Most mornings I go for a walk or bike ride to a park or coffee shop, have a coffee and sit with my journal.

I need the exercise and fresh air for my mental health and to wake up my body and brain, and then I need the journaling and (even in a coffee shop since I use noice canceling headphones) I will do a Creative Dream Alchemy meditation, to get into ALIGNMENT.

This morning it’s raining and there are a bunch of things happening and I decided to stay home. I fed the cat, made coffee, and sat down at my desk with my laptop.

I CANNOT DO THE THINGS I NEED/WANT TO DO.

That is the thing about dreams.

We often CAN’T do them from our current state of consciousness. So if we don’t do the practices that help us shift our consciousness - we’ll never be able to do the “dream things”.

BUT if we make those practices DAILY PRACTICES then we can really bring the magic.

And, even when you have made these practices DAILY PRACTICES for years and years, some days come, like today, when you forget it all, sit down at your desk expecting to do a certain thing, and then find yourself unable to do the thing.

So - it’s journaling and meditation time for me.

Our dreams are always calling us into our next-level self.

What are the things that help you move towards that version of you?

FOR ME it's the daily morning exercise and journaling/meditation in a coffee shop or park routine but it's probably something really different for you. It doesn't have to be mornings. It doesn't have to be every day! Just something that helps you shift out of current-self perspective and into dream-self perspective.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts about this 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.

Last week’s Dream Status Report brought me: focus on inner work and dream work.

(Hey! Did you see that the Dream Stutus Report Prompts have new journaling sheets? I really love this one)

I am also remembering my commitment to do Dream Book EVERY MORNING, and how I have strayed from that.

I always stray from it… doing Dream Book gives so much clarity and confidence that I drift away from it to focus on outer work - implementing all of the great ideas. This makes sense!

But then coming back to it always feels so healing and needed.

So here I am, coming back to it.

And I am noticing that it WASN’T just that I was focused on the outer work - I was in resistance, too. There was something to explore that I wasn’t really ready to look at before.

So today in my Dream Book I started a new page: How To Do This With Depression.

It feels important to me to not pathologize depression. I think there are a lot of reasons why depression is a good, healthy natural response for me to have.

And today I feel accepting that I am depressed! It’s interesting to notice how much I didn’t want to see it. How much I was trying to pump myself up to feel good...

But now that I see it, it feels like a gift.

I feel like I have moved through SO MUCH STUFF in this divorce process, and I am mostly focused on building my new life, and I just want to let go of everything from my marriage… but it’s not that easy.

I have hurt feelings and sadness that sometimes feel so sharp I can’t breathe.

And so depression comes in… heavy, sticky and foggy.

I've been soooo frustrated by how much this has slowed me down...

But now I am seeing how it fills my whole body with this heavy sticky fog and actually protects me from the sharpness. It slows me down, which I was finding SO ANNOYING before but now I appreciate that it is giving me this space for these sharper feelings to process in a safer way.

I appreciate my depression and want to care for it.

WHILE ALSO taking care of the post-divorce life I am building.

Before it’s kind of like these two things were fighting each other, so this morning I made this Dream Book page about doing this WITH depression.

Not just that I AM depressed.

But that depression and dreams can work together.

They both want what’s right for me. They both offer healing and authenticity.

This feels like such a gift.

So this morning I am not at my usual coffee shop. I went to a different part of town, so that after this I can stop at the conservatory with butterfly garden, and take a little walk through there.

Adding these nourishing and joy-sparking thing to my day feels essential for doing this WITH depression.

Also, this thing where I focus on working on my Dream Book FIRST - EVERY DAY even when I have “things I need to do”.

Doing this WITH depression means TAKING GOOD CARE OF MYSELF while I go. Making self care a priority along with measurable progress on my dreams (which is a form of self care BUT we can get into over-working with it too).

Anyway, just making this page, and giving myself space to BE WITH it has already made me feel completely different about this.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts about this 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.

I was looking through the intentions I have been setting on our last few new moon intention setting calls. (We do an intention setting every month right before the new moon in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership, or you can do this on your own with the New Moon Intention Setting Kit)

I started with intending for ____ to happen WITHIN THE NEXT MONTH.

It didn’t happen.

At the next call, after reflecting on how the month went, I decided to intend for ___ to happen. (No timeframe)

It didn’t happen and it felt kind of wishy washy and unsatisfying.

Then, the next call was frustrating for me. I went into it with no clue for what to do, and a lot of feelings about how badly this intention was going, but during the meditations and journaling I found my next intention:

I intended to TRUST that _____ is happening.

Ahhhh. Much better. Trust is a hard one, but over that month I worked on it and a few things shifted. My frustrations around not already having what I want started to soften.

The next month again I went into the call not knowing what I wanted to focus on, and during the meditation and journaling I found my next intention:

“I AM making this thing happen”

And it LANDED in my body in such a powerful way.

And I know that “we know” you “should always” frame intentions as I AM statements, frame them as positive and be confident that it’s already happened and yadda yadda yadda. I know that's "the rule" but I deliberately didn't make myself do that...

Because that shit doesn’t actually work most of the time.

What works is to BE IN your process with it.

What I shared here is FOUR new moon calls, so a three month time span.

And yes OMG how annoying that it took me THREE FREAKING MONTHS to land on the intention that really feels right.

But this is the work.

Sometimes it's easier for me. Sometimes it's harder. It depends on what you're working on and what's happening in your life.

Set the intention for what you want. Stay with it. Follow through. Be with what happens next. Process your feelings that come up. Listen to yourself. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. This is why we do the new moon calls the way we do, by repeating this process every month you WILL get there.

Our next New Moon call is July 3. If you don't have an intention you're working with right now you can do the June call now! It's never too late.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts about this 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.

On one of our coaching calls a member had said she had this new accountability partner, and they would meet and share their goals, and then meet again to say which things had been checked off the list.

And this person had a lot happening in their life, and some priorities kind of shifted as life tends to do and this new opportunity happened which she gave time and attention to, and so when she went back to the accountability partner, she had not checked off every item on her list and her partner was like “Tsk Tsk You didn’t get it done”

And we talked about how much more helpful and encouraging it is to do it the way to in the creative dream incubator coaching membership - where we acknowledge what you DID do. Surviving a difficult month is AMAZING even if nothing gets checked off the list, you know?

And following your own flow and taking ANY step is something worth cheering for, even if you didn’t take the steps you had planned.

These forms of accountability that are “you must do exactly what you said you’d do, when you said you’d do it, or you are a failure” are short-sighted and can kill your creative spirit - the thing you actually need to make a dream come true.

And yes, of course, check in with yourself about why you don’t do the things you plan to do. Without shaming yourself, peek around and notice - is resistance holding you back? Are you avoiding something uncomfortable? Do you still want to do these things and if so - what kinds of practices will make it easier/gentler for you to do them?

You can keep working on it. It’s ok if it takes the time it takes. You are not a robot!

AND OMG this is so important: Your dream is NOT all about the outer work!

That’s what these forms of accountability don’t take into account.

There is healing and growth that happen that are not always visible. But if you stay in the process over time - suddenly you see. Oh! I was BUILDING THE FOUNDATION! NOW I can check these things off the list because I have the foundation I need.

So, DO NOT JUDGE YOURSELF for the things you want to do, and don’t get to.

Be gentle. Be supportive. Notice what you DID do. Encourage yourself to not give up.

Find ways to look deeper at where you may be holding yourself back from doing what you want to do (you can use the Creative Dream Alchemy Library of Inner Work Practices to help with this).

And do not ever call yourself a failure for “not following through”.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts about this 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.

Hey! Did you see Project Miracle is now open for registration?!?

If you're in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership - you already have access to this right here.

But if you're NOT a member - now you can get Project Miracle for just $33 USD!

Get the details and grab your spot here.

A little note from my journal that wanted to be shared:

Every time I put one piece into the puzzle, I realise there are like 10 more pieces than I thought in the puzzle.

So, each step I take towards the finish line actually moves the finish line further away from me.

I’m still really proud of all of the steps I have taken!!!

But today I need to acknowledge that this is fucking exhausting.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts about this 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.

Hey! Did you see Project Miracle is now open for registration?!?

If you're in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership - you already have access to this right here.

But if you're NOT a member - now you can get Project Miracle for just $33 USD!

Get the details and grab your spot here.

I love how this is working out!

Yesterday I shared my mantra for this week: I am full of amazing ideas. And I mentioned how having a lot of ideas can get overwhelming and talked about what I have been doing to be less overwhelmed and more structured with all of my ideas...

This is a post I had ready to go for today, which I wrote a few weeks ago, when I was in that process.

I just felt my whole body go into overwhelm.

It’s almost like it was happening in slow motion. Starting with my mind getting overwhelmed and then this sense of discomfort filling my whole body.

And now - all I want to do is run away from what I am doing, the thing that made me overwhelmed.

Which was - organizing my LIST OF IDEAS into TASKS and ROUTINES.

I’ve been working on this for over a year. And so much of it is going well AND this summer there is so much I want to add to it and I literally can’t hold it. My mind and body cannot hold it.

So I am noticing this sensation in my body.

This complete inability to hold all these things. The desire to run away as far as possible.

And I am noticing a growing sensation of frustration because THESE ARE THE THINGS I WANT TO BE DOING so of course I need to be able to hold them in some way.

Then it all turns into a jumbled mess inside me.

But I know one thing clearly: containers.

If, in my kitchen, I had flour and sugar and baking soda and eggs, coffee, milk and all the things… just loose everywhere in the cupboards and on the counter… I wouldn’t be able to make anything.

And it would be a frustrating experience every time I even went in there.

Everything needs a container.

Each of my ideas for what I want to do needs a container. An appropriate container that meets the needs of the thing inside it, like how my milk jug is waterproof and fits inside the fridge.

What I am doing right now, is sitting in the jumbled mess of container-less ideas and it is VERY overwhelming and it will never not be overwhelming. Like, I can’t say “Oh I’ll come back to this when I feel more clear-headed” because I could be at my most clear-headed, that doesn’t change that this is a jumbled mess that I literally can’t do anything with.

I am missing a step.

I have to take each idea, and figure out what kind of container it needs.

OK, the overwhelm in my body is calming down.

Going back into that jumbled mess, with the goal of just LOOKING AT (not doing, or attempting to do) ONE THING AT A TIME, to think about how to organize it… this feels doable.

(Looking back at this post from a few weeks ago, I feel so grateful that I did this. Because my ideas are in perfect containers now and I am doing the things and enjoying the process)

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts about this 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.