Self doubt seems to go hand in hand with creative life - but actually that’s not natural.
Pre-colonial societies didn’t cause people to doubt their ability to express themselves. It’s our fucked up culture that makes you doubt yourself.
When you feel into your absolute most creative version of yourself, the part of you who is untouched by our toxic culture - what do you feel called to create?
Give yourself space to really explore this.
It's not about thinking BIGGER. It's about freeing yourself of the ways the world has told you who to be and what to want, and listening for your most authentic dreams because bringing these things into your life will heal you in ways you can't see right now.
My biggest dream was always to be creatively self-employed in a way that felt spiritually meaningful to me. Because our world wants us to focus on external success, it felt easier to focus on this as a dream.
But lately, my biggest dream is to create a wardrobe of really weird embroidered clothing. I have this indigo linen dress I made, loose and flowy with with big puffy sleeves, and I have been embroidering eyes inside a rainbow prism pyramid all over the yoke of the dress. It's so weird and I LOVE IT.
Working on this energizes me and feels healing in ways I don't yet understand. I have a pile of linen fabrics, a rainbow of embroidery flosses, and a ton of ideas for what to make next and this is making me SO happy.
And of course, when I feel SO happy and energized, I have more to put into my work, and that grows as well. We don't need to ALWAYS focus on the "practical dreams".
The best dream to focus on is the one that feels the most enticing to you.
Let's make magic together!
Slow the fuck down! BE as powerful, creative + magnetic as you ARE community spell + zoom call is happening Feb 28.
Together we can free ourselves of all the ways this world dims our light.
You are a creative dynamo and 100% capable of doing the things you dream of.
There are a lot of reasons why it’s hard to SHOW UP and BE as powerful as you really are every day - and BEING that version of you EVERY SINGLE DAY is probably not a goal you want to have.
But right here right now, feel into this version of you, your *most* powerful self. What does this version of you feel capable of doing?
Let’s make magic together
Slow the fuck down! BE as powerful, creative + magnetic as you ARE is a community spell/Zoom class happening February 28.
Together we can free ourselves of all the ways this world dims our light.
(If you're reading this in email and can't see the video - click here)
Where did you learn your current pace?
This can be a little trippy because we tend to think that the pace we live at is the pace of life, but it’s not.
You have a lot of choice about the pace.
Imagine it slowed down. Imagine it speeded up.
I guarantee you, you didn’t learn how to pace your life from people who had a healthy relationship with the pace of their own lives. That’s just not how the world works right now.
But you are a creative genius and you can create a pace of life that meets your needs and give you what you need to bloom.
Slow the fuck down! BE as powerful, creative + magnetic as you ARE is a community spell/Zoom class happening February 28.
Together we can free ourselves of all the ways this world dims our light.
For many of us, the old ways aren't working anymore.
Working hard, hustling, ignoring our body's needs and signals that we're pushing too hard. Following the rules of capitalism.
It's time for a new way. It's time to BE as powerful, creative and magnetic as you ARE.
You ARE powerful, creative and magnetic. You ARE capable, intuitive and ready.
But you're also a sensitive living being! With feelings, moods, limits, needs and preferences and when you honour ALL OF THIS - that's when you'll see your NEW WAY of doing things.
It can feel like there is this choice to be made between being happy and well-cared-for in the moment and accomplishing big things.
But it's not true.
Slow the fuck down! BE as powerful, creative + magnetic as you ARE community spell + zoom call is happening Feb 28.
You are a creative supernova.
You’re also a sensitive living creature and you need your needs met in order to unfurl the full magnificence of who you are.
The world is very loud about telling you to live at it’s pace. You have got to slow WAY the fuck down first, then find your own pace, then find your deeper magic.
What would slowing down look like for you?
Slow down can meant a lot of different things. What comes to mind for you? What part of your life do you want to slow down in?
We recognize that slowing down is not always possible! There are external factors that can make this impossible. And then there are internal voices that can tell us it’s impossible when it’s actually not. Notice all of your external obstacles and internal reactions as you explore these questions.
Journal about this for 30 minutes, follow your thoughts wherever they go and feel the feelings that come up in the process.
let’s make magic together
Slow the fuck down! BE as powerful, creative + magnetic as you ARE is a community spell/Zoom class happening February 28.
Together we can free ourselves of all the ways this world dims our light.
We have to free ourselves of all the ways the world dims our light, and BE who we really ARE.
I mean, life is a mystery I'm not saying I know exactly who any of us is supposed to BE.
But I do feel sure that we are not here, experiencing the miracle of life, totally filled with creative magic and ideas for things to create.... only to spend our lives being cogs in the capitalist machine while we leave the next generations with no chance for a livable future.
We are more than this. Our creative dreams are showing us who we are and what we are here to do.
Last August I did 30 days of meditation and journaling on the theme: Slow the fuck down! BE as powerful, creative + magnetic as you ARE.
I did that for myself, and shared it for anyone who wanted to explore with me.
Since then, that theme has stayed present in my own practice and keeps coming up on Dream Book calls.
So I am bringing it back. This time I'll be sharing prompts and ideas for you to explore the theme over the month of February, and then on Feb 28 we'll do:
Slow the fuck down! BE as powerful, creative + magnetic as you ARE Zoom call/community spell.
It's time to free ourselves of all the things that dim our light.
Let's make magic together! Get the details here.
I'll have lots to say about this all month long on my blog, email list and Instagram. I'll post about three times per week.
I started painting a mural in my new creative work/play/dream space. Painting this mural feels like I am calling in the energy of my next-level self into my space. I love it.
In December we did the Releasing Ceremony for releasing the things we didn't want to bring into 2023. (The replay is available to all Dream Book members) On Monday we're doing the next part of it: a blessing ceremony for our dreams for 2023.
I still feel this releasing process happening in me. Habits, routines, ways of doing things that felt good are starting to feel constrictive and worn out.
Without judging myself for doing things the way I was doing them when that worked for me - I am starting to want to do things in new ways which are surprising and delighting me.
I am giving myself LOTS of space with this, but I am starting to fill journals with all of of my new ideas and plans as I dream up HOW I want to be next.
This feels like an important threshold. And I am giving myself all the space I need to navigate it.
Everything really can change. The things you are dreaming of are not only possible - they are your sacred calling.
You can absolutely do this AND you need to give yourself space to DO THIS.
PS: Remember the Year of Dreams 2023 planner has a whole year of dreaming/planning printables!
You get a new activity each week for playing your way into your dream - plus a few extras. 54 different journaling prompts, visualizations, qualities to bring into your week, alchemy processes, different ways of looking at your dreams, your obstacles - all the stuff we love to do.
It's 4 am. I was wide awake, writing in my head, so I decided to make myself a latte and come upstairs to my studio and write for real.
My daily blogging challenge is over and I have blogged every day for six weeks!
I've been thinking back to when it started and some of the ways it felt awkward and uncomfortable, which is so interesting because now it feels so easy because I have a routine with it.
I may stop sharing the daily posts (I mean for my public blog - I'll keep doing them in here). I don't know know yet and I don't feel any pressure to figure out my next steps right this minute.
But I do feel like this experiment was 100% a success. It doesn't have to become a "forever thing" to be worth doing.
Over the last two years my big dream has been becoming the artist and writer I want to be.
This is a much more expansive dream than I can really put into words but that kind of sums it up.
And it's not really about what I am doing or how it is reaching people, it's about how I feel and how I am using my creative energy.
I don't take for granted that my business has stayed stable throughout all of the instability of the last two years. I don't take for granted that I've had a lot of new opportunities this last year especially, to share my work in new places, in new ways. And I don't take for granted that, thanks to my business, I actually DO have the time to become the artist and writer I want to be.
I have talked about how I've failed in some of the business goals I had for this year. But at the same time - really good things have happened that I wasn't planning for, and I had opportunities I wasn't going after, and so my business also grew in ways I wasn't expecting or planning for.
That's how it is with dreams. There are no guarantees, but more often than not your dreams will surprise you if you stay devoted to them.
Another way I grew this last year was in my own relationship with myself. So many aspects of my inner world have shifted in ways that astound me.
When I compare the business goals I didn't reach with the ways I grew and changed I feel like I got the better gift, if that makes sense. The ways I've changed on the INSIDE feel so much more significant than the ways I wanted some things to change on the outside.
And I feel more than capable of achieving my goals.
AND I have more clarity about where I've been ambivalent about those goals.
AND I think in 2023, as I keep working with the same goal, I am going to find all new ways to approach it. I think something in me needed to change before I could see a different way.
Creative Dreaming is a practice and a process. Not a destination.
I share a lot more about the places where I stumble and flail than I share about the things that go well.
This is because I want to normalize the idea that some parts are hard, and that the hard parts actually heal, teach and grow us in important ways. Because I want to encourage you to never give up on yourself.
Our culture shoves perfectionism on us as though anyone who stumbles, doubts or fails along the way is not worthy of having their dreams and should give up immediately.
We all deserve everything. But I don't meant that in a capitalist hoarding kind of way. I mean we are all equally deserving of the things that are necessary for a good life.
Your Creative Dream is a map from your soul that shows you who you really are.
Using this map to navigate your path will bring you the healing and magic that you need most, right now, while it also grow you into the version of you who is doing your next-level dreams.
To me - the healing and magic I receive from engaging with my dreams in this way is as important, if not more so, than the external outcomes. This is the thing I want most in my life, and I get to choose to have it, every day.
So, for 2023, I will keep enjoying the process.
On Fridays I post 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.
My Dream Status Report:
PART ONE: (sometimes these can stay the same for months at time, sometimes they change often)
My dream is: BEING the artist + writer I want to be. This is the "big picture" dream - this includes lots of different inner + outer things, which I am working on clarifying in my new Dream Book.
I want it because: It feels like TIME
When I have it I will feel: More in the flow, more creative and like... feeling fully expressed. Right now it's like I have sooo much TO express, I would like to feel more fully EXPRESSED.
My new moon intention: VERY SPECIFIC business goal (which feels like a goal, not a dream, but a goal that can support future dreams)
PART TWO: Invite your dream in (using the Dream Lab practice) to help you with the rest of the prompts.
The Field of Creative Dream Alchemy is an ice castle all lit up with coloured lights.
My dream is a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.
I call in the soul of my business to join us. It shows up as the Northern Lights above us.
It feels like - everything is fuzzy right now, that's ok. I feel distant from this work, and that's ok. I know all of the magic is waiting for me as soon as I choose to come back to it.
PART THREE:
Last week’s focus was: Be/stay well rested and restore (stay away from overwhelm)
What happened in the last week? I did stay away from overwhelm! I got very close, and remembered by focus, and did what I had to, to calm down. But at the same time, I did DO too much. Yesterday I did almost nothing and still feel like I need to do more nothing, to let my system process everything from the holidays.
One great thing happened: on boxing day I remembered I had wanted to buy Christmas lights to hang over the new bedroom. It's in the high ceiling part of the loft, and I had some lights hanging over the bed, but I needed a much longer string and when I look online all the options have different blinking patterns and I want just steady ON and good enough quality to use this for a good long time. So on Boxing Day I went to the hardware store and their lights were already 75% off and there was only 1 big wheel, 75' string of white lights which felt excessive but I took it. Then at the cash register it was like 75% off of the 75% off. They charged me $5. And I put up the lights and it's MAGICAL and this is making me really happy.
What am I learning/How do I feel about this? I just feel tired. I enjoyed the holidays AND it was too many events in too short a time.
What do I need now? More rest. I really want to get to work on my creative projects but my brain is like.... no. Not yet.
What does my dream need now? Oh! The warm fuzzy feeling in my heart wants a pillow and blanket.
Taking all of this into account, my focus for the next week is: Rest! Rest is nourishing. Rest IS the next steps, it's not the thing that helps me get to the next steps. Honour rest.