Why is it PAINFUL to figure out how to have more STRUCTURE?

By Andrea Schroeder / October 19, 2023 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

This month we did 2 calls about structure, one for the Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual Practice series and one more general one.

I hadn't planned it that way - themes for the marketing calls come out of what people bring up on the calls. But it also happens that this month I am really working on structure.

This morning my practice was journaling. I went to a coffee shop with my journal to just explore. I know I want to be more structured, I know my routines and habits need an upgrade (hey there is the Habits Upgrade call if you’re looking at this too).

But with so much change and uncertainty in my life right now, this is all really hard for me to figure out.

I’d been avoiding doing this for a while, which is why I specifically took my journal out for coffee this morning.

And I made some good progress! Just getting everything out of my head and onto the paper it started to feel more clear.

Until I got to the part about structure in my business.

I started by exploring the idea of a organized and structured content schedule, which I have done in the past, but it felt sooooo uncomfortable.

So them I thought about - what if I just had different types of content I create, and then each week pick 3 of them or something like that?

That also got reallllly uncomfortable.

So, I’m taking the discomfort into the Un-Sticking Station.

First, I want to note that I feel the discomfort in the back of my head. It almost feels dangerous, like if I look at this more deeply I could damage my brain.

So I invite the discomfort in and it’s a little green being, standing in front of me.

Yeah, no, we can’t do this. (It has the voice of a stereotype of a male construction worker from New York City)

How come?

Oh super unsafe. We got structural problems here.

Structural problems? But I literally wrote “structure” at the top of this journal page, like I want to create a good structure.

No, you’ve got a bad structure.

Yeah. I mean I know that. I don’t really have ANY structure and I want it to be sturdy, safe, and supportive.

No it’s not safe to look at this.

Not safe to even LOOK? I mean that feels suspicious.

I mean I can’t help but see this interesting contract here. A construction worker would want to build a safe, solid structure. But the stereotypical man would want to avoid feelings at all costs, and may even believe that they are unsafe.

And there isn’t a way to build this structure without understanding why I have so many feelings about this.

I look back at the little green being.

Listen lady what can I tell you? It’s not safe. Work is at a standstill.

I am getting frustrated. I know damn well work is at a standstill.

How do we get back to work?

The little green being looks stumped. He actually looks sad.

This feels like a real conundrum.

We want the safe, sturdy structure but to get there, we have to build the structure without a structure. Is that why it’s so hard to get back to work?

He shows me - if you step on the foundation, you could slip at any time.

What would you slip into?

I lean over and look.

It seems like despair?

Oh lady, it’s a whole mess of feelings. We don’t want to get anywhere near any of it.

So you think we need to just never build here, ever? Like leave a sign for future generations to never build here either?

That seems extreme.

Maybe we need a despair expert?

Not someone’s who can help us avoid falling into despair, but someone who can get in there and clear it out?

Oh I’ve never heard of anyone doing that. The little green being is getting more uncomfortable.

I think they don’t work in the trades.

I think actually it might be me. That might be my job.

(Note: I typed that “might me by job” like my fingers couldn’t even claim this work)

This feels really different than it did when I started. I think I will leave it here, and make a date to look at the despair problem again.

Dream Book members:

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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.

Why is it PAINFUL to figure out how to have more STRUCTURE? Read More »

Resistance and Learning As You Go

By Andrea Schroeder / October 18, 2023 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

I have so much resistance today

I want to lay in bed and read books.

But it’s not like - I genuinely don’t want to show up for my practice.

It’s like - there is a lot of discomfort all around.

So I am using the process For When You Are In Resistance.

And I want to say - I am the person who made this library of creative dream alchemy processes. I am the person who said “just do the thing that’s in front of you to do” which means - if you feel resistance then your next step is to work on your resistance, if you feel afraid then your next step is to meet with your fear….

AND

I feel so much resistance to working with my resistance!

I want to do what I want to do, not the thing that’s in front of me to do.

This doesn’t get easier.

I mean of course it does get easier. Years of experience help me know how to navigate this...

But here in the moment, with my feelings feeling so messy, it doesn’t feel any easier than it ever has.

So - knowing how to navigate the hard feelings gets easier. Actually having hard feelings remains hard.

So. I’m listening to the video. Hating it, lol.

My resistance is sharp tension in my shoulders.

A fog of frustration in my brain.

Oh there is so much sadness beneath that.

I stopped the recording 3 minutes in. I didn’t want to listen anymore I just wanted to be with my resistance.

I have a lot of grief about not having the energy to do all the things I want to do. I mean work things and personal things.

And then I my inner critic can come out and criticize me for not making better use of the energy I DO have.

And I feel so vulnerable to that criticism right now.

So many layers to this when I really sit with it.

I sit with all of these feelings for a while and then one idea emerges: make a loose schedule. A DOABLE schedule. Think through - what’s most important right now? What can wait for now?

WRITE IT DOWN because what I have written down, the project management app I use to run my business, is not do-able. It’s like I keep juggling in the moment which thing to do or not do. I need to step back, think it through.

NOT that a schedule is the answer to resistance. But for me having a schedule or feeling organized makes me so much calmer. And when I am calmer I can take tiny little steps.

I know yesterday I wrote about bullet journaling but the things I planned in that bullet journal page… they are not working.

Which doesn’t mean I did it wrong! I did it the way I could see to do it, and today I am learning that I need to do it differently, I am feeling all my feelings around it, and will try a different way.

This is what “build the path by taking steps” means. It’s not generally smooth.

Dream Book members:

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Experimenting: A Dream Book Bullet Journal

By Andrea Schroeder / October 17, 2023 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

I am using the weekly kits again.

I haven’t used them at all in the last few years.

Which is fine!

AND it’s fine (great actually!) to come back to using them.

The way I have been using my planner just doesn’t speak to me now. I use the calendar in my phone to keep track of appointments, events, etc. And at the start of each week I write them into the planner, which does feel good - it helps me get a sense of my week, emotionally.

But I don’t need a lot of space for each day, I am not tracking every to-do in there. Mostly I keep a list of what I want to do that week.

The detailed lists are all in Notion, my project management app for running my business. There is nothing I write in my planner that is not already somewhere else digitally. (I need everything to be stored digitally with reminders. This is so I don’t lose anything.)

And I LOVE to write out just one week at a time, BY HAND, because this helps me get a feel for my week.

Planning is where dreaming and doing meet.

The digital stuff is “this is what I am going to do”.

The weekly planning pages are “this is how I am going to do this little part of this, this week”

And so I’ve realised - I don’t need a planner with a bunch of space for each week. A journal page for each week is fine.

AND I’ve realised - I want to be doing more journaling journaling. Not Dream Booking (which is very intentional about what you want to get from the journaling you are doing) but the journaling I call “regular journaling” in Dream Book.

Regular journaling is just about sitting with your thoughts and feelings. Getting them out of your head. Looking at them on paper. Maybe digging deeper.

To me, journaling is quality time with yourself. I want to do more of that.

The journaling kits help with that. To give some structure and support.

So I am experimenting with a kind of hybrid of weekly planning and regular journaling, space to just BE with myself and get things out of my head where I can see them.

I don’t quite have the worlds for it yet, but it felt really good to experiment with it this week.

Dream Book members:

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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.

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Getting Support From The Creative Dream Garden

By Andrea Schroeder / October 12, 2023 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

I was feeling pretty sensitive for Monday's Co-Dreaming call. The day before, we had Thanksgiving in Canada and I didn't realize how strange it would be to have my first holiday without my husband and step-kids there.

So I was feeling all the feels when I went into the meditation.

Then my creative dream garden wasn't exactly a garden. It was me, in outer space in a space suit. Holding a plant which was also in a space suit - it was so cute, it was in the big bubble helmet.

It was a but weird but felt ok.

Then I panicked a bit "but where are my other dreams?"

And then I saw them, and then I saw that my dream and I were attached to each other and also attached to the orbiting ship that my other dreams were inside. And then I saw that the earth was right there too, we weren't THAT far away.

I was safe, just far away from everything and all alone up here.

The little potted plant of a dream I had with me was the healing and growth I want for this transition time.

And then when we got to the journaling prompt part of the process, my dreams told me to stop going to coffee shops first thing in the morning. Don't even go for a bike ride. Have a slower start to the day - do that stuff later if I want.

I've been following those instructions and thinking a lot about this meditation this week.

By repeating the same meditation each week, you create space where your intuition and your dreams can send you messages. It's much harder to receive potent and helpful messages without the kind of space that consistent repetition creates.

I'm sinking into the FEELING from the meditation - beyond my original feelings that day when I was already unsettled and feeling very alone. It doesn't feel ALONE so much now, it feels like giving myself SPACE.

It feels really magical and I'm using this as my guide to set myself up for the winter season. Like stocking up on pantry items and materials for creative projects so I don't need to go out for things. How can I turn this winter into a healing creative retreat for myself?

Dream Book members:

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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.

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Getting Support From The Creative Dream Garden Read More »

Deeper into the magic of healing

By Andrea Schroeder / October 11, 2023 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

I have declared that I am in a season of healing.

I've refined my dreams - the dreams I was working with are still there, but focusing on self care and healing feel more important right now. So there are the immediate dreams, and then the bigger long-term dreams. It feels really good to feel like this is "organized" somewhat.

My new slower morning routine feels so supportive of this.

I'm also doing a longer meditation - the Dream Lab but I usually stop the meditation when I'm in the Field of Creative Dream Alchemy, and just stay there. Feeling connected to myself and surrounded by support feels like the right place to spend some time.

Today in the meditation, everything was black and white and it felt animated, like everything in the field was hand-drawn art, and the art was moving and it felt so soothing and expansive. And I was crying, and my tears created a river and I knew that in the spring, I could build a raft and float down the river to my new life.

Writing this out it may seem depressing but it felt SO hopeful and healing.

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.

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Deeper into the magic of healing Read More »

Creating New Routines

By Andrea Schroeder / October 10, 2023 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

I do switch up my routines somewhat when the seasons change. But right now, the weather is getting cooler AND I'm in this huge season of personal change with the separation from my husband and my step-son in the hospital.

I've been quieting my mind and letting my body guide me through this more than I usually do. As a result, I can't drink coffee in the morning, or on an empty stomach. I also don't eat until much later in the morning. My stomach just needs more time in the morning to adjust to the day before it starts working.

Making that cup of coffee and going into my studio. That was always the start of the routine.

Making a cup of herbal tea doesn't land in the same way. And decaf coffee is still too heavy for my stomach.

Sometimes when things change, we want to try to find the next most similar thing to replace it with.

Sometimes when things change, we need to figure out what else wants to change.

For me, this time, it's a whole new way of starting the day.

Today I did:

sleeping in - this was kind of disorienting but also needed, it was Thanksgiving this weekend and my first holiday without my husband was really hard.

aromatherapy - a supportive but also zingy fragrance

PAINTING in my journal not a lot of words

Following my brush around the page, just giving myself space to be and express. Having this really soft way to stat the day. This felt like THE THING I need now, instead of coffee + writing which used to be THE THING.

PS: October 18: Structure Habits Routines Zoom Call. This goes with the Structure Habits Routines journaling prompts we did a few months back, which are here.

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.

Creating New Routines Read More »

It’s time for new dreams

By Andrea Schroeder / October 5, 2023 / daily practice

It’s easy to feel like you should KNOW what your dreams are, but NOBODY always knows.

Creative Dreaming is about listening to yourself, and letting your inner wisdom guide you through life instead of following the paths in the outer world.

This gets so complicated because we have so many layers of… stuff. Conditioning, belief systems, trauma. All the ways we put on masks to try to fit in and get approval from the world because it can feel unsafe to be who we really are.

Creative Dreaming asks us to work through all of this and find what is really truly YOU.

We’re going to get tangled up along the way. We’re going to get lost. These are just inevitable parts of the path.

The people out there claiming to always know the truth, to never be lost, to never feel scared, to always have that clear sense of direction about what they are doing - most of these people are so disconnected from themselves that they don’t even know how they feel. And in our culture, these people become leaders! I mean politically and economically but also - the well known healers and coaches in the new age and wellness communities.

When you can allow yourself to be LOST to feel scared or broken or however it is you feel - then you are on the right path.

Creative Dreaming will always ask you to work THROUGH these parts of the path, and not resist and avoid them.

So, there are a lot of layers and it all gets very complicated.

And dreams shift.

With so many changes in my life, I need to change my dreams FOR NOW. What’s calling me in this stage of my life?

Healing. Softness. Spaciousness. Gentleness. Creativity. Rest. Nourishment.

Making this list feels FRUSTRATING.

My heart tightens up. I want to go do something else.

I don’t want to think about what’s REALLY calling me right now. I want to move forward with my projects as though nothing has happened. I want my step-kid recovered and out of the hospital. I don’t want to be in this messy part of a recent separation I want to feel grounded in my new life. I want to avoid all of this.

But that’s the other thing about creative dreaming.

It needs you to be HERE.

WHERE YOU ARE.

You can only create from the present moment.

So HERE, WHERE I AM, what do I dream of?

Softness. SLOWING DOWN. A winter-long healing retreat in the loft.

I’m going to get a pages going in my Dream Book for these dreams: dream page and dream self page for the things I need in this season of my life.

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.

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It’s time for new dreams Read More »

Your creative dreams want you to be more YOU

By Andrea Schroeder / October 4, 2023 / daily practice

It’s POURING outside, like CRAZY RAIN and I decided I HAVE TO go to the bakery and get fresh bread. It’s only a 2 minute walk but that’s plenty of time to get absolutely soaked but I did it anyway.

And on the way back I noticed the little portulaca flowers on my patio.

And then I remembered my creative dream garden in the meditation at Co-Dreaming on Monday. In my garden, lots of things were dead and it was like “this is the season for things to die. This is what the harvest IS. Things will grow again in spring.”

And it felt VERY uplifting. And my whole body really FELT the message, that things do die and it’s a part of life and everything is ok and I will be ok.

Coming back in from the bakery, seeing my flowers, brought it home even more.

I’ve been planting portulaca flowers in this one little pot I have, every year. Portulaca are annual flowers that do really well in a ton of sun with little water, so they were the only thing that felt appropriate for this smaller outdoor planter I have because my patio is super sunny, so I got new ones every spring.

The patio is stone. After a few years, portulaca started coming up between the stones! The flowers were seeding themselves and I loved it.

After a few years of that, the portulaca started MIXING COLOURS!!! They created new variegated flowers and new shades of orange and salmon - from mixing yellow, red, pink and white.

It was SO delightful.

Then, this year we got a new company taking care of the yard who sprayed weed killed (AKA PLANT KILLER!!!) on all of our patios. And then, this year I couldn’t find portulaca for that pot!

And so nothing came up in the patio. All those new colours of flowers, gone.

But then at the end of July some portulaca plants started coming up. And they started flowering in September. And now, at the beginning of October, when I got back from the bakery and saw the little flowers on my patio what I thought was:

I hope these flowers hurry up and die.

Because I need them to go to seed before winter, so that next year there will be new flowers on the patio.

Capitalism wants us to ALWAYS be producing. ALWAYS be growing. This isn’t what life is though.

Your creative dreams want you to be more YOU, and less a cog in the machine. They will ask you to be more present with the fallow times, with the dying things, with all part of your miraculous experience in this world.

With that in mind, my creative dream practice for today is journaling. Just follow my thoughts and feelings and see where they go.

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.

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Showing up for your dreams when life is hard

By Andrea Schroeder / October 3, 2023 / daily practice

I’m thinking a lot about what it means to show up for your dreams, and keep showing up for your dreams, no matter what is happening in your life.

Of course the easier your life is, the easier this is to do.

But life isn’t always easy.

You know how much I loved my husband. But things happened that were beyond our control and our marriage fell apart very quickly in August. As much as I know that this is the right thing, as much as I still feel really good about my future, the separation has been brutal.

On top of that, one of my step kids has been in the hospital for almost three weeks and it’s looking like they are in for a VERY long and difficult road. The stress of this isn’t like anything I’ve experienced before.

I don’t mean to keep repeating my sad story. It’s just where I am.

This morning I’m in my favourite coffee shop. They are a bakery with a wood fired oven and I just had a fresh quiche tart. I’m in my favourite spot, at the bar by the window where I can see the world go by. There are plants everywhere and they’ve decorated the windowsill with little pumpkins. This is also where I am.

Showing up for your dreams no matter what is happening in your life isn’t hustle culture or “make it happen no matter what” or spiritual bypass or any of that nonsense.

Our creative dreams always ask us to be more present with where we are and what we’ve got going on. Our power and magic are always in the present moment.

So right now my creative dreams need me to honour this difficult season I suddenly find myself in. They need me to acknowledge how hard this all is so that I take care of myself appropriately.

Every step you take builds the path. Showing up is the only way to build the path.

Otherwise you just go with what this toxic culture we live in tells you about who you are and what is possible for you and how you should show up. And that path will never lead to anything good because it leads you away from yourself.

And through all of this, I know I’m moving towards myself.

Some days don’t feel like it, of course, but no one step defines the whole path.

And, I think, that’s the big thing to remember when you’re creative dreaming through the hard times.

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.

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Meeting the soul of my project to find out how to proceed

By Andrea Schroeder / September 28, 2023 / daily practice

There is still A LOT happening for me. The family member in the hospital is up and down and it’s a scary, stressful situation on top of the upheaval of my marriage ending…

AND

Some days I wake up feeling good. Trusting life. Excited about my future.

Isn’t life amazing?

Today I’m focused on the guided journal project.

The artwork is done-ish (probably edits to come once I see it all together) and I have to get the details nailed down. Title, subtitle, description, etc.

I’ve given this project SO MANY NAMES. I’ve described it SO MANY WAYS.

I always try to write descriptions that are as accurate as possible.

I remember this one negative review I had about a guided journal I put out years ago. It was the “hello day” journal. And the description said that it was “one of my favourite practices” and this one person was SO ANGRY that it was all one practice! In the review they said “this was described as “your favourite practices” but it’s only one practice!” like they literally cut off part of my sentence to change the meaning and then got mad that my work didn’t match their description of it??

People can be pretty determined to see what they want to see.

And I think about all of this when it comes time to name and describe things.

And that can make it harder to just… do the thing in the way that feels right.

So how do I want to do this today?

If I don't meditate on it, if I don't get as aligned as possible with the soul of the thing and my purpose for doing it, then I am working from my feelings about all of this, unconscious fears and doubts, ways I try to "fit it" with the market - all that garbage really does infiltrate our minds and severely impact HOW we do the thing.

So I’m using the Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual Practice meditation, but focused on this journal instead of my work in general. Seeing that light landing in front of the person the journal is for.

I pause the meditations A LOT when I use them. I can get SO frustrated hearing me talk, lol! I use the guided mediation to get into the meditation and then I really want to be free to explore on my own and not keep following the prompts. But then other times the things I say in the mediation are so helpful I want to listen. So I pause to give myself space to explore on my own, then come back to the recording.

[post meditation]

That was so good. I am seeing this in a whole new way and feeling really inspired.

The title I was thinking of does not feel resonant for the people the book is for. I have new ideas and I am excited to play with them today.

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.

Meeting the soul of my project to find out how to proceed Read More »

Feel worthy and receptive of your biggest dreams.

By Andrea Schroeder / September 27, 2023 / daily practice

FEEL worthy and receptive of your dreams is message I got from my dream in the Dream Lab some time ago.

I worked with it for a while and then did two calls: Feeling worthy and Being open + receptive.

Now I have it as a “to do item” in my project management app (Notion). So I see it there every day, and then move it into the next day.

I’m really sitting with it today.

Where is worthiness in my body?

How is worthiness operating in my inner world?

Where am I open?

I have, at times, experienced the quality of receptive as this sparkling, electric sensation in my whole body. Where is that now?

I love the way all of my inquiries into worthiness begin with me, as an individual… am I worthy?… but quickly sink deeper into a sense of collective worthiness and what we all deserve as humans.

Holding space for the fact that we ALL deserve it makes it easier for me to hold a sense of worthiness for myself.

But I am not super receptive right now. I am in that healing cocoon that I was dreaming about yesterday, I feel a bit pulled in, withdrawn, and this feels appropriate.

What DO I want to be receptive to?

Soothing. Nurturing. Anything that helps hold my nervous system stay calm and steady. Spaciousness. Creativity. Lightness. Forgiveness. Optimism. Naps.

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.

Feel worthy and receptive of your biggest dreams. Read More »

This is too vulnerable

By Andrea Schroeder / September 26, 2023 / daily practice

I talk a lot about how Creative Dreaming is sooo vulnerable.

Today I would like it to not be.

Today maybe it's too vulnerable, for where I'm at?

Creative Dreaming needs us to work from our wholeness, we can't compartmentalize and avoid parts of ourselves. We can't we don't have certain thoughts or feelings. We need to be really present with all of us to engage with this work.

So how do I do this when my marriage just fell apart and now there's this medical emergency in the family that keeps getting worse?

The first thing about Creative Dream Alchemy is: Meet yourself where you are and move towards where you want to be.

To meet myself where I am: I just want to hide under the covers today.

To move towards where I want to be: I do want to keep working on this guided journal.

And these things feel so much at odds with each other that I just can't. I CAN go lie down but I'll be thinking about the journal. I CAN sit here with the journal but I'll just be wishing I was in bed.

Where I am this morning, it's very easy to say "I can't do either, I'm just stuck" and burst into tears.

Which is a completely valid way to proceed. Some days crying IS the next step to take.

And there is also the option of going deeper.

Sitting with the feelings (The Working With Conflicting Feelings Call last week was SO good!) to see what new possibilities emerge.

So here it went today:

When I started, this felt too vulnerable, too hard, there was no way through.

Now it all feels fine. Now, there is SPACE for everything.

I'm going to work on the creative project now, knowing I have loads of time in my day for "healing cocoon" too.

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.

This is too vulnerable Read More »

Calling in soothing

By Andrea Schroeder / September 21, 2023 / daily practice

I don’t know what to do today.

But I AM having a lot of feelings, so I went to the Inner Work section of the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy.

I noticed the practice for working with disappointment and knew that is something I need AND I am not ready. I felt a definite full body NO. That’s a deep practice which will be helpful when I’m not feeling so raw.

The thing that called me for today was: Qualities

I haven’t been using the weekly kits (though I want to start using them again) so I just picked the quality I want:

soothing

And did the Qualities Activator meditation with it. I stopped at the journaling part, I just did the short meditation with the quality.

Soothing came in as tears. My body shaking. Intense crying.

And I was like “No this isn’t what I wanted”

But then also “Oh yeah tears are healing. This IS soothing. This IS a release”

So I sat with it and started to feel soothed.

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.

Calling in soothing Read More »

Letting it be a mess sometimes

By Andrea Schroeder / September 20, 2023 / daily practice

Sometimes life is messy and hard.

One of my step-children has been in the hospital for the last week. We had to delay the end of moving my husband's stuff out of my place. We had to delay giving each other space away from each other. It's a mess.

And my first reaction is to want to create space for myself to protect my dreams, protect the things that are important to me. Like - section off my life and keep this mess isolated.

And trying to do that, today in my Creative Dream Practice, has been so frustrating.

My frustration is a sign with flashing lights saying "NO! THIS IS NOT THE WAY!"

The flashing lights are pointing me down a path where I let everything be a mess right now. And let MYSELF be a mess.

So, how do I practice my dreams when I'm a mess?

Oh wow, as soon as I asked that question I had the answer:

Ride my bike to the park with my tablet.
Get a coffee and something delicious like a chocolate croissant. (I have been eating SO nutrient dense which is important and supportive and also a treat would be so nice!)
Just focus on the drawings for the guided journal project - I know what I'm doing with that, I don't need to use a lot of mental focus to figure anything out right now. JUST ENJOY IT

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.

Letting it be a mess sometimes Read More »

When where you are is not where you want to be [which is what all creative dreaming is]

By Andrea Schroeder / September 19, 2023 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice

Last week's Dream Status Report brought me the following focus: BE where you ARE while appreciating the new possibilities that are opening up"

Two things about that:

This is what ALL creative dreaming is! Staying present in your current life WHILE building the path to what's next. Sometimes this is easier, sometimes this is harder.
When doing meditation + journaling, especially in a dedicated Creative Dream Practice, it becomes easier to find the answers you need. Knowing the answer and ACTING ON IT are two really different things.

So here I am figuring out how to do this thing.

On top of the things I have shared about what's happening in my life, another big thing happened which I do not want to share. I'll just say it adds a layer of stress and complication to a stressful and complicated situation.

OF COURSE the more turbulent your life is, the harder it is to stay present in it, especially at the depth of emotional presence needed to do creative dreaming. And OF COURSE this means that this stuff is wayyyy easier for some people that others. The more intersections of privilege you have, the easier it is.

I am where I am. How do I want to do this this week?

Starting with meditation: Sitting With Uncomfortable Feelings (using that technique from the 1 hour class we did)

And then whoa...

I don't need to figure out how to focus on what I want, because those feelings are there too. Underneath the feelings I don't don't want to feel - which means I can't access them if I am avoiding my feelings - are my dreams and desires.

The big dreams are still there but there is a new more immediate dream:

Healing Fall and Healing Winter.

Two seasons of focusing inward, creativity, healing, space, rest, quiet. Acclimating to my new life.

Collecting ideas for things I want to do when spring comes.

Every book I have read about divorce says it's at least 1-2 years to "feel normal" again (NOT that "feeling normal" is a goal for me, lol) and I accept that this will be a long process. So I don't mean I'll be HEALED by spring, and of course when spring comes I may decide I want healing spring and healing summer too as far as that goes.

Just that right now I want to focus on these next two seasons as healing time, which just makes me thing/feel different about this time.

And it leads to one important thing:

MORE CREATIVE PROJECTS. Art journaling but also embroidery, painting, just... MAKE STUFF. Would be good to brainstorm some projects, and get materials. Like I know I want to do embroidery but, what? Get patterns and colours picked, get all the threads I need, so I am ready to go.

I am really inspired by this sweatshirt pattern which includes instructions for appliquéing whatever you want on the sweatshirt - like instead of sports teams that are usually there. How fun would it be to put affirmations or qualities you are working on on a sweatshirt? Slow the fuck down! Powerful, Creative, Magnetic.

I want that ALIVENESS and HEALING of really being in my creative flow. I have so many work projects I want to do, and I want SO MANY personal projects also ready to go.

OK so now I how HOW to "be where I am and appreciate the new possibilities that are opening up". Make more space for creative projects including having plans + materials ready to go.

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.

When where you are is not where you want to be [which is what all creative dreaming is] Read More »