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. I do my reports on the printable journaling sheet.
One of the messages I have been receiving from my Dream Self for... years? is that the version of me who has my dream STAYS AWAY FROM OVERWHELM.
There has been a lot for to learn in exploring that. And a lot of ways to approach that.
Like - can I try to control all of the conditions of my life "better" so that I am happy with everything? (LOL I can TRY)
Or - can I just worked HARDER "just for now" to get to where I want to be... and then relax and not be overwhelmed?
And it can get complicated because pursuing our dreams does put us out of our comfort zone and so it can be easy to be overwhelmed and staying away from that can mean staying away from growth and it doesn't feel like that's what my Dream Self is telling me to do.
Since late summer, I am making lifestyle changes that help a lot.
Looking back it feels like... when my marriage ended and then my step-son was suddenly life-threatening ill, I retreated in a lot of ways. Everything was SO stressful it did feel like my only option.
And then that retreat turned into a healing space to recover from all of this.
And then slowly it shifted... I wasn't retreating from the world anymore ... I was just spending a lot of quiet time alone and enjoying the FUCK out of it.
And now I feel a lot more connected to that dream self who stays away from overwhelm. I'm not AVOIDING overwhelm because that doesn't quite feel like the right energy, I am just enjoying the fuck out of feeling calm and present and cozy.
I feel creative, powerful and magnetic.
(Membership members, get the BE as powerful, creative + magnetic as you ARE class here)
I am not moving as FAST as I used to but I feel more powerful. And I am really loving this.
So that is summed up in my focus for next week: BE the magic.
🦄⚡️The New Moon Intention Setting Call is today!
Hope to see you there - or catch the replay over the weekend! Call details + replays are here.
If you can't be there live but have a question or there's something you are struggling with, send me an email this morning and I'll discuss it on the call and offer you some suggestions for things to do.
Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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 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.
During our New Moon call last week (and you can still watch it if you haven't yet, it was a really good one!!) I received this amazingly clear and specific message for what to do in December to GET THE THING I WANT.
I have been doing that thing.
And it's working, it's didn't 100% instantly happen, but things are changing ALREADY.
And I have this "OH THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING" reaction in my mind and body. Like - this is impossible. This isn't really happening. Or it is happening, but it's going to fall apart. THIS WILL NOT WORK.
During the New Moon call I felt so clear. In the few days after while I was getting myself ready to do the thing, I felt so clear AND READY.
The first few days of the month - I felt so SURE.
And then as it starts to actually happen... it's like ALL of my feeling sure and ready and clear just vanished.
It's that "this must be too good to be true" feeling.
And I don't like it. And I don't want it. But I know THIS IS A PART OF ME and THIS IS A PART OF MY PROCESS and it needs tending to, so I am bringing it into the Un-Sticking Station.
Hi, feeling like this can't be true, can we talk?
I don't get any sense of a "character" or anything. Meeting this part of me just feels like anxiety in my body.
So - Hey, anxiety in my body, I'm so sorry you are feeling this way, how can I help you?
I need you to stop believing.
Oh, honey! Believing is really scary for you, hey?
It's dangerous.
Can you tell me more about that?
You'll get your hopes up, rise up, and be crushed. It's so much better to be crushed from down low.
Oh, sweetheart. That's dark.
Is it?
Yeah.
No, I think it's just reality.
No, honey, no. Here, let's get you some hot chocolate. Did you know I got WHIPPED CREAM?! Let's put some on there.
This part of me seems to be some kind of character now, but I can't really see it. I just get a sense that it is childlike, and lying on a couch. It's sitting up to drink the hot chocolate.
So, I know I said "Oh that's dark" but while I was making the hot chocolate I was thinking about it and I think I am starting to get it. It's really terrifying to believe that it's actually happening this time.
It is! THE MOST terrifying!
Yeah, and I dismissed you by saying "Oh that's dark" because I'm really seeing how if we don't hope and believe and go for it... then it can never happen.
I think that's better.
But you're lying on a couch in this dark space where I can't even see you. Are you saying you want to just stay here? Not take a chance on something better?
I'm safe here.
Well, kind of. But I think... I mean I don't want to scare you, but I really don't see how following this sense of hopelessness can create safety.
Something shifts in the room and I feel like she GOT IT.
Feeling hopeful, especially when your hopes have been dashed so many times, is so hard. I get how giving up feels safer. I see how terrified you are and want to be there for you! AND I think feeling hopeful and giving this our all, really is the only option here.
BUT if you don't agree, I do want to talk about it. Do you see another option?
Well, I mean, I just want to lay here in the dark. But yeah I see how that doesn't actually create safety. Maybe there's another option besides full steam ahead and zero steam laying in the dark?
I'm sure there are lots!
AND I wonder... can you even see how slowly I have moved this year? Do you see how much time and space I have myself to heal from the end of my marriage, which was the end of a dream, and process how my peri-menopause became almost debilitating and then got help and then everything got worse before it got better?
Like - I am not rushing into anything here. I have been healing and resting and filling the well. I get the sense that you don't know that, that these "big dreams" of mine and this DEEP commitment I have made are coming out of nowhere.
If you look at the last year of my life, I think it's clear that these are my only steps to take at this point. I think it's clear I am READY for this. I am not rushing but I am also not holding back. I feel balanced. I feel inspired and powerful.
And I don't want to steamroll you and your needs. I want to figure out how to tend to you, take care of you, and help you feel safe.
This little self is crying now.
No I didn't know you were healing this year. I have just felt so alone.
I give her a big hug. (Actually physically putting my arms around myself)
I'm so sorry. You are not alone.
This feels different now.
I don't know that it's resolved, having parts of us freak out when we start to get what we want is really common. But now that we have connected in this way, when I start to feel that way again, I can pick up where we left off and keep working on 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.
The intention is to DO THE THING.
NOW.
Resistance feels like a continual presence in the process though.
And right it shows up as:
Oh yeah, this is the dream. The dream is beautiful. It's amazing! All parts of me want it! No resistance here!
Oh, you mean... NOW?! Yikes. I don't know. Why would we rush? Aren't other things more important NOW?
So my intention, right now, is to show up for this dream NOW. To call it in NOW. To make space for it NOW. To do all the things I can do to support it NOW. To see it happening for me NOW. Etc.
How can I show up TODAY, in the most impactful way possible, to make this dream happen NOW?
Honestly, this question makes my head spin. My resistance goes crazy, trying to figure out how to stop me.
So, I am holding the question as I go about my day.
And being with the response.
The conflicting feelings. The shame. The fear. The inspiration. The motivation. The panic.
And I am committing to staying with this - not pushing through and making myself just DO this "most impactful thing" (which is easy to do since I don't know what this is) - but staying in the process. Tending to what comes up in me.
I hope I will make a Dream Book page about it - start to brainstorm some ideas for how to do this AND make space for all of the different emotional and mental responses that are kind of freaking out right 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.
YOU
DESERVE
TO
HAVE
YOUR
DREAM
DESERVE DESERVE DESERVE DESERVE
This is a message that keeps coming to me, and it's not only for me.
Some resources from the membership for deepening your sense of deservability:
Being OPEN + RECEPTIVE to your dream
Letting your dream come to you instead of chasing after it
Your self doubt is not yours, you deserve to believe in yourself
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.
It's actually REALLY HARD to keep making new goals for the New Year if you're not taking the time to reflect on and learn from what happened with your plans for the year that is ending.
Looking back is the most effective way to look forward!
Do this with the Goodbye 2024 Hello 2025 Guided Journal for Reflection + Intention Setting for the New Year.
AND for Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members there is also the Goodbye 2024 Releasing Ceremony and Hello 2025 Blessing Ceremony. Get the details and the journal here.
If you're not in the membership, get the journal here.
And here's the first page to get you started (click here to download the printable .pdf file)
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.
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. I do my reports on the printable journaling sheet.
I'm still feeling BLOWN AWAY by how good I feel and how much energy I have.
I am REALLY enjoying the shift from fall to winter. Our weather cooled down and snow fell and stuck and I switched from cycling to walking. Some years that shift is awkward, I get tired/sore/blisters etc. This year it was just so nice. I mostly listen to Beautiful Chorus in my headphones and the walk feels so grounding and uplifting.
I finished sewing my parka and am almost done the puffer vest and have started making a hoodie. I feel like I am REALLY going to get into hoodies this winter... the pattern I use has lots of seams, so lots of options for colour blocking. And I'm dreaming of adding appliqués and embroidery and being sooooo cozy all winter. (I also have the expansion for this pattern to turn it into a dress!)
I am working on how I want to promote the Goodbye 2024 Hello 2025 Guided Journal and creating a small journal, now tentatively called Turning Your New Year's Resolution Or Word Of The Year Into A Transformative Year Long Project. It's got the prompts I am using to set up my year-long project for 2025: The Year Of Hope. I'll be sharing my Year of Hope, so you can do that with me or if you want to do a year-long thing (or month long or whatever length of time!) but hope doesn't feel right you could set up your own thing.
When I got to the end of the journaling sheet: what I need now and what my dream needs now were the same!
This almost never happens, unless if it's a time when I am overwhelmed and my dream wants me to take care of myself... but it feels like my dream understands I need support and wants me to have support, so it's fine to let it's needs wait a bit. But this week it was like we both genuinely want and need the same thing:
FOCUS AND INTENTION
It feels powerful and exciting to go into the new week focused on FOCUS.
🦄⚡️The New Moon Intention Setting Call is today!
Hope to see you there - or catch the replay over the weekend! Call details + replays are here.
If you can't be there live but have a question or there's something you are struggling with, send me an email this morning and I'll discuss it on the call and offer you some suggestions for things to do.
Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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 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.
Our dreams are CHANGING. And new dreams are coming in. This keeps coming up on group calls in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership.
This makes so much sense because our dreams are a way that we respond to the world AND our dreams are a way that we help create the world.
So big world changes do spark new dreams.
The call to activism is so strong right now.
Of course it is! Activism is a way that we dream FOR THE WORLD and not just ourselves.
Not that dreaming for yourself is wrong. It’s that your dreams come from a sacred place of you, and in that place - we are all connected. So the deeper you go into your dreams the more likely it is that you shift towards a more collective focus.
And at the same time, I think culturally we are moving towards the end of individualism. I think we’ve taken this train as far as it can go. I think it’s time to live, work and dream TOGETHER. It’s BEYOND time to dismantle all forms of systemic oppression and create a culture that supports everyone.
We are in a time of change and chaos. Our dreams can help lead us through.
What do you wish was happening right now? That’s a dream.
How you choose to engage with that dream is up to you - that’s creative dreaming.
If you need ideas and support - join the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership. It can help you understand your dreams more clearly, figure out what new dreams are being born in you, and map out the path that helps you create the change you want to see in the world.
This is the work we are here to do.
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.
For quite some time, I've had this little voice inside tell me to take a closer look at the emails I send out when people first join my email list. They get the You Are The Magic journal, and some emails guiding them through it and some follow up emails about my work... and I keep feeling uncomfortable about the follow up emails.
And I said to myself "NO. It's fine to promote your work! I won't second guess myself. I put a lot of care into those emails. It's fine."
But that voice kept coming back.
And eventually I thought... yes I am doing to delete those follow up emails, just to make more space for other emails...
But when I got in there and looked more closely.
HOLY SHIT
I had been sending the follow up emails TWICE.
Seven emails, spaced 5-7 days apart from each other... it would go through them all and then send them all again.
YIKES.
It would have been good to really LISTEN to that voice, not necessarily to OBEY it, but get in there and take a look like it suggested.
Because, when I think back to how it happened, the voice asked me to TAKE A CLOSER LOOK and I was ASSUMING it was saying OMG STOP PROMOTING YOURSELF YOU ARE EMBARRASSING so I wouldn't engage.
Really listening to our inner voices helps us sort through... what is a fear or inner critic trying to derail us and what is our intuition. We need space to listen and process if we want to make the best decisions.
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 finished my parka!!! This excitement is compounded by the excitement I felt about finding the outer shell fabric that is wind and water proof in the exact shade of green I was hoping for.
(Technically I am not finished though, lol. I had a LOT of problems with the metal snaps on the flap that goes over the zipper, which is essential to keep the wind out. I ended up having to cut a new flap to replace the whole thing. Then I ordered magnetic sew-in snaps and will have to sew those in - so the parka is fully functional for now but will be ready for the really cold weather once I sew those in)
It felt amazing to not only finish this project on the weekend BUT ALSO have enough energy to start two new sewing projects.
I have not had this kind of energy in a long time.
In September I went to my doctor to ask about Hormone Replacement Therapy. For the last eight years I’ve been in a gradual decline with perimenopause, and I’ve tried everything, and lots of things worked, but it got to a point where I realized I needed more help.
Now - I wish I had gone to the doctor about this four years ago. And I really wish it was more widely understood that women don’t have to suffer for 7-10 years through perimenopause, that there are lots of treatments, and that hormones are actually not only safe but protective as we age.
It took almost three months for me to adjust to the hormones, my doctor had said that could happen but that the women she'd worked with before had said it was worth it. And sure enough, I feel SO GOOD now it was definitely worth it.
It actually feels like a miracle.
FEELING GOOD, after feeling like shit for so long, is one miracle.
But then having the energy to pursue creative dreams, after NOT having the energy for them for so long is a whole other thing.
Like, I want to cry!!
I can't believe how happy I am to be sewing cozy things - I'm now working on a hoodie and a puffer vest.
Our creativity is so healing.
Not having the energy, time, focus or confidence to do the things we feel inspired to do is painful.
I know we are human BEINGS (not human doings!) but I am just so grateful to be DOING again.
We are CREATIVE beings.
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.
One thing I hope I am doing by posting here every day is to be an example of: you don't have to feel ready, you don' have to be grounded, you don't have to feel capable, you can be a mess, etc, etc, etc - AND STILL SHOW UP... and even in the mess, still have enough things go well that you get to your dream.
I am starting to feel REALLY GOOD. The epic self care I have been practicing is starting to do what I had hoped it would do. The HRT is doing what I hoped it would do. I feel like I am back on solid ground, feeling powerful and creative and present and GROUNDED.
Which is making me more aware of how UNGROUNDED I have been.
BUT/AND
We are ALL under a lot of stress right now, given the state of the world. (I mean even people who are chosen to not read news at all because it's too stressful, the body knows that the state of the world is SO STRESSFUL that you can't stand to know what is actually happening)
Good thing our dreams don't need us to have it together.
I am sitting here with my Dream Book. Drinking an iced lavender latte with the twinkle lights on as the sun is not up yet. (Since iced coffees bring me so much joy in the summer I decided to keep it going through winter this year, lol)
My dream wants me to remember that all the things I am doing well, and not focus on how much of the time I feel like a mess.
My dream wants to me to be proud of myself that I keep showing up.
Creative Dreaming no longer feels like "me living my best life"
It feels like the way we fight for our future, for everyone.
Our dreams matter. Our humanity matters. Our creativity matters. Life is sacred. WE KEEP SHOWING UP.
I am working on two things:
Goodbye 2024 Hello 2025: Guided journal, Goodbye 2024 Releasing Ceremony (Dec 13) + Hello 2025 Blessing Ceremony (Jan 17). All three are happening in the membership, but you can also get the journal on its own.
Creating a right-fit transformative/healing year-long creative/spiritual project: Maybe that's the title, maybe I will find an easier title as I work with it 🤣 but I am doing a year-long project with HOPE for 2025 and as I sort through HOW I want to do this, I am creating a workbook to share the process.
It will be VERY customizable - if a year isn't the right-fit time for you, you just change that. 30 days, 100 days, a season - whatever time frame works for you is perfect. The goal is to set it up in such a way that it supports you in getting what you want from your project.
My project for 2025 will be the YEAR OF HOPE. And I'll be sharing that regularly on my blog and I feel like it could turn into some other things - journals or healing circles (hope circles?) - I feel like practicing hope can teach us all a lot right 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.