Healing

You don’t have to feel ready or even competent

One thing I hope I am doing by posting here every day is to be an example of: you don't have to feel ready, you don' have to be grounded, you don't  have to feel capable, you can be a mess, etc, etc, etc - AND STILL SHOW UP... and even in the mess, still have enough things go well that you get to your dream.

I am starting to feel REALLY GOOD. The epic self care I have been practicing is starting to do what I had hoped it would do. The HRT is doing what I hoped it would do. I feel like I am back on solid ground, feeling powerful and creative and present and GROUNDED.

Which is making me more aware of how UNGROUNDED I have been.

BUT/AND

We are ALL under a lot of stress right now, given the state of the world. (I mean even people who are chosen to not read news at all because it's too stressful, the body knows that the state of the world is SO STRESSFUL that you can't stand to know what is actually happening)

Good thing our dreams don't need us to have it together.

I am sitting here with my Dream Book. Drinking an iced lavender latte with the twinkle lights on as the sun is not up yet. (Since iced coffees bring me so much joy in the summer I decided to keep it going through winter this year, lol)

My dream wants me to remember that all the things I am doing well, and not focus on how much of the time I feel like a mess.

My dream wants to me to be proud of myself that I keep showing up.

Creative Dreaming no longer feels like "me living my best life"

It feels like the way we fight for our future, for everyone.

Our dreams matter. Our humanity matters. Our creativity matters. Life is sacred. WE KEEP SHOWING UP.

I am working on two things:

Goodbye 2024 Hello 2025: Guided journal, Goodbye 2024 Releasing Ceremony (Dec 13) + Hello 2025 Blessing Ceremony (Jan 17). All three are happening in the membership, but you can also get the journal on its own. 

Creating a right-fit transformative/healing year-long creative/spiritual project: Maybe that's the title, maybe I will find an easier title as I work with it 🤣 but I am doing a year-long project with HOPE for 2025 and as I sort through HOW I want to do this, I am creating a workbook to share the process.

It will be VERY customizable - if a year isn't the right-fit time for you, you just change that. 30 days, 100 days, a season - whatever time frame works for you is perfect. The goal is to set it up in such a way that it supports you in getting what you want from your project.

My project for 2025 will be the YEAR OF HOPE. And I'll be sharing that regularly on my blog and I feel like it could turn into some other things - journals or healing circles (hope circles?) - I feel like practicing hope can teach us all a lot right now.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson or get a weekly journaling + alchemy kit.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

You don’t have to feel ready or even competent Read More »

Following your creative instinct to get unstuck

Continued from yesterday with the frustration and pain of not feeling as creatively engaged as I would like to be. Being in that space between having LOADS of inspiration but not loads of energy to act on everything as fast as I would like to.

This morning I was feeling the same way. On top of that, I had a massage scheduled at the end of the day, and it's raining, and forecast to rain all day.

One of my procrastinated upon creative projects is rain pants. The fabric I have for them is SO cozy warm, fleece on the inside with a water-and-wind-proof outside. Perfect for riding my bike on a cold rainy day and not being soaked. (I did make a fantastic rain coat out of this same fabric, but because of how my thighs are moving when cycling, my legs get wet no matter what)

I use the car co-op and was about to book a car when I thought about driving home from there in rush hour, in the rain and that felt very UGH. I felt the same way about the bus.

And I didn't want to think about any of this, I wanted to think about the things I wanted to do today.

But instead, I decided to just MAKE THE PANTS.

I have a degree in fashion design and a lot of sewing experience. I knew I could have these done within an hour, since it's just an elastic waist and I didn't plan on finishing the seams anyway.

So I just did it.

And then I put my rain pants on and I FELT SO FUCKING FREE.

Not just free as in... I can take my bike to get a massage in the rain and not be all wet. Even though I can.

But free as in.... I can create anything I want.

I felt creative energy flowing. I felt happy. I felt unstuck.

And then I used that energy to focus on the things that I had wanted to do.

I feel like MAKE SOMETHING. ANYTHING. Is a good un-sticking tool.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson or get a weekly journaling + alchemy kit.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Following your creative instinct to get unstuck Read More »

It is PAINFUL to not engage with life in the way I want to

I was journaling and hit upon the PAIN I was feeling about not engaging with life the way I want to.

And then I saw it: how I have been too frustrated with myself about not engaging with life the way I want to that I couldn't even see how PAINFUL it was!

So then I used the Un-Sticking Station practice on my frustration.

And there are so many layers swirling around there.

Compassion for myself.

Knowing that I am doing the best I can.

Frustrating and feeling like I am "too lazy" and "moving too slow" and need to just... do more art. Just move faster in general.

Acceptance that I am taking care of myself and my life and this is all a lot and no I don't currently have the same creative energy I used to.

Underneath that some excitement that I can have DIFFERENT creative energy. That this is just a season of my life.

And then also the acknowledgement of creatively active I HAVE been. And that thing how creative people always see the things they haven't done yet, we can be so flooded with inspiration that our "done" pile is just so tiny compared to the "want to do" pile.

But mostly, I am taking from this an appreciation that there is PAIN here. It feels small and vulnerable, hidden under the frustration. But it feels more TRUE than the frustration and I want to honour that.

Maybe it is some grief about the stage of life I am in. I keep thinking about my 35 year old self and missing that version of me. So I could look at how I want to bring some of her qualities out more...

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson or get a weekly journaling + alchemy kit.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

It is PAINFUL to not engage with life in the way I want to Read More »

Meeting the soul of my business.

I used the Meeting the Soul of your Business meditation this morning.

The Creative Dream Incubator appeared as this huge lavender coloured pulsing light.

Just floating there. It felt... I don't quite have words for it, I just stayed with the feeling.

I tried moving it, and putting it around me so I was inside it but that felt wrong. I'm not inside it. It's not inside me. We work together.

Nothing really happened... it just felt good to connect with it.

We don't have to have things "happen" each time we do alchemy meditations. Just showing up counts as something. And showing up over time changes things.

Tomorrow is our Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual Practice call. We practice listening to what feels true and right for us about the creative work of putting ourselves out there.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson or get a weekly journaling + alchemy kit.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Meeting the soul of my business. Read More »

Everything is changing. How do I want to change?

For forty-something weeks, I had been sharing my Creative Dream Mantras here, every Monday.

Last week it didn't feel right.

This week it still doesn't.

This is a part of building our own path and not following other people's rules. We do a thing that FELT RIGHT and then we get to a point where it doesn't feel right anymore and the thing to replace it with or change it to... just isn't there yet.

We were moving along the path, feeling like we knew what we are doing and them BLAM! Suddenly  are suddenly in the questions, and we have to stay in the questions.

It's vulnerable and awkward. And so many coaches on the internet would be happy to sell you a way out of it.

But these vulnerable awkward places are so RICH.

So I am here, encouraging you to stay in it.

Let's be vulnerable and awkward together.

Let's remember that we are creating whole new ways of being and whole new ways of doing things while we are creating the thing we are creating.

Let's remember that this is a lot.

Being in the questions is brave and exhausting work.

A lot of the time, I don't feel up to it. So in those times, I focus on taking care of myself so that I feel like I have the courage and energy to take some steps.

Doing the work of FEELING READY is a part of the work. We can't just wait to feel ready! Or for outside forces to change things for us.

I am working on two things:

Goodbye 2024 Hello 2025: Guided journal, Goodbye 2024 Releasing Ceremony (Dec 13) + Hello 2025 Blessing Ceremony (Jan 17). All three are happening in the membership (details are here) but you can also get the journal on its own. (I will be adding more details to that page, but if you already know you want the journal, you can get it there)

Creating a right-fit transformative/healing year-long creative/spiritual project: Maybe that's the title, maybe I will find an easier title as I work with it 🤣 but I am doing a year-long project with HOPE for 2025 and as I sort through HOW I want to do this, I am creating a workbook to share the process.

It will be VERY customizable - if a year isn't the right-fit time for you, you just change that. 30 days, 100 days, a season - whatever time frame works for you is perfect. The goal is to set it up in such a way that it supports you in getting what you want from your project.

My project for 2025 will be the YEAR OF HOPE. And I'll be sharing that regularly on my blog - I feel like practicing hope can teach us all a lot right now.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson or get a weekly journaling + alchemy kit.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Everything is changing. How do I want to change? Read More »

Creative Dreaming in hard times

The last year + has been really difficult for me and lots of times I thought... I should stop posting here. Like - get my shit together ALONE SOMEWHERE... THEN come out and share.

But my whole thing with the Creative Dream Incubator is to share ways to work with our dreams... TO GUIDE US. Because our dreams are a way that our souls show us our path.

So why would we stop receiving that guidance in the times when we need it the most?

It's our fucked up culture that says that creative dreaming is for when you feel strong, bold, sure and creative.

Creative dreaming is for everyone. All the time.

You don't have to be strong or feel capable or have your life going exactly right so that you have all the time, space and support you need.

AND my whole thing with the Creative Dream Incubator is to share the whole thing AND to say... we are stronger together. We can do this together.

So, hiding away when I feel stuck and then coming out to share my victories has never felt right to me.

AND sometimes it just feels awkward AF to keep sharing as I go in circles.

I just wanted to acknowledge that.

If you're creative dreaming in hard times - here is the "Things are bad!" section of the map with some thoughts, tools and approaches to try.

I do feel strong and capable right now. I also want to acknowledge that.

It's so complicated to be in a body sometimes! But I feel like I'm adjusted to the hormone replacement therapy, I have new supplements and I'm getting shiatsu massages which feel like they massage my SOUL along with my body and with all of this going on I FEEL GOOD.

I am working on two things:

Goodbye 2024 Hello 2025: Guided journal, Goodbye 2024 Releasing Ceremony (Dec 13) + Hello 2025 Blessing Ceremony (Jan 17). All three are happening in the membership, but you can also get the journal on its own. (More details next week) (Call times are at 1:00 Central, North America)

Creating a right-fit transformative/healing year-long creative/spiritual project: Maybe that's the title, maybe I will find an easier title as I work with it 🤣 but I am doing a year-long project with HOPE for 2025 and as I sort through HOW I want to do this, I am creating a workbook to share the process.

It will be VERY customizable - if a year isn't the right-fit time for you, you just change that. 30 days, 100 days, a season - whatever time frame works for you is perfect. The goal is to set it up in such a way that it supports you in getting what you want from your project.

My project for 2025 will be the YEAR OF HOPE. And I'll be sharing that regularly on my blog - I feel like practicing hope can teach us all a lot right now.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson or get a weekly journaling + alchemy kit.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Creative Dreaming in hard times Read More »

You are acting from self doubt or self belief. Pick right.

This was a message I got in a meditation.

IT. IS. THIS. SIMPLE.

It's not whether or not you FEEL self doubt, but what you ACT FROM.

When you feel self doubt: tend to that feeling INSTEAD OF acting out of it.

Tools from the Creative Dream Incubator Membership:

Self Doubt Relief

Alchemy Process for working with Self Doubt

Alchemy Process for bolstering your sense of courage

Your Self Doubt Is Not Yours You Deserve To Believe In Yourself 

Slow the fuck down! BE as powerful, creative and magnetic as you ARE

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson or get a weekly journaling + alchemy kit.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

You are acting from self doubt or self belief. Pick right. Read More »

A really difficult conversation with my frustration

I am so frustrated. I feel so anxious. And then I tense up. I don’t believe in myself or any of my ideas.

And then I get frustrated with myself for how I am feeling and how I am reacting to my feelings.

But reacting well… like saying “Oh honey I’m sorry you feel this way, what do you need?” feels annoying. Like I HAVE DONE SO MUCH OF THAT I CAN’T DO IT ANY MORE.

I went for a bike ride. I distracted myself with various things. And still this pit of self doubt is here, wreaking all sorts of havoc.

But I want to do this thing. I have moments of really believing in it. But whenever I go to take action - I freeze.

And I am a really good coach, I know how to guide people through this and I know how to guide myself through this but I AM JUST SO FUCKING SICK OF EVEN FEELING THIS.

So today I am trying the Un-Sticking Station with that “I AM JUST SO FUCKING SICK OF EVEN FEELING THIS” voice.

So, hi there I AM JUST SO FUCKING SICK OF EVEN FEELING THIS.

It’s my teenaged self sitting there, looking very annoying at being called into this boring meeting.

Oh hi! Thanks for meeting me here.

Did I have a choice?

I don’t know, but I appreciate you being here. 

She leans forward. “WHY ARE YOU BEING LIKE THIS?”

I don’t really know, I am trying to figure it out.

“You have everything! Look at your loft! And your business! And this cute idea for this thing you want to do! Why don’t you just do it?”

I know. I mean. Well…

She rolls her eye “You don’t feel good”

Well, I don’t! I feel like my struggles with perimenopause are so invisible and I also feel like I talk about it too much, but come on MY BRAIN ISN’T WORKING RIGHT.

So fix it.

Ugh. You sound like my ex-husband when he was at his worst. When he was over capacity with his own struggles and couldn’t empathize with mine.

You want me to empathize with you?

Yeah, I guess.

You called me here to empathize with you? (Her tone of voice suggests that she can't believe I am asking her for empathy)

Actually no, I called you here to find out more about what you need.

Ok that’s much more interesting. I need you to stop being all tied up inside, just do all the things you want to do.

OK, why? What would that give you?

Satisfaction of seeing how I turned out.

You don’t like how I turned out when I am anxious?

It’s really hard to watch.

Yeah, I get that!

You do?

Of course!

I thought you wanted to just use anxiety as an excuse to not do anything.

Of course not! I want to do all the things I want to do!

Oh…

This fizzled away there, it's unresolved but I can feel something shifting.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson or get a weekly journaling + alchemy kit.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

A really difficult conversation with my frustration Read More »

You are worthy

YOU ARE WORTHY OF YOUR BIGGEST DREAMS.

We all have a ceiling on what we think is actually possible for us and that ceiling isn't about reality, it's about our own self concept, which is completely malleable.

Though I don't believe we should be constantly pushing on that ceiling in the name of "dreaming bigger".

It's that we have a mental concept of "right size" "too small" and "too big" and sometimes our dreams push up against that, and so we try to shrink our dreams into what feels do-able.

But your dream is your soul speaking to you.

So, instead of trying to shove it into a smaller container that fits with your current sense of what is possible for you, how about you listen to what it's actually saying?

You are worthy of your BIGGEST dreams.

How about giving yourself space to consider... what do you REALLY want?

Yes, you live in a world that is hostile to dreams. Yes, compromises may need to be made. Yes, the world will judge and belittle your dreams and ask you who are you to think you can do this?

AND your dream is your soul calling you towards your true self. There is magic and power in this.

And there is a big difference between going after your dream and landing on a compromise, and making compromises about what you will ever allow yourself to dream about 👈👈👈

Your dream is here to heal and grow you. But it can only work it's magic if you accept it.

YOU ARE WORTHY OF YOUR WEIRDEST DREAMS

The call to conform is so powerful and invisible. We don't even notice all the ways we censor and distort ourselves in order to fit in.

All the ways your heart's desires stray from the mainstream point to your unique power and magic.

You're not a cookie cutter you're a living breathing mystery.

Everywhere you try to fit in you cut yourself off from your own magic

YOU ARE WORTHY OF YOUR WILDEST DREAMS

FEELING WORTHY of your dreams is magic. It's healing.

CLAIMING YOUR DREAMS is saying: This is the world I want to help create. This is what I believe in. This is what is important to me. THIS is who I am.

Though it's SO EASY to feel not good enough because dreams are so VULNERABLE.

FEELING WORTHY of your dreams isn't something you naturally have, or don't have.

It's a thing to cultivate. 👈👈👈

In all my years of doing this work, I have never worked with anyone who ALWAYS felt worthy of their dreams.

Of course it's possible that those people exist but just don't hire people like me. But it's more likely that we ALL struggle with this...

But I don't think it's human nature to doubt our dreams, I think it's a consequence of the colonialist capitalist culture we live in.

And guess what? ARTISTS AND DREAMERS HAVE THE ABILITY TO IMPACT AND CHANGE CULTURE.

But to do this we have to keep doing the work of freeing ourselves of the ways our culture negatively impacts us.

We have to DO THE WORK to cultivate a sense of worthiness.

Your dreams chose you.

You are already worthy.

It's up to you if you're going to cultivate worthiness as a FEELING and STATE OF BEING.

This was a message I received from my dream last year.

In response, I create two alchemy classes for Dream Book members:

FEELING WORTHY of your dreams

BEING OPEN + RECEPTIVE to your dreams

And I know a lot of you did this work with me then, I want to encourage you to keep doing it. (And if you didn't - join Dream Book now and do it!!!!)

FEELING WORTHY OF MY DREAMS is a daily practice.

Come dream with us

 

Dream Book members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson or get a weekly journaling + alchemy kit.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

You are worthy Read More »

Holding space for the hard during the holidays

I'm back with a second blog post for today because I think this needs to be said right now!

The holidays can be hard and our culture isn’t good at holding space for that, which makes the hard harder.

This year at Thanksgiving (in Canada, Thanksgiving is different than the US and happens in October) I was right in the midst of a LOT of hard. My husband had moved out only a month a half before and I think I was still in shock. My step-son had been in ICU for three weeks and his situation was still life threatening. (He was in the hospital for almost three moths, and is at home recovering now)

While my mom prepared a lovely meal for us, Thanksgiving day just felt so weird and wrong for me. I went home and had a cry, and then my husband texted me about how weird his Thanksgiving felt, and we had a good talk about it.

It felt so good and reassuring to be witnessed. To not be alone in the holiday feeling weird and wrong.

And that’s what’s missing in our culture.

So, that’s what WE need to bring.

We need to validate our own feelings and experiences. We need to stop trying to cram our feelings, needs and experiences into whatever shape our culture expects them to be and let them BE what they ARE.

Creative Dreaming is about showing up in your life as your true self. Shining your light, sharing your gifts, making things happen AND ALSO feeling how you feel, being how you are.

Most of the new age and life coaching worlds draw from dominant culture and push this idea of perfection onto us. Like we are failing if we’re not excited about the holidays. Like we are failing if we can’t say that 2023 was our best year yet, but we’re going to make 2024 even better.

This is bullshit.

So how can you hold space for your actual feelings and experience this holiday season?

Start with VALIDATING THE FUCK OUT OF EVERYTHING.

How you feel is valid.

What you think is valid.

Yes of course there are a lot of reasons why you might want to work on having different thoughts and feelings.

But the starting point is to stop judging yourself.

I should be more positive. I should have done more to accomplish my goals this year. I should make REALLY BIG GOALS for next year to make up for my failures this year. I should be more forgiving.

This is what we do. And of course it’s what we do because we live in a culture that completely misunderstands how feelings work.

And then when we try to heal from the impacts of that, we end up in the new age/holistic wellness/live your best life world where the same values from our toxic dominant culture are twisted up, given some window dressing to make them look different, and pushed back on us.

But the answer and the way through are actually really simple.​

We have the answers inside us.

We can find them when we stop judging and suppressing our actual thoughts, feelings and experiences.

We need to BE WITH.

This is how we hold space for difficult feelings at the holidays.

It’s not any different from how we do it at any other time of the year! During the holidays everything is just MAGNIFIED. That’s what makes it feel harder.

This week I got an email from someone in the Dream Book membership about this.

MARVELLING at how SIMPLE it is, all the magic and healing that come from BEING WITH…. but then also marvelling at how DIFFICULT it is, in the moment, to actually BE WITH.

She was super grateful for all of the tools I offer inside Dream Book - all these different meditations and journaling prompts that all really do the same thing: help you be with, and process, your thoughts and feelings. (And if you want to do this work with me in the new year, you can join us here.)

Because once you’ve done that - you’re in your magic.

THAT MAGIC IS ALWAYS IN YOU.The answers, the power, the creativity, the motivation, the inspiration, that inner knowing that YOU GOT THIS.

We naturally get in touch with all of that when we BE WITH.

This is how we alchemize the hard stuff into FUEL for our dreams.

So, since the holidays can be hard, it means there can be more hard stuff to alchemize - which is SO HARD in the moment but then also SO GOOD afterwards.

I am living proof.

Almost 4 months into my separation from my husband, I’ve been feeling like I should feel worse than I do!

Yes there is sadness but most of the time these days I feel so happy and free. And like I still love him and still feel loved by him but the relationship has space to change and become something totally new. And I am finding that, of course, without my marriage there are still a SHIT TON of things to love about my life.

And yet this one part of me still judges my process. Feeling like I can’t possibly feel this happy after such a devastating loss.

So, the work of BEING WITH continues. Tending to the parts that are still sad. Tending to the parts that feel happy and free and want to explore new dreams. Tending to the parts that are like “whoa how am I handling this all so well?”.

When Thanksgiving felt SO HARD for me this year, I was really worried about Christmas. But now that it's almost here, I feel good. It will be a much quieter and simpler Christmas and that feels really right.

So. If the holidays feel hard for you this year - how can you BE WITH and TAKE CARE of yourself and all of the different feelings that get sparked?

Where can you disengage from what dominant culture is telling you to do, and engage more deeply with your actual needs?

Holding space for the hard during the holidays Read More »

🤯 I can just NOT BLOOM. For as long as I want. This is creative dreaming too.

This is my Thanksgiving cactus.

The blooms are so precious to me, this orange flower with a hot pink centre. 

But it would just have one bloom each year.  It would grow new branches, but they would always fall off. It never got any bigger. 

Until this last year. It grew new branches. And they stayed. And grew more. And then last week it started really blooming.

And I was like WHOA. I CAN DO THAT TOO.

I can just NOT BLOOM. For as long as I want.

I can rest.

I can let things fall apart.

I can try to grow. And fail. And try again.

And it’s fine. It doesn’t mean anything about my worth or my potential or my ability to bloom again when I choose to.

This didn’t feel defeatist or anything like that. It felt like pure freedom.

Successful Creative Dreaming is NOT about unbridled ambition and non-stop success.

It’s about listening to yourself about how you live your life, and creating a life that feels true to you.

This will always include TENDING. Tending to the fears and self doubts and hurts and just… all the feelings that come with being human.

Creative Dream Alchemy is using your dream as a guiding light, to guide you through all of that. THROUGH. Not around. Not some secret shortcut you find by avoiding your feelings. THROUGH.

In my own Creative Dream practice I’ve been working through layers and layers and layers of resistance. Sometimes we just have to do this before we get to the good stuff.

In Creative Dream Alchemy we always take the same approach. When you connect with your dream, notice what’s there.

Do you feel frustrated about something that is stuck? Are you disappointed that things didn’t work out? Do you just want to think about something else and you’re not sure why it’s so uncomfortable? Do you have an inspiring new idea? Do you want to get to work on making the thing?

It doesn’t matter WHAT is there, all that matters is that you be with that thing. Uncomfortable or not. Wanted or not. That thing is your next step and facing it WILL lead you towards where you want to be.

Every time.

So. Last week it was embarrassing to keep sharing how often I got stuck, but I kept doing it.

And this week I feel a lot less stuck.

I feel like - yeah I’m not exactly blooming right now, but there are some really interesting things happening with my roots so that’s where I am focused.

Come dream with us

 

Dream Book members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

🤯 I can just NOT BLOOM. For as long as I want. This is creative dreaming too. Read More »

Really stuck today

I shared the post yesterday about exploring the pit of despair - I actually did that inner work in my practice last week, I just ran out of days to share it last week.

After that exploration, I had a bunch of really good days. I felt creative and powerful. I had some really good days, I felt like I made a lot of progress creatively... and now today is a bad day again.

I am so stuck today.

I don’t know why. I’m avoiding everything I want to be doing.

I have theories - that my nervous system is kind of shot and I just need a rest day. That I’m never very creative if I don’t get exercise and get out of the house in the morning and I am in the house today.

But it also feels like there’s something that I am not seeing.

So let’s go to the Un-Sticking Station.

I’m listening to it and I have SO MUCH RESISATNCE.

There is a part of me who just wants to be STUCK. Who wants to REVEL in being stuck.

I don’t want to be in the bubble of creativity, light and knowing in the meditation.

I want to lay on the floor and not move. I want to wail about how I can’t do the things I want to do.

I stay with the meditation but VERY half-heartedly.

The stuck shows up as snake around my shoulders and I notice that my shoulders are very tense.

Hi snake. What do you need?

To lay on the floor. Let’s lay down.

I lay down on the carpet. It’s a sunny day and I’m right in a sunbeam.

Oh yeah, this feels good, doesn’t it?

Well it does, but doing the things I wanted to do would feel good, too.

What if today isn’t a day for that?

I can’t keep not doing these things! I need to pay for our life! I need to do my work. Also I WANT to do the things I want to do!

The snake sees how stressful this is for me.

OK I have to admit I stopped this and went to scroll Facebook. I have SO MUCH RESISTANCE.

I’m back with the snake.

The snake really wants me to feel the feeling of the sun, feel warmed and comfortable in my body…

And then I start crying. 

And the snake slithers away saying - crying is flow. You’re in the flow now.

I have to remind myself sometimes: there were days like this before, too.

Pursing your dreams IS facing your fears and uncertainties and all the thing you would much rather avoid.

Some days are like this. Some day are crying on the floor.

This is a part of the work, too.

I hate it, but I keep sharing these days here because they happen to everyone who is showing up for their dreams. Only the people who avoid their dreams entirely can avoid ever having days where everything feels stuck.

 

Come dream with us

Dream Book members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Really stuck today Read More »

Exploring The Pit Of Despair

This is continued from last week's post on Why is it PAINFUL to figure out how to have more STRUCTURE?

 

Now I’m back, as The Uncertain Despair Expert to see what I can maybe do with this foundation full of despair, so that we can create safe working conditions to build a safe, sturdy and supportive structure.

I’m wearing a blazer and a hard hat.

The little green being construction worker is here. 

Oh course I’m here, this worksite is my job. I’m here every day.

But until we can clear the despair, your only job is to ward everyone away from this place?

That’s right. Keeping everyone safe.

OK well I’m going in.

I sit at the end of the site, with my feet resting on the foundation that could, at any moment, give away to despair.

I remind myself I can lift my feet at any time and get out of despair. I breathe. I'm safe. It's ok.

Once I feel grounded and ready, I push my feet into the ground, which is soft and malleable, I can see how easy it would be to slip beneath it, right into despair.

I’d like to send a camera down there to check things out but I know what I have to do.

This is where I stopped journaling.

I just stayed with it, imagining going underneath the surface, right into the despair.

I felt all the feelings.

Which triggered lots of other feelings.

And the whole thing felt like a nightmare.

But I knew that if I avoided these feelings, I’d be avoiding the ability to get organized to do the things I want to do in the ways I want to do them.

So I stayed with it and eventually drew a map of how it felt:

That one at the bottom - is this endless? - sparked a lot of fear.

And the rest of the day really sucked, but the next day, and ever since, I've been feeling so much clearer. And, step by step, I have been putting a new structure in place for how I want to do things.

 

Come dream with us

Dream Book members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Exploring The Pit Of Despair Read More »

Still trying to get organized over here

Our Structure Habits Routines call last week was so magical and I am so inspired and motivated to create nourishing structure in my life that is ENJOYABLE in the moment and also SUPPORTIVE in the process of moving towards where I want to be.

AND

I am procrastinating like a procrastination CHAMP this morning.

At one point, I had finally gathered all the things I needed to do what I want to do here, and then just walked away from my desk and started walking around.

I've often said that "I need to get organized before I can do the things I want to do" isn't really about organization or disorganization, that there's something else going on there.

Just like procrastination, itself, isn't a problem it's more a sign of something else.

And as I write these things, my chest tightens up. There is something I am afraid of and if I could just avoid getting organized then I could also avoid feeling this fear.

My tight chest says "Let's go lie down and scroll through reels!"

Every other part of me knows that's not the path to where I want to be.

I'll start by naming, clearly, what I want to do:

I want to make this week's "Dream Book/Bullet Journal Hybrid" page. This is a new thing I am experimenting with and new things, where I don't know what I am doing, are hard!

Oh! Naming that problem as a hard thing actually reduces the pressure.

Reminding myself: this is a new thing, OF COURSE I don't know what I am doing, so how about giving myself permission to do it badly?

Pressure reduces again.

How about reminding myself that I WANT to do this by naming the things I hope to receive from it?

I want how I feel so calm and capable when I have a plan for each week. I don't need to follow it to a T or anything but just having it all written down, IN HAND WRITING, is such a calming experience for me.

I want how I feel so inspired when I connect with my dreams, hopes, and wishes while planning my week.

I love how I feel POWERFUL when I create a plan that feels just right.

I love the clarity of knowing what I want to do and how I want to do it.

And I love the satisfaction of flipping through my planner and seeing all these messy pages.

OK I am feeling it.

 

 

 

Come dream with us

Dream Book members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Still trying to get organized over here Read More »

Dreams are supposed to fall apart sometimes

Me this weekend by the river - fall is so beautiful even though everything is falling apart. What if we are beautiful when we are falling apart, too?

It’s almost two months since my marriage fell apart.

It’s almost six weeks that my step-son has been in the hospital with a very sudden and life-threatening illness.

It’s been a lot.

My step-son has been getting more stable the last few weeks. When I saw him on Friday, for the first time since this started he talked about leaving the hospital and catching up with his life. After so many weeks of only talking about how painful and scary this all was, that was such a relief. The end is in sight. Not that there won’t be complications - this is going to change his life in big ways and there is still a long road ahead, but still - after all this time with all these unknowns, we can see the road ahead.

Which means I have some more emotional bandwidth to face the fact that my marriage fell apart.

Saturday morning I baked a pie pumpkin, and the seeds. Then I blended it up with oats, water, brown sugar syrup and pumpkin pie spice to make a creamy pumpkin spice blend to add to coffee or tea.

The house smelled amazing.

While the pumpkin baked I worked on a puzzle.

It was soooo quiet. 

And I’ve been thinking about how this marriage was a dream come true.

The relationship we had was healing and nurturing and playful and all the things I wanted. 

And I’ve been thinking about how dreams don’t always last forever. I mean they can’t all last forever. We can’t have everything, always!

And I’ve been thinking about how our dreams need us to TRUST THEM even when they look and feel nothing like what we thought we wanted. Even when they fall apart completely.

That following our dreams leads us in the right direction. And that the goal is not to never be unhappy or to always have a “perfect life” whatever that means.

The goal is aliveness. And wholeness.

Our dreams always want us to grow into who we really are.

And as much as my marriage did help me do that, for so long, now that it’s gone I can see that there is so much more potential for growth, here where I am, by myself.

I mean I am far from alone, but you know what I mean. After having such a close emotional bond with someone, to lose that relationship feels like loosing a limb, it’s a lot to adjust to.

I had therapy last week. My therapist noted that usually the things I turn to to help me process and heal are more creativity focused, and now they are more sensory focused.

I am really IN my body.

I have been making space in my body to process all of this. I am breathing deeper than I knew was possible. I mean, I have meditated for 30 years, I thought I knew deep breathing! 

I didn’t know deep breathing, not like this.

This weekend, there were times when I felt more peace than I’ve ever felt in my life. The kind of peace that comes from embodiment, not from having a peaceful life.

I think we try so hard to force our lives into the shapes that we think will make us happy and bring us peace but life is always life-ing.

And the world is a brutal place. I have not been ignoring the news, but I have been having big firm boundaries with it because I just can’t right now. But I know the world is far from peaceful.

And still. I feel this sensation of peace in a deeper way than I ever have before. Sometimes. I am also feeling lots of other things.

And beneath it all, a growing sense of trust that I am on the right path.

This is what our dreams are for - to lead us along our healing journey.

And as a part of that - dreams WILL fall apart. Dreams WILL make a huge mess in your life. Dreams WILL HURT sometimes.

It’s all a part of it.

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Dreams are supposed to fall apart sometimes Read More »

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