Lately I’ve been sharing the big obstacles I’ve been getting stuck in, and moments that feel like I already have everything I want, and this weird thing where I keep forgetting what my dream even is… and it can seem pretty chaotic and all over the place.

This is why I feel like the only way to share ANYTHING about creative dreaming is to share EVERYTHING. Or close to it.

Because this is what it IS.

The Inner Work and Dream Work and Outer Work of pursuing your creative dreams is ALL OVER THE FUCKING PLACE.

You will believe in yourself 1000% one day and then feel like everything is sure to fall apart the next day. This is what it IS to really pursue a creative dream.

My creative dreams have financially supported me for the last 14 years. They are STURDY. 

And they are also chaotic… Or they can seem that way…

I think they are DEEP and RICH and ALIVE.

Awkward and amazing.

And this is the only way I want to live my life. 

Join the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership and be awkward and amazing with me!

If you're already a member come into the forum and let us know what you've been up to with your dreams!

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.

Every Monday in 2025 there will be a new journal prompt in the Year of Hope classroom in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership.

​Get this week's journal prompt here.​

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Leave them in the comments at the bottom of that page so we can discuss this as a group. The discussions already have been so good! Practicing hope in community is MAGIC.

From my Year of Hope journal:

Hopelessness thrives in isolation.

This was in my mind from conversations we've been having in the Year of Hope classroom.

The ways we've been sharing our thoughts on hope are really helping me incubate the hope project more richly.

And then I had some people over for a "snack potluck" - just very casual "bring yourself and a snack to share if you can" and it was such a lovely afternoon and I've been thinking of how much that helps to bolster hopefulness.

We can ✨practice✨ our way into a more hopeful state of being. Just like we practice our way into confidence, creative movement, healing, etc, every day in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching membership!

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 just noticed: THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I WANTED IT TO BE

I am writing/drawing things that are NOT anything I ever want to share anywhere.

But it feels like I want it to feel.

I spent a few hours just following my creativity.

Painting. Drawing. But mostly journaling and sitting with my thoughts and feelings and letting them out in front of me and then looking at them and noticing things.

And that lead to new things… ideas I want to explore more deeply.

And this is how my mornings have been for the last few days!

**THIS IS IT***

This is what I wanted from a creative practice.

Eventually I know that some ideas will come out of this that I want to make into sellable/shareable art - like turning something from my journal into a lino print. And another project I am not ready to mention.

(I am still in a steep learning curve about lino printing! But I am loving it!)

But most importantly, I wanted to get into the habit/routine of starting my days with this way of engaging with my creativity and my inner world.

It was such a struggle to get to this place and I am so happy to be here now!!!!

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 want to go into this saying: ALL FEELINGS ARE VALID. And feelings are often fleeting. And any particular feeling cannot tell the whole story of anything.

And we have a Creative Dream Alchemy Library of Inner Work Practices to help us work through uncomfortable and difficult feelings.

I’ve been exploring my distractions and self doubt.

The anxiety that’s come with perimenopause and the anxiety that’s come with the state of the world.

There is a part of me who is BURSTING WITH JOY at the opportunity of being alive. And being an artist. And being so sensitive and able to experience so much.

And that part has felt so buried for so long. Like, it comes out in little bits but the stucks take over so easily.

Midlife is a hard time of life. Divorce is hard. Watching democracy fall apart next door while our neighbour declares an economic war against us, and threatens to take us over completely, while my city is in the absolute worst economy of my lifetime, is hard.

The other day I walked downtown after work, to meet a friend for her birthday dinner. It was an almost 1 hour walk, and I left with enough time to sit down and rest for a bit before I met her.

But there were no seats in the mall downtown. The mall I’ve been going to my while life which always had benches everywhere…. The benches have been removed, there is seating in the food court along with plenty of security who will usher anyone out who isn’t buying anything. This is how my city is handling the problem of having so many unhoused people - to make indoor public spaces hostile to them when it’s in the -30s outside.

The world is breaking my heart.

And has been in so many ways for the last five years.

This is the rise of fascism. 

AND I see so many people taking care of other people.

I see so much hope and beauty and love. And I know this is how we will get through this - by taking care of each other.

We cannot give in to despair.

But we also can’t pretend we never feel it.

The amount of inner work it takes to feel hopeful in this world is astounding.

(I LOOOOOVE what we're doing in the Year of Hope!)

And.. coming back to where I started… I feel SAD about how much time I have spent stuck.

I think this is a sign that I am ready for my next level.

It’s time for the balance of “being IN the stuck/distraction/resistance” and “being IN my creative magic” to shift towards magic. 

Right now, that means being more DISCIPLINED about doing the things that help even when I don’t feel like it.

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 keep forgetting what my dream even IS.

My dream is to BE the artist that I know I AM.

Which is something I am still figuring out, by having a commitment to be deeper and more present in my creative practice. Without focusing on WHAT I am creating, I just want to create more.

I do have a sense of what I would like this to look like - like a few years from now as a body of work develops. But I also want to keep an open mind and let it change.

But then the amnesia sets in.

On our Co-Dreaming/Co-Working call on Friday, which I start with a meditation for meeting the soul of your dream and listening to it…. in the meditation I could not remember my dream. Then the soul of my dream showed up as a tear from and said “Andrea! Get it together! Make a plan!”

Which is also what had come to me in doing my Dream Status Report last week. (Which I started but have not done much with but it’s only Monday as I write this and I want to work on that this week.)

So - it feels like my dream is asking me to remember it better.

The amnesia is fog that sets in...

And then it’s encouraged by self doubt, insecurity, fear about what could happen if this goes well, fear of failure, fear of never figuring out HOW to do what I want to do, panic about what that could mean, shame that I have so many layers of uncomfortable feelings, frustration that this isn’t all easier and then anger, which feels like a sign of system overload.

So the amnesia might just be a little fog but it gets weighed down by all of that.

This is part of the work of Creative Dreaming.

It doesn’t mean I’m doing something wrong or that this dream isn’t viable or now is not the time. It just means that this is the work.

Just like whatever you are facing right now, the thing that makes you think that maybe now isn’t the time or this isn’t the right dream…. that’s just your work.

Creative Dreams come with Inner Work and Dream Work as well as Outer Work.

When you can identify the Inner Work and Dream Work that your dream needs, the Outer Work gets a lot easier.

I can help!

My free guided journal You Are The Magic gives an introduction to this.

Inside the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership, the Dream Book program will guide you through the process of mapping out the Inner Work, Dream Work and Outer Work you need for your dream.

And we have the Creative Dream Alchemy program with libraries of practices to use for Dream Work, Inner Work and Outer Work.

You CAN do this!

If the Outer Work feels stuck, focus on Inner Work and Dream Work and you'll see things shift.

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.

Every Monday in 2025 there will be a new journal prompt in the Year of Hope classroom in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership.

​Get this week's journal prompt here.​

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Leave them in the comments at the bottom of that page so we can discuss this as a group. The discussions already have been so good! Practicing hope in community is MAGIC.

Last week I shared a question from my journal: What if IT IS A PART OF MY MAGIC to be completely debilitated by fear, self doubt, etc, at times?

And I have A LOT of thoughts about the answer to that question and want to give that more time before sharing.

Last week I also shared a really satisfying un-sticking station process and in the membership forum, someone shared how much they related as they had a similar stuck. And in working through their stuck they realized.... I wouldn't have had the fear about the thing IF IT WASN'T IMPORTANT.

That is one of those ideas that get tossed around really easily in personal growth circles. And it can feel profound to hear it...

But it's so much more profound to experience it for yourself. To come to that conclusion, about your own situation, from doing your own inner work.

It does something to do, you have the experience yourself. It changes you in a way that listening to an expert tell you the same thing just can't.

This is why having an ongoing practice, and continuing to engage when we get stuck, is so healing. It's a consistent source of miracles!!!

We see it all the time in the membership, people suddenly seeing something in a new way or having a new option suddenly present itself where there were NO options before. If we just dig in, and keep showing up, we create the way through.

So, keep going.

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.

From my Year of Hope journal:

I am really confronting the ways I have become more distracted since 2020, giving myself a lot of grace and looking at where I can make different choices.

The Year of Hope classroom is here -  this is a no-pressure program! Dip in and out as you like, I am LOVING reading the comments, thoughts and ideas in there. Practicing hope in community really is magic!

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 GRATEFUL and RELIEVED to have a stuck that feels straightforward and not in any way related to existential dread.

So let's go into the Un-Sticking station!

I’ve been trying to do a thing, a marketing task, and I’ve been putting it on my weekly list for a long time.

The last few weeks I’ve made real attempts to sit down and do it, and each time I do I feel SUPER UGHHHGH.

So, I wrote it onto my list for this week and said to myself “This is fine! Things take the time they take! You are not failing to get this done, you are being super brave and in the process of getting it done”

OK but I feel like I’ve failed.

That’s a valid feeling! What else are you feeling about it?

I feel like any reasonable person would have gotten this done by now.

So you feel unreasonable?

No, I don’t feel unreasonable exactly, I feel like I can’t be taken seriously as a business person if I can’t do this task.

That’s intense!!

Is it?

You do so many tasks! You’ve had a business that has supported you for 14+ years. You do your work in alignment with your values and needs. What else would you need to do to be taken seriously?

This task.

You really mean that? If you just do this one thing you could be taken seriously as a business person. And as a side question: Do you WANT to be taken seriously as a business person? That’s not something I’ve ever considered as a dream?

Oh shit. This is getting so tangled. Maybe this is an existential dread kind of stuck after all.

What feels tangled?

The fact that I can’t seem to do this particular task, which feel like such a BASIC thing a business needs to have.

So you feel like a failure for not having done it yet?

Yes.

And then that feeling like you’re a failure makes it really hard to do the task, right?

Yes! I can’t enjoy doing it because of this voice that says I should have done it months ago!

Oh sweetie, that sucks! Let’s invite that voice in maybe?

Yeah, ok.

Hello, voice that says I should have done this months ago and as a result I am a failure and that any attempt to do it now must be weighed down by the shame of failure.

(this voice is a tiny monster)

It’s interesting that you are such a typical “monster” but… so tiny! So, do you really feel like we need to be THIS weighed down by shame?

The tiny monster looks frightened, like he didn’t expect to be questioned.

I offer him a cookie and a hot chocolate. I am so tempted to call him a cookie monster but that doesn’t feel like the right move.

Listen, I genuinely want to understand why you are doing this, and how we might be able to work together because it seems like we all want to get this task done.

It’s embarrassing that we can’t done it and that we are going in circles like this, having imaginary conversations and eating imaginary cookies, instead of just getting it done!

Yeah, I get that. AND. Have you noticed how you impact me when you try to make me feel shame for not having done it yet? It makes me unable to do it at all. Like - you play a role in this inability to get this task done. And I think you are doing this because this task is NOT as simple as you want it to be. It’s vulnerable. And I wonder if you are afraid of the vulnerability of it.

The little monster puts his hands over his head to hide.

Yeah, listen little buddy, I don’t want to upset you. This IS vulnerable and vulnerability is scary and putting out work out into the world is NOT usually a simple task!

He peeks out…. You mean it’s ok that I feel tangled?

It’s not just ok it’s great! It means you’re human! And sensitive! These are good things!

You’re right, I just wanted to not feel how scary this feels.

Thank you for sharing that little guy! 

And now he’s a baby in a high chair having a snack and giggling.

This little monster was not the only thing making this hard!!! This has roots in a lot of places, like feeling enough and fear about financial security as the world falls apart and not wanting to be misunderstood and just all the ways that marketing our heart work gets tricky.

But, where am I now?

Can I do the task?

I have no idea! So let’s go try and report back….

[OK I just spent A WHOLE HOUR working on this… and I feel excited to keep going.]

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.