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!
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- New creative dreams can be so vague and foggy and hard to see clearly. A blessing helps affirm and clarity them.
- 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
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.
(Dream Book members: get your next journaling kit, with alchemy meditations here)
This is the mantra I got in this week’s Dream Book journaling kit and I am NOT feeling it.
I woke up groggy, foggy, heavy and sad. Having a TOTAL MONDAY.
I went back to sleep and my poor cat Bear had to wake me at 7:17 when his breakfast was 17 minutes late.
I fed him and kind of moped around. VERY VERY SLOWLY got dressed, thought about my day, and thought… I think I should just call in sick today. Get into sweatpants. Watch Netflix.
It was a real battle this morning to get anywhere near feeling powerful enough to get close to my dreams.
This is just how it is some days.
I didn’t battle it by forcing myself to do anything I didn’t want to, or pretending to feel differently than I felt.
I sat in my bed and cried. I didn’t understand why today felt so hard, I just offered myself some comfort and feeling your feelings is comforting.
Then I meditated.
And I thought about what I had planned for the day: A sunrise walk to the coffee shop - I had missed sunrise at this point but I could still walk in the sunshine. I had a list of things I wanted to do there, plus coffee! And a treat! And then a 30 minute walk back home, and the way doing 60 minutes of walking in the morning makes the rest of the day feel better.
Then I took out the garbage. Like a trial run. And outside felt GOOD. So I came back in, bundled up, and went to the coffee shop where I am writing this.
I am powerful and have what I need to make my dreams real.
I am at my MOST powerful when I’m accepting myself where I am.
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.
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.
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.
I started using the weekly journaling kits for STRUCTURE but it’s also giving me some vibes (each week has a different quality and mantra) and some different ways to consider how I am working with my dreams (each week has a journaling prompt about that).
I forgot how MAGIC these kits are when you spend time with them every week because they are a way of making space for insights to emerge.
So this is the insight I had this week:
I have struggled with staying on track with certain goals because I am coming at them from a place of DETERMINATION.
What if I came at it from LOVE?
When I am fueled by determination, I can show up for a while but it gets so tiring. And then it gets boring. And then I wonder… do I REALLY even want this? And I definitely do want it, but I don’t like the process and eventually I stop showing up.
And “‘determination” really is plugged into self-improvement 🤮 and all the says dominant culture encourages us to accomplish external things in order to be proven worthy, instead of validating that fact that each of us is inherently worthy.
This is a part of a bigger shift I am in.
Brought on by so many things.. my age, peri-menopause, the way the world is changing as late-stage capitalism starts to fail, things I am learning about my self after 30 years of working on self discovery… I am in-plugging from so many “learned” ways of being to embrace my most authentic ways of being.
This is what I’ve been doing for 30 years already!!! So I’ve made loads of progress and it can feel so frustrating to see the places where I have work to do.
AND some of the places where I am still plugged in are starting to feel SO FUCKING UNCOMFORTABLE and it feels URGENT that I do something about it.
So. This clue - being fueled by love instead of determination - feels so important.
And it’s funny because people in Dream Book are always telling me how much they appreciate my approach which is SO MUCH driven by love and soul, especially compared to other approaches out there.
But there is a next level and it’s time to look for it.
How do I LOVE MYSELF and LOVE MY FUTURE enough to stay on track with these goals?
Which is not a question to answer right away. It‘s a question to sit with over time. To be with all of my different responses and reactions to it.
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.
OK Hi Resistance.
This feels weird. Usually you are like, SUPER SUPER VERY PRESENT and I try to pretend you’re not for a while, and we go in circles, and then finally I throw up my hands and say “Ok fine let’s meet! Hello resistance!”
But here I am. Willingly coming to you even though you’re not really coming to me today.
Resistance shows up as a witch. A wise older woman.
“Oh this is nice. I’ll put the kettle on for tea.”
She rummages around in the freezer to pull some cookies out then turns around and looks at me, pointedly.
And I know what she’s thinking.
I became that kind of person - the kind who can rummage around for home made cookies in her freezer. The kind of person who cooks and bakes from scratch, healthy and yummy things, and knows how to take care of… herself. Suddenly I see, all the ways I tried to take care of my husband and step-children, these are ways I ultimately learned to take care of ME.
OK but I am not here to talk about my divorce.
She raises an eyebrow and again I can read her mind.
It’s all connected.
I started the resistance project because I wanted more creative flow. Not to go BACK to were I was before the pandemic and peri-menopause. But to move FORWARD in my most powerful and aligned way. There is so much I want to do and create and I felt called to get a better handle on my resistance.
But, sitting here in this witch’s kitchen having a cup of tea and a cookie, I see that it’s all connected.
“This divorce is the most powerful thing you have right now” she says.
And I get it. I have been wanting to move THROUGH it rather than find out how deep I can go INTO it.
And, what the resistance witch is saying is - if I try to compartmentalize different parts of my life I can never be in my power. And creative flow is, partly, about power.
And resistance is, partly, about resisting my power.
And a divorce, like other unwelcome and difficult events, blows things up and gives you this magical opportunity to put them together in a whole new way. A way that makes more space for your power.
And, I wish it could go without saying but I think it always needs to be said, this isn’t about bypassing the hard. It’s more about being SO present with ALL of the hard parts that get triggered that healing, growth and miracles become inevitable.
I ask for another cookie.
We’re still right at the start of this resistance project, and resistance has already transformed from a vague annoying heavy cloud of darkness into a wise witch teacher and healer.
This is so good.
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.
This year I am re-starting the Dream Book weekly journaling + alchemy kits.
(Dream Book members: check out the weekly kits here. If you're not a member: find out more + join us here or check out the Printable Planning + Journaling Kit which is similar)
I meant to start last week, at the start of the year. So I cut this out last week. I pasted it into my journal, but then I didn't come back to it because I have been using a different journal, lol!
So here I am, once again, meaning to start this week.
This is just where I am! No judgement.
And it doesn't matter how many weeks it takes me to actually get into this!
The magic is in showing up and taking whatever little steps you see to take. The magic is in showing up again and again and again until it sticks.
There have been times when I've been in a good, nourishing routine using these kits every week. And I can get back into that routine.
And I HAVE been thinking about the mantra: I give myself what I need to grow.
I've been feeling into it.
The kits come with meditations + instructions for using them. The meditation for the mantras is for EXPLORING the mantra, how it feels for you, and all the different ways you react to it, to see what it can show you.
The point is NOT to force yourself to believe it, the way a lot of new age affirmations are used.
So I've been EXPLORING this. Noticing where I am, and am not, giving myself what I need to grow.
And that's been really cool!
I am seeing all sorts of ways to nurture my goals. This year I have some business goals I am focusing on, but also LOADS of creative goals that are not work related and self care/adventure goals.
Of course I am also exploring resistance as a year-long project and the big thing I have learned so far that I being organized/ready to do a thing makes me SO MUCH more likely to do the thing, when I have time for it.
Like - I've been wanting to work on the mural in my workspace for a while. I'd be so much more likely to actually do it in little moments if the paints + tools were already out + set up. (They are currently in a box in the bottom of my closet, with other things in the way, so it feels annoying to even get started)
Also - the mood is more likely to strike if I am ALREADY prepared. That's my big learning/remembering from week 1 of the year-long project of exploring my resistance.
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.
I am so looking forward to this!
We start the call with a short meditation, and then some journaling prompts for reflecting on the last month. Looking for lessons to be learned, re-frames to make, things we want to celebrate, things we want to let go of. Then we look at what we WANT now and what we NEED now and set intentions for the coming month.
Then we take those intentions back into the meditation and do an alchemy process for becoming that version of ourselves who has done the thing, and look back at ourselves as we are today, and offer next-level advice to ourselves.
And then we have THE BEST conversations as we share our intentions, our celebrations, our struggles, the things we're learning on the path - all of it.
My goal is that at the end of the call you have a good sense of what you want to focus on for the next month, and what kinds of practices will help you be able to do that - how to best set yourself up for success.
If you can't make it live you can leave your thoughts + questions in the (private!) comments section.
I’m starting with a blank slate.
I did my New Moon journaling in my December planner, and then I got rid of that planner for the new year, lol!
I mean, I can find it still in my piles and piles of old journals and planners, but it’s not where I am right now and I’ve decided to just start fresh.
Which is great and all but…
Every month we talk about the magic of reflecting back on last month’s intention because THIS IS HOW YOU HOLD THE THREADS.
If you’re always focused on setting new intentions, and never look back at how you’re holding the intentions you’ve already set… it’s just really hard to move forward with any consistency.
SETTING the intention is absolutely the easiest part.
HOLDING the intention is harder.
Looking back and being honest with yourself about how you’re doing this work - hardest.
So that’s why we do it TOGETHER. Even the people who use the replays share the it’s just easier to do this hard part with the video.
So I’m going against my own rules this month. And that’s ok too!
This last fall was one of the hardest seasons of my life and I’m really proud of how I’ve handled everything. I wrote on my journal this morning: I love the ways I’m moving on. Centering self care, creativity and healing.
AND ALSO it feels like a good time to just throw away everything I was working with and see where I’m at now.
I’m looking forward to seeing what happens on the call tomorrow. No matter where I’m at, this monthly gathering is always magic.
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.