(Photo of me doing my planning for next week on Friday FOR THE THIRD WEEK IN A ROW??!!)
✨Weekly planning is a miracle✨
Dream Book Resource: Creative Genius Planning Sessions
During the pandemic I stopped doing weekly planning with any kind of consistency because it was week after week of NOT doing the things I wanted to do so why keep trying?
And while I feel like a broken record about this, it’s still on my mind so I’ll keep talking about it - I haven’t been able to get back on track since. Maybe I have long Covid, maybe it’s all peri-menopause, but I definitely don’t have the mental clarity, focus and drive I used to have.
But I still have creative dreams.
And creative dreams do us to take action and taking action is just really messy without a plan.
We’ve done some amazing, healing Zooms on structure and routines in Dream Book recently and it’s really helped me sort through this to find a way to do this that feels supportive and hopeful.
(Dream Book members: If you missed them, the replays are: Structure Habits Routines Call | Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual Practice Calls: Calls 12 + 13 about habits, systems + structure)
I started with 1 rule: plan next week at the end of this week.
This is not a rule I suggest for anyone else, I just noticed that by the end of the week I felt some momentum starting. And on Mondays I tend to feel pretty unsure of where to start my week. So I decided to use the momentum I had at the end of the week to plan the following week.
It’s working really well.
Which does not mean I am DOING ALL THE THINGS every week. Some things get moved into next week’s plan. That’s fine.
Sometimes we just can’t do everything we want and sometimes we are planning unrealistically and we become more realistic and effective at planning by… DOING IT CONSISTENTLY.
And the only way to be consistent at anything is to do it a small and easy enough way that you can actually DO IT.
Once you are doing it you can gradually ramp up if that’s appropriate. But often, we can make more progress than we think I’m with really tiny steps.
And it’s not about forcing yourself to do the things you think you’re supposed to.
I am astounded by how HEALING it is to follow through on my own ideas. To write the idea down and say: I will give this some time and energy this week. And then to do it.
It makes me feel so optimistic for my future.
If you’re not doing it, what’s the smallest way you could some weekly planning FOR YOUR DREAMS, not for the things you “need to do”?
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.
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. Upcoming calls: Centered Grounded Present. Goodbye 2023 Hello 2024
Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.
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.
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: Being the artist + writer I want to be. For a while now a lot has been shifting around how much/what kind of art I want to make and working on creating more nourishing/robust/lively local creative community. Daily routines that help me feel creative and energized.
I want it because: I feel excited about it!
When I have it I will feel: Optimistic and free.
My new moon intention: Healing and expansion.
PART TWO:
Invite your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.
It's me! Wearing my lavender dress with the rainbow embroidered on it. And I can tell I am my Dream Self. Flowy and happy and optimistic and powerful. It feels like I have SO MUCH SPACE INSIDE.
Holding this feeling with me.
PART THREE:
Last week’s focus was:Cultivate a sense of aliveness, creative magic and optimism for my future.
What happened in the last week?
We got another BIG piece of good news about my step-son's health. He could be out of the hospital in as little as a week, though he'll need recovery time at home still, and the thing he likely needs in the new year will be a simple procedure. Such a relief.
And my relationship with Joseph keeps shifting. When we split up I wanted to see this as a transition and not an ending. But then a few weeks in of course it felt like an ending, I think a time of separation is needed to change such a close bond. But now it's starting to feel like a transition, something new is feeling possible there.
I'm thinking a lot about the state of the world and how important it is to not fall into despair and freeze or avoid in response. How it's not enough to want or pray for or visualize peace and a better world for everyone, we need to take action. There are things all of us can do. No one person can fix anything but together we can create a completely different world.
But also thinking about how natural it is that we DO go into frozen or avoidant states.
And feeling a little angry about how so much of the new age/wellness/coaching worlds are staying so stringent about spiritual bypass and unconsciously leaning into personal privilege and just generally not being a part of any kind of real solution.
And appreciating the ways I try to be different while and knowing that this anger is an arrow pointing to my next steps.
I guess, with so much happening in my life I've been retreated and maybe I am ready to look at un-retreating a little?
What am I learning/How do I feel about this?
I feel kind of amazed. I know that really staying with your feelings, giving them space to express so you can really listen to yourself is healing and magic but the amount of healing and magic I've been experiencing feels overwhelming. But I think I am too much "in process" to really know what I am leaning.
What do I need now?
It's the STRUCTURE and ROUTINES that have been so helpful for me. I need to keep it up. Every week I feel like this gets sturdier.
What does my dream need now?
I just get this sense of FEELING IT, like doing what I need to do to really be in my element.
Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is:
Remember the magic.
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.
Yesterday is a good example of a day where I was stuck and didn't want to "un-stick". You know? As I always say, you do the work that's in front of you and if you "just can't" with dream work then that means you need inner work.
And I chose not to. I did some journaling which was good AND ALSO I just kind of sucky and stuck most of the day.
AND I decided to make sure today was not a sucky day by promising myself if I still felt I couldn't do anything with Dream Book, then I had to do the Un-Sticking Station.
Today I started the Dream Self Challenge. (If you're brand new you won't have access to this yet, you get new pages each month. But you do have the Dream Self Page)
This was soooo goooood.
Honestly, just the start of any of the Creative Dream Alchemy meditations is such an ideal way for me to start a day. A reminder that my feelings are ok, I don't have to change them in order to show up for my dreams and then connecting with the Field of Creative Dream Alchemy always shifts my mood if I start in a bad one.
My Dream Self was soooo helpful. Connecting with her felt like such a gift.
Then she gave me a crystal ball that felt healing and activating.
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.
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. Upcoming calls: Centered Grounded Present. Goodbye 2023 Hello 2024
Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.
I wasn't sure where to start today, so I went to the Dream Book Oracle again.
It sent me to the Dream Self Challenge, which felt like the perfect thing.
I printed out the cutouts and cut them out and sat down with journal and glue stick and then... just got distracted. The week after the time change I usually am pretty distractible and "off".
In the spirit of Creative Dream Alchemy (meeting yourself where you are and moving towards where you want to be) I am giving myself permission to be where I am.
Distracted. Foggy. Not in a place for this kind of focused Dream Work.
What I can do is... just journal. With no particular focus. Starting with the question:
What do I want?
Not necessarily to answer the question, but to let my thoughts wander on the page. So I am setting a timer for 20 minutes and going to do that for my practice today.
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.
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. Upcoming calls: Centered Grounded Present. Goodbye 2023 Hello 2024
Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.
Today I did Creative Genius Planning.
(If you’re not in Dream Book you can do this one for free here. If you are in Dream Book you can get it here - you get 7 different versions of it for different circumstances)
I forget how much I love the Creative Genius Planning practice.
All those weeks when I was struggling so much with structure and planning - THIS WOULD HAVE HELPED!!!
I wasn’t using it because I didn’t think I had enough clarity to do it, but it would have helped me have more clarity.
This is such a beautiful process. During the meditation, looking at my list for the week, I suddenly knew how to structure it! I created three categories: Admin Work, Creative Work and Visioning/Journaling.
I labeled each thing on my list with one of these. Now it’s easier to zero in on the tasks that match my energy at any given time.
This isn’t earth-shattering or anything but feels like a really solid step towards having a more supportive structure for doing all the things I want to be doing.
The end part of the meditation made me want to cry.
I am doing this in a coffee shop, otherwise I might have. Just so beautiful to feel that support and fuel and that radiating light.
To feel supported, by my own creative genius, to do the things I want to do.
I am also feeling like - that support was always there, even in the last little while when I thought I wasn’t “up for” being that version of me who felt like she could move forward. But the thing is, I was moving forward. It just looked/felt different because my life was changing so quickly.
Also tears for the magic of re-connecting with the part of me who feels ready to plan because planning only happens when you’re ready for action.
And it’s not all about “accomplishing tons of things” it’s about the healing magic of doing the things you feel called to do. And how hard it is when you can’t do them. And then how amazing it feels when you can do them again.
Over the years I have worked with so many people who, for one reason or another, couldn’t do the things they wanted to do.
It’s not that uncommon to sign up for coaching and then something happens where you can’t do the thing you wanted to do in coaching, or something you just have so much resistance come up you absolutely cannot do the thing.
BEING WITH the pain of that is a part of practicing your creative dreams. It’s healing and restorative to tend to it. And it is laying the foundation for being able to do the thing when the timing is right.
Sometimes, especially when it’s mostly our own resistance in the way, tending to that pain IS the next step, and you won’t be able to do the thing until you have done that work.
Dream Book Resources for that: Space-Making, Library of Inner Work Practices especially: For When You Are In Resistance and For When You’re Avoiding The Un-Sticking Station.
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.
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. Upcoming calls: Centered Grounded Present. Goodbye 2023 Hello 2024
Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.
You cannot wholeheartedly pursue your dreams if you are avoiding your feelings. Any feelings.
You also cannot be wholeheartedly pursuing your dreams and not end up in situations that CAUSE the kinds of feelings we’d all rather avoid.
(There are three different videos “for when you’re disappointed” in the library of tools you get with Dream Book - because disappointment is a place we land in so often on this path)
With everything that’s been happening in my life, I’ve been making more time than usual for processing my feelings.
And I’ve been practicing “extra-good” physical self care to help my body process all of these feelings.
Lately some of my feelings have felt way bigger than me, like they are too big and too heavy to process. Like all I can do is try to avoid them or let them crush me.
It’s so easy in those moments to forget that there’s another option. And it’s so easy to believe the story about how the feeling is too much for me, which is my resistance talking.
Late last week I noticed I was REALLY in my head.
I was caught in this story about my divorce that kept going in circles and making me feel more and more agitated.
Finally I said - “Hey wait a minute… where is feeling in my body?”
Which brought me out of my head and into my feelings. Then I was like “Oh. THIS is why I’ve been stuck in my head. This feeling is too much.”
But I stayed with it and in a few minutes, I knew this feeling was shame.
It was heavy and sticky.
And it feels so gross to feel it.
And it feels kind of slippery and like a snake, like it can slither beneath the surface and become easy to not notice anymore. (Which is resistance)
And it’s so tempting to let it do that!
But what it does beneath the surface is so damaging.
And as hard as it is to feel it, that’s the way to process it, that’s the way to move through it, that’s the way to truly be free of it.
Unfelt shame will keep healing just out of reach. It will make dreams very vague and uncertain.
It will make any kind of positive change seem impossible. It will keep you in your head and it will see you reacting to what’s happening around you instead of creating the things you are here to create.
Feeling shame is nothing to be ashamed of.
We all feel it. Just like every other feeling.
And, living in this world where we are taught and encouraged to pretend we are robots with no feelings, it’s really common to have rivers of unfelt shame flowing in our inner worlds. Just like we have self doubt, fear, and all sorts of other uncomfortable feelings.
Learning to avoid these feelings is often rewarded in our culture, but you can’t get at your MAGIC with that approach.
Nov 15: Centered, Grounded Present
This is a 90 minute zoom class where we’ll do an alchemy meditation together to practice BEING centered, grounded and present. And then talk about the things that make this hard, the things that make this easier, and make plans for finishing the year feeling the ways we want to feel.
Not by AVOIDING the ways we actually feel.
Making space to feel your actual feelings is a practice that supports the practice of calling in the feelings you want to feel.
BEING centered, grounded and present is a thing you can practice. Just like you can practice joy, calm and inspiration.
It’s a part of the larger work of PRACTICING our creative dreams.
PRACTICING becoming who we really are.
I hope you’ll join me on Nov 15 for the live Zoom, or the replay (you can leave comments while you watch and if you have questions I’m there to answer).
Get the call details here (Dream Book members only)
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.
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. Upcoming calls: Centered Grounded Present. Goodbye 2023 Hello 2024
Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.
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.
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: Being the artist + writer I want to be. For a while now a lot has been shifting around how much/what kind of art I want to make and working on creating more nourishing/robust/lively local creative community. Daily routines that help me feel creative and energized.
I want it because: It feels right in my heart.
When I have it I will feel: Optimistic and free.
My new moon intention: Healing and expansion.
PART TWO:
Invite your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.
I see a drawing with lots of colour, I am focused on this wheel with bands of different colours. The wheel, or the drawing?, suddenly grows arms and takes my hands. Sitting here, I hold out my hands for my dream to hold. It says "This is your new life. It's alive"
It feels like a lot gets lost in translation of those words, I am focusing on this feeling of aliveness and creative magic in me.
PART THREE:
Last week’s focus was: Making my creative dream practice IRRESISTIBLE.
What happened in the last week?
I thought making my practice IRRESISTIBLE would be about... I don't know, lighting candles and making ti feel like an adventure? But it was about planning, lol! Planning the day the day before. Waking up knowing what I am doing, having a clear focus. That got me INTO the practice and once I was there, the magic of being with my dreams was irresistible enough.
When it comes to HOW I am showing up - my routines, structures and habits - this week I was FINALLY feeling like I did before the pandemic! I have dreamed of this for so long!
What am I learning/How do I feel about this?
The big learning, which I learn and teach again and again, is that it's the TINIEST steps that help the most. You can take a tiny step and be very grounded in it, which makes it easier to take the next tiny step, and they do add up. I feel now like that last few weeks I was trying to take too big a step and couldn't get grounded and kept falling on my face. This week I feel amazed by how far the tiny steps got me.
What do I need now?
Right now, as I write this, I feel so optimistic and sure of my future. I would really like to hold onto this.
I know it's the epic self care that's got me here, so I need to keep it up.
What does my dream need now?
To hold onto that sense of aliveness and creative magic.
Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is:
Cultivate a sense of aliveness, creative magic and optimism for my future.
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.
After you've done the 2 years of the main Dream Book program, there is this Dream Book Oracle that appears in the Dream Book menu (this is in the sidebar on any page with a Dream Book lesson.)
This is because you don't need to keep re-doing everything, but it's good to check in with things, and the oracle can send you to something when you're not sure what to do.
I tried it today, I got FEAR. (If you're newer to Dream Book you might not have access to this yet, you get new lessons every month)
These prompts are not comfortable, but let's do them.
In the video I talk about how facing this stuff is hard, but freeing. And that these prompts just generally shine a light on what's happening with fear, there is nothing in particular for you to learn here, just to explore what's going on right now.
My fear wants me to: take a nap, slow down, read ALL the books, not take risks, focus on the external things, panic about money
Things I do when my fear is activated: freeze, distract (lots of scrolling!), cry, panic,
Things that help me feel less afraid: use the un-sticking station, make art with my fear to express my feelings, go for a walk, phone a friend, cook a meal (feels like a healthier form of distraction), take a hot bath
The fear that holds me back the most: that things won't turn out like I want them to
Things my fear has stopped me from doing: I've worked hard on it, I don't know that it's totally stopping me like it used to, but it for sure slows me down
If I had no fear I would: Oh yikes. I feel afraid of the question!
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.
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. Upcoming calls: Centered Grounded Present. Goodbye 2023 Hello 2024
Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.
Your dream is how your soul calls you towards your true self.
Your dream is not meant to be this static thing that never changes.
The last few months, my dream changed dramatically. I was dreaming of winter-as-healing-retreat. Taking fall and winter to really BE WITH my feelings, process everything, focus on self care.
The situation with my step-son has gotten much better. It was terrifying for so long, and the situation is still not good, but there is steady improvement. Instead of waiting for him to be stable enough for one procedure, they are doing the procedure in very small amounts, a few times a week, and this is going really well. He should be home sometime in November, to recover for a few months, and back into the hospital next year for another procedure. Nothing is certain but it seems like the worse is behind him.
Not feeling terrified about what is happening to him is a huge relief for me.
I’ve also had a few months to really grieve the loss of my marriage in a big way and process my feelings and I am feeling so much more grounded now. Joseph came over for lunch this weekend and it was nice to spend time together as friends and talk about what we want that to look like in the future.
So, I am no longer dreaming of winter-as-healing-retreat.
I mean - YES to healing practices and self care and hibernating. And I am so excited about the creative projects I want to work on this winter.
But also, all the things in my Dream Book from before all of this are feeling more important.
So this morning I did the Dream Lab and invited all of it in and you know what showed up… me, where I was. Lying on my Day Bed in my studio with my cat on me.
Feeling connected and magical. Powerful.
And my dream said: you’re doing great! Keep focusing on untangling all the threads.
(My to do list feels like a tangle of threads right now, but not SUPER tangled, like if I just keep doing one tiny thing at a time it will start to feel manageable again)
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.
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. Upcoming calls: Centered Grounded Present. Goodbye 2023 Hello 2024
Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.
Last week was full of stucks and flailing and resistance and more stucks.
I could see where I wanted to be, in terms of my routines and sense of structure, but I could not get there.
But I kept trying. That’s SO IMPORTANT in those hard times.
Rest, yes. Take breaks, yes. But also - show up for the hard times. Show up to be with the stucks and the resistance. Tend to all of the feelings that come up around them.
But I DID do one great thing last week: on Friday afternoon I planned out this week.
In all that flailing about how to get into the routines I want to have, one thing that felt clear is that planning the week before really works for me. So I did it.
Just a simple list: Things to focus on. Things I’d like to accomplish.
It feels REALLY GOOD to start this week from this place of having some clarity and not feeling like I need to figure out what to do.
And on Sunday I planned out Monday. I figured out what to wear, I wanted to walk (30 minutes) to a coffee shop so planned out the layers I’ll need to stay warm. I figured out what to bring (journal + laptop) and brought my list of things I wanted to do.
And when I got to the coffee shop, I started with journaling - just to journal. Nothing specific, no Dream Book. Just giving my thoughts and feelings space, which is how I used to start my days. I LOVE THIS.
I feel like I took a big step towards being IN the routines I want to be in.
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.
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 - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.