Manifest Your Dream Life

Connect with the part of me that knows how to take the next steps [Weekly Dream Status Report]

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Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

On Fridays I do my Dream Status Report which is a series of prompts I use every week to help me have more clarity, momentum and groundedness on my path. You can do them with me (Dream Book members: come post yours in the forum!)!

My Dream Status Report for this week:

PART ONE: 

My dream is: I want to get an RV or camper van and travel… WITH MY CAT BEAR!!!! Create a comfy cozy home on wheels, and write + make art on the road while we have adventures.

I want it because: It feels so sweet and makes me happy.

When I have it I will feel: I think I will feel so happy, free and thrilled with my life.

PART TWO: 

Invite the soul of your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.

My dream shows up as a light in my heart that feels like a healing and a breakthrough.

PART THREE:

Last week’s focus was: Do the work. And do all the things that help me be able to do the work.

What happened in the last week? 

I really did DO THE WORK and also do the things that help me be able to do the work. Loads of self care and creative dream practicing and LOADS of outer work.

I launched the 10 day Creative Dream Journal Challenge! There is more I want to do with it but this is such a good step and I feel SO GOOD about it!

What am I learning/How do I feel about this?

I feel happy and proud and grateful I got this project done.

What do I need now?

To revel in it. I am taking this day off to relax. Journal, sew, rest and get connected to my Dream Self - the vision of me who is out there wildly promoting this creative dream challenge.

What does my dream need now?

The light in my heart glows. It's happy with what I am doing.

Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is:

Focus on my Dream Self who knows how to take these next steps.

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls.

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Do the work [Weekly Dream Status Report]

By / / ,

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

On Fridays I do my Dream Status Report which is a series of prompts I use every week to help me have more clarity, momentum and groundedness on my path. You can do them with me (Dream Book members: come post yours in the forum!)!

My Dream Status Report for this week:

PART ONE: 

My dream is: I want to get an RV or camper van and travel… WITH MY CAT BEAR!!!! Create a comfy cozy home on wheels, and write + make art on the road while we have adventures.

I want it because: It feels so sweet and makes me happy.

When I have it I will feel: I think I will feel so happy, free and thrilled with my life.

PART TWO: 

Invite the soul of your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.

My dream shows up as a tree on a warm day. The leaves are sparkling where the sun hits.

PART THREE:

Last week’s focus was: Give myself space to feel and process and heal and trust in the magic of my dreams and the beauty of my future.

What happened in the last week? 

This was another rough week on the divorce front. And a lot of resistance about that. My new life is taking shape in front of me, I am happy and excited about this so I'd like to not have any thoughts or feelings about the divorce, lol.

But, again, I remind myself - I want to BE WITH all parts of me, all the thoughts and feelings, give them space to process and release and be able to move into my future not holding onto anything from this, except the growth and learning.

I remembered how my husband and I knew our relationship was sacred, and talked about the ways it was healing us. I want to believe in this - how if the marriage was sacred then the divorce must be too. That changes my whole experience of this time - it's like a vortex of healing and transformation. When I can hold onto that perspective, everything shifts. So I want to keep learning how to hold onto it WITHOUT denying or pushing away my actual feelings in the moment. It's this constant tightrope walk.

BUT IN THE REST OF MY LIFE THINGS ARE SO GOOOOOD!!!

I'm working on a new free class - it's a creative dream challenge. I feel SO excited about it as a way of introducing people to my work and I LOVE that feeling of LOVING the ways my ideas are coming together.

I am co-working with a new friend who is a huge inspiration to me. I joined a craftivism group and am meeting them this weekend. The days are getting so much longer and our winter was frighteningly short and warm (the river I usually skate on barely froze over - the slate paths were only open for a few days this year!!!) and it feels like spring now.

What am I learning/How do I feel about this?

I have been giving myself SO MUCH MORE SPACE to process and feel and think and this has been so good. I am filling journal pages and just, not learning anything really but appreciating the magic of feeling more connected to all parts of me.

What do I need now?

As I sit with this question I just feel so grateful that I have been so good at figuring out what I need, and giving it to myself.

What does my dream need now?

I check in with the tree. It needs water, and a little fertilizer. It's already got plenty of sunshine.

This feels like it's asking me to "do the work". Like - the tree can't water itself. I get it.

Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is:

Do the work. And do all the things that help me be able to do the work.

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls.

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Space to feel, process, heal + trust in the magic of my dreams + the beauty of my future [Weekly Dream Status Report]

By / / ,

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

On Fridays I do my Dream Status Report which is a series of prompts I use every week to help me have more clarity, momentum and groundedness on my path. You can do them with me (Dream Book members: come post yours in the forum!)!

My Dream Status Report for this week:

PART ONE: 

My dream is: I FOUND MY FREAKING NEXT DREAM THIS WEEK!!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED, LOL! The dream I had been working with feels more like a goal, I goal I really want to get but not a DREAM and the goal supports this dream, too. Here it is: I want to get an RV or camper van and travel… WITH MY CAT BEAR!!!! Create a comfy cozy home on wheels, and write + make art on the road while we have adventures. I woke up with this dream Monday morning after a difficult weekend and it feels so good in my heart.

I want it because: I feel so much desire for this, like I NEEEEEED to do it.

When I have it I will feel: I’ve been working through a lot of “stuff” about being about to turn 50. I’ve always been excited about new decades, but right now? Starting a new decade when my life just fell apart? Not even knowing what I want next? I felt unprepared and now I feel SO EXCITED to turn 50. So, this dream is already a healing balm. And when I have it I will feel so happy, expansive and thrilled with my life.

PART TWO: 

Invite the soul of your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.

It’s a lantern! It feels like the light of my soul, here to guide me along. That moving towards this dream will give me the healing, growth and circumstances I need most right now.

PART THREE:

Last week’s focus was: Be more intentional and present.

At the New Moon call last week, I got more information on this - the message was GO DEEP into inner creativity. Like inner work, but with more play and creativity and less focus. Inner work is like “let’s clear the thing that’s in the way of me doing what I want to do” and inner play is like “let’s dive in and explore”

What happened in the last week? 

This was a rough week on the divorce front. I’ve cut all ties with my ex, we’ll have to talk in 6 months to file divorce papers, and we can see where we’re at then. But the friendship we’d been developing and the ways we were trying to still be a family for the kids are suddenly gone and this is absolutely the right thing for me, and so hard. (The kids are still in my life, just separately from their dad)

So that message from the new moon call to GO DEEPER was so good. I set up an art picnic on the floor of my creative studio. I start my days there, and go back regularly throughout the day.

This is so connected to the work I’ve been doing with the resistance project… gently working through the places where I am…. Well, frozen and distracted is the best way to describe it. My screen time is way down and my step count is way up. I always feel best when I get a lot of gentle exercise.

So - things were hard this week but also things were so good. I do feel like I am in a healing cocoon and I appreciate this time in so many ways.

What am I learning/How do I feel about this?

EVERYTHING FEELS BETTER WHEN I HAVE A DREAM.

Which is not about always trying to achieve and accomplish, it’s more about listening deeply enough to myself to hear what my heart is calling for, and then honouring that.

And it’s a part of my own nature, when I don’t see a thing that I am moving towards I can feel lost. AND as the world changes, it feels more and more urgent to me to be soul-led and not just move along with the flow of our imperialist colonialist capitalist culture.

What do I need now?

Just more space. It was a hard week, there is lots to process. AND it was a beautiful week and all the good stuff is helping me through the hard stuff and I just need space to process it all.

What does my dream need now?

The lantern just kind of shakes - it’s like “No I don’t need anything right now, I am here for you. I am guiding you through a lot of stuff - much more than you can see or understand right now”

Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is:

Give myself space to feel and process and heal and trust in the magic of my dreams and the beauty of my future.

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls.

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It IS harder now.

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This keeps coming up with the people I work with - how HARD things are right now.

How it IS harder to stay in the kind of positive mindset you need to make things happen.

How it IS harder to rally and keep going on the long path to a dream.

How it IS harder to pay bills with the costs soaring! And how that stress impacts everything.

How it’s natural to have resistance to our dreams, how we will ALWAYS have inner work to do, and how breaking through the fog and getting into creative slow is harder now.

And how just “trying harder” or whatever - isn’t cutting it.

So I planned a series of calls to help us find our way through:

Today’s call is about Exploring Resistance + Creative Flow. (If you can't make it live, the replay will be on that page a few hours after we're done)

I’ve been working on this pretty intensely this year, and have lots of ideas to share, but when we meditate and journal together on any topic - magic happens! So I am excited to see what we discover together.

March 12 we’re doing Taking The Inner Work Deeper.

This is because most times the way to make a dream happen FASTER or BIGGER is to go DEEPER with the inner work of if.

And we all resist the things we want to resist, and then try to validate our resistance, which makes this complicated. So we’ll work on it together.

April 9 We’re doing Letting Your Dream Come To You Instead Of Chasing After It.

This one was a request from a Dream Book member (you can always let me know what kinds of topics you want to explore on these calls!) and I think is also a really important piece of how to stay positive and dreaming in these hard times.

Because sometimes when things are hard, WE get hard. We try to be more dedicated or hardworking and forget to lean into our inner magnetism and ability to draw things to us.

Not that we can just sit around and wait for the dream to manifest, there IS work for us to do since WE are the dream’s guardian on this plane, so we need to do all sorts of physical stuff to make space for it. But there is a balance we need there, to not go into CHASING and HARD WORKING our way into a dream.

And the more we are doing the Dream Work practices like this, the easier the inner work and outer work are!

Then on May 15 we’re doing Creating Self Care Protocols to Support Yourself in Being The Version of You Who Can Do Your Dream.

This is the one I am most looking forward to. Next-level self care.

All the practical physical stuff AND all the magical stuff and DELIGHTING in giving ourselves everything we need to be our absolute “best” selves - best being however you want to define it. Happy, creating, trusting your self, trusting your dreams, building your future.

These calls will all start with alchemy meditations and journaling prompts for exploring the topic and then rich discussions, sharing of ideas, and working through all the stuff that comes up.

I know times are hard!

And I know we are stronger together.

So I hope you join us for these.

(If you're not a member of Dream Book, find out more + join here)

Come dream with us

 

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson 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.

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With BIG FEELINGS flying around, how do I want to show up for my life, my self, and my dreams today?

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I read enough books about divorce to know that the first year after separation is hard.

A lot of different waves of feelings can hit. You can feel one thing one day, and then it’s opposite the next day. The best advice I got was to remember that none of these feelings are your new forever state, and none of your thoughts will be your forever beliefs about anything. Let them flow.

Today’s wave feels more like a bomb of sadness, anger and regret.

(I want to add - I write these posts in advance, so this isn’t about Valentine’s Day but I was delighted when I was organizing my writing into posts for this week and this is where this one fell)

And a part of me wants to process all of this as quickly and effectively as possible so I can go back to living my life, and working on my creative dreams.

But this is my life.

And creative dreaming doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it happens in our lives. Which are messy sometimes.

So. With BIG FEELINGS flying around, how do I want to show up for my life, my self, and my dreams today?

That’s the question I start with.

We don’t choose the feelings we have, we do choose how we react to them.

And I believe the best way to react to them is to VALIDATE them. We don’t have to like or enjoy the sensations a feeling provides to validate it.

Our feelings are valid responses to what is happening, and all the ways that all the things that have happened to us have impacted us.

And by validating all of that, it’s like we give the feeling space to breathe. Which is brutal in the moment but then it’s pure magic. Because there is something FOR YOU in those feelings, and you only get to receive it when you feel it.

On last week’s new moon call this came up a few times: how BIG our emotional reactions can be and how those BIG FEELINGS get in the way of being able to do the things we want (and need!) to do.

There are so many ways to work with this. We identified a few different paths, and then experimented with “how would it feel to ____” to try to find the right one.

There is no “one right path”

The world is a mess! Our lives are (sometimes?) (often?) a mess!

Figuring out how to fit our dreams into the mix of the messes we are facing is complicated - precisely because of what I was talking about in my dream status report from last week - because I need to be more PRESENT and INTENTIONAL and this is more difficult to do from within a hurricane of mess.

AND

We don’t just give up, right?

Come dream with us

 

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson 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.

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OMG Resistance

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The Exploring Resistance + Creative Flow call is happening this Thursday! Dream Book members, get the call details here.

I started the resistance project in January.

A year of exploring, healing and making art with my resistance.

I dove in excitedly in January. I learned/remembered a whole bunch of things that work for me. I removed all games from my phone, I cut my screen time way down, I increased my daily step count, I firmed up my routines and structure/organizing.

And now, I still have all of these things in place that help nurture creative flow so I feel less resistance… and I have more creative flow... and yet sometimes I am still just RIGHT IN IT.

IDON’TWANNA

This came up on our New Moon call last week - how a lot of us feel like we’re overwhelmed and it’s just REALLY HARD to do the things we want to do.

I think it’s good to remember that there are external forces acting that ARE making it harder. The state of the world DOES impact our mental state.

Creative Dreaming is LIVING AS A VISIONARY and this is actually a big deal. It’s exhausting even in the best of times and these are not the best of times.

So it’s understandable that I have these days some days.

AND I really want to explore my resistance consistently this year so…

This morning my resistance shows up as:

Resistance to going for my morning walk to a coffee shop. My plan was to go to the “45 minute walk” coffee shop. But it is cold and windy, and after 2 weeks of un-heard of warm weather it means switching back into winter gear and maybe that’s too much today… so I bargained with myself… what about the 30 minute walk place? Or the 20 minute walk place, I mean we don’t like that place very much but 20 minutes feels so doable, right? Or… I mean there is a 1 minute walk coffee shop too... Can we do that?

Nope. The thought of getting dressed and going into the world was a big NO this morning. (Being self employed and the freedom it brings is one of my biggest dreams, and I recognize how lucky I am to be able to make this choice.)

But, even comfy at home in my PJs with my coffee and my cat Bear snuggled up in his bean bag chair beside my desk I have a lot of mental resistance today.

I feel HEAVY.

I also feel resistance to the resistance. Like WTF ANDREA? Just do the things that you DO want to do!

I look out the window. Maybe I will go out? Exercise and fresh air may be all I need?

On the other hand, maybe I need a break? A day off?

There is nothing urgent I need to do today BUT there is something I really do want to do. And that’s another thing we talked about on the New Moon call… how we can rally and get the stuff done that needs to happen. How none of us would just not show up for our clients. But then we end up not showing up for ourselves as well - that we don’t get to those projects that don’t have any external deadlines.

So I feel 50/50 - yes a day off would be nice AND totally justifiable. And yes a whole day to work on that project that I really do want to do feels really good.

My pre-pandemic self felt this way so rarely, that when I did feel this way I tended to take it as a sign that I needed a break, and take it.

But since 2020 I feel this way much more often, and I actually don’t want to take that many breaks. I want to move my projects forward.

OK! Good information!

I have resistance AND resistance to the resistance AND this inner knowing about what I actually DO want to do.

So what’s in my way?

(This is where I pop onto Facebook to see if there is anything interesting happening there)

No! Come back! We are journaling our way THROUGH this! Keep going!

What’s in my way?

I think about doing what I want to do, and I get a “brain swirl”.

What’s the brain swirl?

I sit with that a few minutes. It’s this tiny little part of me who is riding some kind of spacecraft that swirls around in my head, trying to create an energy stream that directs my thinking away from this project.

Wow, interesting! Why?

She wants to go get ice cream.

OK well that is SUPER interesting, because there is an ice cream shop near one of the places we could go to work this morning. But do you think this is literal - like part of you want to get ice cream? Or do you think it’s more like she wants to go play and not think about work?

I think she is BRAIN SWIRLING us right now and we can’t stay focused on what we are trying to process.

Right, yeah.

OK I think it’s obvious that if I stay home I’m just going to swirl around in my thoughts and not do this thing. AND I am resisting the plan I had made. So we need to come up with a new plan!

Oh I just realized what the problem is.

That project I want to work on today. It’s “starting something new” and “working on a thing that really matters to me” and both of those things bring up ALL THE THINGS.

The vulnerability of trying something new.

The fear that it won’t work out.

The doubt that I can really pull it off in the way I want to.

The “why bother? No one cares”

The worry that it will be too hard.

The worry that no one will understand what I am trying to do.

THE THINGS that come up for everyone with their dreams at some point. For me it happens mostly at the start, and then again right before it’s done.

Having named “the resistance” for what it is, and having worked through all of these fears/doubts so many times over the years (there is a whole library of inner work practices for this in Dream Book!) I just need to find the gentlest way to begin.

NAMING it really shifts it.

Instead of “some weird brain swirl that won’t let me focus” I know “this is hard and scary because it’s so vulnerable to start a new thing”.

And I know what helps with this:

Un-Sticking Station or other practices from the Library of Inner Work

Dream Self process to connect with the part of me who knows how to do this

Dream Lab process to connect with my enthusiasm for doing this

And now I feel ready to get started.

Making space to process all of our thoughts and feelings will naturally bring you to your truth. Your truth will include HOW MUCH you want to do the things you want to do - even when they are scary.

SO excited to explore this on the Exploring Resistance + Creative Flow call on Thursday! If you're not in Dream Book, now is a great time to join!

Come dream with us

 

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson 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.

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The Pegasus Bell will help me be more Present + Intentional [Weekly Dream Status Report]

By / / ,

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

On Fridays I do my Dream Status Report which is a series of prompts I use every week to help me have more clarity, momentum and groundedness on my path. You can do them with me (Dream Book members: come post yours in the forum!)!

My Dream Status Report for this week:

PART ONE: 

My dream is: This one doesn't want to be shared, but I do have a very specific thing I am working on now.

I want it because: It feels like the truest way forward.

When I have it I will feel: I have never felt anything excitement about birthdays - especially the “big ones”. I’ve always looked forward to entering new decades but I am going to turn 50 this spring and I am having a lot of uncomfortable feelings about it. This dream feels connected, like - I am sorting out who and how I want to be in this new phase of life.

PART TWO: 

Invite the soul of your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.

The goal is never to do these kinds of practices “perfectly” but to just be where you are with them. I am in a coffee shop and even with noise-canceling headphones that do work on most noises - there are two very small children beside me who can break through the headphones, lol. But in my meditation I was hearing them as bells ringing, and then I remembered this bell I have which is a Pegasus and then was like “that’s it! My dream is here as a Pegasus!” Which feels wrong and also right.

It doesn’t matter HOW your dreams show up in this practice, it’s just helpful to work with whatever happens when you do it. Nothing is an accident.

So, my dream shows up as a Pegasus bell. Oh, no as I look closer it’s not a bell, it’s just a Pegasus but it makes a sound like a bell.

I ask it to help me with the rest of the prompts and it flies around in a circle.

PART THREE:

Last week’s focus was: Stick with the plan. Don't make it smaller.

What happened in the last week? 

I did stick with the plan! I feel really good about how I am implementing my ideas right now.

I launched the New Moon Intention Setting Ritual Kit! Getting the artwork done and then getting the whole thing ready for sale was more work than I had anticipated - but I started on track. And that took up most of my attention.

My resistance project is calling and I am ignoring the calls, lol. Resistance to my resistance project. I am promising it I will have more time for it next week.

And we did the New Moon Call this week and that brought me this new idea, which ties in some stuff I have been exploring in the resistance project, and inspiration for new creative projects I want to start… so now I have a new project to work on.

What am I learning/How do I feel about this?

I am feeling like WHY IS LIFE HAPPENING SO FAST???!?!

I usually love the slow vibes of winter, but I am not feeling slow at all. Maybe it’s the climate change (I rode my bike to the coffee shop this morning, because it’s raining and I didn’t want a long walk in the rain - normal temps for a February morning here are more like -20-30.

And during the new moon call I realised that I’ve been staying up later and later, and sleeping in later and later, and missing that “magical feeling time” of waking up way before the sunrise in the winter.  (Sunrise is VERY early in WInnipeg in the summer, I never see it) So I could go back to earlier bed time to get that magic + slow feeling in the early mornings.

What do I need now?

To feel like life is slowing down, like I have time for all the things I want to do.

Oh! But another thing I realised during the new moon call is that it’s not about the hours in the day it’s about how present I can be. I want to do all this deeper work and I am just not in a deeper space as much as I want to be. Which means - I need more meditation + stillness + to work through the resistance that is keeping me from being where I want to be.

What does my dream need now?

Oh well now the Pegasus feels like the perfect way for my dream to show up. I used to use that Pegasus bell to help me set intentions. Like - letting the sound clear around doubt and anything that would make it hard for me to do what I want to do. And also as a sound to declare “this is what I am doing now” or “this is who I want to be today”… I used that bell in so many ways.

My dream needs me to get back to that.

Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is:

Use the Pegasus bell to help me be more intentional + present. (This may sound vague but I know exactly what this means and I will report back!)

And I want to add: it’s like I’m not intentional or present! It’s that I need to be DEEPER with both. It’s one of the things my dream is often asking for - for me to KEEP GOING deeper, there is no limit there.

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls.

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Stick With The Plan, Don’t Make It Smaller [Weekly Dream Status Report]

By / / ,

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

On Fridays I do my Dream Status Report which is a series of prompts I use every week to help me have more clarity, momentum and groundedness on my path. You can do them with me (Dream Book members: come post yours in the forum!)!

My Dream Status Report for this week:

PART ONE: 

My dream is: This one doesn't want to be shared, but I do have a very specific thing I am working on now.

I want it because: I am excited about it! And it feels supportive of all the other things I want - like having this puts me in a position for all sorts of new dreams.

When I have it I will feel: Free - and I feel free now but it feels like I would feel more free somehow. And grounded.

PART TWO: 

Invite the soul of your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.

My dream shows up as a tiny pink giraffe. Super cute, but I have no clue what this means? Then I remember - it doens' have to mean anything, just go with it.

The giraffe feels adorable, enchanting and sweet. It stands on my shoulder to help me with the rest of the prompts.

PART THREE:

Last week’s focus was: Enjoy the process

What happened in the last week? 

Like last week - so much fresh air and exercise! Feeling energized and enthusiastic more often! Remembering how important exercise is for my wellbeing and creativity.

I am almost finished the New Moon Intention Setting Ritual Kit and I am so happy with it. I've been experimenting with how to make a meditation journal and I really love how it came together for this one.

I had a lot of ups and downs in my mood and energy and it felt SO GOOD to be supported by my organizing systems - like it's easy to pick an easier thing to do when I don't feel as clear, and keep making progress anyway.

What am I learning/How do I feel about this?

This is the kind of momentum I've been missing for a while and it feels so good to have it. YAY for me to sticking with it through the excruciating parts of getting my work more organized.

What do I need now?

Nothing is coming to mind. I'm feeling really good about my self care routines.

What does my dream need now?

I look at the giraffe and it looks at me. What comes to mind is: I have a plan I really like, I should stick with it.

Oh! I think I get it.

I have a tendency to make plans smaller as I implement them. I start out with one plan, then simplify or skip steps completely in the moment while I am doing it.

My dream is this TINY giraffe, and I'm feeling like "why are you so small??"

... and maybe it's saying "don't make me smaller than I am"

Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is:

Stick with the plan. Don't make it smaller.

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Enjoy the Process [Weekly Dream Status Report]

By / / ,

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

On Fridays I do my Dream Status Report which is a series of prompts I use every week to help me have more clarity, momentum and groundedness on my path. You can do them with me (Dream Book members: come post yours in the forum!)!

My Dream Status Report for this week:

PART ONE: 

My dream is: This one doesn't want to be shared, but I do have a very specific thing I am working on now.

I want it because: I am excited about it! And it feels supportive of all the other things I want - like having this puts me in a position for all sorts of new dreams.

When I have it I will feel: Free - and I feel free now but it feels like I would feel more free somehow.

PART TWO: 

Invite the soul of your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.

My dream is a bird, very still like maybe it's a statue, on a pedestal. It's gorgeous, energy is sparkling and flowing around it. When I ask for it's help with these prompts, it opens its eyes and smiles.

I am always here, always helping. You don't have to ask.

PART THREE:

Last week’s focus was: Keep doing the worthiness + receptivity daily practice. Be more disciplined about fresh air + exercise. These super boring self care things make the magic happen!

What happened in the last week? 

So much fresh air and exercise! Feeling energized and enthusiastic!

I created a new journaling sheet - Taking Consistent Steps!

I started it as a "daily practice helper" which is what I was needing - but at the Hello 2024 call we talked about it, and I realized it works just as well if you're taking steps every day or once a week, so it's more about taking little steps and having them add up to movement towards your dream. Kind of like the Focus Pocus program, but in a more casual, ongoing way.

I feel like every week I put a few new pieces into place for the dream of having my work be more organized. I have so many ideas!! So I am slowly creating containers for each idea to give it space to grow, and each week I learn more about how I want to organize my time.

It feels like slow, boring progress and it really delights me, lol!

 

What am I learning/How do I feel about this?

I just marvel at how well so many things are coming together. I feel good in my life and excited about where it's going.

What do I need now?

Just keep honouring myself where I am, practicing all the good and boring self care, and keep taking consistent steps.

What does my dream need now?

The bird gives me a smile. It's fine. As boring as this project of "creating better systems and structure for every part of my business" really is, it supports my creativity in such a deep way, and my dream is just happy I keep working at this.

Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is:

Enjoy the process.

I gotta say, this whole report feels to BORING and I LOVE IT. After such a difficult fall, a boring restful winter is a FUCKING DELIGHT.

Come dream with us
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Super boring self care things make the magic happen! [Weekly Dream Status Report]

By / / ,

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

On Fridays I do my Dream Status Report which is a series of prompts I use every week to help me have more clarity, momentum and groundedness on my path. You can do them with me (Dream Book members: come post yours in the forum!)!

My Dream Status Report for this week:

PART ONE: 

My dream is: This one doesn't want to be shared, but I do have a very specific thing I am working on now.

I want it because: I am excited about it! And it feels supportive of all the other things I want - like having this puts me in a position for all sorts of new dreams.

When I have it I will feel: Free - and I feel free now but it feels like I would feel more free somehow. And more secure/safe and relaxed.

PART TWO: 

Invite the soul of your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.

OK wow. When I tried to do this I was just bombarded with distractions, everyone I know suddenly had to call or text me, lol.

So, I keep trying. And it's actually hard to connect with my dream today and I realize... oh there are just so many feelings in the way. I'm just tender today AND I had a lot of things I wanted to get done today and this is not a good combination. So I just sit with this. All of the tenderness in my heart and all of the wishes that I felt more... sturdy and focused, I guess.

My dream feels like a faraway soft warm light. Inviting me towards it and understanding that I am where I am today.

 

PART THREE:

Last week’s focus was:Remember the magic. Keep doing the worthiness + receptivity daily practice.

What happened in the last week? 

The worthiness + receptivity daily practice is from what we did in the worthiness and receptivity calls we did last year, I am doing just a quick version of getting into that feeling. This week I made printables from both of those calls and added them so you can download them - underneath the call replay. The printable is a way of tracking your practice with this over time.

The dream I am working with now is starting to feel more and more inevitable. I love this.

Apart from that, this week was a little rough mental health wise. I stopped going out for long walks as much when the cold hit late last week and that has such a HUGE impact. I went for a long walk yesterday and it changed everything so I need to keep it up. I do have all the layers I need to do this, I just need the motivation to put them all on, lol. But remember how much better I feel after I do this (even if I'm not that into it while it's happening!) is good motivation.

I am SO happy and proud of my new ways of organizing my thoughts and ideas into my projects. I have so many "journal ideas" for little printable kits and guided journals, and things to add to Dream Book. I structure this all much better, between keeping lists in my project management app and then also having documents ready in Procreate (the app I use for drawing in my iPad) with all of my notes in them. This way I can pick it up and JUST DRAW without having to "figure out where I am". This feels like a miracle.

Recently we did the Structure, Habits Routines call. Plus there is the Creative Planning + Project Management class in the Dream Plan Kit and the Creative Genius Planning Sessions. There really isn't one way to structure your ideas in a way that will help you implement them. This can be ongoing work - especially as your circumstances change throughout life!

What am I learning/How do I feel about this?

Ever since the pandemic started I've been foggy brained. The overwhelm makes sense, with peri-menopause on top. And perhaps long Covid? My brain is not the same. So it's been SUCH A GIFT to finally start to get my ideas organized in a way that feels right for where I am now.

What do I need now?

A bit more discipline about going for the long walks. It helps to plan in advance. When I am ore disciplined about getting fresh air and exercise, then I am also naturally more disciplined about doing the things I want to do. The exercise fuels my creative projects.

What does my dream need now?

That far-away light glows brighter. It wants me to remember it is closer than I think.

Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is:

Keep doing the worthiness + receptivity daily practice. Be more disciplined about fresh air + exercise. These super boring self care things make the magic happen!

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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Can you take a smaller step?

By / / , , ,

This is where I keep stumbling:

I am forgetting the magic of little steps.

I know this is kind of funny given how often I write about it. And how I am ALWAYS coaching others to look for smaller steps. And then smaller still.

But here I am, discounting my own little steps.

I think this is a part of the nature of being creative: we see the big picture. I can see how I want it to be and so each little step really is unsatisfying… if I stay focused on the bigger picture.

So here are so tiny steps I took:

  • I got my paints out from the bottom of my closet and put them in front of my bookshelf, to I could start working on that mural in my workspace.
  • I pulled that bookshelf out to make some room to get back there and paint.
  • I brought a chair upstairs to stand on to paint.

With these three things done, each as separate steps at separate times, at one point I just… started painting!!!!

It’s easy to see “paint one little bit” as a little step, but it took three other steps to get there. And it would have take more steps if all of my paint stuff for this project hadn’t already been together in one box in my closet.

What I want to work on is having an attitude that CELEBRATES and HONOURS the tiniest little steps.

I don’t want to wait until I see new paint on the wall to acknowledge that I am DOING IT.

AND

I wrote this a week ago.

In the week since, I have done VERY LITTLE on the mural. For various and very valid reasons.

But that doesn't discount the success of those steps I took last week.

And it doesn’t change the fact that I am still set up to take more little steps.

This attitude of CELEBRATING and HONOURING the tiniest little steps that I want to have is a part of CHERISHING THE PROCESS.

Our whole culture tells us that the outcome is the only thing that matters. And that a story, like the one I shared above, is only inspirational if it ends up that I completed the mural in record time.

The truth about creativity and human nature and life under colonialist capitalism is that it doesn’t usually work that way, and having a goal of wanting it to work that way for you gets in the way of ACTUAL PROGRESS.

So what’s the tiniest step you can see to take?

And can you make it even smaller?

And then can you celebrate yourself for taking it, even when it doesn’t get you all of the way to where you want to be? Can you celebrate the direction you’re going in instead of focusing on the speed?

Come dream with us

 

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson 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.

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Which parts are you avoiding?

By / / , , ,

I’m still thinking about how I show up here and how I want to show up here.

I love how I show up on classes and calls, but the ways I share my work outside of those circles often feels fraught.

Working with dreams is intensely vulnerable. Most dreams never even get named because most people find it too vulnerable to even get close. This is one of the ways dominant culture fails us, by not holding space for vulnerability.

This is why I’ve always shared my thoughts, stories and feelings online the way I do.

This is why I share my stumblings as much as my successes. I probably share them more because I want all of us to see them as no big deal.

Failure IS a tool for building your dreams. If you can’t use it, you can’t build anything.

And personally we all get upset when we fail - for good reason.

But then culturally we’ve created this space where it’s not at all safe to fail. Which ricochets back to our own personal relationships with failure, heightening all of the already difficult feelings.

So I share my little stories as a way of chipping away at that. This feels important to me but it’s not always comfortable!!!

I’m living proof that you can be vulnerable and survive.

Not that I am saying you need to be vulnerable in public like I do!

But you do need to be able to tell yourself the truth about what you want, and what’s in the way, and all of the feelings that get sparked in all of that.

And I know it can feel safer to avoid all of that… but thoughts and feeling that we avoid don’t actually go away.

So - what parts are you avoiding today?

And what teeny tiny little baby step can you take with that?

Come dream with us

 

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson 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.

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Blessing the path ahead

By / / ,

We're starting a whole new year.

There's a lot happening in the world.

There's a lot happening in our lives.

The Hello 2024 Dream Blessing Ceremony is happening on January 18, so we can come together and create this space to receive clarity, to marinate in inspiration and possibility.

To bless our path ahead in 2024.

I am so excited for this!

Four reasons why we need a Dream Blessing Ceremony:

  1. Dreams come with obstacles! Obstacles spark doubt! A blessing helps connect us with our deepest inner truth which is always 100% on board with our creative dreams.
  2. Bringing creative dreams into this world is difficult + vulnerable work! It helps SO MUCH to be in a circle with others who affirm the value of your dream. And sometimes it’s easier to affirm other people’s inherent right to dream, which we naturally do in these circles (even on the replays!) but as we feel excitement and enthusiasm and validation for other people’s dreams, those feelings naturally boomerang back to us.
  3. New creative dreams can be so vague and foggy and hard to see clearly. A blessing helps affirm and clarity them.
  4. January isn’t necessarily a good time for setting goals! You’re either at the height of summer of the dead on winter, both of which I really love, but aren’t necessarily great times for setting a lot of new goals. Our calendar and and our colonialist capitalist culture are at odds with our human nature, so it’s also true that it’s the new year! And it can feel so good to go into a new year with a vision for what you want to do with it. A Dream Blessing ceremony gives you space and support for making this work easier.

As always, there will be space for ALL feelings on this Zoom.

No forced positivity! We’ll honour and validate every person as they are, where they are. Being lost, angry, confused, stuck and scared are valid parts of the path and we can learn as much from them as we can learn from our inspiration and highest callings.

Hope to see you there!

Dream Book members: get the call details here

Everyone else: Check out Dream Book and join us here

Come dream with us

 

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson 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.

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Remember the magic + feeling worthy of + receptive to my dreams [Weekly Dream Status Report]

By / /

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

On Fridays I do my Dream Status Report which is a series of prompts I use every week to help me have more clarity, momentum and groundedness on my path. You can do them with me (Dream Book members: come post yours in the forum!)!

My Dream Status Report for this week:

PART ONE: 

My dream is: This one doesn't want to be shared, but I do have a very specific thing I am working on now.

I want it because: I am excited about it! And it feels supportive of all the other things I want - like having this puts me in a position for all sorts of new dreams.

When I have it I will feel: Free - and I feel free now but it feels like I would feel more free somehow. And more secure/safe.

PART TWO: 

Invite the soul of your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.

My dream shows up as a typewriter with wings. It's dark shiny blue.

Oh LOL. This week my laptop died suddenly, and I got a new one. I've used Apple computers for almost 30 years and I've always liked them, until my old one. That one was an absolute lemon and I didn't like using it. I was going to replace it this year, but it just happened more suddenly than I thought it would. And I am SO HAPPY with the new one, which is midnight blue, and an absolute joy to use.

It feels like - feeling FREE and SUPPORTED to express myself. Having my words fly out to the people they are for. And the whole thing feeling magical.

I mean YES this is what I want. It feels heartwarming to meet the soul of my dream in this way.

I ask it to help me with the rest of the prompts and it's happy to help.

PART THREE:

Last week’s focus was: Settling into the new year.

What happened in the last week? 

The new computer feels HUGE.

I never liked the old one, for many reasons but especially the keyboard just felt wrong. This new keyboard feels SO GOOD to type on.

When I went to pick it up, on the way back in I checked the mail and this moth ring (in the photo) had arrived, which I had been waiting for for almost 6 weeks!

When I took off my wedding ring it felt so strange. I am not a jewelry person, but I loved that ring and was used to wearing it so it's been weird to not be wearing it. So I decided to look for a new ring - not a fancy one but something that represents this new phase of my life. I searched "witch ring" and found this on etsy. (I don't like the feel of the adjustable band on the back, but I plan to crochet over it with very thin cord.)

I love the moth with the moon on my finger and seeing my hand on the dark blue keyboard has witchy vibes that I LOVE. I feel like THIS IS THE NEW ME. This is who I am stepping into in this new phase of my life.

So this week, I stepped into it. Last week and this week, I have been taking consistent steps around getting my work planned/organized in ways that support me in doing what I want to do - HOW I want to do it. I am so happy with how this is going.

And winter finally arrived! Like, winter weather and a lot of snow. This FEELS RIGHT. I have been wanting that winter feeling, and our winter was so mild until now. Of course I was enjoying long walks in the not-so-cold (comparatively) but something about winter really being here feels like a relief. Time to WINTER. Drop leaves, sink inward.

AND I've been doing a mini practice - feeling worthy of and receptive to my dream - for 5 minutes every morning before I get out of bed. This is from what we did in the worthiness and receptivity calls, just a quick version of getting into that feeling and it really makes the day so much better!

What am I learning/How do I feel about this?

I keep coming back to the magic of taking whatever tiny little step you can. And to keep taking them. And how you do eventually get to places where it all comes together.

I feel... every feeling, lol!

What do I need now?

I'm doing all of the things to support my mental health and creative flow and make progress on my goals. I need to keep taking the little steps.

What does my dream need now?

The typewriter with wings GLOWS. It wants me to remember the magic.

Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is:

Remember the magic. Keep doing the worthiness + receptivity daily practice.

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

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Coming Back To The Weekly Dream Status Reports

By / /

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

On Fridays I do my Dream Status Report which is a series of prompts I use every week to help me have more clarity, momentum and groundedness on my path. You can do them with me (Dream Book members: come post yours in the forum!)!

I know doing the same prompts every week can be annoying sometimes but this is magically clarifying. The repetition helps you go deeper into the process and makes it easier to LEARN from your process as you go, and the apply those learnings right away. This weekly practices helps me learn so much more, even when I'm just stumbling around trying to find my next steps.

Here are the prompts:

PART ONE: (sometimes these can stay the same for months at time, sometimes they change often)

My dream is:  

I want it because: 

When I have it I will feel:

PART TWO:

Invite your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.

PART THREE:

My goal/wish/intention for this New Moon is:

Last week’s focus was:

What happened in the last week?

What am I learning/How do I feel about this?

What do I need now?

What does my dream need now?

Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is:

My Dream Status Report for this week:

PART ONE: 

My dream is: This one doesn't want to be shared

I want it because: It feels supportive of all the other things I want.

When I have it I will feel: Free - and I feel free now but it feels like I would feel more free somehow.

PART TWO: 

Invite your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.

My dream is a hard with wings, but it's so far away.

I'm kind of wishing for it to come closer, wondering what I need to do to connect with it, then suddenly I get a sense that it's really sharp and could hurt me. Is it staying away to protect me? Why would it hurt me?

I sit with this a while and it starts to feel like the sharpness isn't about the dream, it's just my own fear.

I think about the parts of me that are afraid of getting what I want. I consider the things they are afraid of.

Then the dream (heart with wings) comes closer and I can touch it and it is soft and cozy. Nothing to be afraid of.

And the dream shows me all the ways it already IS here. This feels really hard to describe, but it's like my dream was showing me the things I am doing that are helping me BE in that energy and it feels really good and reassuring.

PART THREE:

Last week’s focus was: Getting "back into it" after the holidays

What happened in the last week? 

I started a new year-long project: exploring my resistance! I am doing this mostly on my own, but will share updates periodically. I started a "wiki" in Notion to store my notes I write about it, so I can tag things in different ways ("little steps along the way" "important things I learn" "journal prompts to explore", etc). I don't know how to use the Wiki template I have in Notion, so a bunch of parts of it don't quite work, lol! BUT I feel like I will figure it out in time OR look at a tutorial at some point. Until then I can just add notes to it and I love that everything is stored in one place. I am also journaling about it in my various journals, but wen something feels "noteworthy" I add it to Notion.

(This is the same way the Table of Contents works in Dream Book! And I could have added this resistance project to the Table of Contents, but I wanted to do it digitally)

There is a "new vibe" I am going for with my daily posts this year and I had hoped to sort it all out in December and be DOING IT starting January 1 and I am not there. But I am showing up every day and working on it!

I do struggle getting back into routine after being out of routine, and as much as I tried to not have the holidays impact my routines they definitely did. So probably next week I'll REALLY be back into routines.

What am I learning/How do I feel about this?

The big thing I realized from my resistance project is that I don't want to GO BACK to where I was in 2019, even though that's the best model I have of how I am when I'm really IN my routines and being creatively productive.

I want to figure out what GOING FORWARD even means, and then do that. This feels so exciting!

AND dovetailing with: settling into single life, being over the worst (I hope!!) of the grieving/upset of the breakup, appreciating the freedom and calm in my life and the new possibilities ahead of me. Another area where I am consciously GOING FORWARD and instead of looking backward.

What do I need now?

I set big goals for myself to GO FORWARD towards this year. And I am working on building the habits, structures and routines that will help me get there.

STRUCTURE is a big one, the ways I structured things in my work pre-pandemic are not how I am doing it now. This last week I feel I made some big progress and I need to stay with this. I need TONS of structure (that feels supportive, not oppressive)

What does my dream need now?

It really wants me to see the places where I am afraid of it, to remember that it's actually soft and cuddly and doesn't want to hurt me.

Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is:

Wow I feel so much resistance to picking something. This heaviness in my chest and sense of annoyance coming over me.

I just sit with it and eventually think: well, I am still settling in. That's my focus. And that feels good.

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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