Journaling

You will be lost. That’s kind of the point.

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It's Sunday morning.

I'm sitting on my chaise lounge with my laptop, my cat Bear, and a latte. It rained last night, and I opened up both big windows upstairs and the most delightful breeze is flowing through the loft with that it-just-rained smell.

My husband is asleep upstairs. We are still living apart, but spending more and more time together, and planning to live together again within the next year.

The time apart was so needed. In March 2021, when he moved out, I was ready to lose my mind if I didn't get some of alone time.

And now, with the magic of HAVING SPACE, and also a great couple's therapist, I'm excited to live with him again.

Dreams are not static.

We don't create a dream come true in our lives, and then curl up in it and live there forever, never feeling sad or lost or unfulfilled ever again.

We're alive and our dreams are alive and we grow and change and they grow and change and it can get very complicated at times.

My loft condo was SUCH a big dream for me. I bought it in 2011 - my first year of self employment with the Creative Dream Incubator.

A big modern open space with HUGE sunny windows. This felt like THE perfect place for ALL of my dreams.

And it was. At that time. But I kept growing and changing and then I had a husband and 4 step-kids and the big loft stopped feeling big, lol!

But it's still more than a home, it's a DREAM.

There have been times when I was very frustrated that I couldn't sell it and move on to the next thing. But a shift in the real estate market for condominiums made that extremely complicated. There have been times when I was glad I kept it. There are times when I want to keep it AND get a new home with my husband. And there are times when I am ready to take the financial loss, sell it and move on to the next thing.

When I last wrote about my loft I got so much advice and almost... well it felt like I was being roasted.

My inbox was overwhelmed with people being upset about the choices I was making. Which is wild, since I 100% trust myself to make the right choices for me. I'm so good at this, I help other people do this for a living!

But, people project online. A lot. We only see bits and pieces of each other's lives, fill in the banks with our own projections, and then it's easy to get upset when someone we like does something we don't.

Anyway, I'm sitting here on this gorgeous morning and I still have no clue what to do with this dream house of mine.

My husband and I have lots of ideas for ways to renovate it to make it work better.

And there are other options too, of course.

We'll figure it out....

But I do this - creative dreaming - for a living. So shouldn't I KNOW?

I have ALL of the tools. Shouldn't I never get stuck trying to figure out my next moves? Shouldn't I never make a mistake or mis-step?

It's easy to go there.

And loads of people in the life coaching/Life Your Best Life Industry really are out there saying that with the right tools and support, your life can be perfect. Always. Forever.

And some of these people become such huge corporations with so much impact that it's easy to feel convinced that if your life is not consistently perfect it's because YOU are doing something wrong, and you need to buy a better solution.

That's really shitty. It's the collision of unethical marketing with life coaching/personal growth and there's a LOT of it out there. And it taps into a lot of unconscious beliefs we have from growing up in this capitalist/colonialist/individualist/supremacist culture.

But we don't have to go there. We can shine a light on what's actually happening there, and then we can choose a different path.

Creative Dreaming is about STAYING ENGAGED with your dreams, and your healing and growth.

It's not about imagining that you can control the universe.

Or that being alive doesn't come with a FUCK TON of uncertainty, vulnerability and pain.

It's not about trying to AVOID the realities of life on earth.

It's about STAYING ENGAGED with your dreams/healing/growth/creativity/joy/values/inner truth which is a much deeper magic than "living a perfect life" could ever offer.

So here I am FEELING that magic.

Knowing what I want in the larger sense but also having no clue about what the details or timing will look like and letting it be what it is AND ALSO accepting that I could be in this place for a while AND ALSO - underneath everything, trusting the process.

(And THAT - trusting the process - is a valuable skill to learn which comes from engaging in the practice of staying engaged)

We can feel this magic WHILE being in the process, without a solution or fairy-tale ending in sight, just a commitment to stay on the path.

I'm going to stay here. Lost. Uncertain. Feeling my way.

I am following my creative flow. Starting BIG new projects. Going all in with self care as replenishment from a difficult few years.

I am going to put the LIVE Creative Genius Planning Sessions on hold for now - the ones I do Monday mornings on Instagram. Instead, I am sharing shorter meditations - like this one, for calling in what you need for the week.

I am planning a new free class to happen soon (if you're signed up for my emails you'll get an invite).

And exploring the idea of offering a few small group coaching programs for other people who are navigating deep change, or starting new projects - so we can do this together.

 

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Some questions

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Make space to focus on self care

I've been having a lot of anxiety this week.

A few days ago I rode my bike to the park, and stopped for a lavender doughnut on the way.

Then I had a beautiful moment of calm in the park, in a haze of lavender sugar, and I came up with a few questions to help me navigate all of this.

Maybe you could use them too?

Where can you say no? Slow down? Lower expectations?

Where can you do things differently, in ways that honour how you are feeling?

What do you need right now?

How can you process some of your feelings to create even a small bit of space for yourself?

Stay there with these questions as long as you need.

A lot of us seem to have an unconscious goal of “getting back to normal” and working on that goal isn’t going to lead to the future we want.

So, instead of trying to get back to normal, what if we stay present where we are and put our efforts into really tending to what is here?

I Take Excellent Care of Myself: 8 Week Undated Self Care Planner is now available through the Creative Dream Incubator Press!

Find out more + get your copy here!

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The Self Care Planner is here!!!

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I Take Excellent Care of Myself: 8 Week Undated Self Care Planner is now available through the Creative Dream Incubator Press!

I've been working on this during the whole pandemic.

With the combination of "a lot of my self care things became inaccessible" and "my life got more stressful on a number of fronts" and "the whole world started freaking out and falling apart" it was both tricky AND essential for me to find new ways to do self care.

There are a TON of ways to define self care. For me, self care is the foundation for everything else. For you, it can be something totally different.

All we know for sure is - we all need it right now.

This self care planner will get you looking at self care from different perspectives and experimenting with new ideas to help you feel how you want to feel, so you can do what you want to do.

Find out more + get your copy here!

**Get 20% off [until Friday] with the discount code:
SELFCAREMAGIC

I am going to promote this "self care style"

It just doesn’t feel very “self care” to push myself to do a bunch of marketing things around this.

So I’m not.

I’m going to show up, as myself, and talk about it. And going to put self care at the center of how I do that this week.

Which means today instead of doing the Monday morning Creative Genius Planning Session on Instagram Live (which I usually do, even on long weekends) I’m taking the long weekend as a long weekend.

So this morning I’ll be eating pancakes in the park with my husband. 🥞 🌳 🧺 ❤️

Picnics are my love language and a huge source of self care for me.

Now - Go check out the planner!

**Get 20% off [until Friday] with the discount code:
SELFCAREMAGIC

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Where do I even start. Waking up to dark clouds, heavy fog and a brain that won’t turn on.

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I write every day, Monday - Friday, about my own process of navigating the path between where I am and where I want to be.

I share these in the Daily Miracle Mastermind Posts inside the Dream Book community. I believe that showing HOW I walk my talk each day is one of the best ways of teaching.

Lately some of these posts have been asking to be shared out in public - which feels even messy and awkward for me, but here I am, following my inner nudges and seeing where it leads.

Where do I even start?

I have a practice of meeting myself where I am and moving towards where I want to be, but today...

Everything is just heavy and cloudy, with small bits of sharpness.

I want to leap into a story about WHY I feel these things. (get into my head and out of all of these feelings)

Instead I will meet myself where I am.

When I'm so heavy/cloudy/foggy it's like brain is covered in a fog blanket and it's hard for me to figure out HOW to meet myself where I am.

But all I have to do is be here.

I say hello to the heavy clouds and my brain that feels shut down.

The heavy clouds sparkle a little, like they've just been waiting to be acknowledged.

I spread out a picnic blanket and invite them to join me.

Which reminds me - I have a delivery coming today of spherical ice cube molds and Instant Pot accessories including an egg bite maker, and I want to have a lot of iced coffee + egg bite picnics in the park with my journal this summer.

Which reminds me - it's been so cold and rainy, a lot of my usual spring activities are not really happening, and this is depressing.

Oh. Ok. Back to the task at hand. Inviting the dark cloud to sit down and talk.

It hovers above the blanket.

It looks darker than it did, and I can see tiny lightnings in it.

"So, dark cloud, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I'm being who I am. It's you who seems to have a problem. You don't want me here."

"Well, it's uncomfortable, I feel pretty weighed down by your presence."

"How can I help you feel more comfortable with me here?"

I am speechless. I don't have a way to be comfortable WITH the dark cloud. I do just want it gone.

"So you invited me to sit down for a picnic as you it's going to be a good time, but you only want to destroy me?"

I am giggling at the idea of a "picnic of destruction".

But also, yeah. I don't know how to engage with this thing. It's like I can either let it control me, or I try to destroy it. I don't see any other way.

But if I remember that all of my feelings are valid, and that one part of the path to any dream is to feel the feelings that come up on that path, then I do believe that there is another way.

BUT I still don't see it.

I offer the cloud an egg bite, it happily receives.

Oh! Those extra-dark spots in the cloud and the tiny lightnings, they go off when the cloud is happy and doing it's thing. I experience them as menacing but that's not how it is for the cloud. That feels helpful to know.

"So, what? Do we just sit here and eat egg bites?"

"That's what a picnic is, right?"

"Well, I guess I was hoping for more. I was hoping we could come to an agreement where we could each have our needs met. I mean I know I just said I don't know how to do this, but still I do think that would be ideal."

The cloud reaches for some iced coffee.

"Is this just all on me? I have to change my relationship to you? I mean, if I was using the Un-Sticking Station, which I do NOT feel prepared to do, I would look for ways to offer you love."

"That's what you've been doing. You made a picnic. I've got egg bites and iced coffee. Maybe you should look for ways to offer yourSELF love as well?"

Haven't I been doing that?

It's so hard to work through anything with the dark clouds here. It's so hard to feel progress and clarity.

So I can accept that this is not a day for progress-that-can-be-seen or clarity-of-any-kind?

This makes my heart kind of jump. Like - how long will I be this way?

What about trusting the process, another one of the Principles of Creative Dream Alchemy.

If I was trusting the process, I would meet with my dream.

OK, I can do that, invite my dream to this picnic with the dark cloud.

(I go lay on the floor, and my car Bear snuggles in beside me, and we invite my dream to join us)

My dream had been appearing as a cartoon blue butterfly, and last week it transformed into realistic butterfly wings for me to wear and BE the dream.

Today it showed up as the wings, floating above me. It's not a day to wear the wings, but they are still here.

The wings showed me that they can be an umbrella, if the cloud starts to rain.

But mostly they are here to be a blanket-that-forms-a-cocoon.

And they wrapped around me.

And it felt like a cocoon.

Like there's a lot going on. I have a lot of layers of uncomfortable feelings and I can't tell any one thing from the others and that's ok, I am in the process.

Today is a day for gentle cocooning and allowing things to work through.

While nothing feels resolved, I don't feel so tangled up now. I feel trusting and ok with slowing down and being where I am.

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Wild Untamed Creativity vs The Part Of Me Who Wants To Control Everything

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I am exploring the question: What helps me make more art, more often, from a deeper place?

I've gotten stuck most days, and in doing the Un-Sticking work I met with inner teenaged/early 20s selves. It's pretty rare for me that they show up, when it's an inner child it's usually much younger.

They're so sarcastic and annoyed at everything and JUDGEMENTAL!

But also, something really deep has shifted for me.

Those little conversations reverberate, things keep happening throughout the day, it's not over after my 10 minutes of sitting with it.

What's been happening now is me seeing my life now from my 17-25 year old perspective.

Hey! Look at what I did! Look at what I have!

I feel so proud of me.

And so excited to be where I am, with all of the SPACE I have to create what I want to create.

What also struck me is: I was not very sensitive at that time.

My teenaged-25 self is so annoyed and horrifying by me having so many FEELINGS and how those feelings can stop me from doing what I want to do.

She never experienced that.

As I've been sitting with that it's clear - she was so disconnected from her feelings that she experienced this all the time but didn't know it! In her experience, she was blocked by other things.

I am so much more powerful now.

Not being all filled up with un-processed feelings means I can face those other things in the way more effectively. AND it means that sometimes I do spend a lot of time processing feelings because that IS the path.

Even though most days I would be very tempted to trade emotional sensitivity for the ability to carry on functioning in the ways I want to while the world falls apart - I wouldn't REALLY make the trade.

Anyway - I woke up this morning feeling SO happy and grateful.

As I though about the question I am exploring - What helps me make more art, more often, from a deeper place? - I see something that was keeping me stuck with this:

I was looking for a way to be really organized and... I don't even know how to describe it... like always know what I am doing, follow very specific steps, like map it all out and then follow the path.

But that's not how art works.

The specific steps I can follow are to do THIS work. To meet my dream and look at what's in the way of connecting with my dream and work with that and out of this work always comes.... something.

So, one answer to my question is.... can I make space for that "something" that comes up?

Can I let go of CONTROLLING the process or wanting it to look a certain way?

A part of me wants it to look like - writing a blog post on Tuesdays and making new things for Dream Book on Wednesdays, etc.

CAN I JUST TRUST MY CREATIVE FLOW?

I know everything works better when I do.

But there is a part of me who wants to control the overall process. Make sure I am consistent with certain things.

I know I want to be consistent about being in the flow.

This part of me wants me to be consistent about newsletter emails, blog posts, social media posts, and promotional campaigns.

Bringing this part of me into the Un-Sticking Station:

(The Un-Sticking Station is only available to Dream Book members)

She shows up as me, in a beige suit, with a leather briefcase. She's quite thin and her hair is dyed light brown.

I have an overwhelming urge to hug her and try to help her be happier and more creatively alive but I am putting that aside to stick with the process and offer her some love.

She puts up a shield.

No thank you. I don't need LOVE. I need you to follow a schedule.

Oh wow. This is going to be harder than I thought.

Look at you! You're a mess!

No, I'm an artist. I'm a human who trusts her heart and intuition. And actually I am very organized - I've been running this business for a long time.

Not very well.

(But I can tell she's not completely convinced. She's starting to lower the shield and some love is coming in. I hold my hands up, palms aimed at her, and shoot rainbows of love her way)

I'm sending you love because I want you to know you are loved. I'd like to help you feel safe.

Excellent. I will feel safe when you are more organized. That thing you wrote - blog on Tuesdays, Dream Book on Wednesdays - that's a good start. Let's make a detailed schedule.

Can we start by just being with the quality/feeling of love and safety?

This is such an incredible waste of time.

Yeah, I see that you feel that way, and that making a schedule and getting to work feel like love and safety to you, but they are not actually love and safety. They are things that help you feel love and safety and I'd like to start by actually FEELING love and safety and then... we may come up with even better ways for you to feel loved and safe.

I don't want better ways. I want predictability and schedules and for you to stop this nonsense.

Yeah, but I am me. This is how I am going to do things.

I don't want to go in circles with you.

I don't want to go in circles with you either.

OK I think we can stop this meeting now.

It feels like something VERY helpful happened in meeting the part of me, but this is as far as it can go right now. I will check in with her again in a few days.

BUT I am going to make a compromise with this part of me. I will make a list of all of the things that she would like to see done each week. These are things I want to do too!!!

I'm also going to make some art around: following my creative flow vs being organized and following a schedule. Just drawing/journaling in my Dream Book and see where it goes.

There IS a balance to be found between the two. I want to be trusting my creative flow and also feel on top of things in terms of marketing my business and moving my projects forward.

I've been balanced between these before, and it feels like the best to balance them is shifting for me right now, so while things are shifting it's like both sides are vying for total control, lol.

(Update)

Once I thought about HOW I would write/draw this in my journal, everything came together.

I saw how flow and structure each have their own place, and how they contribute to me having the experience I want AND moving towards the results I want.

And actually - this is what's in the Creative Planning and Project Management class, in the Dream Plan Kit. I know this, AND how I feel about the balance, and how the balance plays out, is shifting for me right now.

(The Dream Plan Kit is only available to Dream Book members)

AND this brings me back full circle to my question for this week!!!

Re-tooling this part will go a LONG way supporting me in making more art, from a deeper place, and sharing it more often.

It needs BOTH elements.

I feel like this actually answers the question. I can go into next week and implement what I've learned and see how it goes.

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The indignity of being in the process of growth

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I write every day, Monday - Friday, about my own process of navigating the path between where I am and where I want to be.

I share these in the Daily Miracle Mastermind Posts inside the Dream Book community. I believe that showing HOW I walk my talk each day is one of the best ways of teaching.

Today's post, which is really messy and awkward, wanted to be shared out in public - which feels even more messy and awkward for me, but here I am, following my inspiration and seeing where it leads.

My goal this week:

I am exploring the question: What helps me make more art, more often, from a deeper place?

I really want to be making more art, writing more, sharing more.

I want it to all feel easier and more flowy.

There's also something in this that's like - I know I want something more but can't quite put my finger on WHAT it is.

So I am making space to sit with this question this week.

Today I am SO ANNOYED with the question.

I've got a blank page in my daytimer for this.

I filled in all the things I know that help me stay in my flow.

I'm so bored. I know this stuff. I have worked on this for so long. Why I am I here AGAIN?

Do I want to answer that?

I guess so, I don't know what else to do.

Why I am here again:

I'm not being as creative as I'd like to be.

As in, it seems to take more work to get into it.

I have more distractions.

I am more tired.

AND ALSO I feel more desire to be creating more. And that desire conflicts with what is happening and makes everything very uncomfortable.

So, yeah, I am here AGAIN. But... being here AGAIN is not a sign that I have failed, or regressed. It's just a part of the creative path.

Also - what helps changes as I change, as my life changes. Like, right now there are all of these specific things I can do to help with my peri-menopause symptoms that THAT helps very much with THIS.

OK this makes sense, I feel less annoyed that I am here AGAIN but I still feel annoyed in general, so let's bring annoyance into the Un-Sticking Station.

(The Un-Sticking Station is a class inside Dream Book for working through stucks - that link will only work for Dream Book members)

Annoyance shows up as my older teenaged - early 20s self.

OMG you are so lame. Look at all the things I make!! It's EASY to create, and you have all the opportunities I was dreaming of, and you're squandering them.

SQUANDERING?! I CREATED them.

eyeroll

I'm not going to justify myself to you. I am doing my best and I want to keep doing better and I need to know why you are so annoyed.

Because you're 48 and this should be easy by now.

*TEARS ALL AROUND*

Yes, I agree. This should be easy by now. And it's so hard for you to look 20-30 years ahead and see that it's not. Though I mean - often, it is. Sometimes it's not.

Sometimes it's not? Seems like more than sometimes.

Yeah! I mean - look at all the things I do!

I guess that's true.

Everything is just so HEAVY right now.

Annoyance is gone. Some kind of helpful guidance spirit enters the chat.

So what would help bring LIGHTNESS?

All the things I wrote on that list. Recognizing how painful the heaviness feels, recognizing how painful it feels to NOT be doing the creative things I want to be doing. Recognizing all of the conflicting feelings of everything.

This helpful guidance spirit points me to my art journal where I have been writing and drawing and painting my feelings as my Space-Making practice.

(Space-Making is a class inside Dream Book for making space to work on your dreams when working on your dreams feels like too much - that link will only work for Dream Book members)

Oh right.

It's like my creativity is in a bottle and all of these conflicting and totally valid feelings are kind of jammed in together, creating a bottle stop. I need to let them out before I can do the things I want to do.

So I took it to my journal:

Messy painting and angry journaling to let feelings out and what I came to was:

The indignity of being in the process of growth.

I need to open myself up to the process of growth and change and the possibility of healing.

Which means letting go of the places where I want to KNOW what to do next.

Being open. Following inspiration. Being willing to make mistakes, fail, and be surprised.

Today this all feels hard. But I'll do my best with it.

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What I want for my birthday

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I just shared this photo on social media and I wanted to share it here too.

I turned 48 yesterday (had a really fantastic day which I wrote about here) and the thing I want most for my birthday is to make more art, write more, and share it more, and do it all from a deeper place.

This is kind of what I always want.

And it also always feels new because my creative dreams are always taking me to new places.

The reason why I wanted to send you this photo is my dress.

I do make all of my own clothes, I sewed and embrodered this shirt dress this winter.

This is the first in a new series of clothing I am making that are for the person that I am becoming next.

These clothes are a way of making space for this new version of me.

Space-Making has been on my mind a lot.

I created a new (very small and simple) program called Space-Making for people who want to join Dream Book and work with me but don't have the capacity for FULL ON MAKING IT HAPPEN right now.

Which, to be honest, is most of us these days.

Space-Making is this magical place of self care and restoration and healing - making space for the things you need and want, rather than Dream-Building which is the work of creating the path that leads to where you want to be.

I like to do both - Space-Making and Dream-Building.

But these days I definitely CANNOT Dream-Build if I don't Space-Make.

As stressful as it is to be alive on this planet right now, this is also a time of real potential for change.

We can create a better world.

I feel that more fully these days than I ever have before.

The intersection between creative dreams and activism feels lit up with possibility.

I wanted to leave you with a few journal prompts for the weekend.

How have your dreams changed over the last 2 years?

How have YOU changed?

How do you WANT to change next?

And think about joining me in Dream Book to give your dreams a boost.

I made a new welcome video on this page, explaining where we're at in the group right now.

As the world changes, we we change, as our dreams change, I keep making adjustments to make sure Dream Book remains a supportive growth-inducing space for everyone.

Join here.

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These are hard times. Making space for anxiety + overwhelm.

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These are hard times. Making space for anxiety + overwhelm.

This was my practice this morning: painting my feelings.

I have a lot to say about this process of space-making. I was writing about it all weekend.

But today, that's not what's in me to share.

Today I want to share that I woke up anxious.

And so I made myself a latte and a green smoothie (well it came out red because I added a few slices of beetroot) and sat with my feelings and this is what came out.

I found the light. I followed it to a place where I was able to soften my body and mind, and offer myself some advice about slowing down and being more present with myself

A lot of people feel anxious right now.

I didn't have an issue with anxiety before the pandemic. I have one now.

Lots of people don't feel anxious but to worry or feel stressed or are just overwhelmed.

This is where we're at, collectively and yet a lot of people are feeling alone in it. I want you to know that you are not alone.

And the world is asking us to carry on as though this is not where we're at.

A space-making practice is a way to rebel against that.

It's actually a way to create a better world, both your own personal world and the larger world that we share.

Space-making helps us find the softness in the hard places. And those soft places do tend to come with dreams attached. Ideas for new things we want to create or new ways we want to be or experiences we want to have. The softness shows us the way.

The first step is to honour how you're feeling.

Give yourself the grace of making space to be where you are.

How do you feel right now? Where is that feeling in your body? Anywhere else? What's the story running through your mind?

Is there any light to be found? What might help this all soften? What do you need right now?

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On Giving Up And Breaking Through

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Tomorrow - Monday, April 18 at 10 am Central - I will be on Instagram live for Creative Genus Planning Sessions for this week.

If you go to this Instagram post on your mobile device you can set up a reminder to join us live, or catch the replay on my page later.

We'll do a short feel-good meditation for starting the week and a discussion about navigating your next steps.

This week I want to talk a bit about those times when you have no clue what to do next.

These are not times to stop!! These are actually times of transformation.

I have a lot to share about this and I know it will be a great discussion.

The last few weeks I've been working more closely with the people in Dream Book who feel ready to give up.

With everything that's happening it's like why even bother?

But beneath that "why bother?" story are a LOT of complex layers of feelings.

And giving up is real fuel for our inner critics and their "See? I told you you shouldn't have tried. Of course you failed" stories.

Giving up is not your only option.

People are FEELING LIKE giving up is the only option because they don't have the capacity to work on their dreams in the same way they could 2 years ago.

And when you're overwhelmed it's easy to not notice that THERE ARE OTHER WAYS. You don't have to choose between doing things that feel impossible and giving up completely.

These times call for new ways of engaging with ourselves, our creative projects, and our biggest dreams for who we want to be and what we want to create.

We can approach Creative Dreaming as a HEALING practice.

We can approach Creative Dreaming as a SELF CARE practice.

We can approach Creative Dreaming as a SPACE-MAKING practice.

I have been writing all weekend.

For the last two years, my writing time has been really stiffled because I don't have the mental clarity + capacity to write like I used to.

This weekend, it's kind of back because I am SO inspired by looking at all of the places where people tell me they get stuck, and creating new ways through.

The places where we get stuck are opportunities for growth.

I have a free healing circle called The Hard Parts Are Where The Magic Happens where I show you exactly what I mean by this.

And this approach that I have been teaching for a long time has worked for a long time... But right now, with all the stress in the world, more and more people are just not able to get into it.

So as I have been working with those people more closely, I am seeing ways to add more gentleness, slowness, self care and magic to make the work DO-ABLE even when you feel absolutely flattened.

And as I did that I realised.... oh wow these are the practices I have been doing too!

I have been doing them seperate from Dream Book, but as I look back (hindsight is 20/20!) I see that this is the work that helped me, over the pandemic, continue to engage with the deeper dream-building work in Dream Book.

So I am creating two new options for Dream Book:

One is for when you are completely overwhelmed. The focus is healing, self care and space-making. Instead of giving up, you can focus on healing and self care as forms of MAKING SPACE for your dream.

One is for when you are ready to take your next steps with your dreams, but you've got a busy life or you're going through stuff, so you have limited time and attention for this work. You don't have to put your dream aside completely to take care of yourself.

And the original Dream Book will be called the "I am ready to BLAST OFF!" version for when you DO have the time and energy to dive deep into your next-level dream-making. This pace is ideal for wellness practitioners, healers, coaches and guides. But if you're new to this work and have a LOT of time and energy to devote and want to dive right into the deep end, this is also a good place to start.

It doesn't matter where you are are.

Your dream is always here to help you heal and grow.

To give yourself what you need now AND move yourself towards where you want to be.

I hope to see you tomorrow on the Instagram live.

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A conversation with the part of me who wants to protect me from my feelings.

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I had such a great meeting this morning with my dream and the soul of my business.

I had this jumble of ideas and wishes in my mind and they showed me how to put them into a mindmap that answered all of my questions.

And from the mindmap I created a list.

And know I know exactly what I want to do, and exactly how I want to start doing it.

So. I know exactly what I want to do and exactly how I want to start doing it....

And then this feeling comes over me.

I try to push it aside and keep going. There is more I can add to the list, or I can start doing the things on the list...

And then I find myself scrolling social media!

I bring myself back to the list.

And that feeling comes back. It's uncomfortable and I'd like to just push it aside...

But that's not how it works.

Feel all of the feelings that come up for you on the path to your dream.

This is one of the eight principles we work with in Dream Book. If you are following all of the principles, you can't stay stuck. If you are doing the opposite of the principles, you're likely to be quite stuck.

I had to admit at this point I almost switched back to Facebook. But I am Staying. With. It.

OK - this feeling that comes over me when I look at this list.

So - it's a part of my process and I need to be with it.

So. Hello there, uncomfortable looming feeling.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to LOOM" it's like a tiny version of me, and she's holding some really big thing... it's kind of vague but almost like a huge tube, like 3X her height as the diameter and she's trying to drag it somewhere.

Hey, let's put that down. I take the tube and gently set it down. I pick her up and sit her on the tube so now we're at eye level to each other.

What's up?

"Well, this is just all A LOT. I mean you have a very big list here and I agree this is a list of wonderful things and it would be wonderful to actually DO them all but also I have to say, I mean I'm sorry, I know this gets SO uncomfortable here, but the thing is, I have to say it...

I don't think you're going to DO all of this. I think you're going to start strong and this will become one more abandoned thing. Oh! Ouch! I'm sorry! I said it! I know it pains you."

Two things happened for me here:

I realised that yes there was very much a part of me feeling afraid that I Wouldn't DO all of these things.

And I realised that this was a little silly because I complete LOTS OF THINGS. And then I don't complete projects - it's because I got what I need from them already, or because something else feels more important. It's fine.

And in a WHOOSH I felt fine with not completing every project and could stay in this conversation holding that perspective.

Well actually, that vague looming discomfort probably pains me more, because it derails me completely and has me distracting myself instead of doing what I truly want to do. So I'd rather face the harder stuff head on and work through it.

"That's? Good?" She really seems to not want to upset me.

Yeah, that's good. I think I may be stronger than you think. Like a LOT stronger. Like I CAN handle having feelings.

"Oh? What?" She is completely befuddled.

Yeah, I actually would rather feel my feelings than avoid them, because this way I am FREE. Freedom is really important to me. I need to feel free enough to do what I want to do - like all the things on this list. NOT feeling my feelings keeps me a prisoner to them.

"Holy crap, I never thought of it that way" Now she's grown a little taller and heavier and so her weight is pushing down on the tube she's sitting on, keeping us at eye level. She leans over. "This is fascinating"

So, it seems like you are a part of me who hasn't been paying attention for the last, like, 20 years. Maybe you are my 28 year old inner "child"?

"25"

Oh, yeah ok that makes sense. So here's the thing: feeling those uncomfortable feelings that loom over me helps me actually MAKE SPACE to actually DO the things I want to do and actually has helped me not be so stuck in general. Feeling feelings is really good! Like I even go to therapy just to talk about my feelings because I love it. I pay for therapy, I love it that much.

"Oh wow"

Yeah, it is really cool. Listen, I want you to see how much I have overcome, the things you struggled with - I do not struggle with. Yes, I have other things going on and the world is a fucking disaster right now but YOU GREW AND HEALED.

She kind of gasped, to look at me and really see where I am/we are.

So I don't need you to be trying to do anything for me. I'm not sure what it is you were trying to do with this tube?

"It's a pipe. Like a pipeline." Now she is fully the same size as me, just sitting beside me with the pipeline beside her.

What were you trying to do with this?

"Trying to make a pipeline to take these uncomfortable feelings away from you."

Ahhh. Yeah. That's exactly what you do that makes things harder for you.

She gets up and kicks the pipeline and it disappears.

She gets it.

And I feel... ready to go do these things.

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You can’t look outside of you for hope.

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You can't look outside of you for hope.

I mean - there's so little hope to be found out there right now that it's depressing to try.

But mostly because - we're here to BRING IT.

Hope and light and creativity and new possibilities.

This is your work.

This is the theme for today's Creative Genius Planing Session - on Instagram Live.

How do we be force for positive change while the world is a dystopian nightmare?

If you are on this planet right now you have a role to play in creating a good future for everyone.

And if you have a business - your business can play a role as well.

Join me, let's explore this together.

Monday Morning Meditation (AKA Creative Genius Planning) is happening at 10 am Central, on Instagram live.

If you go to my Instagram account from your mobile device you'll be able to set a reminder, and also see this in your own time zone.

And you can catch the replay on my page after we're done.

(These live public meditations are only on Instagram, but I will be doing a more in-depth free class on Zoom soon - stay tuned for details)

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Holding Space For All The Things You’re Experiencing

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My morning meditation led me to draw this diagram.

I wanted to be able to just SEE these things I was holding, sitting in front of me.

These aren't ALL the things I am holding, but these are the three things that feel most "up" for me today.

Drawing it out like this, which is how I was guided to do by my dream in meditation this morning, helped me feel more grounded about:

  • I don't need to JUGGLE these things they can all intersect and kind of form one thing
  • They intersect in ways I do and do not see
  • It's fine to feel/think all the things I feel/think - even where they conflict with each other
  • No one thing is more important than the others, I can make space for all of it

Before I did this, I honestly felt like I couldn't make progress with anything today because these thoughts/feelings were all jumbled up and leaving me with no options.

This is pretty common for me.

BEFORE I make space for everything - what I want feel impossible.

AFTER I make space for everything - I feel clear about AND ready to take my next steps.

This is one of the places where most people get it wrong with their dreams... waiting to see the path clear ahead of you instead of just taking the steps you can take from where you are right now.

Showing up every day and doing the teeny tiny little things that you CAN do is what builds the path.

The more chaotic the world becomes, the more heavily I lean on this practice.

If you are NOT making space for all the things you're feeling - WHICH INCLUDES YOUR WISHES FOR THE THINGS THAT YOU WANT AND  FIGURING OUT HOW TO MOVE TOWARDS THEM - you are going to get all tangled up in everything and it's NOT going to be possible to create positive change in your life.

That doesn't mean your dreams are not possible.

It means this is the work you need to do, to get there. It's up to you do decide to do this work consistently, or not.

And I really want to encourage you to DO THAT WORK because YOU DESERVE ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE DREAMING OF.

And, collectively, it's our creative dreams that will help guide us to create a better world for everyone.

Join Dream Book and do this with me.

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Creative Planning: Releasing What’s In The Way To Make More Space For What You Want

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(I do my weekly planning with the printable version of the Year of Dreams 2022, all the details of how I printed + bound it are here. The journaling printables I cut + paste onto it are from Dream Book)

Get the free full Creative Genius Planning Sessions video (15 minute meditation + journaling class for planning your week from your most wise, brave + creative self, here)

The soul of the Creative Dream Incubator sent me this message:

You got to stay in the vibe where big new possibilities happen.

Look at where you can smooth out the little irritants and make things simpler. Look at what you can let go of. Look at where you can use the big irritants as a source of healing and transformation.

This felt like a message for all of us, but it also came with A LOT of specific examples of where I need to do this.

(This has been happening a lot lately, like the Creative Dream Incubator sends me huge data dumps and I to sort through and get my instructions from them. It's been AMAZING.)

One of those examples is these weekly Creative Genius Planning Sessions. I've been uploading them to You Tube, turning that video into a blog post, sending an email with a link to the blog post, and also putting it on Instagram.

I did it this way because I didn't know where to put them, so I put them everywhere. That was the simplest way for me to get going - otherwise I could have spent a lot of energy trying to figure out where to put the videos.

And being in the process of doing this every week has shown me a better way to do this.

This is how it works with most dreams - you do what you can from where you are, learn as you go, apply what you learn, and keep growing from there.

So, the soul of my Creative Dream Incubator showed me if I did less of this backend stuff and just upload the video to Instagram because that is by far THE simplest way - that frees up energy that makes it easier for me to stay in a state of possibility, which opens up new possibilities.

So that's what I will be doing.

This is the last week I'll share the Creative Genius Planning Session video on my blog.

You'll be able to find them on Instagram.

PS: Know that I don't make ANY decision in my business lightly, and I DO know that not everyone is on Instagram. Please don't email me to let me know that you are not on Instagram.

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Weekly Creative Planning: Show Up For Your Dream, Even If You’re Not Feeling It

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(I do my weekly planning with the printable version of the Year of Dreams 2022, all the details of how I printed + bound it are here. The journaling printables I cut + paste onto it are from Dream Book)

Get the free full Creative Genius Planning Sessions video (15 minute meditation + journaling class for planning your week from your most wise, brave + creative self, here)

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Weekly Creative Planning: Drop the heaviness + call in what you need.

By / /

(I do my weekly planning with the printable version of the Year of Dreams 2022, all the details of how I printed + bound it are here. The journaling printables I cut + paste onto it are from Dream Book)

Get the free full Creative Genius Planning Sessions video (15 minute meditation + journaling class for planning your week from your most wise, brave + creative self, here)

PS: I hope you're coming to my Instagram live today to celebrate Micheal Redhead Champagne's new book!! Such a great chance to soak up the energy and magic of a big dream coming true and SUCH a great time to talk about WRITING BOOKS THAT HELP CHANGE THE WORLD!

PPS: The Obstacle Is The Way Through is happening This Thursday!!

(February 10, on Zoom at 1:pm Central - and it will be recorded and the recording WILL be effective and we can chat in the comments section if you have questions).⁠
⁠
We're going to work with the thing that is MOST in your way RIGHT NOW. It can be an internal or external thing.

The call will be about 60-90 minutes, depending on what kinds of conversations come up in the process.⁠
⁠
We'll go deep.⁠...
⁠
And you'll leave knowing EXACTLY what to do next✨✨⁠
⁠
This call is included in your Dream Book membership for February.

Join us here.
⁠
Your future self will thank you.

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