Is Your Destiny

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Julie Tallard Johnson

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Destiny is wasted on those that go in search of it. Our destinies are not something to find but to release. Yes, like an acorn, our greatest capacities and creations are within us from birth. For us writers this means we experience the most resistance in bringing forth the writer in us. At the same time this is also where we will feel the most push (that energy of that acorn wanting to turn into the big oak tree against the hard outer shell). Push Resistance We want to write. We feel contentment in “having written” something. We believe our … Continue reading →

A Liberating Discovery

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Julie Tallard Johnson

“I live life from my side.” This is the zero point agreement. This means we take responsibility for our life and experiences. This of course is the theme of my book with the same title. When we succeed at living life from our side, we flourish at life. One practice (not found in the book) that accelerates the satisfaction quotient in our life is to explore a dynamic. (Exploring a dynamic is a practice we do in the Zero Point Circles I hold in Madison and Prairie du Sac.) This “attitude of exploration,” along with consciousness around a particular dynamic … Continue reading →

Writing for the Reader

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Julie Tallard Johnson

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Daiju visited the master Baso in China. Baso asked: What do you seek? “Enlightenment,” replied Daiju. “You have your own treasure house. Why do you search outside?” Baso asked. Daiju inquired: “Where is my treasure house?” Baso answered: “What you are asking is your treasure house.” Daiju was enlightened! Ever after he urged his friends: “Open your own treasure house and use those treasures.” –Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones I begin my book, The Zero Point Agreement with the above story. In opening up to “your own treasure house and using those treasures,” … Continue reading →

Don’t Apologize: Creating Worlds is a Big Job

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Julie Tallard Johnson

Whether it is fiction or nonfiction, writers create worlds and help others to step into them. Writers and non-writers alike make meaning by the narrative we create around circumstances. Everything is storied. As writers we have the benefit of working out meaning and narrative on the page. We take this storied world and create more worlds for our readers and ourselves. We create more possibilities. We make sense from the senseless. A writer’s awareness and narration is dependent upon some understanding of who we are, what we want, and our intentions to write. As author Brad Schreiber shares in his … Continue reading →

Living With Difficulty in Meaningful Ways

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Julie Tallard Johnson

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If we can learn how to live with difficulty in meaningful ways, our lives will move forward in a purposeful way. Since the only thing we have any control over is our own experience, the more we understand how to live creatively with whatever arises, the happier we will be. Worry and anger won’t change the outcome, and possessiveness doesn’t make anything permanent. Unfortunately, we have been trained to worry about the future, to fight with difficulty, and to try and manipulate outside circumstances. We are sold on the big lie that outside circumstances and “results” determine our happiness. When … Continue reading →

If It Walks & Quacks Like A Duck

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Julie Tallard Johnson

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Most of us have heard: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. When we feel stuck and look stuck, we are stuck. “Being Stuck” can feel like a constant log-line throughout our writer’s life. But it doesn’t need to. I have an ANTIDOTE to being STUCK. Use this simple technique and I guarantee continued movement and success with your writing intentions. I put together a simple template to use any day, anywhere to help you get unstuck: Writing from the Zero Point. (Click on Writing from the Zero Point for retreat information. This … Continue reading →

The Arrogance of Certainty (Or, How to Wake Up the Soul)

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Julie Tallard Johnson

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A classmate of my daughter passed out pamphlets on his religious belief at the school’s entrance. (It’s a public school). He is fifteen years old. Every chance he gets, he talks about Jesus. At first I wasn’t sure what bothered me (the most), pushing his religion on others or his arrogance. (It doesn’t help that he is exceptional at everything and likely to be voted as best of something.) Of course, arrogance and forcing our ideas on others go hand in hand. Recently an angry atheist called me a stupid, boring c*** during my first (and last) twitter debate about … Continue reading →