I want to help teachers/healers/coaches/helpy-people help more people

By Andrea Schroeder / May 29, 2014 / creative entrepreneur, healing, Manifest Your Dream Life

One week ago today, I woke up with this beautiful idea: a small group mentoring program focused on helping teachers/healers/coaches/helper-people help more people.

Combining the benefits and attention of one-on-one coaching with the magic and synchronicity of a small group experience, the group is designed to support you wherever you are in the process of helping people.

Our goal: to enable your greatness, support your vision for what you want to bring to the world and and help you evolve into the best teacher/healer/coach/helper-person you can be. ?

This is for people who want to help other people: either help MORE people and/or get better at helping people.

Helping people is the BEST THING EVER, but it’s not an easy job!

Those of us who are called to this kind of work have unique issues to face.

You don’t want to tell people what to do: you want to empower them to create their unique path. Which is infinitely trickier to do than just handing them a set of instructions.

You don’t want to offer bullshit platitudes: you want to offer real, effective and grounded support. “Turn that frown upside down” doesn’t really cut it.

You don’t want to get depleted in the process. You know you need to nurture yourself and fill your own well in order to be able to serve from your deepest capacity. Knowing this doesn’t mean it’s easy to DO this.

Because people who feel called to help are innately un-selfish, sometimes we are TOO un-selfish and don’t set things up so our needs get met.? You may feel guilty about “charging too much” even though you know that your helping business needs to be profitable in order for you to be able to help more people.

What I’m seeing for this group: Support, Healing & Magic for the Way-Showers.

That’s a drawing I did in my journal last summer.? At the time when I drew it, it felt important but I didn’t know why.? This morning I flipped through that old journal to find it and when I saw it, I remembered the magic I felt in it.

I have so much love for the way-showers!

I mean, I am one of them, obviously.? But if not for other way-showers showing me the way I wouldn’t have found my way here.? And I just LOVE working with other way-showers/helper-people because we share the same mission: a heartfelt desire to help.

I would love to be offering these groups as a regular thing but have some experimenting to do to see how it fits in with the work I’m already doing.

Since this is my first time offering this, I am offering a Special Price For Brave Adventurers.? If you feel called to participate, you’ll help me shape this in return for receiving coaching + support at a special price.

This is not a program where I lead you through a bunch of steps and we work on the same things. This is custom-designed-for-you: you bring what you want to work with, and we’ll work with it together. You’ll have my guidance and support, but we’ll draw on YOUR unique skills, talents and approaches to create your path.

I’m seeing this group as a place where you can get support to:

strengthen your helping skills
step up your work to start helping MORE people
figure out what your next steps are in your growth as a helper-person
do your work with less depletion and more ease
find new ways of helping

But if there is something else you’d like to work with, send me an email and we’ll discuss if it will be a good fit for this group.? (Or if you’d rather work with me one-on-one, you can book a private session with me right here)

This is going to be amazing.

When I woke up with this idea, it felt so beautiful and healing and nurturing and needed.

I love that so many of us are feeling called to help others.? I know that helping others create happier & more fulfilling lives makes me feel so much happier and more fulfilled – it’s a self-fueling loop of delight. I want to invite more people into the loop!

And I want to encourage everyone who feels called to do this kind of work to get the support they need to help others effectively and joyfully and sustainably.

What you’ll get:

Four group calls: one call a week for four weeks.? The group is limited to 6 people, each person will get 15 minutes of coaching time on each call. Plus you get extra bonus insights from listening in on each other’s process.

Each week you’ll get a customized assignment/mission/challenge based on what’s going on for you and what you want to be working with.

We’ll have our own private forum inside the Creative Dream Circle for accountability and support. (The group will stay open for 1 week past our last call, then disappear – but you’ll still be connected to everyone through the Creative Dream Circle for the rest of the year)

You’ll get a playbook to help you get clear on where you are, where you want to be and what you want to work/play on during our time together.

The calls:

The calls are planned for Tuesdays at 2pm, Central, North America – June 17, 24, July 1, 8.

But if you want to participate and that time does not work for you, email me with some times that do work for you.? If I can get a group of 6 people together at one time – we’ll do it at that time!

The monies:

Membership in the Creative Dream Circle is the prerequisite for joining this group.

The?Special Price For Brave Adventurers for the first run of this group is $200.

So if you’re already a Circle member you can do this for $200, if you’re not a member yet the total cost is $300.

The Special Price For Brave Adventurers is a very special price!? A regular 45 minute session with me costs $175 for Circle members, $225 for non-members and does not include being a part of a gorgeous support group for 5 weeks.

There is only room for 6 people, it will be on a first-come, first-served basis.? The way to reserve your spot is to pay in full.? My regular coaching policies apply.? If you have to miss a call you’ll still get the recording, but you don’t get a make-up call.

Edited to add: Wheee! This group is full.

I want to help teachers/healers/coaches/helpy-people help more people Read More »

A peek inside my process: How I write sales pages

By Andrea Schroeder / May 28, 2014 / creative entrepreneur, journaling

Writing sales pages is hardly anyone’s favourite thing to do, me included. In fact, at one point I had most of my pages written by very good copywriter, who understood me and understood how to describe my offerings clearly. At that time it made me so happy to stop spending time on this.

But right now I am (mostly) happily re-writing the page for the Creative Dream Circle myself.

As I journal my way through the process I thought I’d share it here.

Since this is hard for many of us, it makes sense to me that we could all gain from seeing more of each other’s process.

If you don’t know – a sales page is a page on your website where you sell something. Ideally the page describes what the thing is, what the potential buyer can expect to get out of it, pricing details and a buy button.

For a lot of online business, the sales page is the make-it-or-break-it point for their business. The aim is to create a sales page that generates as many sales as possible. They use a lot of slimy tactics to make this happen.

I operate my business quite differently. Hardly anyone reads my sales pages for the first time and buys my stuff. Usually they get to know me, play with my many free offerings, and by the time they choose to read about my courses and coaching, they already know and trust me and are interested in working with me.

So I don’t feel like there is a lot of pressure on my sales pages and I don’t want anyone to feel pressured on them! I just want them to clearly describe what I’m offering and what you can expect to get out of it.

But that is more complicated than it seems! It can be hard to describe your thing in a way that is clear for your people because you’re on different sides of it. You know it from the inside out and they can only look from the outside in. You see the benefits of the thing are so super obvious, but on the other side, your people can’t quite see them at all.

Plus, if you are like me, you are always growing and evolving, and so the way you want to communicate all of this grows and evolves. This is why I update my pages regularly, so they are congruent with where I’m at.

The Starting Point: What do I want to do?

I want to re-write the Creative Dream Circle page in a heartfelt and clear and inviting way. I want people to feel uplifted while they read it. I want them to get a taste of what it’s like to be expertly supported and guided with your dreams and how that creates new possibilities.

I also want to encourage them to consciously interact with the fears/doubts/inner critics that get triggered while considering making this group a part of their lives, instead of allowing their fears/doubts/inner critics to derail the process with their bullshit… “this won’t work for you” ” you already know all of this” “you don’t have time for this” “you can’t spend money on your dream!” “sounds complicated, you’re not going to be able to figure it all out” “you won’t fit in, this kind of thing is for other people”

Plus I want this page to be a healing and a light, both for people who take the step into the Circle and for those who don’t.

How do I want to do this?

It seems to me we have to get on the same page about what we’re talking about really quickly so that should be at the top of the page.

The Creative Dream Circle is an online playground/creative superhero training center where creative people learn to bring their dreams to life.

Sigh. A lot of people are not going to know what that means PLUS it’s not descriptive enough.

I don’t just help you bring their dreams to life, I help you to do it with ease and joy, powered by authenticity and spirit and creative genius and inner wisdom, so that the dream appears in a miraculously perfect-for-you way even though it may look nothing like what you thought you wanted when you started.

This is because at the core this work is about soul healing, radical transformation and growing into who you really are which is a difficult thing to describe.

When I talk about living more deliciously and blissfully in tune with your own creative soul a lot of people have no concept of what that means. So I talk about it in terms of becoming the you who lives your dream. But this is not how the Circle members talk about it. They say it helps them do things like:

Feel more at peace with themselves and their lives (relief!)
Believe in themselves more (magic!)
Understand how to actually STOP letting fear stop them (momentum!)
Start making more time for the things that they love to do (joy!)
Understand how to start making small changes that bring them closer to their dreams (steady progress!)
Be inspired to go after bigger dreams (trust!)
Find new and/or unexpected sources of support for their dreams (right-fit support!)
See that the path to their dream is right in front of them and understand how to start walking along it (clarity!)
Understand more clearly where they hold themselves back, and what to do about it (freedom!)

So, using more of the language that circle members use would be helpful! This lets potential members know exactly what current members are experiencing.

I already have member’s testimonials on the page, of course. But I also have a lot of my own language. What if I use more of the Circle member’s language throughout the page? I like that idea.

OK, so I’m still on the first line.

The Creative Dream Circle is an online playground/creative superhero training center where creative people learn to bring their dreams to life.

So now I know that I want to write this in the kind of language that members would use, that speaks CLEARLY to potential new members. I also want to say something about how we work from the intersection of creativity, spirituality and human potential. I would like to highlight the fact that what I teach is unique, creatively engaging and remarkably effective.

Also: there is just so much love in the Circle. It’s amazing to be so fully supported and encouraged in your dreams.

So how do I want to say this?

It feels like I have journaled a million pages and am still on writing the first line of the page! I’m going to go make a lavender black tea latte and come back to this…

Well of course I didn’t just make the latte and come back. I wandered upstairs and lay down on my bed to enjoy the rain (I’ve got floor-to-ceiling wall-to-wall windows on both floors of the dream loft, perfect rain-watching conditions) then I took a shower, then I made my latte and gathered some supplies: my current favourite candle and an amazonite crystal ball which helps me write.

Obviously, I am in resistance.

ALL creatives experience resistance – how you handle it does determine the volume and quality of the creative work you produce. Of course, I’m going to handle it using the exact tools I teach in the Creative Dream Circle. The Circle includes an Un-Sticking Station which un-sticks any stuck, like resistance, procrastination, fear, doubt, uncertainty, etc.

Bringing my resistance to writing this sales page into the Un-Sticking Station, I discover:

I’m worried I’ll never get this right
What I have is working, what if I change it and it stops working?
What if my work just isn’t that special and doesn’t deserve a clear and inviting page?
What if I’m just not good enough?

So you can see why most creatives just procrastinate. This isn’t easy stuff to face.

And this is always how it is: a top layer of some questions/frustrations that seem kind of real but you quickly see what is beneath them, our basic and universal fear of not being good enough.

This is the stuff that stops most creative people from ever bringing their dreams to life. This is the stuff I am committed to helping people change. Every time I face it myself I am reminded of the importance of providing people with the tools that make it easier to face it and TRANSFORM it.

That bolsters my enthusiasm for getting this done.

Back in the Un-Sticking Station, bringing in love and creativity it is fast and easy (fast and easy just because I do this work so often) to dissolve limiting patterns and return to the truth: this is my work in the world. I am here to serve in this way. It’s my JOB to support my work in getting out into the world.

Now I feel like my inner world is in alignment with my mission. Ahhhh.

And I remember that I don’t need to find the exact perfect phrase to start this with, I just need to be as clear as I can be. Some advice out there is to just “speak from your heart” but I think that gets you back into problem #1: speaking from your side of the thing, instead of speaking from your people’s side of it, in a way that they can understand.

So speak from your heart, of course, but more importantly use your heart to connect with your audience and speak from where they are so they can hear you.

The Creative Dream Circle is….

What is important to have in this first part so that people get, straight off the bat, what we’re talking about?

it’s an online thing, not in person
it helps you activate your inner superpowers so you can: believe in yourself more, stop letting fear stop you, and make it easier/more fun to make positive changes in your life
it’s for open-hearted creative people
I teach from the intersection of spirituality and creativity and personal development, but encourage everyone to create their own unique ways of working with the tools, so you don’t need to adopt what I believe as your truth
The tools I teach are: journaling (art journaling or creative journaling or written journaling – up to you) and Creative Soul Alchemy (an energy healing technique I have developed using creativity + imagination + intuitive energy healing)

OK, using the term Creative Soul Alchemy is not the best idea because new people have no idea what it is. But since I do offer a free introductory course in it I think I can work that in. Plus I would prefer that people take my free class before singing up for the Circle so they can make sure they like my style. Also: do I really need to include this at the beginning?

Note to self + readers: I’m not going to give each sentence on this page this much attention. It just feels important to me to start right. This is creating that heart connection of meeting the reader where they are.

The Creative Dream Circle is an online training center for open-hearted creative people. Inside the Circle you’ll learn how to activate your inner superpowers so you can: believe in yourself more, stop letting fear (or doubt, or resistance, or inner and outer critics) stop you, and make it easier (and more fun!) to make positive changes in your life.

OK ewww, “make positive changes in your life” feels gross and task-master-y. And that’s not really what I mean, it’s not about external changes, it’s about living more fully in alignment with your heart and soul and creative magic.

The Creative Dream Circle is an online training center/secret playhouse for open-hearted creative people.

It’s full of tools, training + support for activating your inner superpowers so you can: believe in yourself more, stop letting fear (or doubt, or resistance, or inner and outer critics) stop you, and make it easier to live more fully in alignment with your heart and soul and creative magic.

BLISS! It’s about living your bliss. That’s what people really get out of it. For each person the path/specifics are different, but bliss is the direction we’re all headed in.

The Creative Dream Circle is an online training center/secret playhouse for open-hearted creative people.

Joseph Campbell wisely instructed us to “follow your bliss”. If you think that’s great advice but sometimes wish it was easier to actually follow – you’re in the right place.

Inside the Circle, you’ll discover effective, creative and engaging tools that help you believe in yourself more, stop letting fear (or doubt, or resistance, or inner and outer critics) stop you, and make it easier to follow your bliss in a really practical way.

Ahhh that feels more clear.

Sometimes when I talk about dreams I feel like people are only hearing me talking about getting what you want, in the external world.? What it’s really all about for me is the inner magic – the bliss of living in alignment with your heart, your soul and your creativity.

So then I can do on to talk about exactly that, and explain myself more clearly.

The Creative Dream Circle is dream generator. It exists to support you in the process of bringing your dream to life.

Dreams are important because your dreams are how your soul calls you into alignment with yourself. You can feel that, how having your dream isn’t about having some shiny new toy to play with, it’s about growing into who you really are.

Ack! Love! I have never put this together so succinctly and clearly before, I love this. And now we’re flowing:

While your heart and soul understand how important your dreams are, you live in a world that doesn’t understand this and you end up in a tug-of-war between external expectations and your inner callings.

And then stepping onto the Creative Dream Path starts to feel like this terrifying/impossible thing. Because you grew up in a world that doesn’t understand dreams, you wind up with all of these fears/doubts/beliefs that it’s not safe or possible for you to go after your dream. That you somehow just don’t have permission to live the way you want to live.

So painful! To want your dream, to know in your heart that going after your dream is what is right for you but running up against all these obstacles every time you try! No wonder most people just give up on their dreams.

I have failed many, many, many times. But something in me wouldn’t let me give up.

If you’ve just discovered the Creative Dream Incubator and don’t know me yet (hello! I’m so glad you found me!) you can read more about me, the creator + leader of the Creative Dream Circle, right here. I am a creative woman who lives her truth. I get to make my living doing the things that light me up. It’s not easy every day, but I do have freedom and joy and bliss.

It took me years and years and years of struggle to get to this place with my dreams. I am so grateful that I finally mastered the art of how to bring a dream to life in a world that doesn’t understand the beauty, power and important of dreams.

And I am so happy to share what I’ve learned with other dreamers, so that we can start to turn the tide. As more people start to live in alignment with their inner truth, we start to have a tremendous effect on the whole world.

OK, something is starting to feel off. I think I’ve given this all the time I can for today. I’m going to go play and let this marinate.

Next Day:

So today I am SUPER uncomfortable with quoting Joseph Campbell. Not that I don’t love him, and not that his work wasn’t a part of my training as a spiritual teacher, but the point of this page is for people to connect with the Circle. A quote from someone else doesn’t connect you to ME.

Next Day After That:

I want to delete ALL of this and start from scratch again.

I want to go back to my journal with my coloured pens and explore… what do I really want to say?

At that point I drew some mandalas about how much love I have for my students, then went right to the sales page and re-wrote it. Totally different from what I had above – speaking from my heart and, I think, speaking with more clarity.

I’m happy with how this went, you can see the end result right here.? I think it’s pretty awesome.

A peek inside my process: How I write sales pages Read More »

Creative Dream TV: Joy is important! Let’s have more of it!

By Andrea Schroeder / May 27, 2014 / healing, Vintage Creative Dream TV

Joy magnifies and magnetizes. Joy is the gas pedal for your dream machine.

And joy is an INSIDE JOB. That’s what this week’s video is all about.

The post I wrote last week about this is here.

You can read more about the Love Your Life Creative Journal Class right here.

Creative Dream TV: Joy is important! Let’s have more of it! Read More »

Today in my journal: Being in the hard part of the creative process.

By Andrea Schroeder / May 26, 2014 / healing, journaling

The Love your Life Creative Journal Class is in 2 weeks.? As I?ve shared here, my preparation is all about creating containers for the participants to receive what they need to receive.? As I’ve been doing this, I’ve been ridiculously happy.

Well – today I crashed.? I?m feeling lost. The doom and gloom feel bigger than me.

I?m sitting in a coffee shop wishing I hadn?t forgotten my headphones because it feels like I am extra sensitive today and I?m picking up everything from everyone and it sucks.

I feel heavy and like I can?t do the things I need to do.

This tiny, wise part of me is jumping up and down and saying: use the class!? Use the stuff in the Love Your Life Creative Journal Class!? It will make you feel better.

But I don’t want to. I want to mope and act like I don’t have the power to change this.? I want to eat nachos and watch a movie and try again tomorrow.

Wise me is not giving up.

She says:?you can go ahead and do those things if that makes you happy.? but it doesn’t, i can feel it.? being productive makes you happy.? shining your light makes you happy.? dimming your light is depressing.

Well, wise me is wise and I know it’s best to listen to her.? So I open up the Love your Life playbook…

(10 minutes later…)

OK, I did the first part in the playbook where I connect with joy and let joy do an energy healing for me and dissolve the gloom and doom in my energy field.? This shifted my energy enough that I decided to put earplugs in to block the sound around me and create a stronger boundary around my energy field so whatever is going on around me in the coffee shop doesn’t impact me.

Now I feel contained in a bubble of joy.? Ah, much better.? Now I see a list of things I want to do today, and I feel inspired and happy about doing them. I notice the sun is shining and the leaves outside are so gorgeously green.? I feel grateful for today.

Shift your energy, change your life!

Something I really want to say about the creative process:

I see images like these floating around online a LOT:

I hate posting any image without linking to the source, but these images seems to be posted everywhere with no one linking to the source so I couldn’t find it.

I think they get shared SO MUCH because they speak to how creative people feel and they reassure you that on those days when you feel the way I was feeling when I started writing this post.? They tell you that it’s ok, you’re not alone in feeling this way and this is totally normal.

That’s good, anything that reassures people is good.? And feeling resistance is totally normal.

But these memes reinforce the bullshit idea that you are powerless against resistance.

Notice what I did above, when I felt like eating nachos, turning on Netflix and giving up on today: I went to the tools I teach in Circle and did the thing I knew would get me back into flow IMMEDIATELY.? I took my power back, I didn’t let resistance steamroll my creative process.? I got back to work.

That is the secret to success.

You can’t wait until there is no resistance.? Or only work when you feel happy and inspired.? You’ve got to learn how to get yourself in the flow in the times when you fall out of it.

You’ve got to learn how to effectively and quickly deal with your resistance, fears and self-doubt.

This is the real work of being a creative person – creating fertile ground in your life for your work to happen.

So next time you see one of these memes, please remember that.? You’ve got superpowers.? Resistance is not bigger than you.

Today in my journal: Being in the hard part of the creative process. Read More »

Update 26: Where Letting Go Of The Goal Brings The Goal Closer To Me

By Andrea Schroeder / May 23, 2014

In December 2013 I set a big goal for my business for 2014: to welcome 800 dreamers into my Creative Dream Circle. And to do this not by getting super pushy about selling – but to do this with heart and soul and creativity and joy and LOVE.

At this point though, the Circle is steadily growing and I’m not interested in the numbers. I’ve been more interested in exploring how to grow my capacity serve dreamers in bringing their dreams to life. And I want to explore more about how I want this all to work for me, and how I want to feel inside it.

In support of this goal, I am writing weekly updates on Fridays, for all of 2014. This is where I’ll share the story of all the ups and downs of bringing a big dream to life.

***************************************************

Yesterday I wrote about how JOY is a SUPERPOWER.

This is really the sweet spot for me – using what I teach to stretch and grow in new ways.? I am committed to my Circle member’s growth and so I need to be even more committed to my own growth.? If I’m not walking my talk my energy containers don’t work and the magic dries up.? That’s not an option for me.

So in last week’s update I was delighted to find that I already have what I really want, which is 1-2 new members in the Circle most days.? I do want to just marinate in the magic of that, but at the same time the universe is always expanding and we are a part of the universe so if we attempt to stop expanding it gets uncomfortable.? So I want to be fully present in the delight of being where I am while looking forward at what I am growing into next.

I’m going to use the Creative Dream Check-In Journal Prompts from last week for my update.

What happened in the last week?

I’ve been exceptionally happy thanks to my Love Your Life Project, as I prepare for the Love Your Life Creative Journal class.

And I remembered how quickly I grow into things and become comfortable with them.

Two weeks ago I got my bike (!) and everything was new.? I didn’t really know how to lock it.? I didn’t know where to find the best bike paths.? I wasn’t sure about riding in traffic.? I didn’t know how far I can ride – what if I get too tired to make it back home?? I didn’t know that if I rode in the rain while wearing my brand new jacket I just made, that I’d get home with a stripe of rain and gravel up my back.? I didn’t know how to install fenders or a basket.? I didn’t know what to do when I got my first flat.

And now: I know all of those things.? Holy crap!? I’m surprised at how quickly I’ve acclimated to being a cyclist but really – this is what happens when you do something every day and ask questions about the parts you don’t know about.

So I’m thinking about that, and about welcoming 1-2 new members into the Circle every day.? I’m going to acclimate to this and want to increase the flow.

2-3 sounds ok.? 3-4 sounds ok.? 4-5 makes me take a deep breath.? I’m probably not ready for 4-5? new members every single day.

Some quick math shows that 5 per day gets me to well over 1,000 by the end of this year, which is more than what I want.? So no wonder that feels uncomfortable.

It’s not that 4-5 people in a day is too much, when I’m running a class I can get 10 or more in a day.? And I like that!? It’s that 4-5 new people every single day, day after day, feels like too much, energy wise.? It’s too much continual shifting for me to be able to hold the container sturdy and steady.

More math shows that 3 new people a day, from now until the end of the year, would get me to 800.? And 3 is only 1 more than 2 so that’s really not much of a stretch and it feels perfectly comfortable.

Isn’t that funny?? Letting go of the goal brought me closer to the goal.

Last week’s update was all about surrender.? I was feeling so happy about where I am, and letting go of reaching for 800 felt like a relief.?? Now it feels like the 800 are flowing to me with ease and delight!

STICKING WITH IT IS THE BEST.? So much magic happens if you just don’t give up!? Last week I felt like I wanted to let go of my goal but I didn’t stop being in the process – that’s the important part, staying in the process.

Next question: How do I feel about this?

Pretty fucking great!

Except… except something feels kind of off about what I just wrote, the part about how “It’s too much continual shifting for me to be able to hold the container sturdy and steady.”

I do believe I am lying to myself!

Telling the whole truth about how you feel feels different than telling yourself stories that come from your limiting beliefs and fears and doubts and inner critics.

But those stories are so familiar it is SO EASY to go along with them.? Oh yes – I am easily overwhelmed and must hold back on my dreams in order to be safe.

Yes, that’s a lie.? I do know that safety is not created by holding back or playing small.? That kind of safety is an illusion your inner critic tries to fool you into.

So, it’s not true that 4-5 new people in the Circle every day is too much for me.? What does that mean?

When I feel into this story, I can see that its roots are being nourished by my inner critic – desperately trying to hold me back so I can have what it thinks is safe.

So I take this whole scenario and put it into a bubble of love.

And my inner critic puts down her gardening tools and lies down to take a nap.? The gardening tools sparkle and disappear.? The roots shrink up, the story breaks down.? This story can’t live in a bubble of love because it’s not true or loving.

All that remains is the kernel of truth: my inner critic is a worry-wart and she would worry less if I was playing small so she’s always going to encourage me to be smaller because she doesn’t like worrying, even though she is basically an Olympic gold winner at worrying.

And I am left with the truth: Right now I’d prefer 1-3 new members each day.? I don’t need to make up a story about why this is better than 4-5 new members, I can simply love my preference.

This is what I want and I get to have it! I don’t have to have a reason!

Next question: What do I need now?

As I said, I am ridiculously happy thanks to my Love Your Life Project, as I prepare for the Love Your Life Creative Journal class.? It feels like things are flowing.? I need continued permission to relax and enjoy the process.

What does my dream need now?

Well this is interesting.? Last week I shared this:

My dream is a sparkling stream running through a forest.? It?s happy and bubbling.? But it?s got this one boulder it would like to be removed.? Hmmm. What is the boulder?? (that part I?m just going to share in my update inside the Circle)

I’m still exploring that boulder.? What I’ve learned so far is that I don’t need to remove it from the stream.? I just need to move it to somewhere where it would be more useful.? I’m not sure if this means putting it into deeper water, or using it as a stepping stone.? Trusting the complete answer to come in time, but some really helpful ideas have come to me as I’ve been exploring so far.

Taking all of this into account, my next mission is:

Keep doing what I’ve been doing!

And keep exploring this stream/boulder thing to learn more about what this emerging story wants to tell me.

I’d like to have a stream of MIRACULOUS PRODUCTIVITY happen so I can get my stuff done quick and make some time to explore a new idea that came to me this week, about doing some small group coaching program, working only with teachers/coaches/healers/helper-peoples to strengthen their superpowers and help them help more people.

We’ll see what happens there.

Update 26: Where Letting Go Of The Goal Brings The Goal Closer To Me Read More »

JOY is a SUPERPOWER: The Love Your Life project

By Andrea Schroeder / May 22, 2014

My next class is the Love your Life Creative Journal Class.

I’m not going to teach you about joy in this class, I’m going to create a container where you can get exactly what you need to move forward with your unique relationship with joy, on your unique life path.? This could mean:

a healing
a new perspective on what joy is
an idea that totally changes your life
permission to be happier, right now
encouragement to transform the limiting belief that is keeping you from being happier, right now

I never, ever, dictate what you’re supposed to get out of the class or force you onto a specific path.

Because it’s too beautiful to instead offer the thing you didn’t even know you needed, but now that you have it, it’s like you feel more whole.

Sometimes people get frustrated about this.? They want more direction and clear instructions.? But as soon as they start to play with it they see – there is freedom and possibility and, magically enough, they always find exactly what they need.

This is because my “classes” are actually energy containers for healing & transformation.? This is why my students are always telling me that my classes help them feel more whole.

This is the thing I’m proudest about, about my work.? That I have learned how to create these containers of magic + possibility so effectively.

Also, it means instead of spending lots of time doing lots of traditional “class planning” I get to spend my time working with the energies of happiness, joy and love.? That’s pretty rad.

And as a result, I joined a choir, I go biking every day (!), I’m having adventures, I’m making art that lights me up.

Most remarkably: Suddenly I’ve got a steady stream of new members signing up for the Creative Dream Circle without feeling like I’m working at marketing.

Not only is being happy awesome, joy is actually a superpower.

Joy magnifies and magnetizes.? Joy is the gas pedal for your dream machine.

So the happier you are, the more stuff you end up having to be happy about because you become a SUPERHERO OF JOY.

Joy is more powerful than obstacles.? Just like water is more powerful than stone, joy will wear down obstacles, smooth out rough patches and flow you towards a whole ocean of delight.

I mean – gosh! Imagine letting joy wear down the rough patches for you, instead of trying to power through or move boulders or figure it all out in your head.

It’s revolutionary.? It’s amazing.? It’s actually what we’re wired for.

And even though all this stuff is changing in my outer world, it’s totally not about the outer stuff.

Setting out to make changes in your life so that you can feel happier is a total drag.

Forcing yourself to play? Not fun.

Shaming yourself into making time for the things you love? Gross.

The frustration of trying to do more happy-things but they somehow always feel out of reach? So painful.

The solution is, of course, to focus on the INSIDE.?

Gently shift things around.? Carefully carve out new spaces for joy to hang out.? Send out clear invitations for joy to come and visit and maybe even shack up with you.

This is my Love Your Life project.

Allowing the changes that happen in your outer life to come out of the inner changes… gracefully and EASEfully and at the exact perfect pace for you.

A funny thing about the universe is that it can bring you something that is much, much better than the thing you think you want/need.

Because you decide “I want/need this” from your HEAD.? Your HEAD, cut off from your heart, your creativity, your inner wisdom, your power, your purpose…. and your HEAD, as beautiful and wonderful as it is, doesn’t know the whole story.

This is why this kind of work makes you somehow feel more whole.? Because it’s bringing you into deeper alignment with your inner wholeness.

It’s brings you more than you asked for and helps you be happier than you think you can be.

It’s so beautiful.? I hope you join me on this journey.? Click here to read about the Love your Life Creative Journal class.

JOY is a SUPERPOWER: The Love Your Life project Read More »

Creative Dream TV: How to make the big decisions about how to bring your dream to life.

By Andrea Schroeder / May 20, 2014 / Vintage Creative Dream TV

You’re going to face about a gazillion different decisions in the process of bringing any dream to life.? And often you need to make decisions where you’re really not sure what is the “right” move!? This can be so frustrating, but each decision is a opportunity to move closer to your inner power, creativity and authenticity.

For Creative Dream Circle members: check out the Crazy Smart Wisdom Council in the Creative Genius Mojo Dojo for tools for how to make it easier to get in touch with you inner wisdom.

Creative Dream TV: How to make the big decisions about how to bring your dream to life. Read More »

Creative Journal Prompts For Staying On Track With Your Dreams

By Andrea Schroeder / May 16, 2014 / Journal Prompts

I know taking the time to do these creative dream updates EVERY WEEK is deeply, deeply helpful.

And now that we’re doing these updates inside the Circle so everyone has a chance to participate, I’ve been thinking about the format of the updates and how to set it up so it’s easy enough to stay in the habit of doing it and also so that we’re doing it in the most helpful way.

The purposes of the updates:

so you don’t drop the many (many!) ideas and insights you find along the path
so you’re clear on WHICH ideas to act on RIGHT NOW
marking the path so you notice sooner if you’re just going in circles (more common than you’d think, on the Creative Dream Path)
acknowledging the many (many!) steps you’ve taken, which makes it much easier to contemplate how many steps are still in front of you
holding yourself accountable to your dream
reflecting on what’s happened as a way of learning from it and as a way of noticing things you didn’t notice while it was happening
documenting the process of bringing one dream to life show you all sorts of clues about how to work with other dreams
sweet sweet sweet delicious clarity about where you are and where you want to be and how you want to get there (this changes a lot more often than you’d think, holding onto clarity is difficult but important)

I’ve come up with these Creative Journal Prompts For Staying On Track With Your Dreams

It’s in two parts.

Part 1 is for when you’re setting out, so it’s your first update.?

But it’s also good to revisit it every week to see if it’s changing, because if it doesn’t fill you with delight to say what you want and why you want it – something has changed and you need to adjust.

Checking in with these three statements every week and making any necessary adjustments so that you remain filled with delight about this will keep your dream process calibrated in the right direction.

My dream is:

I want it because:

When I have it I will feel:

Part 2 is 4 questions to ask yourself every week, plus a mission statement.

What happened in the last week?

How do I feel about this?

What do I need now?

What does my dream need now?

Taking all of this into account, my next mission is:

Remember that moving forward is not always the answer.

In fact, there is no “forward” on the Creative Dream Path.? The path does not exist until you build it.? You build in the direction that feels right in the moment.

Most Creative Dream Paths go in spirals and if you’re not grounded and present in your process, you’ll think you’re going backwards.

So for my update this week I’m starting at the beginning.

My dream is: I can no longer say that my dream is to have 800 members in the Circle this year, because that doesn’t fill me with delight right now.? But it was the perfect starting point for this adventure in learning how to grow my capacity as a teacher.

What fills me with delight now: growing the Circle in a grounded and sustainable and DELIGHTFUL way.

To be more specific about what feels grounded and sustainable and delight to me right now: at least 30 new members each month, but not more than 50.? One or two per day is perfect.

I want it because: I’m so in love with everything I have learned about making dreams real and it really really makes me happy to share it.? I love the way people’s lives start to change once they join the Circle.? I love how it spreads HAPPINESS.? I am so happy I could burst at the thought that I am bringing this amazing thing to the world.

It feels like perfect alignment with purpose and heart and creativity and spirit.? It’s what I’m here to do.

Of course, the same could be said about my coaching practice.? But coaching takes a LOT of energy and running the Circle does not take as much.? So another thing I love about the Circle is that I can run the Circle without working full time.? This feels important not because I want to work part time (I love my work too much for that) but because I want the option to be able to do that if something happens and I need some time off.? I live alone and don’t have anyone to help with the bills (and am not interested in changing that), so building this kind of stability into my business feels important for the long term.

When I have it I will feel: This one is interesting, because right now I do have it.? 1-2 people join the Circle most days.? And right now I am super happy.? What I want is to sustain this over time and become more grounded in it.? Then I will feel more grounded and stable as the Guardian of Dreams.

And on to this week’s update:

What happened in the last week?

As I said in part 1, there are 1-2 new people joining the Circle most days and I really like this!? Before it was more larger clusters right before a new class started and I do much prefer have this small, steady stream.? It gives me a chance to get to know them a bit (if they choose to be chatty on the Circle website, lots of people prefer to stay quiet and that’s fine too!).

We started the Inspiration Cards class and it’s going even better than I’d hoped.? Members are having these delightfully healing experiences encountering the World of Inspiration and I am having so much fun hearing what they’re all up to.

I don’t think I can explain enough how much I love this group of people and their dreams.

The big thing that happened in the past week is my new customer service software.? I wrote here about boundaries and changes.? The past few months I’ve been increasingly overwhelmed with the amount of stuff coming at me.? Now I feel like I have room to breathe (and play! and create!) again.? It’s all sunshine and rainbows and setting things up in ways that support me in doing the work I am here to do.

How do I feel about this?

Everything feels on track and happy.? A part of me wants to hold onto the original dream I had for 800 members this year.? That part of me is small and young and thinks that it’s not ok to change her mind.

Wise me knew all along that I can set my intention and do my part but I do not control the timing.? Wise me knows that the work I did earlier this year of stretching into my goal was important inner work and will serve me well and that I am not giving up on anything, I’m moving in the direction my heart is sending me in.

Slow, steady growth is my style. I feel really comfortable and supported and happy.

What do I need now?

I’m feeling comfortable and supported and happy.? A lot of this is the new class I’m working on, the Love Your Life Creative Journal Class.? To create the container for the class, I start working with the energies of it ahead of time. Working directly with loving your life and being happy now is pretty amazing.

So all I need for next week is to keep doing what I’ve been doing.

What does my dream need now?

My dream is a sparkling stream running through a forest.? It’s happy and bubbling.? But it’s got this one boulder it would like to be removed.

Hmmm. What is the boulder?? (that part I’m just going to share in my update inside the Circle)

Removing the boulder won’t make the stream stream faster or anything it will just help it stream steadier.

Taking all of this into account, my next mission is:

Keep exploring the boulder and find out more about what it means and what I need to do to remove it.? Keep working/playing with the Love Your Life Creative Journal Class.

Wow, that feels light and do-able.

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New! Love Your Life Creative Journal Class.

By Andrea Schroeder / May 15, 2014

Hoo boy am I happy to share this one with you.

How happy can you be?

Let’s find out!? Clickity click for all the details.

New! Love Your Life Creative Journal Class. Read More »

The Cure For Writer’s Block

By Andrea Schroeder / May 14, 2014 / healing, Manifest Your Dream Life

I’ve been wanting to share some of the super-inspiring stories of amazing things that happen inside the Creative Dream Circle but I haven’t known how to do it. Working with dreams is working with heart – so vulnerable and delicate. It’s no small thing that people trust me with their dreams and I’m not going to betray that trust by trying to force anyone into the limelight.

But some of these stories keep tapping me on the shoulder, demanding to be shared.

So I’ve decided to share bits and pieces – without naming names or sharing photos or anything like that. So people’s privacy is protected, their dream remains sheltered from public view, while the essence of the story can come out and play.

The cure for writer’s block:

I received the following message from someone who was in my free Give Your Dream Wings course:

I know what my creative dream is and what the soul of it is, but I’m lacking the joy and flow to do it with ease and happiness. It’s still loaded with fear for me. I need to write and I want to do it but boy do I delay it every single time. That blank page is tough! Would your Creative Dream Circle help with that?

That question really hit me in the heart.? So many creatives know exactly what they want to be doing, but their dreams are, as this writer put it, LOADED with fear.

I hate knowing that there are people out there in this situation!? So much so that I’ve made it my life’s work to help people out of this situation.

Writer’s block, like all creative blocks, is an emotional block.

Facing the blank page is terrifying.? Going after your dream is terrifying. Starting is a terrifyingly vulnerable thing.

The secret?? Meeting your fear with creativity and love.

My response:

Yes! The Circle will definitely help with that. Fear is the biggest obstacle to dreaming, so I have a lot of material about it in the Circle. In the Creative Dream Incubator course (which you get in have circle) there is an in-depth module about how to work with fear effectively. Plus there is an “un-sticking station” to get quick help any time you get stuck. I use that almost every day.

It’s totally natural to be afraid, I find that learning how to work creatively with fear is one of the most important skills to learn to bring any dream to life.

She joined the Circle and one of the first things she did there was listen to my hour long audio class on How Meeting Fear With Creativity And Love Means You Never Have To Stay Stuck.

And then: she started writing!

She found the cure for writer’s block and she started writing!? This is from one of her first posts in the Circle:

Hello! I’m brand new here and decided this morning to get right into it by listening to the recording of “meeting fear with creativity and love”. I found it extremely helpful [removed for privacy]. I went on to write the piece I wanted to write…

She went on to write the piece she wanted to write.

Being un-blocked and in the flow really is that accessible.

Does this mean our heroine is never going to suffer from writer’s block, ever again?

Of course not.

She’ll have to keep meeting fear with creativity and love and learning new techniques for transforming fear and doubt and all the things that hold her back.

This is the secret to bringing any dream to life: to stay in the process of transforming the blocks.? To meet them there on the blank page – every day or every week.? To keep showing up no matter how hard your inner critics start to fight back.

I can promise that if you stay with it, it does get easier.

When I first left my day-job to be a full time Creative Dream Incubator, I had a major fear freak-out at least once a week.? But now?? In my fourth year of doing this full time?? I’ve had ONE fear freak-out all year. And it wasn’t even major.

You can transform your inner landscape.? You can make more space for freedom and glee and creativity and delight and trust and dreams come true.? You do not have to let fear stomp all over your dream garden.

This is what we do inside the Creative Dream Circle.

The Cure For Writer’s Block Read More »

Creative Dream TV: Creating A Self-Care Kit For When You’re In Crisis

By Andrea Schroeder / May 13, 2014 / healing, Manifest Your Dream Life, Vintage Creative Dream TV

How to make a self care kit

You need a self care kit because times when you really NEED self-care tools are exactly the times when it's the hardest to find them!

I'm doing something new - recording videos straight to YouTube instead of editing. With anything new, there's a bit of a learning curve, I lost the first 20 seconds and it's a little weird/wavy - not like my usual videos.

The best time to make a self-care kit for yourself is when you're NOT in crisis.

Because when things are rough it's harder to know how to take care of yourself.

But... I am editing this post in 2020 during a global crisis... if things are already rough for you - just do your best. Every bit of self care you do helps you get to a bit of a better place where you can do a bit of a better job of taking care of yourself... and so on and so on.

You can do this.

Your self care kit should be with you and accessible at all times.

I keep mine in my bag with my wallet. Those days when I don't take my bag with me, when I grab my wallet I also grab my self care kit.

It's in a handwoven zipper case, the same size as a pencil case. It's easy to have on me.

As I've gotten older, my self care kit has gotten more boring, lol!

This is for two reasons:

my body needs more attention to feel good
I know myself better so I can do better than aromatherapy, affirmation cards and little chocolate treats, which is what my self care kit used to be full of when I was in my 30s.

An ongoing commitment to self care over time WILL teach you what YOU need in your self care kit.

A question to ask while you're building your self care kit: What would be helpful, now?

Asking it at different times of day, in different places, in different situations, gives you different answers which give you different ideas for what to keep in your self care kit.

For example, in peri-menopause I can't always predict my menstrual cycle like I used to, so keeping Advil in my self care kit is helpful.

I have allergies to pollen and to some dogs. Having allergy meds in my kit is a must.

Some of the items in your self care kit should be boring! Just basic "how to take good care of my body" stuff that can help stop anxiety or overwhelm from spiralling.

Here's what's in my self-care kit right now:

ear plugs (I am super sensitive to noise)
Advil
allergy meds
a few packs of Emergen-C (a dose of vitamin C and electrolytes that feels good when I am overwhelmed)
ear buds (I usually have headphones with me, but for those days when I forget them, having the earbuds saves the day)
multiple playlists of brainwave music for different moods, like calm + focus (technically not in my kit, but I keep them on my phone)
favourite aromatherapy blends in small bottles (also convenient for days if I forget deodorant can use some EO instead and not feel self conscious - this is a small thing, but every uncomfortable feeling you've got going on adds a new layer of discomfort, so the more of them you can take care of, the better)
Kleenex in a tiny pack
Journal with paint pens and a huge assortment of ultra thin markers (also not in my self care zipper pouch, but I keep it in a separate zipper pouch, also always with me)

Other ideas for your self care kit:

chocolate
inspiration card or helpful affirmation/mantra written on a piece of paper
a meditation or visualization that works well for you, written down on a sheet of paper (it's easy to forget to use tools we know about, so this is a way to include them in the kit)
lip balm
moisturizer, bonus points if it smells like something that makes you feel happy
water bottle

This will help you create your self care kit:

The Self Care for the Pandemic e-course is free, you can get the whole thing right here.

It's five days of videos and journaling sheets, to really dig in and explore what kind of self care you need right now.

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Boundaries [I’m making some changes]

By Andrea Schroeder / May 12, 2014 / creative entrepreneur

I’ve been having a boundary problem.

Creating and holding clear boundaries is how you create space in your life for your dreams.? Creating dream-growing boundaries is a simple case of routing resources (time, energy, creativity, money) to go towards nurturing what you want to grow.

Simple, but hard.

Give Your Dream Wings, my free e-course, is growing like crazy, which is fantastic! But as it grew, and my web traffic in general grew, I also became overwhelmed by email.

No one email is a problem on its own.? People are having a hard time watching a video and want some help.? Or they deleted one of the lessons and need me to re-send it.? Or they want the emails to go to a different address.? Or they want me to know how much their dream is growing and how their life is changing because of it.

Of course I want people to be able to access the course!?? And I don’t want to ignore these emails.? But even quick responses take up time and energy.? And having so many of these emails land in my inbox takes up enough energetic bandwidth that it’s leaving me with less than I need for other things.

I’ve been very overwhelmed by this, actually.

It’s been enough to make me not WANT my business to grow any more because I’ve got my hands full taking care of the people who are already here.

When I am in a state of overwhelm, I’m not making the best decisions.? It was when I started thinking about hiring someone to help me with the emails that it finally dawned on me: providing customer service to people who are not actually customers is simply not sustainable.

See, deep down inside I had this inner “good girl” who wants to do what people expect of her.? And suddenly so many people expected me to respond to their emails that she got triggered and kind of took over.

So, first, of all – I had to take back my energy from the situation.? Being overwhelmed by the volume of email put me in a dis-empowered space.? When I re-claim my power and put my inner “good girl” back on permanent vacation, I can see everything more clearly and be in touch with the heart of what is happening, which is: I want to help.

I want to provide my customers with my best work, plus helpful customer service.? This is important to me.? This is what my business is here to do.

I want to provide my audience with helpful resources, including ways to access the answers to their questions (ways that do not include me emailing them individually).? Plus a warm invitation to come and play with me.

So, I’m switching to a new customer service email system and creating a self-serve help center.

The Give your Dream Wings Help Center has everything categorized so it’s easy to find exactly the help you need. So anyone who runs into a problem with Give Your Dream Wings can get a solution right there.

The Creative Dream Circle, gets a Help Center too. Of course Circle members do get customer service, but the Help Center means they can look up immediate answers to the most common questions, instead of waiting for me to answer their email.

What is REALLY beautiful about this is that the customer service software can grow as the Creative Dream Circle grows, so it stays easy & doable for me to offer quality customer service for my beloved customers.

Ahhhhhhhh.

The day I set this all up I could actually FEEL how I increased my internal capacity for serving more dreamers.

With my email under control, it means I can be more present for my Creative Dream Circle and clients.? And that is the whole point of my business!? To support the people who choose to let me support them in bringing their magic to the world.? It feels amazing to actually feel my capacity to do this work increase.

This is the bumpy road of bringing a dream to life!? It often does take being overwhelmed or frustrated or resentful or angry about how things are going, in order for you to see how you’d like to set things up differently.? As Joseph Campbell said “Where you stumble, that’s where your treasure lies.”

Creating a boundary is easier than holding a boundary.

And the outer work (like in this case, setting up the self-serve help center and the new customer service email software) is a LOT easier than the inner work.

You’ve got to be able to hold your power in order to hold your boundary.? This gets easier over time as you acclimate to owning more and more of your power.

But especially in the beginning it can be really hard.? And other people will generally not respect your boundary just because you told them about it.? Not because they want to be jerks, but if you’ve always done ____ then suddenly you decide to not do ____ anymore but they’re still used to you doing _____ so they’re going to expect you to keep doing it.

They’re in that pattern with you and they may not want to change it.

So you really do have to be willing to hold the boundary all on your own, even if no one respects it.? Otherwise, what’s the point?

If I do all this work to set up new systems, but keep responding individually to every email I get because my inner “good girl” doesn’t want to upset anyone’s expectations… how does that work?? Now, besides still being overwhelmed my email I’m also out the time and money of setting up new systems that I’m not using.

I can’t expect people to just stop emailing me, can I?? It’s 100% up to ME to do something different if I want this to change.

That’s how it is with ALL boundaries.? You can’t expect other people to change just because YOU want something to be different.

For many years, boundaries were super hard for me.? I was working really hard at it, and setting boundaries… but wasn’t owning my power enough to hold them.

It was SO HARD for me to set a boundary, I couldn’t bear the work of actually holding it.? So I’d set it, the other person would bulldoze through it, and I’d collapse the boundary and they’d go on doing what they’d always done.

What I find makes it easier is if you go into the process of setting the boundary fully aware of your responsibility to HOLD the boundary, this way you tend to set up boundaries with maintenance-systems in place.

If you’re a Creative Dream Circle member and you want to learn more about boundaries, check out my video on Sovereignty, in the Advanced Creative Badassery Resource Library – it’s 57 minutes (!) of me talking about this in more detail, and answering people’s questions about how this works in the real world.

Plus, I changed my email address.? I was still using the email from my old abccreatvity.com domain, but as of today I’m using hello [AT] creativedreamincubator.com

Boundaries [I’m making some changes] Read More »

Update 24: How About We Just Be Happy Now?

By Andrea Schroeder / May 9, 2014

I set a big goal for my business for 2014: to welcome 800 dreamers into my Creative Dream Circle. And to do this not by getting super pushy about selling – but to do this with heart and soul and creativity and joy and LOVE.? (you can read my original post about this here)

At this point though, I’m not interested in the numbers.? I’ve been more interested in exploring how to grow my capacity serve dreamers in bringing their dreams to life.? And now I want to explore more about how I want this all to work for me, and how I want to feel inside it.

In support of this goal, I am writing weekly updates on Fridays, for all of 2014. This is where I’ll share the story of all the ups and downs of bringing a big dream to life.

***************************************************

I turned 40 last Sunday.? My mom posted a bunch of old photos of me on her Facebook, it was so amazing to see them again!

I kept looking at this one and remembering how much I loved gymnastics, especially cartwheels.? I want to draw this part of me out, into my regular life, more often.? And it feels like I’ve been doing that – I got a bike for my birthday!? And after not riding for 20 years, I am finding that riding a bike is a really special kind of delight.

I feel like I need 16 updates to talk about everything that happened this week.

I am really in love with this process, of writing an update every week.? At one point it was feeling weird, like who cares?? But once I started sharing these updates in the Creative Dream Circle and creating space for everyone else to share their updates too – it turned into pure magic.?

Writing out a weekly update, even if it’s just in your journal, if a very good dream habit to get into! ?And I did end write a whole separate update this week, all about boundaries and re-arranging things, which I’m going to post next week, not as an update post but as a regular post.

This week so many things happened. We started a new class in the Circle, which I am super happy about. It’s always amazing to see how people interact with the material.

The longer I do this work, the better I get at creating classes which are actually containers for people to get exactly what they need right then, to realise something important or have a healing or find a new dream or whatever. I’m really proud of that and grateful that there are so many amazing people to play with this stuff in the Circle.

I’m feeling a strange mix of more committed than ever to my goal, and feeling like I understand my goal and what it will take to get there clearer than ever, and also feeling a sense of letting go and also a sense of total fuzziness about it. It’s also feeling less and less important, the more I explore it.

Notice how I’m referring to it as a goal and not a dream.

Goals are different from dreams. Solid, clear and external. It’s very black I and white – you achieve your goal or you don’t. Goals are very helpful things to have.

A dream though, is purpose and delight and spirit and authenticity and moving towards who you really are and stepping into your superpowers and love and bliss and wonder and magic. Goals are head. Dreams are heart.

Eight hundred members in the Creative Dream Circle is a goal. And it’s a fine goal. But right now I want to explore the dream. Where’s the light and the magic? What does my heart want?

My heart wants to do what I love and to be making enough money to live comfortably. Oh. I have that.

My heart would like permission to ignore my goal.

My head says that’s stupid. My head reminds me heart how delicious what I’m doing in the circle actually is, how it’s changing peoples lives and how needed it is. My head wants my heart to know that all of this gets bigger as the circle gets bigger.

My heart says yes, it’s delicious. Now in the present. And what if we weren’t trying to make to grow? What if we just give it sunlight and water and love and I let it grow itself?

So that’s where I am with this. I don’t know that letting it grow itself would result in me doing anything differently than I have been doing, it seems like it’s just a different attitude.

I’m feeling a strong desire to get to know this dream in a new way.? Or maybe I’m just tired of holding this and need to it down for just a little bit.

In other explorations, I discovered a whole new understanding about my role as a Guardian of Dreamers. And I am learning about what I need to be the best Guardian of Dreamers that I can be: Delight! Happiness! To Be In Love With My Life!?

Things are shifting, that’s for sure. I always lose my sense of clarity when things are shifting. Experience shows that something amazing will come next, so I’m looking forward to that.

Update 24: How About We Just Be Happy Now? Read More »

Let’s Make Inspiration Cards Together Starts Tomorrow. Are You Thinking Of Joining Us?

By Andrea Schroeder / May 7, 2014

If you’re wondering if this is right for you I thought I’d write a little more about it.

This is a class on creative inspiration, that’s Creative In~SPIRIT~ation.

It’s for experienced artists and total non-artists – either way, you will learn delightful & amazing new things.

In order to explore all of the possibilities of Creative In~SPIRIT~ation you’re going to work with an intention for your cards.

This is so you can explore inspiration through the lens of your intention, which, as you will see, teaches you all sorts of wicked cool things about both inspiration and your intention.? Working in this way with inspiration and intention magnifies them both.

The first part of this class is a self-paced series of short, guided, creative meditations and journaling prompts.? This is where you work with your intention for your cards and discover whole new worlds of magic and delight.

You’ll do this work in your own time, and of course you can share your discoveries and insights, and see what other people are learning, in our online classroom.

Because I teach from the intersection of creativity and spirituality, the class is very non-linear and? I’m not going to force you to go in a certain direction. ? You will have your own unique experience and adventure, based on where you’re at, where you’re going and what you need right now.

The beautiful thing about playing with intention in this way is that you get what YOU need from the experience.

Working with inspiration and intention together is very healing and transformative.

The second part is where we scoop up all the things you learned in the first part, and put them onto your gorgeous inspiration cards, so that you can hold onto the magic of it all.

As I said, this is for experienced artists and total non-artists alike.? You’ll get something valuable out of this either way, each group will just approach the second part a little differently.

If you’re an experienced artist you know how to make your cards!? You can look over my suggestions and ideas if you want, but I’m not going to get in your way and tell you how they “should” be done – play and experiment and work your magic and we’ll all cheer you on in the online classroom.

If you’re a total non-artist and aren’t sure if you can make your own cards – I will share so many easy ideas, tips and tricks you’ll be a pro in no time.

This is NOT one of those classes where we all come out with art that looks the same!? I encourage you to find your unique creative voice, not learn how to copy mine.

Even though the art I love to make is very simple & child-like, I have university level education in how to make all kinds of art so I really can answer any questions you’ve got about making your cards.? (I have a degree in fashion design from one of the best design schools in Canada.? As part of my four years as a fashion student, I was taking life drawing, technical drawing and visual communications classes.)

What I WILL NOT share with you are the harsh critiques and “you have to do it this way” attitudes of university level art classes.

Everyone will be celebrated in this class.

It’s about CREATIVE PLAY and INSPIRATION and LEARNING about yourself and CREATING new space inside you for inspiration to live.

It’s going to make you feel inspired and lifted up.? It’s going to help you believe in yourself more.? It’s going to help you find your creative joy.

One last thing: The Circle.

It seems like I have not quite explained this clearly, as I have been getting a lot of emails from people asking if I would run this as a separate class, as they don’t feel ready to sign up for a whole year of stuff.

When I put all of my classes inside the Creative Dream Circle I lowered the price dramatically.? If I ran this class on its own it would be $100.?

This way you pay $100 for this one class – but then you have the option of joining in on anything else I do for the next year without paying anything.? When you join the Circle you get access to the ultimate Smorgasbord Of Dreams.? Feel free to pile your plate high with treats, or just try one or two things.? You’ll find that every item on the menu is worth the cost of the whole Circle, so there’s no pressure to do it all.

You get to pick and choose which of these to play with, to create your very own customized Creative Dream Support Systems.

This isn’t a marketing gimmick.? When I added up the price of each individual thing that I put in the Circle, it was over $1300 – not even including the new classes I am going to keep adding this year.

It takes quite a bit of behind the scenes admin time/energy/money to run each class individually and I really want to simplify everything.? Plus, my work changes people’s lives so I want to make it more accessible.? So, that’s why you get a whole year of stuff.

You can read more about the Inspiration Cards class here.? You can read more about the Creative Dream Circle here.

Let’s Make Inspiration Cards Together Starts Tomorrow. Are You Thinking Of Joining Us? Read More »

Creative Dream TV: For Those Days When You Don’t Feel Like Showing Up

By Andrea Schroeder / May 6, 2014 / daily practice, Vintage Creative Dream TV

The secret to making ANY dream real is in showing up every day: daily practice.

But, inevitably, some days you’re going to want a day off.? You’re going to think that you “deserve a break”… but actually that’s bullshit.? I explain more in this video:

Creative Dream TV: For Those Days When You Don’t Feel Like Showing Up Read More »