Your vision for what you want your life to look like is sacred

When Life Is In The Way And You Can’t Even

By Andrea Schroeder | November 28, 2021

Plan your week from your ✨MOST✨ wise, brave, and creative self.... even when Life Is In The Way And You Can't Even

Creative Genius Planning Sessions are about doing your weekly planning from your most wise, brave and creative self. You get to your next level with your dreams by being your next-level self, doing next-level things.

Do them with me every Monday and you'll AMAZE yourself.

There is a 15 minute Basic Creative Genius Planning Session right here (meditation + journaling class) for planning your amazing week.

AND I am creating a full "expansion pack" of extra videos that address specific situations that you’ll come up against with your planning. I’m sharing a new one, with a new theme, each week.

This week we're looking at how to approach your planning when life is in the way and you can't even:

If you're in Dream Book - watch this on our private blog, with a link to the Making Your Trust In Your Dream Bigger Than Your Fear Alchemy Practice - plus a private comment section for sharing your goals for the week, asking questions and getting extra support.

If you're not in Dream Book - if you like the Creative Genius Planning Sessions you will LOVE Dream Book.

Check it out here.

I want To Meditate ✨and✨ I Don’t Want To Meditate

By Andrea Schroeder | November 27, 2021

Andrea Rainbow Eyeshadow

A conversation between:

I want To Meditate

and

I Don't Want To Meditate (in italics)

So, I want to meditate. Like, I really want to meditate. I want to enjoy that feeling of meditation and then also have that spaciousness in my day that comes from meditation.

I want to just check my phone.

Check it for what? You already checked it.

Check it for what's new.

Nothing is new. It's 5 am. You already checked it. This is meditation time.

I just can't. I'd rather check an already-checked phone.

Can you tell me why?

Just so I can avoid everything?

Really? How so? How does not meditating avoid everything?

It's not just meditating I want to avoid. I want to avoid everything.

Oh.

Like - fuck! There's too much happening.

Well, so much of it is good stuff though. Stuff that is happening because I put it into motion because I want to do it and now you feel overwhelmed by it?

Oh.

Yeah. And if I could meditate for longer, then I'd have more of that mental clarity and just, that energy I need to do these things I want to do. This "avoiding meditation" makes everything else harder so then you just end up with more things you want to avoid.

You mean avoiding is not helping?

No, definitely not.

I thought it was helping. I thought avoiding was like taking a break.

No, taking a break is taking a break. And I don't think taking a break from meditation is really what you want. What do you want to take a break from?

Overwhelm.

Well, meditation is really a perfect break from overwhelm.

Well....

So.... can we try again?

🧘🏻‍♀️

Update: yup. We did it. Meditated for 30 minutes.

Is the New Age/Wellness/Live Your Best Life Industry worth saving?

By Andrea Schroeder | November 26, 2021

I have been accused of being overly critical.

But it's BECAUSE of how much I see the good and potential of the New Age/Wellness/Live Your Best Life Industry, that I can't turn a blind eye to the bad.

For every white person who found it empowering to just focus on the positive and not let the news (AKA reality) get them down, how many Black, Indigenous and People of Colour who couldn't see beyond the blind privilege of that approach were shamed for not being more spiritually evolved? And them had to process those feelings ON TOP OF all the ways systemic racism makes life harder for racialized people?

For every person who's NEVER experienced a serious health issue who could feel empowered by the idea of "I am responsibility for the state of my health. I create a healthy body with healthy thoughts." how many people with disabilities or chronic illness felt shamed, blamed, and like they were not positive enough, and so deserved their symptoms? And them had to process those feelings ON TOP OF their health challenges and ON TOP OF all the ways our culture makes life harder when you have any kind of challenge?

Also - given that underlying victim-blaming attitude - how many organizations were truly open to meeting everyone's accessibility needs?

(I say this knowing that the Creative Dream Incubator is NOT a role model for meeting everyone's accessibility needs)

I mean, personally, I was fat shamed as a normal part of any kind of "healing experience" I attended in the New Age community. Even though I never once brought up the subject of how I felt about my body, I was told repeatedly that if I would just love myself, the weight would be gone.

No one, not even once, asked about my blood pressure or blood sugar reports - more accurate measurements of health than weight.

No one, not even once, asked me how I felt about my size. I feel good! I eat healthy, I exercise, I LOVE carbs, I have the metabolism that I have, and I'm enjoying my life.

All of the shitty things about the culture we live in, now live in the culture we created in the New Age.

But then we added some extra layers of blaming and shaming because we use the "your thoughts create your reality" concept from a place of blind privilege AND a complete political disconnection to the realities of the world - which IS actively encouraged as a way of "focusing on the positive".

A LOT has already been said about that complete disconnection from politics made it possible for the far right Q Anon conspiracy theories to take such a strong hold in the new age. And there are some really eye-opening ideas about how the new age was founded on white supremacist principles, that once you see it, it's hard to un-see it. (If you want to know more - conspirituality is a good place to start )

It's because I believe so completely in the potential of our creative power that I speak out about this.

I believe we can do better.

My hope, with everything happening politically in Canada right now as we continue to discover more children's bodies buried under former residential school grounds, is that we use this time as an opportunity for RADICAL DECOLONIZATION.

We, white Canadians who have been so gifted at turning a blind eye, are being faced with the reality of what colonization is.

It is my hope that we open our eyes, be present to how violent and destructive colonization is, and become actively engaged in the process of truth and reconciliation to stop the violence.

It's because I believe so completely in the potential of our creative power that I know we can do this.

If your healing tools and practices are not sturdy enough to allow you to be present with the real pain of the world - you need to upgrade your tools and practices.

(Dream Book can help you do this, and process the layers of feelings that come up as you AND get more clear about wha you want to DO in response to what you learn - our members are doing amazing work at confronting privilege and cultural appropriation and finding better ways to do things)

Spiritual bypass tools are not going to get us where we need to go next.

All they can do is help individuals feel more comfortable leaning into their privilege to "feel good now" while we watch the whole world get destroyed. Which isn't even hyperbole at this point.

Colonial culture is violently oppressing and destroying Indigenous people every day. But it won't stop there. It will destroy us all, by continuing to squeeze every penny out of resource extraction until most of this planet is no longer livable for humans.

It's because I believe so completely in the potential of our creative power that I know we can create a whole new world.

One of the ways I have most benefitted from learning anti-racism and taking actions outside of my comfort zone, is how my perspective has shifted to include seeing that there are so many more solutions that it seems like there are.

When we stop seeing the world from our own places of privilege, whatever they may be, and instead learn to see from the perspective of those with the least privilege, so much opens up.

Making the world work better for people with less mobility makes it easier to navigate for people with more mobility.

Since the majority of my readers are women - I think you can see that if we eradicated sexism everywhere and made the world safer and more supportive for women - this would benefit men as well.

Following that logic, making the world safer and more supportive for trans and non-binary people would serve all of us in ways we can't even currently see. I mean can you even imagine a world where your gender doesn't determine ANYTHING about who you are or what your potential is? It goes beyond the end of the "pink tax".

This works for literally every marginalized community.

And that's why all of this matters: Because we can get to a better world - but only if we don't leave anyone out.

And the New Age, with the blaming and shaming and blind use of privilege and spiritual bypassing, leaves a lot of people out.

It's time to do better.

Let’s make your dream INEVITABLE in 2022

By Andrea Schroeder | November 24, 2021

I believe your dream is not just possible, but INEVITABLE - as long as you stay engaged with it.

The Creative Dream Circle membership turns 10 in the summer 2022, and my business turns 11 in January 2022.

In all this time, one thing has been totally consistent: if you stay engaged with your dream work, you find the way. Insights, miracles, healing, growth, those huge shifts that change everything - time and the again I've seen them come at just the right time, for the people who keep showing up consistently.

So I am going to do everything I can do to make it easer and more fun for you to stay engaged.

For the last few months I've been working with the members of Dream Book, to find out what they need to make it easier and I now have a huge pile of amazing ideas that I am working on to make this group the best it's ever been for the 10 year anniversary.

2022 is going to be OFF THE HOOK at the Creative Dream Incubator...

Starting with: Goodbye 2021 Hello 2022 Journaling EXTRAVAGANZA

This is a series of mini classes for digging deep into the magic that is available to you now, and using it to create your best new year ever, starting at the beginning of December.

Most will be available for free on my blog - with some extra bonuses just for Dream Book members.

Details, and the first classes, to come next week.

2022 - we are coming for you.

PS: We will be using the prompts from the Year of Dreams 2022 Weekly Planner, Visioning Journal and Creative Dream Playbook - so if you're getting one, get it now! We'll work on the visioning journal in December, so that when January comes we are ready to go.

You can do the classes in your own journal or planner, so you don't NEED the Year of Dreams to do these classes and create your amazing vision and plan for 2022 - but the Year of Dreams will be RELENTLESS in reminding you of your goals so you keep working on them all year long.

Creative Genius Planning Session For Those Weeks When You Have Obstacles In Your Way

By Andrea Schroeder | November 21, 2021

Creative Genius Planning Sessions are about doing your weekly planning from your most wise, brave and creative self. You get to your next level with your dreams by being your next-level self, doing next-level things.

Do them with me every Monday and you'll AMAZE yourself.

There is a 15 minute Basic Creative Genius Planning Session right here (meditation + journaling class) for planning your amazing week.

AND I am creating a full "expansion pack" of extra videos that address specific situations that you’ll come up against with your planning. I’m sharing a new one, with a new theme, each week.

This week we're looking at how to approach your planning when you've got OBSTACLES.

Having an obstacle is just a part of having a dream. You can't just get stuck every time you have an obstacle, you NEED a way of facing the obstacles head on, and working through them.

So that's what we'll work with in this week's Creative Planning Sessions Video:

 

If you're in Dream Book - watch this on our private blog, with a link to The Obstacle Is The Way Through Alchemy Practice - plus a private comment section for sharing your goals for the week, asking questions and getting extra support.

If you're not in Dream Book - if you like the Creative Genius Planning Sessions you will LOVE Dream Book.

Check it out here.

I feel like have been going in circles with my dreams.

By Andrea Schroeder | November 17, 2021

I feel like I've been going in circles with my dreams

I feel like have been going in circles with my dreams.

I want to do _____ but I'm stuck about where to start.

I am inspired to ____ but I can't start today of course, I'm so overwhelmed.

I would love to______ some day when I have more energy.

It's all these signs of burnout.

All year, I've been bringing these questions to my therapist that center around the idea: how do I go back to how I WAS?

I want to be more resilient. I want to have the energy and ease and creative flow and enthusiasm and confidence that I had 2 years ago.

My therapist has yet to offer a magic pill about that.

She moves the conversation towards "how do I accept that I am where I am, and what do I need to take good care of myself here?"

But I haven't wanted to be here.

When you can't be where you are, you can't move forward either.

I don't need my therapist to tell me that, that's something I have said to almost event client in the last 12 years. The trick to dreams is being present where you are AND being present with the dream. Being the portal.

I don't have the energy to portal.

But I still dream.

And this has kept me in a hampster wheel.

But you know what?

This feels right.

This feels like the right way to respond to what's happening in the world.

Nothing can grow always forever. There are times of rest and falling apart. And decomposition even.

Compost for future dreams.

I am swimming in compost.

And actually, if I'm being honest, I do have more energy, clarity and enthusiasm than I did 6 months ago.

It's just that - inspiration and vision don't take a break.

My dreams speak to me as clear as ever but my ability to respond is not what it was.

Almost 2 years of being caught between these two things is very frustrating.

Naming it helps.

I don't want to disconnect from my dream. I want to keep holding it, and moving towards it at the pace that works for where I am right now.

And I want to remember that this part of creative dreaming is ALWAYS frustrating because we NEVER move as fast as our dreams.

But right now, it's especially frustrating.

Which actually presents an opportunity.

This frustration, the way it rubs you the wrong way, the stuff it triggers - being ESPECIALLY frustrating means you get ESPECIALLY triggered which means you have an ESPECIALLY clear view into the deeper stuff in you that needs healing in order to be able to get to your dream.

It sucks, but it's true.

For me this means spending more time in the Un-Sticking Station (in Dream Book).

Which is giving me all new insights about those shadowy places where I hold myself back while convincing myself that I am doing everything I can.

Which is helping me clear some inner stuff that I didn't even know I had a few years ago.

Which means... I AM swimming in compost. And planting new seeds everywhere in this exceptional soil.

So much is possible from this place, even when so little is happening on the surface.

Creative Dreaming In a Broken World

By Andrea Schroeder | November 16, 2021

Creative Dreaming In a Broken World

I often feel dismayed by the state of the world and too small to do anything about any of our larger problems.

It's a weird combination of angry and overwhelmed and exhausted and determined to DO SOMETHING without knowing WHAT to do and sometimes it causes me to spiral a bit.

I STOP the spiral and I STOP feeling so small when I focus on doing what I CAN do - using the unique gifts that I have, to do my part, to make the world better.

But where is the line between using my privilege to stay in a bubble of positivity to avoid looking at the brokenness of the world, and getting so lost is how the brokenness of the world breaks my heart, that I end up unable to do anything?

Intersectionality is key to building a better world, while we build our own dreams.

"Using your creative gifts to offer something helpful to the world" is the MOST common dream people have who work with me.

This looks like a lot of different things - books published, coaching programs developed, non-profits created, bodies of work painted... but at the core it's this same thing, of using your unique gifts to help shine a light.

While we are using our gifts to help others - we HAVE TO be seeing from beyond our own perspectives and privileges.

Otherwise, the things we create with our dreams only help reinforce the systems of oppression that we live in.

We can see this in what happened with the "make money online" world.

In 2009 this was an open, level playing field where anyone with great ideas to share was suddenly given a platform. It was the democratization of media and it had the potential to change everything.

Today? It's this weird late stage capitalist influencer culture where lots of great ideas are buried while really stupid things get elevated. Just like the old media.

We re-created all of the old problems in this new playing field.

Which is why, for me, as a white person, it's been important to be really deeply LEARNING what white supremacy is and all the forms of systemic injustice it creates. And how that intersects with other forms of systemic injustice.

Because until I can see it, I am re-creating it in whatever I create.

That's why I talk about it so much.

We are unknowingly hooked in to the myriad of oppressive systems that we live inside of, and we drag them with us everywhere we go until we learn to see them for what they are.

Following your creative dream is about getting FREE.

The work of dreaming IS getting free of the things, inside and outside of you, that hold you back, so that you can BE who you really ARE and CREATE what you are here to CREATE.

You can't actually get FREE of things that you are unconsciously hooked into, without learning to see the hooks.

This has been a theme in my recent blog posts: everything you avoid weakens you, everything you face strengthens you. As long as you're using spiritual bypass as a tool, you are building your dreams on shaky ground.

We need to walk that line, to be present with the world as it is while we hold the vision for a better future.

Your creativity has purpose.

Your dreams have purpose.

We can build a better world.

Still, some days, when I look all of the problems in the world - this work I am doing feels VERY small.

But then I think about each time a member of Dream Book has published a work of art or book or created a coaching program that has helped seed new ideas into our culture to shift consciousness.

And I think about how each person who is actively doing this work of GROWING into their dream and ALIGNING with their inner truth impacts the people around them.

Honestly, it still feels small, in light of everything in the world.

But it feels IMPORTANT.

It feels like me doing my part.

Creative Genius Planning Session For Those Weeks When You Have Two Things Competing For Your Attention

By Andrea Schroeder | November 14, 2021

Creative Genius Planning Sessions are about doing your weekly planning from your most wise, brave and creative self. You get to your next level with your dreams by being your next-level self, doing next-level things.

There is a 15 minute Creative Genius Planning Session right here (meditation + journaling class) for planning your amazing week.

AND I am creating a full "expansion pack" of extra videos that address specific situations that you’ll come up against with your planning. I’m sharing a new one, with a new theme, each week.

This week we're exploring how to approach this when you've got two things competing for your attention.

Often it's your dream and your job that compete.

Sometimes it's two different dreams or two different creative projects.

There's lots of different ways this happens, and that competing thing can make it harder to focus on anything and get your stuff done!

So that's what we'll work with in this week's Creative Planning Sessions Video:

 

If you're in Dream Book - watch this on our private blog, with a private comment section for sharing your goals for the week, asking questions and getting extra support.

If you're not in Dream Book - if you like the Creative Genius Planning Sessions you will LOVE Dream Book.

Check it out here.

How to move beyond spiritual bypass and lean into your true power to heal and create – and why you want to. (With journal prompts!)

By Andrea Schroeder | November 11, 2021

How to move beyond spiritual bypass and lean into your true power to heal and create - and why you want to. (With journal prompts!)

About my post from last week on how Love & Light are used as New Age gaslighting....

Being uncomfortable about other people having human feelings is generally a sign that we are not allowing OURSELVES to have our feelings.

And it's not a crime. It doesn't make you a bad person.

But it does make it harder for you to heal, grow, and create more of what you want in your life.

If does make it harder for you to be the change you want to see in the world.

Because everything you avoid has power over you. Everything you face strengthens you.

We are powerful! We are healers and artists and world-changers.

We can look hard things in the eye BECAUSE we believe in our power to do better.

BUT the New Age/Wellness/Live Your Best Life culture is RIFE with spiritual by-pass.

PLUS it's human nature to want to avoid discomfort.

If you think of a spectrum between:

[full on facing everything like a boss, healing and growing through very little obstacle in your way]

and

[#goodvibesonly I won't acknowledge anything negative and will even shame others for "being negative"]

recognize that we move around on this spectrum all the time.

Self awareness helps!

Reflecting on your own tendencies to bypass helps you be more aware of when and how and why you do this, so you can make more empowered choices.

So here we go...

The journal prompts. How do you know if you are really healing the thing or attempting to spiritual bypass the thing?

 

What happens when a life event knocks you down and you're right up against the thing again (the thing you thought you'd healed)?

Has it changed at all? Or are you up against the exact same thing?

We talk a lot about the healing path being a spiral. But is it?

Are you really seeing your issue in a new light?

Or are you just coming back up against this thing because you haven't actually dealt with it?

Are you sure?

What makes you sure?

If something has changed about how you are engaging with this thing: what is it, specifically?

Are you reacting in the same way that you used to? Don't focus on how you feel, it's easy to "feel like" you're seeing this from a more evolved place. Look at your behaviour. How has it changed?

Spiritual bypass keeps things VERY vague and a LOT can hide in vagueness. So get specific.

You are drawing from your true power to heal and create when you can be specific and clear and un-flinching. Especially when you're dealing with the things you really struggle with.

If you've been using spiritual by-pass as a tool, it will be VERY uncomfortable to lean into your true power instead. You will try to stay vague to get out of the discomfort of facing the thing you don't want to face.

Take the discomfort as a good sign.

And stay with it.

Remember that there is a POWER in being able to face the hard stuff head on, including BEING WITH the feelings that it brings up.

This is the inner work.

It's in processing your feelings about the obstacles where you find the fuel that will help you get beyond the obstacle.

You find your power.

You find whole new ways of seeing the thing, which give you a plethora of new options for how to handle it. You tap into your INFINITE source of creativity which can generate INFINITE solutions.

Because everything you avoid has power over you. Everything you face strengthens you.

I think it's just obvious that your healing and growth tools should STRENGTHEN you.

Which means they won't necessarily make you feel better right in the moment.

Which is why the New Age/Wellness/Live Your Best Life Industry is so FULL of tools that rely on spiritual by-pass.

Which gets confusing.

This is how I handle it:

Inner Work is uncomfortable.

Working with your dream feels good. It's creative and hopeful and casts a bright light.

So the trick is to COMBINE this Inner Work with the Dream Work. And then combine both with the Outer Work of pursuing your creative projects and making changes in your life.

That way it's not just you and your discomfort - you're bringing in light and healing and magic and creativity and possibility to the process.

You are seeing - AND USING - the benefits of the Inner Work right away. This makes it easier to KEEP GOING.

This is the work that will grow your dreams, but it's also what will save us all.

(And yes - this is what I teach, and what we do together side-by-side, in Dream Book)

Creative Genius Planning Session

By Andrea Schroeder | November 7, 2021

Creative Genius Planning Sessions are about doing your weekly planning from your most wise, brave and creative self. You get to your next level wth your dreams by being your next-level self, doing next-level things.

This is a 15 minute journaling + meditation practice for doing your Creative Genius Planning:

(If you've already watched it and don't need the into - skip ahead to 1:45)

Get the full Creative Genius Planning Sessions inside Dream Book

There are six additional videos there, for planning your week when:

Get my free Guided Journal for Creative Dreaming!

Breakthroughs guaranteed.

⚡️BREAKTHROUGHS GUARANTEED⚡️

Get the free journal for Creative Dreaming here: