Note: this post is from my daily Creative Dream Practice and includes links to the tools I use which are a part of the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership. You need an active membership to access those tools. You are always welcome to join right here!

So this is a note from last week....

My mantra was: I AM READY TO STEP INTO MY DREAM

And I was feeling it SO HARD at first....

And now it feels like it’s taunting me.

Like I’ve never felt less ready.

And I may never be ready.

This IS the emotional journey that REALLY working with our dreams take us on.

To do that work, in the creative dream incubator coaching membership we’ve got the un-sticking station and the library of inner work practices. If you’re not sure what practice to use, you can email me, or post in our forum, let me know what’s going on and I will make some suggestions for tools you can use.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

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

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

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

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

Note: this post is from my daily Creative Dream Practice and includes links to the tools I use which are a part of the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership. You need an active membership to access those tools. You are always welcome to join right here!

This is the mantra I got in this week’s Dream Book journaling + alchemy kit: My future is bright

Use the meditation for the weekly mantras to dig in deeper to the mantra, or put your hands on your heart and take five deep slow breaths and repeat to yourself:

My future is bright

Notice where this lands in your body, what thoughts and feelings get sparked.

There is no right or wrong way to react. But your actual thoughts and feelings can tell you something about what you need right now.

My reaction: this feels so familiar and comforting.

I said this to myself A LOT when my husband first left me and I was in shock. It’s like the future I saw just disappeared and I couldn’t see anything in it’s place and I would say to myself “My best life is ahead of me” and I really did feel it and mean it but also couldn’t see it.

And now, almost a year later… I believe it AND I’m not always so sure of my next steps.

I feel like I’ve let go of that relationship but there is deeper work still around… I don’t even have words for it all. But to make a big commitment and be building a life around it and then to have it just walk away on you…

A marriage IS a dream and when a dream leaves you, when you work hard for it and it doesn’t work out - this makes it harder to keep dreaming.

And I know everyone has had a dream not work out.

And I know I am in a wildly transformational time and I KNOW/BELIEVE that I will look back at this time, at this version of myself, and be so grateful for her for continuing to walk through the fire, and follow every rabbit hole that pops up.

A divorce is such an opportunity for healing, so much childhood stuff gets dredged up. So much stuff I thought was healed or gone - here it all is.

And to be confident and energetic enough to be self employed through this… it’s just a YIKES some days.

Because of the nature of my work, my work itself is not hard. I’m doing more calls than ever in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership and I’m loving it.

It’s the marketing and selling and being “out there” and coming up with effective and strategic plans that’s been hard.

But I don’t want to “push through” or force myself to do all the things…

I want to see this time as a sacred transformative fire. We have so much power to choose the narrative which does change our options.

I am MAKING my future bright.

If you want to work on this with me:

If I am growing feels good and encouraging, hold it with you today. Look at problems, questions, stucks and obstacles through this lens and see what ideas it brings.

If it brings up some discomfort - that’s your stuff to work on today. To do that work, in the creative dream incubator coaching membership we’ve got the un-sticking station and the library of inner work practices. If you’re not sure what practice to use, you can email me, or post in our forum, let me know what’s going on and I will make some suggestions for tools you can use.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

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

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

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

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

Note: this post is from my daily Creative Dream Practice and includes links to the tools I use which are a part of the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership. You need an active membership to access those tools. You are always welcome to join right here!

This is the mantra I got in this week’s Dream Book journaling + alchemy kit: I am ready to step into my dream.

Use the meditation for the weekly mantras to dig in deeper to the mantra, or put your hands on your heart and take five deep slow breaths and repeat to yourself:

I am ready to step into my dream.

Notice where this lands in your body, what thoughts and feelings get sparked.

There is no right or wrong way to react. But your actual thoughts and feelings can tell you something about what you need right now.

My reaction: Ahhh! This one feels palpable in my whole body. Like a YES.

It’s time for this STEP.

I can’t articulate exactly what that means which is a little frustrating. To feel this whole body YES about taking a step and not knowing what that step looks like in any practical sense.

But during our Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual Practice call last week, the soul of my business did ask me: “Why are you not visualizing your goal every morning first thing when you wake up?”

And I didn’t have an answer to that question…

Not that I think visualizing your goals first thing when you wake up is VITAL. I do lots of creative dream practices. It only matters THAT you show up, not so much HOW you show up.

But the way the question came in, it felt like - this is the thing that is right for right now, so why aren’t you doing it?

BUT. AND. ALSO.

There was this twistiness in the question, in... well like there was something I was not seeing. Because that's a weird way to say "I need you to visualize every morning"

But to go off on a different little tangent...

Recently the mantra was "I am ready for my next steps" and I am noticing how different this one feels.

AND noticing the medicine of having a new mantra float in every week, bringing it into my body and consciousness and letting it have some space to see what takes root. And so new mantras can merge with the energy and shifts left from old mantras...

Because I am ready to step into my dream feels HUGE.

And I wouldn't be able to feel ready for anything HUGE without practicing being ready for little baby next steps.

Back to the twistiness...

I left that meditation in Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual practice feeling like there is something I am not seeing, that the Creative Dream Incubator really needs me to see.

I didn't feel like I am doing something WRONG. Just that I can't see something.

This is so uncomfortable to sit with.

So I AM READY TO STEP INTO MY DREAM feels palpable and powerful

AND

There is a frustration around not knowing what this looks like because I have been taking steps but none of them have, so far, landed me right in the dream.

AND IT'S LIKE

Do I just keep taking these steps or does something else need to change?

And it felt like the energy of my marriage. Where I was so in love with my husband, and so willing to work on it AND he was drowning, traumatic events kept happening in his life and he dependence on alcohol was becoming a bigger and bigger problem and it's like... do I keep trying or do I walk away?

Not that I want to walk away from my dreams!!!!

But it felt like the same energy.

Does something else need to change?

And then the message from the Creative Dream Incubator and the twistiness...

The step that lands me in my dream is different from the steps I have been taking.

Which is good information

AND

It's very difficult information because the steps I have been taking are the steps I see to take. Like I always say - take the step that's in front of you.

BUT/AND

Taking the step that are in front of me has led me here, to this place of palpably feeling like I need to make a change, and not knowing what the change is.

There is a tension in this.

And then the next step is: stay in the tension.

This is what I mean when I say to follow the rabbit holes.

Explore all the stuff that comes up from an affirmation or idea...

It won't all make sense!!!!

And the path may be so convoluted that no one would ever believe it's a path...

But giving it all space DOES bring you what you need.

(Because I write these ahead of time, I already know that STAYING IN THE TENSION brought me amazing stuff, I'll share more on that this week)

If you want to work on this with me:

If I am growing feels good and encouraging, hold it with you today. Look at problems, questions, stucks and obstacles through this lens and see what ideas it brings.

If it brings up some discomfort - that’s your stuff to work on today. To do that work, in the creative dream incubator coaching membership we’ve got the un-sticking station and the library of inner work practices. If you’re not sure what practice to use, you can email me, or post in our forum, let me know what’s going on and I will make some suggestions for tools you can use.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

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

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

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

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

Actually, Outer Work grounds Inner Work too...

But: Dream Work will help you ground all of this Inner Work was the message I got last week.

Each of the works - Dream Work, Inner Work, Outer Work, support each other. (Check out the Creative Dream Alchemy class for more on this)

And when you’re doing a lot of one of them, it’s good to think about how the others may help you, too.

Since I have so much Inner Work coming at me, spending more time with Dream Work is helping me GROUND the changes I am making with Inner Work.

For me, right now, trying to do more Outer Work to ground the Inner Work would only make me more overwhelmed. But sometimes doing more Outer Work is the thing you need to ground those inner changes.

What do you need?

Think about what's been happening for you with your creative dreams lately...

Do you have lots of inspiration and clarity? Are you feeling really in alignment with yourself, and the version of you you are growing into? (Dream Work)

Do you feel stuck? Are a lot of fears and doubts coming up? Or a sense of heaviness or fogginess? (Inner Work)

Are you getting stuff done? Making measurable progress? (Outer Work)

Whichever one you are most focused on right now - look at the other two.

Could doing more of those help you with the one you're more focused on?

Find libraries of practices for:

Dream Work | Inner Work | Outer Work

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

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

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

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

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

Note: this post is from my daily Creative Dream Practice and includes links to the tools I use which are a part of the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership. You need an active membership to access those tools. You are always welcome to join right here!

This is the mantra I got in this week’s Dream Book journaling + alchemy kit: I am growing.

Use the meditation for the weekly mantras to dig in deeper to the mantra, or put your hands on your heart and take five deep slow breaths and repeat to yourself:

I am growing.

Notice where this lands in your body, what thoughts and feelings get sparked.

There is no right or wrong way to react. But your actual thoughts and feelings can tell you something about what you need right now.

My reaction:YES! I FUCKING AM!

As you can tell from last week's posts, it's been A LOT recently. And then I got a bad cold at the end of the week.

BUT. AND.

Every time in my life when things have been harder for me, for whatever reason, it's like a bootcamp. I come out of it stronger and believing in myself more.

I am counting on this happening now.

But in all of this, I am noticing one DELICIOUS way that I am growing...

The way I am showing up for my SELF in my Dream Book practice.

I am filling pages and pages. And I have a whole second journal that I use for expressing feelings, un-sticking and just kind of a brain dump.

I have re-arranged my work space to be less "computer type work" and more "all my favourite art supplies for creative journaling everywhere".

I mostly use the computer on the couch, or lying on the floor, anyway.

I always have my little zipper pouch of paint pens with my journals, but keeping my messier art supplies scattered all over my desk just FEELS GOOD. It's such an invitation to KEEP showing up to express myself, and spend quality time with myself, and my dreams, in my journals.

So I am spending more and more quality time with myself.

And I am noticing that "first response" that wants to bury any doubt/fear/anxiety/depression that comes up and just power through.

Of course, sometimes I CAN just power through but...

I don't WANT TO.

I am NOTICING that response instead of just being right IN IT.

Now I want to sit with it, say "Oh sweetheart I'm sorry you feel this way! What do you need?" and take it from there.

This is growth.

If you want to work on this with me:

If I am growing feels good and encouraging, hold it with you today. Look at problems, questions, stucks and obstacles through this lens and see what ideas it brings.

If it brings up some discomfort - that’s your stuff to work on today. To do that work, in the creative dream incubator coaching membership we’ve got the un-sticking station and the library of inner work practices. If you’re not sure what practice to use, you can email me, or post in our forum, let me know what’s going on and I will make some suggestions for tools you can use.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

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

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

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

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

Note: this post is from my daily Creative Dream Practice and includes links to the tools I use which are a part of the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership. You need an active membership to access those tools. You are always welcome to join right here!

This is the mantra I got in this week’s Dream Book journaling + alchemy kit: I release the obstacles.

Use the meditation for the weekly mantras to dig in deeper to the mantra, or put your hands on your heart and take five deep slow breaths and repeat to yourself:

I release the obstacles.

Notice where this lands in your body, what thoughts and feelings get sparked.

There is no right or wrong way to react. But your actual thoughts and feelings can tell you something about what you need right now.

My reaction: it feels a little magic, like sparkles around me and these that I CAN do this, but then it feels annoying.

Then I become fascinated with now much OBSTACLE WORK has been coming up for me lately.

And then I'm like - but Andrea, you know that THIS IS THE WORK. I mean - you can't have a dream without obstacles, and so of course working with obstacles is a big part of how you move forward and you've been moving forward!

RELEASE and WORK THROUGH are related, sometimes they are the same thing - but sometimes not.

If you can just let a thing go, then by all means let it go! But it's not always that simple....

But what if it was?

I'm going to try holding this perspective.

If you want to work on this with me:

If I release the obstacles feels good and encouraging, hold it with you today. Look at problems, questions, stucks and obstacles through this lens and see what ideas it brings.

If it brings up some discomfort - that’s your stuff to work on today. To do that work, in the creative dream incubator coaching membership we’ve got the un-sticking station and the library of inner work practices. If you’re not sure what practice to use, you can email me, or post in our forum, let me know what’s going on and I will make some suggestions for tools you can use.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

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

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

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

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