Inner Work 101: Resistance. The real reason why you don’t already have what you want [And what to do about it]
Inner Work 101 is a series of in-depth blog posts I?m working on to de-mystify the inner workings of inner work. ?I?m tired of seeing brilliant creative people stumble around and settle for less than they really want because they don?t know how to navigate the path of their own potential and this is what I’m doing to help change that. ?Find all the Inner Work 101 posts right here.
I know you’ve got?big obstacles in your way (like a lack of time, money or support) as well as places that trip you up (like self-doubt, procrastination and fear).
But you’re a creative genius so?those things are all figure-out-able.
In fact – facing and transforming the obstacles is how you create the path. ?(I explain how that works in Inner Work 101: How Change Works.)
So if facing and transforming the obstacles is how you create the path then having obstacles is good because it gives you something to work with – raw material for building bricks for your yellow brick road.
So the obstacles are not what’s holding you back.
The thing that holds you back is your resistance to facing the obstacles.
Resistance is a sticky/tricky thing to work with. ?It can show up in a LOT of different ways, for example:
- being too busy for the things that matter to you
- boredom
- procrastination
- deciding that your?dream is impossible
- waiting for “the right time”
- a popular way for women is to be too busy taking care of everyone else to have any time or energy left for your own dreams and then feeling like you HAD to do all of that
- going along with?what other people want you to do instead of making time for your dreams
- avoidance patterns, for example:?over-spending and then getting so stressed out about money you have no energy to?focus on your dreams
Resistance is so hard to see for what it is because it’s an energy pattern that you live inside. So it’s not true but it feels true.
This is resistance’s superpower, it gets you to stay in it because it convinces you that it’s true.
Like the Wizard of Oz trying to look like something he’s not, your resistance tells you that that’s an immovable brick wall ahead of you, you can’t go there, don’t even bother. ?And as long as you listen – you don’t go there.
But that brick wall is mostly smoke and mirrors. ?At its worse, it’s still climbable.
When you’re in resistance you’re caught in a lie (like I talk about in the How Change Works post) which means you’re totally disconnected from your power.
And you can’t come back into your power until you tell yourself the truth: you’re not waiting for the right time, you’re in resistance.
I’d rather pretend that I’m too busy than face my fear of failure.?
So when?you can remember that?facing and transforming the obstacles is how you create the path then you are free to?choose:?get to work building bricks?or to keep telling yourself a lie about why you can’t move forward right now.
My rule of thumb is that if I’m not doing what I want to be doing I assume I’m in resistance.
And I do find myself in resistance?often. ?I decided to write about it?today because I am in it pretty hard.
What I do with resistance is meet with it and then work with it to transform it?(Creative Dream Circle members: I do this using the process from the Un-Sticking Station).
This is how it works:
Hello, resistance.
My resistance shows up as a small, smooth grey rock, nestled in my hand.
I feel optimistic about this, as some days my resistance shows up as a monster or a mountain – things that feel big and strong and like they are going to crush me.
I beam love at the rock and ask it what it wants.
After a few minutes, the rock cracks in 2 and a small worm crawls out. ?The worm feels familiar.
It crawls up my arm to whisper in my ear:?I want to feel loved.
I gently pick it up and put it back in my hands. ?”I do love you. ?You are so sweet and smooshy and green and lovely. ?What’s not to love?”
But as I do this I can see the problem.
This small, shy part of me who wants to feel loved doesn’t belong in the land of this project I want to be working on (aka: The Thing I Am Resisting Working On This Morning).
Because then I’d be doing my work in order to feel loved, instead of doing my work in order to serve.
You see the difference? ?When you do your work to get your personal needs met the energy between you and your project gets very messy very fast. ?This approach doesn’t give your creative potential solid ground to grow from so you’re not going to do your best work. ?Being tied to external approval in that way freezes and shrinks your creative genius.
This little worm does not belong in the rock.
It belongs in the jungles of my heart where there are branches to play?on and leaves to eat and sunshine and soft warm earth to burrow in. ?This little worm can find healing there.
When I look?back in the land of my project, I can see that the rock was jamming up the gears of inspiration and magic and bringing all productivity and momentum to a halt.
It’s important not to fight any of the beings that live?in your inner world. ?In the spirit of wholeness, everything belongs.
It’s just that some things can wind up in the wrong place, and it’s your job to keep everything in the right place.
(This is why fighting your inner critic?doesn’t work – that actually only makes it fight harder against you and your dreams.)
So I put the worm into the jungles of my heart, the rock disintegrated because it was never real (it was just a hiding place for the frightened worm) and?the gears of inspiration and magic started turning again.
And now here I am, in the land of happy productivity.
This is how it works. ?When you face your resistance you transform it.
The story that unfolds when I meet my resistance is different every time. ?The characters are different every time.
But the thing that is the same every time is that there is always?a way to move forward. ?Always.
(Whenever you feel certain that you can’t move forward right now, this is a sign that you are in resistance.)
Working with resistance is the main thing I do. ?It’s like how I have to cut out the fabric before I can sew my clothes. ?It’s the foundation?that makes the dream work possible.
I created?the Un-Sticking Station?in the?Creative Dream Circle?to meet and transform resistance and obstacles as quickly as possible. ??I use it almost every day because the faster I face the resistance and do this work, the faster I can get to work building my dreams.
As far as I can tell, you don’t have a choice about whether or not to have resistance – we all have it. ?But you can choose whether or not you’re going to allow it to control you and dim your dreams. You can practice and get better at transforming resistance?and that will make all the difference.
New Stuff in the works
If you follow me on Instagram you know I’ve been facing off with my inner critics a lot over the past month.
(Instagram is my favourite social media stream, I love sharing my?little stories and adventures there throughout the day and if you follow them you can see how everything I teach strings together to create practices that bring dreams to life every day)
So I’ve been struggling with my inner critics because I’ve had a lot of new projects that I want to bring to life. ?And I do this work every. damn. time. I start a new project.
I described the process last week in Inner Work 101: How Change Actually Works (An Illustrated Guide).
It’s not exactly fun?to do this work but it creates those clear channels that give me the freedom to create what I want in my world, so it’s definitely worth it.
And I share the stories of what I’m doing so openly because I want you to have that freedom too, so I want to keep reminding you that the path that leads you there goes right through that layer of crap.
So I want to invite you to dive in with me, and create a whole new world.
Anyway, as I was saying I have these new projects that I want to bring to life.
For me 2015 was all about Grow Your Depth, Nurture Your Brilliance which is a year-long advanced course in deepening your personal creative/intuitive healing/transformation practice which is inside the Creative Dream Circle.
Now that 2015 is coming to an end I am gathering up the gifts of this year of deep practice and these gifts are inspiring my next moves.
I kind of feel like I’m drowning in gifts right now and so I am taking on more projects than I normally would.
Normally I do one thing at a time, since I am one person that has always made sense to me. ?But right now I have all this extra inspiration from this year-long deep dive so here I am, with three new projects:
- A Year Of Dreams, Magic + Transformation: a year-long guided journal, colouring book + catalyst for Big Magic.
- Creative Dream HOLYday: a creative/spiritual retreat, a healing/transformation session + a playdate with your dream. ?Happening January 2016. ?(I used to do this regularly, this will be a “new and improved” version.)
- Helping?The Helper-People. ?(Helper people being coaches, healer, teachers, therapists – anyone who wants to help others be all that they can be) ?This is a small-group coaching program I have run a few times because I really want to help people help people! ?Either help people?help more people (grow their business) or help people?get better at helping people (grow their gifts). ?Each time I’ve done this, every person has gotten every thing they wanted from it – this program is pure magic. ?In early 2016 I want to run this as a larger thing, open + free for all Creative Dream Circle members -?to celebrate 5 successful years in business for the Creative Dream Incubator.
Actually, all of these things will be free for Creative Dream Circle members, so now is a really good time to join the circle 😉
I’ll have more to share about each of these soon.
New Stuff in the works Read More »
How To Change ANYTHING In Your Life
Inner Work 101 is a series of in-depth blog posts I?m working on to de-mystify the inner workings of inner work. ?I?m tired of seeing brilliant creative people stumble around and settle for less than they really want because they don?t know how to navigate the path of their own potential and this is what I’m doing to help change that. ?Find all the Inner Work 101 posts right here.
Most people focus on trying to change what’s happening outside of them… they focus less on changing and more on getting their dream house or dream job or dream spouse or whatever.
That’s not that the kind of change I’m talking about here.
What I want to talk about is change that starts, and happens, inside of you. ?And then it ripples out to effect your outer life.
So instead of grasping at the things you want and never quite feeling like you deserve them even when you get them, or having to work your ass off to keep them, you evolve into a?person who can easily create and hold what you?want in your?world.
This is how to?change your life in ways that bring you more joy and help you live in a way that feels true.
I talk about dreams a lot but it’s never about the outer thing! ?It’s always about this sense of creating a life that feels true to you.
Growing into who you really are.
So we’ll start there. ?With who you really are: Creative Genius.
This is you as infinite?love, infinite wisdom, infinite delight, infinite creativity, and infinite power.
This is your inner self and your infinite gifts?and your infinite inner resources.
The key word here is infinite. ?This is where everything?is possible?for you.
This is your inner self.
This is who you are but you probably don’t live here…
If you’re a human, this is where you live:?Your Conscious Self.
Your personality, your body, your behaviours, your thoughts, feelings and beliefs.
These are the?stories you live.
These are not necessarily all true, but they feel true and you live as though they are true, and this limits the infinite possibilities that live at the core of who you are.
This is your outer self.
So why are your inner self and outer self separate?
If you have infinite power and all that other stuff… where is it?
Well, it’s hidden under a layer of crap, like this:
This layer of crap is your fears, doubts, inner critics, limiting beliefs, sad stories you picked up along the way.
While your inner core is infinite and powerful and radiant… when it shines through this layer of crap it becomes distorted. ??This is how you get cut off from your gifts.
And then you buy into a much smaller story about who you really are and what life really is what?is actually possible for you.
I drew it like this to simplify it so you can see the relationships between these different aspects of you.
The truth is much more complex as you are a multi-dimensional being.
This is why sometimes you can feel so full of possibilities and so sure of yourself, and then other times you feel defeated and scared.
You, your actual being, is infinite. ?But you, your conscious self, can only be focused in one place at a time. ?And wherever you are focused is activated and magnified so it becomes what feels most true to you in that moment.
What feels true isn’t necessarily true.
When you’re stuck in that layer of crap your feelings are real and valid and deserve being tended to. ?But that doesn’t mean that the stories your feelings are telling you are true. ?Like – this will never work, no one cares, it’s impossible.
The beings that live in your layer of crap are wise, in a way. ?I mean they’re good at spinning stories that feel both compelling and true. ?Their aim is to keep you there, believing the story.
Until you question those stories, nothing can ever really change.
I mean you can have more money but still feel stressed out about money. ?You can get married but still feel alone inside. ?You can be selling your art all around the world and feel not good enough.
Often getting what you want on the outside without questioning your stories only makes life more uncomfortable.
But it’s so hard to question your stories?because they feel like your truth. ?You live inside them.
It’s really very Matrix-like.
So much so that only people who already understand what I’m talking about are going to understand what I’m saying here.
You have to have the experience of noticing that you’re living in an un-true story before you really see any of this. ?But once you’ve had it happen once you can extrapolate and start to look at where this is happening in other parts of your life. ?That’s when you activate your inner?power to change anything you want to change.
This is so complex and hard to navigate.
Dreams make it easier.
Your dreams are true. ?They come from your core.
(Of course some dreams are pure ego but if you start to work on them in the ways I teach you’ll wind up more deeply connected to your core self and your dreams will shift accordingly. ?So there is never a “wrong dream” to follow.)
Your dreams come from your core and are a part of your genius. ?Your dreams are how you express your genius.
Traveling around the world in a sailboat, opening up a knitting cafe, showing your art, building your own home… these are ways of showing up in the world as your actual, true, core self.
So the way out of living in a story that is not true is to trust that your dream is true.
This is why I say that your dream is a lighthouse calling you home. ?It’s how your soul guides you along your path.
So, bringing a dream to life – aka creating change – is about this journey of wholeness. ?Of moving closer to the core of who you really are, and clearing up the distortions of the un-true stories that your inner critics have been spinning.
Of course?there will also be work to be done in the outer world… you do not meditate your way to a dream come true.
But when the inner work is effectively done, the outer work becomes very clear and possible. ?You just take one step at a time towards your dream. ?When the outer work starts to feel exhausting and frustrating and confusing that means it’s time to focus on inner work.
This applies to ALL dreams, and to ALL types of change you can create in your life.
So how do you?actually do this?
So all you have to do is?dig into the layer of crap that has accumulated between you (where you live) and you (who you really are).
Then you find you magic..
Then you can access your infinite resources to do whatever you want…
Are you starting to see the problem?
Digging into the layer of crap means facing the layer of crap. ?This is exactly what no one wants to do. ?We prefer to face away from the crap.
But facing away from the crap means facing away from your power and creativity and wisdom and ALL OF YOUR GIFTS.
So your first step is to face towards the crap, grab a shovel, and start digging.
This little nested drawing I’m using is actually multi-dimensional because you are multi-dimensional.
So in some parts of your life you are?more in touch with your true amazing self.
And in other parts of your life the layer of muck is just too big and your inner light gets all distorted.
Like maybe you are gorgeously and powerfully expressing your creative genius through your art but you cower and hide when it comes to doing the work of making a living from it.
Or maybe you’re a fantastic leader when it comes to coaching your son’s soccer team?but at work you’re kind of a doormat and don’t know how to speak up to your bully of a?boss.
You are multi-dimensional. ?There is so much to discover about how your inner genius and your limiting patterns interact.
Really! ?Take this into your journal and explore it.
In the first example I mentioned above about the artist who can’t sell their art (since I get a LOT of questions about this!) it’s not that it’s harder to sell art than it is to make art.
It’s just that you are living in a story that?makes it harder for you.
Your beliefs have you all tangled on the inside so even though you’re doing everything you can to sell your art in the outer world – you mostly wind up going in circles and not really getting anywhere. ?Your light is distorted.
So you have to change those inner beliefs before you’re going to be able to act in effective?ways in the outer world.
You have to dig into that layer of crap and create some new, clear pathways for your genius to shine through.
You have to write a new story for your life.
It’s not your fault that you have those limiting beliefs (accumulating the layer of crap just happens naturally and in ways that are mostly out of our control) but it is your responsibility to change them.
This is how inner work creates outer change.
As you uncover and transform your limiting beliefs you’ll start to see things differently in the outer world. ?You’ll have access to more of your infinite sources of courage and energy and creativity and genius.
So then you’ll start to act differently.
And those actions will lead you towards what you want.
Every time you do even a little bit of this work you?open up a new pathway that allows your inner core to shine out into your outer world, well you let more of your inner genius radiate out.
Inner genius has power to it. ?As it lights up the pathway it actually will melt some of the crap at the edges of the path, so over time your pathways will grow larger and more and more of your inner genius will shine out.
The distortions will shrink and your light will shine more brightly and your life will start to be more true to who you really are.
It’s not easy work but it’s the worthwhile work.
And over time small changes can add up together to create miracles because your inner genius is capable of, literally, anything.
So it all comes down to what direction you choose to face in.
Facing outward keeps you rooted in your current state – inside whatever sad stories and limiting?beliefs you happen to be carrying.
Facing inward is much more uncomfortable at first (because it’s easy to not know just how awful that layer of crap is when you’re busy ignoring it) but if you stay with it, it leads to everything you want.
This is why hard times are always an opportunity for change.
When you’re upset about something it’s actually an opportunity to get more clarity on the un-true stories you’re living in because the story is magnified for you in that moment.
So if you follow the thought that has you upset it will lead you to a story you’re telling yourself. ?Once you see the story you can change it.
What also helps: calling in a miracle!
Project Miracle is for people who believe in the magic of their dreams and are ready for something to change.
It’s a 30 day?Choose-Your-Own-Adventure creative support groups for making change happen.
Find out more + grab your spot today.
How To Change ANYTHING In Your Life Read More »
Inner Work 101: Working With Energy Containers for Success + Magic
Inner Work 101 is a series of in-depth blog posts I?m working on to de-mystify the inner workings of inner work. ?I?m tired of seeing brilliant creative people stumble around and settle for less than they really want because they don?t know how to navigate the path of their own potential and this is what I’m doing to help change that. ?Find all the Inner Work 101 posts right here.
Inner work is about working with energy… feelings and qualities and patterns and stories. ?It’s all very fluid and constantly changing which is why containers are so useful because they, well, they contain?energy.
And so energy containers help you hold onto useful things like wisdom, courage and creativity while keeping un-helpful?things like fear, self-doubt and anxiety away from you.
Think of how containers work in the outer world. ?For example, my art supplies are contained in this set of drawers:
Each drawer contains one group of art supplies. ?Each drawer also has containers which further divide up the art supplies. ?Containers within containers.
This way when I want a wax pastel I know where to find it. ?It’s in the pastel drawer, in the little white?box of wax pastels which sits beside?the pink box of oil pastels.
Of course, I could have just one big box of pastels and then when I want a pastel I can root through it to find the one I want. ?Or I can allow serendipity to choose for me.
Or all of my art supplies could be in one big box and so if I wanted a wax pastel I’d have to root through paints and pencils and markers and all those random weird things I buy and then never use…
Containers totally?change the experience.
Imagine if your kitchen had no containers.
No drawers or cupboards or boxes or tins, just all of your stuff spilled out on the counters.
How do?you eat macaroni and cheese without a plate or bowl?
Containers are often?essential for being able to find and use the stuff we have.
Sometimes a lack of containers can render a thing totally useless or even dangerous – like water.
Containers are just as important to inner work as they are in your outer world.
If your whole inner world?is just… there….?with no containers at all, everything all jumbled together… how do you find the stuff you need?
Wisdom, inspiration, creativity, trust, courage, power, healing. ?You have all of this within you.
But if it’s all jumbled up with fear and self-doubt and inner critics and limiting beliefs then… well, how do you find what you need when you need it?
And what if you’re looking for wisdom and you find it but it’s all coated in self-doubt which tends to be quite sticky and hard to remove?
Containers. They work like magic.
For example: let’s create a simple container for writing.
Start with energy clearing (Creative Dream Circle members: there’s a mini-class on this right here) because?you want to be creating from a clear energy state. ?Like you don’t want to create a clay container?with dirty hands, or else all that dirt will get into the clay.
You decide how big the container is. ?Twenty minutes? Two hours?
You decide where the container is. ?Your office? Your living room? A coffee shop?
You give it clear boundaries. ?Is your phone off? ?Door closed?? Headphones on? ?Facebook off?
You fill it with the qualities that you need. ?Inspiration? Clarity? Wisdom? Creativity? What qualities best support your writing?
So, your intention builds?containers. ?It shapes energy and creates atmospheres that support you in doing what you want to do.
You can see how building a container?is a lot more supportive of your writing than just sitting down with a blank page and expecting magic to spill out of your fingers.
But building the container isn’t the whole thing.
Your participation (or, intention-in-action) holds the containers.
IE: If you build the writing container, and then when you open your computer you keep checking Facebook and then you get up and make lunch… then your container is going to dissolve.
Energy containers help you?access more of the infinite possibilities?that live inside?you.
Imagine what would happen in your life if everything?that mattered to you was in the right container!
In the physical world, this means having things be organised and safe.
Butter is?stored in the fridge or in a butter keeper – not on a plate right on top of the heat vent where it will melt and drip all over the floor.
Orange juice is in a pitcher, not in dozens of small shot glasses spread out around the house.
Toothpaste is in a tube, right beside your toothbrush – not just lying in a sticky clump on the floor of your garage.
In your inner world, it means you build containers for your dreams that give them what they need to thrive and shield the from anything that would diminish them.
Out in the physical world, other people have mostly already figured out appropriate containers for you. ?You were born into a world where toothpaste already comes in its ideal container. ?And no one stores orange juice in tiny shot glasses all over the house, that would be ridiculous.
But we DO do ridiculous things when it comes to how we contain our dreams.
And then, we look at our dreams all poured out into tiny shot glasses strewn throughout the house and we think “oh this is impossible”. ?We trip over them, we spill them, we let the juice go all mouldy over time, we attract all sorts of bugs into our homes from all the sugar in the juice and we decide that our dreams are impossible (and messy!)
Your dreams need appropriate and nourishing containers.
Figuring out how to build and maintain these containers can be tricky business, because every dream is unique and because good sturdy containers tend to be multi-dimensional.
And then?it gets really interesting when you work with living energies instead of only with your own intentions to build and hold the containers.
Your dream, for example, is a living energy (for Creative Dream Circle members: I explain this in?Module 2 of the Creative Dream Incubator e-course?here.)
A living energy has its own wisdom and power and, well, energy. ?So it can hold things for you. ?Or it can hold things with you, depending on what you’re doing.
So working with living energy plus working with intentions helps you build sturdier, more helpful containers.
I mean obviously – if you don’t have to create and hold the whole container yourself, if you have help, then there is more that you can do with it. ?Like I can build a bookshelf by myself. ?But if I get some skilled people to help me I can build a whole house. ?Just think about that.
When it comes to dreams, the heart and soul of your dream is a living energy that can help you grow your dream in the physical world.
Qualities (like trust, compassion, creativity, love, etc,) also have essences which are living energies that can help you (for Circle members: we work with these energies in the Love Your Life Creative?Journal Class, The Magic Journal Creative Journal Class and the Superpower Creative?Journal Class).
There are a lot of living energies out there and they are happy to partner with you to bring your dreams to life. ?Living energies want to serve the evolution of?life and your dream is one aspect of that evolution.
I know this sounds very abstract.
Working with?energy containers is a huge topic. ?Right now I just want to show you how they work and give you?some ideas for things to explore.
Another?example:
Your journal is a container. ?It holds the process of whatever it is you do in your journal.
Your journaling practice is another container (containers can be nested in other containers).
By being steady and consistent in your practice you strengthen your container which means your journaling practice becomes possible of more – you’ll find more insights or magic or healing or whatever it is you are journaling for. ?It gets easier and better and more helpful over time as your container becomes better over time.
You could also strengthen the container of your journaling practice by exploring and discovering which qualities support your practice and then?finding ways to bring those qualities into your container.
You can get super creative and playful with this.
Say the qualities that support your practice are:
- trust
- creativity
- alignment
- magic
You play with each of these qualities and learn more about them. ?Say you discover that trust is blue and creativity is orange and alignment is brown and magic is violet. ?Then you get a blue, orange, brown and violet pens for journaling, and every time you choose a certain colour you are invoking that quality.
Or maybe there is a certain kind of tea?that makes you feel these qualities so you have this tea every time you journal, imagining that you’re drinking in the qualities and invoking them in that way. ?Or an essential oil or candle or song…
And because you do your journaling practice to support your inner work to help you grow into the version of yourself who can bring your dreams to life, you also invite the heart and soul of your dream to help you hold the container of your practice, to nurture your practice?so that it can help you bring the dream to life.
Then you’ve got another living energy building and holding the container with you.
Then the things that distract you from your dream – your limiting beliefs and inner critics – don’t feel at home in the container of your practice. ?So they become easier for you to spot and transform because they don’t jive with the vibe of your practice.
In other words: energy containers are?a shortcut to success and magic.
While energy containers are, well, energy, you can also work with physical stuff to help create and hold them.
This is something I love about living in my Dream Loft – having lots of open space to create different kinds of spaces in.
Some days I pile up pillows and a giant bean bag and blankets into a big cushy nest so I have a nurturing, soft space when I need it. When something about my work feels hard, it helps to be doing the work in a soft space, you know?
Some days I work at my desk. ?Some days I work in a coffee shop.
It all depends on what kind of container I need that day in order to do my best work. ?Different kinds of spaces have different qualities.
When you’re thinking about how to set up the energy container?of your space and not just how to physically arrange your space – then you end up with a space that nurtures and feeds the essence of your dreams.
Working with containers and building altars to your dreams?collide here – your altar is a container.
The possibilities are literally?endless.
Working with energy containers is a way of nurturing and?harnessing your own?infinite potential. ?Infinite potential and possibilities already live inside of you, but you’re not always able to access them because of how your inner world is structured.
Again, just think of how different your kitchen would be with NO containers. ?There is so much more you can do when you have the right containers and your ice cream isn’t melting all over the counter.
You can use containers to do things like:
- be more productive in less time
- find answers to questions
- access your true?creative potential
- heal and transform inner issues
- develop new nourishing habits
Working with containers is how you manage and direct energy in your inner world which changes everything that happens in your outer world.
For Creative Dream Circle members: I’ve got a video on with more on creating containers that nourish and grow your dreams, right here.
Also, the Circle itself is another one of those living energies. ?I partner with it to create the Circle as a container that supports and nourishes your dreams. ?You can call on the energy of the Circle to support you in creating and holding your containers any time.
Once you start exploring and experimenting with this, all sorts of ideas are going to come to you about how to build and hold your own containers.
Inner Work 101: Working With Energy Containers for Success + Magic Read More »
[New Video] How Your Journal Can Change Your Life (and peek inside my 2015 art journal)
So you may have noticed that I believe that journals are actually magic.
And it’s easy to see how there is a certain magic to the creative process, it’s easy to get a taste of the healing power of creativity every time you make something…
But I am talking about going much deeper than that.
I sat down to record today’s video because I wanted to show you my journal from this year, to show you what 8 months of intentional transformative creative practice looks like.
But once I sat down with my journal I just started talking…?about how when I first started journaling I was really just documenting my life and using it as a place to complain about things. ?And then I started using it as a place to practice creative visualization and conscious manifestation… which was definitely more fun but didn’t actually change my life.
And then I share what happened to shift to where I am now with?my journals – where they actually help me literally change my life and create what I want in my world.
Watch it now:
This is the journal I was using while I was going the Grow Your Depth, Nurture Your Brilliance program. This is a self-guided year long study in advanced dreaming which is available inside the Creative Dream Circle.
[New Video] How Your Journal Can Change Your Life (and peek inside my 2015 art journal) Read More »
Pictures + Stories: What I learned in 30 days of Creative Journaling
Creative Emergence finished yesterday.
While it was on, I was sharing my pictures and thoughts each day on Instagram.? I wanted to compile them here, all together, so you can see the journey.? Some days were rough, some days were awesome – it’s kind of beautiful how they all string together to tell the story of one girl and her dream.
I decided to keep [my secret intention] for Creative Emergence a secret.? Normally I share ALL of the details about my dreams-in-process but this one wanted a quieter space to germinate in.
I can tell you that [my secret intention] felt kind of big and scary.? I had NO CLUE what to do to help it become a real live thing.? I felt small and it felt big.? I felt unsure and inadequate.
This is pretty much always how I feel at the start.
And then I look around at my life, and all the “impossible dreams” I live with every day. And I remember that I have infinite power within me.? Infinite creativity.? Infinite resources.
I remember that my dream is a lighthouse – it’s my soul calling me home, guiding me along the path of my potential.
My dream is no accident.? My dream is my purpose.
And that’s why I start anyway, even though I feel shaky and unsure.
(And, not to give away the big ending for you or anything, but I feel the opposite of that now… at the end of those post I’ll share more about what changed and where I’m at with my dream now)
So day one was filled with with lots of quiet contemplation and connection with my dream, including taking my journal and my dream to the beach.
I want [my secret intention] because: Delight! Freedom! Inspired by the magic of the beach I journaled about releasing all the things that stop me from receiving more of these qualities right now (as I realized that no, I am not totally ready to receive [my secret intention] just yet).
And so I swarm with the qualities of trust and flow and soaked up the qualities of radiance and love.
It felt like a bit of a shaky start, seeing all the places where I didn’t feel ready to actually receive my dream.
But I felt ready to start to change this, and I was looking forward to the journey.
Day 2: iced coffee + journaling for breakfast.? I have some big insights about how my people-pleasing and approval-seeking patterns make it hard for me to hold my intentions. And how holding my intention anyway transforms those patterns which helps me in other parts of my life too. Journaling as a daily practice is magic!
Day 3. Learning so much about where my patterns get in the way of my dreams.
Day 3 (later): I learned that I want to be BOLDER in how I work with my intention. I explored my ambivalence and looked at ways to transform it. So much good stuff happened on day 3! The main message I got was: allow your ambivalence to explode into delight.
Day 4: I’m not able to do today’s assignment yet because I’m cranky today, the cranky makes it so I don’t have clear space to meet my dream in. This is a part of the process! So I’m meeting myself where I am. Lots of cranky journaling today for me. Hope your journaling is going better!
Day 6. Latte + journaling while my sweetie plays guitar. Beautiful Sunday morning in the dream loft. Really feeling the stronger foundation I am building for my dreams and feeling jazzed about new possibilities for changing my inner responses to external stresses.
Day 7: Sitting with today’s question I find I really do want to avoid the things I want to avoid! Exploring ways to be gentle about taking small steps… Kind of magic what happens as I open up to REALLY looking in the dark places. So much magic there!
Day 8: connecting to my dream is starting to feel more solid. Painting/doodling as I connect with the essence of my dream I start to notice how much I growing into it already. Day 1 my dream felt much bigger and hard to connect to. Day 8 I feel strong enough to hold it. It’s happening!
Day 9: This is so cool! The qualities of my dream are very different from what I thought they were. Learning so much about what my dream needs, and about what I need to grow it.
Day 10: Quality time with my dream. I’m learning how to build the foundation for it to grow. Feeling inspired + enthusiastic about doing the work.
Day 11: Today’s post about enthusiasm brought up a lot to explore about how I tend to approach dreams, and life, quite cautiously and how that does not always serve me.
(I did take a short break over the 30 days when I went canoeing for a weekend)
Epic weekend. Canoe trip was amazing and we even got to sleep in a screen tent under the dancing northern lights.
Day 14: After such a great weekend re-entry is going kind of slow. Spending some time catching up on my journaling this morning.
Day 14 (later): colouring + doodling + exploring. My dream wants me to play with it more.
Day 15: Oh my gosh so much has changed in only 15 days. My inner relationship with my dream has totally changed which changes what I see as possible in front of me. It’s like fireworks of inspiration exploding everywhere. So much inspiration that I need to go take a nap to process this.
Day 16: After yesterday’s burst of expansion and inspiration today I’ve got a lot of self-doubt and frustration with my dream. This is normal!
Day 17: re-organizing the Dream Loft. Because today’s journaling session showed me that this is the next step on my path. On yesterday’s call we talked about how to know when to do inner work versus when to do outer work. This is how it works.
Day 18: Really struggling with self doubt and hopelessness today. After some journaling I came to this: I am willing to wait for the deeper message here. Not comfortable but I want to give my feelings the space they need.
Day 18 (later): Cranky picnic lunch on a really gorgeous day. Taking the time to be with the uncomfortable feelings that come up while doing this kind of work is the hardest part. We want to push them away or solve them or change them and just figure out how to be happy again. But there is so much to discover in just being with your feelings. Also: the path that leads to where you want to be goes right through the thing you don’t want to face. The only way out is through.
Day 18 (later): Doing some mandala magic. Totally helping.
Day 19: What’s been bothering me lately is that through Creative Emergence I’ve become more clear on where I want things to change. Simple course correction. But I got caught up in the sadness of noticing that my dream is not yet here.
Day 20: Coffee+ journaling in the park before heading out of town to celebrate my mom’s birthday. Taking everything I’ve learned in facing some hard stuff over the past few days and using it to create a new plan. Feeling excited about what’s next.
Day 20: Hotel room journaling. Carving out just a few minutes from my family retreat (celebrating my mom’s 70th) to journal about what inspires me. Came up with a few brilliant ideas for how to integrate more of what inspires me into my daily routines, and how to replace some of my bad habits with inspiration-furling habits.
Day 22: A little journaling and a LOT of re-arranging my space to fit my new possibilities and ideas and dreams. Having been struggling with a lot of self-doubt recently, I’m now finding the gifts in it and feeling renewed purpose, clarity and enthusiasm for my intention for Creative Emergence. This is how the magic works!
Day 23: Exploring what supports me and what supports my dream. Experiencing a lot of resistance to looking at this. Leaving it at that for today, which is something I love about daily practice – teeny tiny steps are more than enough!
Day 23 (later): Just discovered why I was so stuck with my journaling today. It’s because I’m on the last page of this journal. I started this journal in January for Grow Your Depth, Nurture Your Brilliance (the year-long advanced journaling class I’m doing this year). This journal has held so much and brought me so much, I actually don’t want to say goodbye. Silly but true.
Day 24: So glad today is the Hello Day exercise! Using it do a Hello Journal page, exploring what qualities I want to fill this new journal with. My dreams are happy for new space to grow in.
Day 24: Still working on the first page of my new journal. Throwing a lot of paint around, covering up my journaling from earlier today. Feels like I’m filling this page with secret love letters to my journal.
Day 25: Doing a little collage in my journal, inspired by @thephoenixsoul ‘s Creative Emergence interview today. After a kind of tumultuous few weeks, my dream feels ready to be released into the world. This feels amazing. So in love with the Creative Emergence process
Day 26. (Day 26? Already?) Gorgeous meeting with my dream this morning. The energy is buzzing and alive, the path is clear, I’ve done so much invisible foundation-building this month. I am frustrated with how slow the visible actual-building is going, and my journal is reminding me to honour my natural rhythms. I’ll get there.
Day 27: Sitting with my journal, but nothing’s really coming to me today. Some days are like this.
Day 28: Oh man! Over the month my dream has changed from fuzzy + impossible to clear + real + ready. But now I feel fuzzy + impossible, overwhelmed + exhausted looking at the clear path in front of me. That part where the path is revealed can feel very intimidating. No more excuses – am I really ready? So I used the Un-Sticking Station in the Creative Dream Circle to relax and soften my resistance. Taking a break now, hope to come back to this later today.
Day 28. Taking the beautiful (overwhelmingly) big plan my dream gave me this month and breaking in down into do-able steps that fit into my schedule over the next few months. Dreams are not bound by time and space, so making dream-plans fit into calendar-time can be trickier than it seems like ti “should” be, but this is a part of how you ground your dreams in your life which helps them grow big and strong. Practical magic.
Day 29. Kind of amazing how it’s all coming together. My dream has grown from fuzzy impossible blob of unknowns to a clear and bright and walkable path. I have grown from unsure + not ready to overwhelmed + afraid to ready + inspired. My dream and I are ready to dance together. This has been an incredible adventure.
Day 30. Had a special morning planned, starting with journaling in the park for our last day of Creative Emergence. Instead a spoke in my bike tire snapped, the wheel jammed against the brake and my wheels would only go backwards, not forwards. Not the kind of symbolism I’m looking for! But 3 different people stopped to help, and got me mobile again, though I’ve got to go kind of slow until I can replace the tire. My dream whispers that the symbolism is perfect: it’s about upgrading. So I just stopped at the nearest coffee shop and here I am. Looking forward to our last live call for Creative Emergence later today.
Day 30 (later): Getting ready for our last #creativeemergence tele-class. So excited about sharing this one!
So, at the end of the 30 days, this is where I’m at now:
I’m writing this just after our last live call (you can still listen to it here, it was GORGEOUS).
I’m feeling so happy and proud of this.? So many beautiful and amazing things happened for so many beautiful and amazing people.
And, in this moment, I’m exhausted.
Letting go of of the energy circle of Creative Emergence, sitting here all alone but surrounded by the many gifts and treasures of this process, I’m exhausted, as I should be.? It was a beautiful and long journey and now it’s time to rest a bit.
In this moment, I am excited that I just found a can of hickory smoked vegetarian baked beans in my cupboard because that means I don’t have to go out and find something to eat.? So I’m going to eat beans and drink tea and rest and work on my papier-mache (I’m covering a 20′ x 20′ wall in my loft with these):
In other words: NOURISH, REST, PLAY.
My dream was all fuzzy and impossible when I started this.? Now I have a clear plan, a do-able plan, and enjoyable plan.? Now I believe in myself and I believe in this dream.? Now I feel inspired and ready to start taking it step by step.? In fact I have a plan worked out for the next few months of what I want to do and how I want to do it.
I feel clear and ready and like I just need to take one step and then another one.? All the fog and mystery and uncertainty are gone.? (Though, I’m sure they’ll be back at some point and I’m also sure I’ll work through them again)
That’s the magic of this process.
It’s not about waving a magic wand and having everything you want appear.? It’s about trusting yourself enough to be who you want to be and to create the life you want to be living.
That’s what I want for me, and that’s what I want for you.
So, for me the journey continues inside the Creative Dream Circle where I’m creating + planning new goodies and events for 2016.? If you enjoyed Creative Emergence you will ADORE being a part of the Circle.
Pictures + Stories: What I learned in 30 days of Creative Journaling Read More »
Creative Emergence Day 30: Allowing The Miracle
Click here for everything you need to get started with the Creative Emergence free 30 day e-course.
REMEMBER: Our last live call is TODAY! I hope you can be there to help me end this thing in style 🙂 If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it! I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
(And make sure to come back here tomorrow – I?m going to share a post about what I learned and how my dream changed and grew through the last 30 days in Creative Emergence.)
What are you going to do with the momentum you’ve created over the past 30 days?
You’ve learned things about yourself and your dream.? You’ve taken some steps towards creating more of what you want in your life.
What are you going to do with this next?
You have the power to change your life.? You and only you.
The answers you need is inside of you.? The power you need is inside of you.? ALL of the resources you need live inside of you.
Your job is to work on accessing the infinite resources within, because the other things that live inside of you (ie: fear, self-doubt, inner critics, limiting beliefs) can make it hard to access your inner resources.
So your work is to work with these things, to shift them around, to create pathways for connecting with your inner genius.
Because when you’re connected to your inner genius – anything is possible.
It’s really that simple.? I mean – it’s complicated as shit to actually live this – but it’s a simple concept.
You’ve got the power, baby.? What are you going to do with it?
Obviously, you can join the Creative Dream Circle? to get a whole year of deep and nourishing support for doing effective and transformative inner work and bringing your wildest dreams to life.
Or you can maintain your daily journaling practice on your own.
Or… something else.? It’s your path, it’s your choice.
But please – make a choice.? Choose to do something with this.? Choose to have these 30 days be the start of something amazing, and not have them be the whole thing.
You honour the journey you’ve been on for the last 30 days by choosing to continue along this path.
You allow the miracle of your dream to unfold when you give it space in your daily life.
I hope you’ve seen, in the last 30 days, how holding your intention and giving it space in your daily life really does change things.? It gives you a new perspective on your dream.? It gives you clarity about what you really need to do to make this thing happen.
At the beginning of this I said:
The Creative Emergence e-Course seeks to provide you with a tangible experience of holding your intention over time ? soulfully and creatively of course ? so you can get a taste of what is really possible for you.
It?s one thing to have a dream and it?s another thing to really consciously hold an intention for who you want to be and how you want to live and what you want to create. ?Holding this over time can really change things for you even if you have no clue how to make your dream real.
I hope you have experienced this shift in perspective.
I hope you see now, that your possibilities are larger than you can imagine.? And that you are so much bigger than you ever thought.
That your magic is accessible when you make the time to be with it.
Today I want you to meet with your intention in your journal one last time for Creative Emergence.
You can use the technique I teach in my free class or anything you have learned in my classes inside the Creative Dream Circle and see what happens when you meet with the heart and soul of your intention.
Ask your intention: What does it need next?
Ask yourself: What do you need next?
How can you honour the journey you’ve been on and use it as a stepping stone to really change things for you?
Once you’re done – let us know how it went.
Share your daily journaling pics + thoughts on Instagram using the #creativeemergence hashtag, or post them here on Facebook. Circle members can share in our private Creative Emergence forum.
I’ll be sharing my pics and thoughts on my Instagram.
And/or leave a comment below. (Yes, you will need a Facebook account in order to comment. Apologies to those of you who don’t have Facebook.)
REMEMBER: Our last live call is TODAY!
I hope you can be there to help me end this thing in style 🙂 If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it! I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
___________________________________________
Because I loooove my Circle members, I’ll be posting links to resources inside the Circle in most of these posts so they can dive into the lessons a little deeper. If you’re not a Circle member you can just ignore this part – or join us!
- In the Treasure-Mapping class learn how to map out your steps? using creativity and intuition.
- Use the Creative Genius Planning Kit for planning your next steps with the help of deep intuitive wisdom.
- Participate in the weekly Sharing Circles for ongoing accountability and support on your path.
- And we’ve got a private forum inside the Circle for sharing your Creative Emergence photos and stories if you’d rather not do that publicly.
You’ll need to be logged into your Creative Dream Circle account for these links to work.
___________________________________________
REMEMBER: Our last live call is TODAY!
I hope you can be there to help me end this thing in style 🙂
If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it! I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
And tomorrow I’m going to share a post about what I learned and how my dream changed and grew through the last 30 days in Creative Emergence.
Creative Emergence Day 30: Allowing The Miracle Read More »
Creative Emergence Day 29: Understanding How Transformation Works
Click here for everything you need to get started with the Creative Emergence free 30 day e-course.
REMEMBER: Our next live call is TOMORROW! I hope you can be there.? If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it!? I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
Today I’m borrowing a lesson from my Free Art Journal Class where I was talking about the importance of grounding and integration in the process of transformation.
At this point of course you’ve learned new things about yourself and about your intention for what you wanted to create with this course.
But learning new things is only the first step – until you integrate what you learn you can’t really use the information to help you create something new in your life.
(My Mandala Tutorial is here.)
So that’s something to think about going forward – how are you going to let what you’ve learned change you?
Creating what you want in your life comes down to living the way YOU want to live.
This means doing that right here right now before your outer world changes.
For me, this meant finding ways to stay creatively engaged, optimistic and in love with my life BEFORE I was able to quit my job to be a full time dreamer.? Which is so much easier said than done.
I had to EMBODY my dreams before I could live them.
The transformation of your outer world demands your internal transformation.
Again today I want you to meet with your intention in your journal.
You can use the technique I teach in my free class or anything you have learned in my classes inside the Creative Dream Circle and see what happens when you meet with the heart and soul of your intention.
Ask your intention: What does it need today?
Ask yourself: How can you go more deeply into your own process of transformation?
And/or explore any thoughts that came up in response to today’s video.
Once you’re done – let us know how it went.
Share your daily journaling pics + thoughts on Instagram using the #creativeemergence hashtag, or post them here on Facebook. Circle members can share in our private Creative Emergence forum.
I’ll be sharing my pics and thoughts on my Instagram.
And/or leave a comment below. (Yes, you will need a Facebook account in order to comment. Apologies to those of you who don’t have Facebook.)
REMEMBER: Our next live call is TOMORROW! I hope you can be there.? If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it!? I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
___________________________________________
Because I loooove my Circle members, I’ll be posting links to resources inside the Circle in most of these posts so they can dive into the lessons a little deeper. If you’re not a Circle member you can just ignore this part – or join us!
- In the Mandala Class I share how to use mandalas for healing and transformation.
- Participating in our weekly Sharing Circles really helps you stay in the process – so you’re not just “taking a break”, you are staying with it while slowing down to integrate.
- I wrote more about integration here.
- And we’ve got a private forum inside the Circle for sharing your Creative Emergence photos and stories if you’d rather not do that publicly.
You’ll need to be logged into your Creative Dream Circle account for these links to work.
___________________________________________
See you back here tomorrow for day 30 of Creative Emergence.
REMEMBER: Our next live call is TOMORROW! I hope you can be there.? If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it!? I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
Creative Emergence Day 29: Understanding How Transformation Works Read More »
Creative Emergence Day 28: Money Journaling
Click here for everything you need to get started with the Creative Emergence free 30 day e-course.
REMEMBER: Our last live call is coming soon – September 30! I hope you can be there.? If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it!? I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
Today I’m borrowing a lesson from my Free Art Journal Class on journaling with/about money.
Money does come into play with most dreams – often you don’t have time for your dream because you’re busy making money or you just plain old don’t have enough money to nurture your dream.
Actively working on your inner relationship with money is a wildly transformative practice because you use money all the time.
Money is actually a highly creative tool when you are conscious and empowered in how you use it, so working on your relationship with money can help nurture and support all of your dreams.
Give it a try today – meet with the heart and soul of money in your journal, using the same technique you’ve been using in this course to meet with the heart and soul of your intention.
What does money have to say?? How would it like to help you with your intention?
Giving this a try is a great first step, successfully working with money usually takes more time, as we’ve all got limiting money beliefs/bullshit money stories to work through before we can really connect with the essence of money and build a nurturing and supportive relationship with it.
So if it doesn’t go well but this is something you want to work on – keep trying (or you can join the Circle where you get the Creative With Money kit to help show you EXACTLY how to do this with an in-depth money class).
Once you’re done – let us know how it went.
Share your daily journaling pics + thoughts on Instagram using the #creativeemergence hashtag, or post them here on Facebook. Circle members can share in our private Creative Emergence forum.
I’ll be sharing my pics and thoughts on my Instagram.
And/or leave a comment below. (Yes, you will need a Facebook account in order to comment. Apologies to those of you who don’t have Facebook.)
REMEMBER: Our last live call is coming soon – September 30! I hope you can be there.? If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it!? I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
___________________________________________
Because I loooove my Circle members, I’ll be posting links to resources inside the Circle in most of these posts so they can dive into the lessons a little deeper. If you’re not a Circle member you can just ignore this part – or join us!
- The Creative With Money kit!!
- For a quick shot of abundance and possibility there’s the Abundance Activator guided meditation
- It’s Easy To Receive visualization
- And we’ve got a private forum inside the Circle for sharing your Creative Emergence photos and stories if you’d rather not do that publicly.
You’ll need to be logged into your Creative Dream Circle account for these links to work – if you don’t remember your password just click “forgot password” and it will be sent to you, just make sure to use the email address you used when you joined the Circle.
___________________________________________
See you back here tomorrow for day 29 of Creative Emergence.
Creative Emergence Day 28: Money Journaling Read More »
Creative Emergence Day 27: What do you want MORE of?
Click here for everything you need to get started with the Creative Emergence free 30 day e-course. REMEMBER: Our last live call is coming soon – September 30! I hope you can be there.? If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it!? I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
Today I picked a card for us (from my Journaling Cards for Magic + Insight)
Sometimes, when you have dreams and intentions and goals it can be easy to focus on what you want to CHANGE and to be very aware of what you DON’T already have.
The truth is, you already have bits and pieces of the life you want.
Focusing on nurturing these bits and pieces and growing them into more can be an organic and calm way of creating change in your life.
And it’s encouraging to look around and notice how much good stuff you’ve already got going on.
So, today I want you to give yourself lots of time and space to brainstorm in your journal about what you want MORE of in your life.
Using the technique I teach in my free class or anything you have learned in my classes inside the Creative Dream Circle, invite the heart and soul of your intention to help you explore.
Once you’re done – let us know how it went.
Share your daily journaling pics + thoughts on Instagram using the #creativeemergence hashtag, or post them here on Facebook.
I’ll be sharing my pics and thoughts on my Instagram.
And/or leave a comment below. (Yes, you will need a Facebook account in order to comment. Apologies to those of you who don’t have Facebook.)
REMEMBER: Our last live call is coming soon – September 30! I hope you can be there.? If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it!? I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
___________________________________________
Because I loooove my Circle members, I’ll be posting links to resources inside the Circle in most of these posts so they can dive into the lessons a little deeper. If you’re not a Circle member you can just ignore this part – or join us!
- The Love Your Life Creative Journal Class
- The?Abundance Activator meditation
- And we’ve got a private forum inside the Circle for sharing your Creative Emergence photos and stories if you’d rather not do that publicly.
You’ll need to be logged into your Creative Dream Circle account for these links to work.
___________________________________________
See you back here tomorrow for day 28 of Creative Emergence.
REMEMBER: Our last live call is coming soon – September 30! I hope you can be there.? If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it!? I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
Creative Emergence Day 27: What do you want MORE of? Read More »
Creative Emergence Day 26: Creative Genius Planning Session
Click here for everything you need to get started with the Creative Emergence free 30 day e-course. REMEMBER: Our last live call is coming soon – September 30! I hope you can be there. If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it! I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
Today I’m borrowing a lesson from my Free Art Journal Class on my Creative Genius Planning Sessions journaling practice.
This is yet another way of using your journaling practice to ground yourself in your intentions for how you want to live.
I did another video a week later sharing what I was doing with my Creative Genius Planning the following week, and talking about Creative Capacity which is something you do have to explore when working with any kind of creative planning.
Today your homework is Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style.
Experiment with Creative Genius Planning to see how you might like this journaling practice. Use it to explore what you could be doing to help bring your dream to life.
Or meet with the heart and soul of your intention in your journal, using the same technique you’ve been using in this course all along, and find out what it needs today.
Once you’re done – let us know how it went.
Share your daily journaling pics + thoughts on Instagram using the #creativeemergence hashtag, or post them here on Facebook. Circle members can share in our private Creative Emergence forum.
I’ll be sharing my pics and thoughts on my Instagram.
And/or leave a comment below. (Yes, you will need a Facebook account in order to comment. Apologies to those of you who don’t have Facebook.)
REMEMBER: Our last live call is coming soon – September 30! I hope you can be there. If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it! I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
___________________________________________
Because I loooove my Circle members, I’ll be posting links to resources inside the Circle in most of these posts so they can dive into the lessons a little deeper. If you’re not a Circle member you can just ignore this part – or join us!
- The Creative Genius Planning Sessions kit gives you everything you need to do this – meditation video + worksheets.
- The whole Creative Genius Mojo-Dojo is full of tools to help you connect more fully with your creative genius.
- And we’ve got a private forum inside the Circle for sharing your Creative Emergence photos and stories if you’d rather not do that publicly.
You’ll need to be logged into your Creative Dream Circle account for these links to work – if you don’t remember your password just click “forgot password” and it will be sent to you, just make sure to use the email address you used when you joined the Circle.
___________________________________________
See you back here tomorrow for day 27 of Creative Emergence.
REMEMBER: Our last live call is coming soon – September 30! I hope you can be there. If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it! I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
Creative Emergence Day 26: Creative Genius Planning Session Read More »
Creative Emergence Day 25: Interview with Amanda Fall
Click here for everything you need to get started with the Creative Emergence free 30 day e-course. Remember our last call is coming up on September 30, details are here.
I wanted to include a few interviews with journalers I admire as a part of Creative Emergence to give you some different perspective and ideas about journaling.
Today’s interview is with Amanda Fall from The Phoenix Soul.
Amanda Fall swoons over vibrant color, ragged edges, and glorious imperfection. She is wildly blessed to create and curate The Phoenix Soul, a digital magazine and community dedicated to our tender truths.
I’ve known Amanda online for years, she has this great sweetly-gentle-wildly-creative vibe and I am so happy to share her thoughts and ideas about journaling with you!
Why do you journal?
I journal to find peace, clarity, comfort, inspiration, guidance. I journal to court the muse, to ponder deep questions, to play with color and pattern. My thoughts are often running a million miles a minute, but when I sit down with my journal, time stops: everything moves in slow motion, and I am at peace. When I finish, I feel both emptied and filled, stirred up and settled, all at once. In this safe space, I can be fully myself, with no judgment. Only love.
How did you get started?
In my childhood, I often scribbled my hopes and fears in little locked diaries–pages and pages of words, words, words. This kind of written journaling served me for a time, but after a while it felt like rumination, merely an echo of all the jumbled mess in my head. I needed a new method for clarity and inspiration.
I don?t remember where we got this idea, but in 2002, my mom and I began creating simple collages on kraft paper (often an actual paper bag, torn open). We ripped out words and images that sparked something within us. I continued this hobby off and on, but didn?t develop a real practice (or even call it art journaling) until I discovered Connie Solera. Her ?Art Journal Love Letters? introduced me to a whole new world, and I began exploring what art journaling meant to others, and what it could mean to me. I also found deep inspiration in The Art Journaler, an online community run by Teresa Robinson and Mandy Steward (now closed).
My own art journaling is ever evolving and expanding as a practice, and with each unfolding season of my life, this creative expression means more to me than ever.
What?s your favourite thing to do in your journal?
You know, it?s funny, but I think my answer is an odd one: my favorite thing to do is to be. In my work as a creative solopreneur, my thoughts are always churning, and I am always striving for the next invention/reinvention. In the pages of my art journal, though, I can relax. I can tune back into my personal truth. I remember that I am more than good enough, exactly as I am. Scribbling swirls and arrows and symbols of exploration feels like prayer to me; smearing bold swaths of yellow, orange, teal feels like coming home. In my practice, what I do doesn?t matter as much as the process itself, re-aligning with a deep stillness.
Do you have a specific brand/type of journal that you use (if yes – please include a link so we can check it out)?
I?m not picky! I do love a good Moleskine, but I?ve also enjoyed working in something as simple as a marbled composition notebook or even creating my own, stapling or stitching a sheaf of papers. I?m always keeping an eye out for blank books that call to me, gathering a supply whenever I spot something promising in the clearance bin. I also love altering printed books, such as unusual vintage children?s readers or encyclopedias.
Do you get creative with art supplies in your journal? If so, which ones?
I gravitate toward anything that offers quick, bold, vibrant color. I especially adore juicy oil pastels (ooh, they smear so deliciously!) and my beloved PaperMate flair pens in hot pink, orange, aqua, and lime green.
When I have more time, I get wild and messy with my GelliArts printing plate (oh my gosh, if you haven?t tried this yet, don?t wait! So easy and fun), either directly in my journal?s pages if I?m using a thicker book (where the pages can withstand moisture), or creating backgrounds to rip and use as collage elements.
I?m also passionate about nontraditional ?art supplies?: one of my favorite methods of journaling is intuitive collage, ripping out and layering brave words and bold images from junk mail and magazines.
If you want to see more from Amanda, I encourage you to visit her at The Phoenix Soul.
Again today I want you to meet with your intention in your journal.
Using the technique I teach in my free class or anything you have learned in my classes inside the Creative Dream Circle, see what happens when you meet with the heart and soul of your intention today.
Ask your intention: What does it need today?
Inspired by Amanda, you may want to try collaging about the heart and soul of your intention.
Once you’re done – let us know how it went.
Share your daily journaling pics + thoughts on Instagram using the #creativeemergence hashtag, or post them here on Facebook. Circle members can share in our private Creative Emergence forum.
I’ll be sharing my pics and thoughts on my Instagram.
And/or leave a comment below. (Yes, you will need a Facebook account in order to comment. Apologies to those of you who don’t have Facebook.)
Remember our last call is coming up on September 30, details are here.
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Because I loooove my Circle members, I’ll be posting links to resources inside the Circle in most of these posts so they can dive into the lessons a little deeper. If you’re not a Circle member you can just ignore this part – or join us!
- For more new ideas and perspectives, we’ve got the following amazing interviews and audio classes with inspiring people in the Advanced Creative Badassery Resource Library:
Being an Artist with a Chronic Illness With Samie Harding, Change with Shannon Wilkinson, Coming Out as your Authentic Self with Liv Lane, Creative Projects and Creative Practice with Jamie Ridler, Divine Guidance with Laurel Bleadon-Maffei, Poetry is a Lifeline with Liz Lamoreux, Sharing Your Story with Susannah Conway, Trailblazing with Chris Zydel, WordPress/Putting Yourself Out There Online with Angel Sullivan
- We’ve also got a private forum inside the Circle for sharing your Creative Emergence photos and stories if you’d rather not do that publicly.
You’ll need to be logged into your Creative Dream Circle account for these links to work.
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See you back here tomorrow for day 26 of Creative Emergence.
Remember our last call is coming up on September 30, details are here.
Creative Emergence Day 25: Interview with Amanda Fall Read More »
Creative Emergence Day 24: The “Hello Day” Practice
Click here for everything you need to get started with the Creative Emergence free 30 day e-course.
Today I’m borrowing a lesson from my Free Art Journal Class on my “hello day” journaling practice.
(I mention the Creative Genius Planning Sessions in this video – I’ll be sharing more on that in a few days)
This is another way of using your journaling practice to ground yourself in your intentions for how you want to live.
What I really love about looking back on these old videos is how I was setting things up then to be as easy/do-able as possible for my most afraid self… and how that has helped me be less afraid.
So these days I don’t think about that so much in how I set up my practice.
Having a few more years of a daily intentional creative journaling practice under my belt, my foundation is stronger now and keeps getting stronger still.
So these days I build my practices to support me in shining as bright as possible – which is the intention behind Grow Your Depth, Nurture Your Brilliance, the advanced journaling program we’re doing this year in the Creative Dream Circle.
Some ideas for how to create your Hello Day practice:
This can be as simple as asking one question every day or as complicated as you want it to be.? Some ideas for prompts:
Today I need:
Today I am activating the Creative Superpower of:
List the qualities that are important for the day.
Write out a Creative Dream Mantra for the day.
Use the Journaling Cards for Magic + Insight.
Today your homework is Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style.
Experiment with “Hello Day” to see how you might like this journaling practice.? Or meet with the heart and soul of your intention in your journal, using the same technique you’ve been using in this course all along, and find out what it needs today.
Once you’re done – let us know how it went.
Share your daily journaling pics + thoughts on Instagram using the #creativeemergence hashtag, or post them here on Facebook. Circle members can share in our private Creative Emergence forum.
I’ll be sharing my pics and thoughts on my Instagram.
And/or leave a comment below. (Yes, you will need a Facebook account in order to comment. Apologies to those of you who don’t have Facebook.)
REMEMBER: Our last live call is coming soon – September 30! I hope you can be there. If you need some support with any of this – this is where to get it! I’ll answer questions, do coaching and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
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Because I loooove my Circle members, I’ll be posting links to resources inside the Circle in most of these posts so they can dive into the lessons a little deeper. If you’re not a Circle member you can just ignore this part – or join us!
- The Creative Genius Planning Sessions kit gives you a meditation and worksheets for planning your day/week
- The Inspiration Cards Class can help you figure out which cards/prompts will be the most helpful for YOU to create for your kit.
- And we’ve got a private forum inside the Circle for sharing your Creative Emergence photos and stories if you’d rather not do that publicly.
You’ll need to be logged into your Creative Dream Circle account for these links to work – if you don’t remember your password just click “forgot password” and it will be sent to you, just make sure to use the email address you used when you joined the Circle.
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See you back here tomorrow for day 25 of Creative Emergence.
Creative Emergence Day 24: The “Hello Day” Practice Read More »
Creative Emergence Day 23: Building Your Solid Foundation
Click here for everything you need to get started with the Creative Emergence free 30 day e-course.
Today I picked a card for us (from my Journaling Cards for Magic + Insight)
At first, it can feel like your dream is a castle in the sky.
But of course you want a dream you can live in.? One that is study and grounded and safe and easily accessible.
Support is a funny thing.
You can have a lot of support, but not feel supported, and so you don’t notice all the support you already have.
You can be supported in ways that work for you and in ways that don’t work for you.
If you’re reading this page – you are supported already.? You have supports in your life that allow you to go online and gather information and resources.? So you probably also have supports in your life that provide you with running water, electricity, a roof over your head and food in your belly.
Noticing and being grateful for all of the ways that you are already supported helps strengthen your inner relationship with the quality of support which, of course, helps you figure out how to have more/better support for growing your dream.
You don’t always need the kind of support you think you need.
Sometimes your inner critics are the ones saying that you need so-and-so to support your dream before you can go after it, and that’s far from true.
When I made the decision to leave my office job to be a full time dreamer – my family wished I wouldn’t because they wanted me to be safe.? Some of my co-workers actually laughed at me.? A lot of people were sure I would fail.
I did not feel supported in the ways I wanted to be supported by others.
I didn’t let that stop me.? And I’ve been successfully self-employed as a creative dreamer for 5 years now.
On the other hand, feeling supported is a magical feeling.? It bolsters your self-confidence.
So, today I want you to give yourself lots of time and space to brainstorm in your journal about what supports you.
Using the technique I teach in my free class or anything you have learned in my classes inside the Creative Dream Circle, invite the heart and soul of your intention to help you explore support.
Where are you supported?? Where are you not supported and does that really matter?? Where can you create supports for your dreams?
Once you’re done – let us know how it went.
Share your daily journaling pics + thoughts on Instagram using the #creativeemergence hashtag, or post them here on Facebook.
I’ll be sharing my pics and thoughts on my Instagram.
And/or leave a comment below. (Yes, you will need a Facebook account in order to comment. Apologies to those of you who don’t have Facebook.)
___________________________________________
Because I loooove my Circle members, I’ll be posting links to resources inside the Circle in most of these posts so they can dive into the lessons a little deeper. If you’re not a Circle member you can just ignore this part – or join us!
- I wrote this post about how each of the tools/classes in the Circle support your journaling practice
- The Magic Journal Class wanted to go here… I guess it wants to remind you that the more magic you feel, you more support you can (magically!) create for yourself.
- Module 1 of the Creative Dream Incubator e-course has a lesson, meditation and journaling problems to help you build more supportive belief system for yourself.
- And we’ve got a private forum inside the Circle for sharing your Creative Emergence photos and stories if you’d rather not do that publicly.
You’ll need to be logged into your Creative Dream Circle account for these links to work.
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See you back here tomorrow for day 24 of Creative Emergence.
Creative Emergence Day 23: Building Your Solid Foundation Read More »