The path won’t always be what you think it should be

By Andrea Schroeder / July 9, 2024 / daily practice, inner work, journaling

The Dream Lab Playbook!

Two recent meditations from the Dream Lab:

(The Dream Lab is one of the things I use as an almost-daily practice)

First one: My dream shows up as this burst of expansion which is like wings in my heart that stretch out.

There is this “reaching out” sensation but also a sensation of “rooting in” and being more who I am.

The internet has been broken in my home since the weekend. (Yeah I wrote this one last week, it’s fixed now!!) What it felt in the meditation is… THIS IS GOOD. Re-wiring myself to be more wired to myself, less wired to look outside of me for distractions.

And it felt like divine timing.

Creative projects are calling.

Creative GROWTH is calling.

And it feels like - rooting more deeply inside myself is how I help EXPAND into my dream at this time.

Second one: My dream shows up as a sacred crown being placed on my head.

And suddenly I am radiant and IN my own radiance.

I feel so calm and peaceful and sure.

My dream is my growth, my creativity, my healing. It’s an in me, I GOT THIS.

Often when I share my Dream Labs they are more focused and helpful, I am sharing how much this can help me in a practical sense.

But lately it’s just… vibes, lol.

Which IS, in a practical sense, what I need. But it doesn’t feel like the clarity of “ok go do this” that I sometimes get from this work.

It’s always shifting.

We’re never doing it wrong.

Just keep showing up.

There are three paths to making your dream happen.

The outer work, the practical stuff and measurable progress is only 1/3 of the process.

The inner work, the ways we confront the places where we hold back is also 1/3 of the process.

Then the dream work, the ways we grow more into who we really are, accept and nurture our gifts, is also 1/3.

Literally just sitting here, feeling this sacred crown on my head, radiating my own magic - this is the work. Sometimes. Doing these practices DOES shift how we see things, DOES bring in new ideas, and DOES impact the outer steps we take, so that we can see more of that measurable progress we all like so much.

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.

The path won’t always be what you think it should be Read More »

My time is now

By Andrea Schroeder / July 8, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

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 time is now.

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 time is now.

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 one brings me into the present in a way that feels grounding and expansive.

I LOVE feeling simultaneously grounded and expanded. Like I am stable and supported enough to reach out and grow.

I don’t have a lot to say about this one, I am just really enjoying this sensation.

I look forward to keeping this one on my mind this week.

If you want to work on this with me:

If My time is now 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.

My time is now Read More »

Intention is so scary and you are so magic.

By Andrea Schroeder / July 4, 2024 / daily practice, inner work, journaling

Dream Book is a way of journaling that gets you to your dream.

It works.

And that’s why I avoid my Dream Book all the time, lol.

There are lots of reasons for this but what I am noticing right now is that this way of working with intention is so powerful that it becomes frightening.

All of the “what ifs” and doubts and uncomfortable questions and AM I REALLY READY FOR THIS? are RIGHT THERE. In my face. Facing it all IS the way through...

And resistance offers this comfy little cave to hide in. And who wouldn’t choose comfy over uncomfy?

But the time spent “hiding out” in resistance isn’t really wasted.

Stuff is incubating, processing beneath the surface.

Just getting the Dream Book out, looking at the table of contents, looking at the checklist of Dream Book lessons, figuring out where you are in it IS a way of engaging with your intentions.

The thing that comes up in response to that - a feeling, a discomfort, an idea… that’s the thing to focus on. That’s your next step.

So, for the last while, being in resistance WAS my next step.

Can I trust that I was doing my best to show up? Can I trust that things were working through beneath the surface?

I don't know.

I declared that in 2024 I am exploring my resistance and boy does it keep showing up.

But I DO know that now, in the last few weeks, I am opening my Dream Book and working in it much more regularly and it feels like MAGIC.

When I have a question, I make a page for it.... And within days I have an answer OR the start of an answer OR a new idea for how to get the answer.

This is a miracle!

The other day I made a new Dream Self page.

That's the one pictured above. When I look at my drawing, I don't see the scribbly mess that is there, I see HOW IT FELT in the meditation. I see magic. Drawing it out, even if you "can't draw" is so helpful! Try it!

The big thing that is different between her and me is that her heart is deeply rooted.

And this deeply rooted heart changes how she does things.

Most notably: she has entirely different boundaries around being overwhelmed. If there is a spectrum from completely debilitated by overwhelm to completely plugged into my inner magic and not at all overwhelmed, she lives on an entirely different part of the spectrum than I do.

I have struggled with overwhelm always, but especially since 2020.

And it seems like she doesn't struggle with it, not because she has better TOOLS but because she has better BOUNDARIES. (As far as I can tell, she uses all the same tools as me!)

This is such a cool thing to notice and explore.

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.

Intention is so scary and you are so magic. Read More »

I am wiling to get uncomfortable in service to my dreams

By Andrea Schroeder / July 1, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

This is the mantra I got in this week’s Dream Book journaling + alchemy kit: I am willing to get uncomfortable in service to 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 willing to get uncomfortable in service to 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 response: Ha ha HA!!!

I’ve now gone a whole week without internet in my home.

I used up my cell data before the internet was completely out, when it was just dropping a lot and I decided to tether my laptop to my phone for Zoom… ASSuming that I could just buy more data if I ran out.

The my internet stopped working completely and I found out that it’s some complicated thing that needs a technician who is backed up and I just have to wait my turn. Then I found out my phone plan doesn’t allow me to buy more data, I just get a $50 overage charge and it’s cut off until the next month.

Not a disaster or anything but definitely uncomfortable for a person who runs an internet business.

BUT I already go to coffee shops, or the park, in the mornings, and both places have wi-fi. My sister and parents volunteered their homes for doing Zooms call and any other item eI need wifi. I discovered the coffee shop next door to me doesn’t turn off their wifi when they close at night so I could walk over and check email standing on the sidewalk in the evenings.

But I couldn’t be at home, and work the way I usually work. I did stuff and saved up my “needs wi-fi” tasks and then would go do them all at once.

And I couldn’t scroll. Or watch something on Netflix. And I discovered how much I’ve been using scrolling and Netflix to distract myself from my divorce.

So yes, my path has had some discomfort on it this week and this mantra makes me LAUGH.

Because I’ve been more focused on the opposite, letting my comfort matter.

Is it this way with every mantra? That we need to find the right BALANCE that works in the moment?

I’m already somewhat overwhelmed with the divorce and effort of re-building my life. I had really brutal week of what I call the “Perimenopause monster PMS”.

And then suddenly I had this extra discomfort of not being able to do my work the way I am used to doing my work.

And I was trying to keep up with the reels I’ve been posting on social media. I was sitting in the library, and Instagram was being weird, which it often is, but I couldn’t get my captions to display right and usually what I do in these cases is delete it and start over but I’m in a library and don’t want to keep talking to record it and everything felt too hard and I was like…

Stop.

Just be with how you are. You are not in a place to put reels on Instagram every day. It doesn’t matter.

I was trying to hold myself accountable for my goals and was it just last week that I wrote this post about “don’t be an asshole to yourself in the name of accountability” and there I was kind of being an asshole to myself.

So yes I am willing to get uncomfortable in service to my dreams, in the ways that we do have to face the hard things…. AND...

I am willing to bring comfort into the process by whatever means I can access!

If that means slowing down and giving myself more time or making my steps smaller and less stressful or asking for help or… whatever means I can access!

This is so important on both sides. Avoiding the discomfort of the hard stuff does keep us stuck. But not tending to our tender selves in the process is destructive to all parts of us.

If you want to work on this with me:

If I am willing to get uncomfortable in service to my dream 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.

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.

I am wiling to get uncomfortable in service to my dreams Read More »

Vibe check

By Andrea Schroeder / June 27, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

Something that's been on my mind:

You can’t stay in the vibe of “I WANT TO _____”

Even though you DO legitimately want to _____

You have to be in the vibe of “I AM ______”

But you can’t STAY in that vibe if you’re ignoring/avoiding/resisting all of the feelings about how hard this this. About how you do want to _______ but _______.

So you do have to sometimes be with how much you want to.

And you do sometimes how to be with how scared you are that you can’t.

In order to really BE IN the vibe of KNOWING and TRUSTING that you ARE doing this... at other times.

You can’t STAY in any of these states!

Being aware of where you are, and what you patterns are around where you tend to be, is so helpful.

I don’t think you can genuinely, fully, magically, powerfully get into the vibe of I AM if you’re not giving yourself space to be in all of the other states, too.

What are the practices that help tip the scales towards spending more time in the I AM vibe? (The Creative Dream Alchemy Library of Dream Work Practices can give you some places to start)

How can you make more time for them?

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.

Vibe check Read More »

Loneliness and desire

By Andrea Schroeder / June 26, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

For the most part, I’m doing really well with my divorce. I’m meeting new people, joining new groups, trying new things, and marinating in the magic of living alone and not making any compromises.

And then sometimes, yes it’s lonely.

And sometimes the loneliness becomes more like this big sharp pain of longing for something that is not there, and I don’t see any way to get it.

It feels so helpless so I try to avoid the feeling...

But then this one time I was experiencing that sharp pain and decided to try to sit with it.

Try to figure out what my loneliness wanted even though what I wanted to do was just find a way to run away from it somehow.

Sitting with it was like visiting a part of me who is in quicksand. I was at the shore, wanting to help, but my lonely sell grabbed me and started pulling me in. I was holding onto the shore for dear life when a wiser self somewhere piped up and said “Let go”

Holding on felt impossible anyway, so I let go. Expecting to drown in quicksand…

But as soon as I stopped resisting it, it wasn’t quicksand anymore.

It was an energy field so powerful it held me and my lonely self up. It felt powerful like a forcefield and we were floating in it.

Floating in what though?

It didn’t feel like loneliness anymore.

Ohhh.

It’s my desire for connection and intimacy.

It’s powerful but also kind of formless.

Like - it’s still in the process of becoming.

It’s so hard to LONG for a thing but also not quite know what you want it to look/be/feel like.

This happens with lots of dreams.

And it makes it easy for doubts and fears to pop in and take over.

But when we can sit in the power of our own longing… wow that is something.

That sharp aching loneliness was gone. I felt expansive and trusting and settled in knowing that now is not the time to call this in.

I am going to practice sitting in this. And especially when loneliness creeps in I want to come back to this meditation, and move into this powerful field of longing.

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.

Loneliness and desire Read More »

Some thoughts on working through the hard parts

By Andrea Schroeder / June 25, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

This is from last week:

I’m completely overwhelmed. I did an un-sticking station session but I feel like I am just going through the motion with that... Not really in touch with my feelings.

There is this part of me who 100% believes in me and 100% believes in my dreams.

This part of me is trapped by the parts of me who are panicking and overwhelmed.

Like if I was to drawn a pie chart of how much of me feels which way - the panic and overwhelm would take up the whole pie chart and the part of me who believes in myself would be squashed underneath it.

I think usually the part of me who believes in myself gets squished small in the pie chart - not squashed completely underneath it. This is a new feeling.

Looking through my journal I remember how in touch I was with that part of me a few days ago and it’s so disappointing to not feel it today.

So what do I need?

Probably just some time.

Probably ACCEPTANCE that this is how I feel today.

Probably some self care and nurturing of the part of me who DOES 100% believe in me.

Now it's this week and I am reflecting on this.

It's SO HARD to be in an uncomfortable place and know that you need to just... be there. Accept things you don't want to accept. Feel feelings you don't want to feel.

And it's SO EASY to feel like if you're in that place today, then you'll be in that place forever.

But BEING WITH is a way of WORKING THROUGH. (note to self)

And this week, well today anyway, I don't feel any of this. I feel calm and trusting. I feel proud of everything I've done so far with my dreams, and I feel equipped to keep taking steps. I am feel really grateful to be exactly where I am with everything.

Triangle Dream Compass

This really is how it works!

This is the compass of Creative Dream Alchemy.

Inner work LEADS to outer work. IF YOU SHOW UP FOR IT. Avoiding the inner work does slow everything down.

And the thing is, it FELT LIKE everything was all slowed down last week, but I was actually processing and percolating and shifting.

So, looking back, if I could teach myself one thing it would be to try (practice!) to have more faith in this, when I hit the next rough spot.

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.

Some thoughts on working through the hard parts Read More »

I have the power to change

By Andrea Schroeder / June 24, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

This is the mantra I got in this week’s Dream Book journaling + alchemy kit: I have the power to change

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 have the power to change.

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.

This one really LANDS for me today.

First of all - there is no "I SHOULD change" or "I would be a better person if I changed this or that"

It just feels like having the POWER to CHOOSE change - in ways that feel good to me.

Life is always changing. We are alive. We do always have the power to change AND there are times when accessing that power feels like too much.

Right now I DO feel I have the power to change.

And it feels so helpful to remember that.

Oh! I can just CHANGE. I don't have to deal with this situation in the ways I always have, and get more of results I've always gotten. I can always change.

It feels magical and freeing.

ALSO, looking at sticky situations and dreams that feel stuck...

What changes when I look at it through the lens of "I have the power to change"?

This feels exciting to explore as my mantra this week.

If you want to work on this with me:

If I have the power to change 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.

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.

I have the power to change Read More »

I am becoming who I am meant to be

By Andrea Schroeder / June 17, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

This is the mantra I got in this week’s Dream Book journaling + alchemy kit: I am becoming who I am meant to be

Use the meditation on this page 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 becoming who I am meant to be

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.

This one makes my heart feel bigger.

What if I was meant to be divorced? That our life together was meant to be AND it was not meant to be for the rest of our lives. And there is more good stuff ahead of me...

And all of the healing, the way a divorce brings up so much stuff it really is a beautiful opportunity to free yourself.

As I keep sitting with it, it starts to feel a little scary.

I'm trying to be with the fear, but it's moving around. It's like maybe "who I am meant to be" is somehow bigger than what I feel comfortable with. But then it slips around like... no I can trust my own purpose, right? I can trust my inner callings, can't I?

And now my heart feels uncertain.

I notice when I think of "who I am meant to be" I am thinking of external things - things I do or have or create.

So I bring it in.

YIKES!

Suddenly MEANT TO BE feels sticky to me.

Like someone outside of me telling me who I SHOULD be, what I SHOULD want... which is what our world is always doing which I rebel against.

I don't like it.

I feel how important it is to CHOOSE and CREATE.

I am becoming who I CHOOSE to be.

My life is becoming what I choose to create.

So - I'm not sure about this one.

I'm going to use I am becoming who I CHOOSE to be as my mantra for this week.

If you want to work on this with me:

If I am becoming who I am meant to be feels good and encouraging, hold it with you today. Maybe make a list of the amazing ideas you want to act on next.

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.

I am becoming who I am meant to be Read More »

I am full of amazing ideas

By Andrea Schroeder / June 10, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

This is the mantra I got in this week’s Dream Book journaling + alchemy kit: I am full of amazing ideas

Use the meditation on this page 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 full of amazing ideas.

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.

This one makes me smile.

I really am full of amazing ideas.

And lately I have all these experiences of really deeply feeling how each step matters. Each step adds up. Each thing I do helps me learn and grow and take a better step next time. I trust this.

Building a "new life" after divorce feels like A LOT and yet... all I can do is keep taking little steps.

And it's so reassessing to think of how I AM full of amazing ideas, and that even if what I am doing now doesn't pan out like I hope - there is no shortage of other things to try.

It's easy for creative people to feel overwhelmed and bogged down by having too many ideas.

One thing that helps me feel good about so many amazing ideas is STRUCTURE. Like having places to store my ideas so they're not whirling around in my mind. The Project Page in Dream Book, and the prompts in the Dream Plan Kit for processing ideas. I start there, and then put everything into Notion, my project management app where I have slowly been getting everything organized/structured in a way that works for my brain, and is really making it easier for me to do the things I want to do.

If I AM FULL OF AMAZING IDEAS feels good and encouraging, hold it with you today. Maybe make a list of the amazing ideas you want to act on next.

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.

I am full of amazing ideas Read More »

I’ve wandered too deep into the inner work

By Andrea Schroeder / June 6, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

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 often talk about how, when I first started my business, I had to have daily un-sticking stations with my fear that I couldn’t do this.

Our dreams are TERRIFYING sometimes.

And it can feel impossible to engage with a thing that terrifies us.

But we know that NOT engaging will destroy the dream.

So we can feel stuck there.

And I share my story often as a way to hopefully encourage people that - yes, you can keep showing up with ALL of you. The parts that are terrified AND the parts that want the dream.

And as we know, ignoring/avoiding something because it scares you means you are letting your fear run your life. This won’t lead anywhere good.

I feel like I’m back in that place sometimes now.

Divorce is brutal. Some days I feel so sure of the new life I am creating and I am enjoying the freedom of it. Some days I feel like all of my solid ground is gone and I just don’t know what to do.

I found this in my journal:

I think I have wandered too deep into the inner work.

I’m terrified.

That's a valid way to feel.

Our creative dreams (and recovering from divorce and building a new life IS a creative dream!) do ask us to look at our STUFF.

And that can be terrifying,

And we get stop, and say "This is terrifying" and then take care of ourselves.

This is part of the work too.

It's not all about BUSTING THROUGH this stuff.

At each step, you know what you need. Sometimes you need epic self care to soothe the things that get stirred up. Sometimes you need to take brave steps.

Always you need to listen to what feels true and right for you right now.

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’ve wandered too deep into the inner work Read More »

Nothing can stop me

By Andrea Schroeder / June 3, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

This is the mantra I got in this week’s Dream Book journaling + alchemy kit: Nothing can stop me.

Put your hands on your heart and take five deep slow breaths and repeat to yourself:

Nothing can stop me.

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.

At first, I think about all the things that CAN stop me.

This mantra feels objectively untrue.

But then I remember that this morning when I was looking through things I noticed that I self published The Creative Dream Playbook at the end of October 2023.

One month after my husband very suddenly left me. Two weeks after my step-son went into the hospital and the doctors were saying we would likely not make it. (Though now, seven months later, he's out of the hospital and doing well!)

I didn't write and do the artwork for the whole journal in October! But I did self publish it, as in ALL BY MYSELF which is a really big deal. It was a lot of steps to take, most of them VERY annoying, and even with all of that stress and grief, I got them all done.

So now I'm like... maybe nothing can stop me?

If NOTHING CAN STOP ME feels good and encouraging, hold it with you today.

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.

Nothing can stop me Read More »

The whole universe supports my dreams

By Andrea Schroeder / May 27, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

This is the mantra I got in this week’s Dream Book journaling + alchemy kit: The whole universe supports my dreams.

I recorded a video of this post - I'll be sharing it on Instagram this morning, if you'd like to listen to me say it 🙂

Put your hands on your heart and take five deep slow breaths and listen to me.

The whole universe supports your dreams.

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.

It’s so easy to feel like the world is against your dreams and in a lot of ways - it is. Extractive capitalism based on white supremacist values, especially the late stage capitalism we’ve been sliding into since the 80s, absolutely is against a lot of your dreams.

But the culture we currently live in is not the universe.

The whole universe supports your dreams.

Your dreams are a part of you. They are a part of your authenticity, your purpose and potential. They are not things outside of you to chase, they are your own soul shining a light on the path.

This is what you are here for.

The whole universe supports your dreams.

If that feels good and encouraging, hold it with you today.

If it brings up some discomfort - that’s your stuff to work on today.

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.

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The whole universe supports my dreams Read More »

The posts I share here are biased

By Andrea Schroeder / May 22, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

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.

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.

+++++++++++

Some days I do my Creative Dream Practice, I meet my dream and journal and meditate and feel in alignment…

and then I just go my stuff.

I don’t write a post to share about it because there's not much to say.

It’s the days when I feel lost that I write more, because writing helps me find my way through AND I feel we need to normalize that we feel stuck OFTEN on the way to a dream. And that FEELING stuck is fine - just keep showing up and working with it.

So, don’t worry about me!

I’m sharing a lot of the harder stuff because I think this is more valuable to share. I'm actually having lots of good, creative days 🙂

With that said, here’s today’s post:

I just feel heavy and foggy today. I had a bike ride and coffee and journaling and I can’t shake this feeling.

So, taking heavy foggy into the Un-Sticking Station:

It shows up right away and says: I’m not heavy or foggy I am sad.

Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. Here, let’s get you a cushy blanket and some tea and cookies. A big pillow to lean on. There’s so much to be sad about, this is so valid.

My sad self bursts into tears. I offer her Kleenex.

What can I do?

I kind of want to pull you under here, you know? Let’s just BE SAD ALL DAY.

OK, that feels like resistance speaking, not sadness.

I know, right? Interesting.

Can I talk to JUST sadness, with no resistance hiding behind it?

Hmmmm, sadness WITHOUT resistance. That’s interesting.

Are you able to separate yourself from resistance?

Resistance seems to LOVE to glom on to sadness and use it, like a curtain to hide behind.

That is interesting. AND annoying because right now I can’t separate them.

Sadness, do you want me to do these things I wanted to do today?

Oh yeah, I do. I think that doing these things help us not be sad.

And then there is this little whisper of “But it’s too hard, let’s not do it today”

Which invites the question: Are things harder for me to sort through because of the divorce OR are my life-long companions, resistance and self-doubt, using the divorce as a diversion, so they can take over?

Probably both.

Also, does it matter?

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.

The posts I share here are biased Read More »

The Waves

By Andrea Schroeder / May 21, 2024 / daily practice, healing, inner work, journaling

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.

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’m having a lot of WAVES lately.

Times when I feel so sure. Like, SO SURE. Completely confident that everything is going to work out like I am hoping it will. Super brave and clear-headed and focused and getting things done.

And then times when I feel so unsure. Like, SO FUCKING PAINFULLY SURE that it’s all going to fall apart and my life is over.

Sometimes I get caught in that undercurrent that it’s all bound to fail.

And sometimes I say “Oh honey, I’m so sorry you are feeling this way, even though yes of course you feel this way. Creative dreaming is such a brave way to live your life and it gets scary sometimes! So what can we do to help you feel better?”

THIS. IS. THE. PROCESS.

When we feel like SOMETHING IS WRONG when we feel this way - we shut down the process.

Everyone has these feelings.

Allowing them to come to the surface allows us to understand these parts of us better. It brings shadows out into the open.

In the open, we can heal and change and grow.

In the shadows, very little change is possible.

So, these intense waves I’ve been feeling are because I’m in such an intense time of growth.

They are a part of it.

So I am really trying to EMBRACE them.

Yes, sometimes I end up take over by them and that’s really uncomfortable.

AND if I can stay in the process - I can learn, shift perspectives, heal and grow.

This is the work.

I’m doing it.

(Reminder to self 😉

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.

The Waves Read More »