it’s sunday – which means it’s creating dreams come true day. creating dreams come true is a free ongoing e-course and creative community to support you in living your dreams. if you are new, please feel free to join in. the more creative dreamers the better!
i want to start with a little reminder this week:
you are magic.
there is no limit to what you can do.
you may have noticed some changes happening on my website. one of them is this:
i wrote this because i wanted to write something that really expressed why i do creativity workshops. this is hard to do because is so intangible. it’s about how a person changes when they really get this. how their eyes light up and they sit a little differently when they really feel like the ideas and dreams they have inside them are wanted, loved and needed in this world and that they have the ability to make anything happen.
this is more of the inner work i’ve talked about. i find the inner work of creating dreams come true is much more important than the outer work, because when we get in touch with this creative being within us we can relax about all of this. one of the things i focus on in my create a map to your dream come true workbook is relaxing into the dream instead of pushing and working to make things happen.
pushing and working to make things happen usually creates stress and overwhelm. also, when we achieve our dreams through this method, the dreams themselves tend to create more work and stress for us. it’s like we’re doing all this work in order to get somewhere where we can relax and feel ok. but we never get there because there is always more to do and somewhere to go and a reason not to relax about it all. and it feels like part of what is driving this is a need to prove ourselves.
but if we shift inside and see ourselves as magic, see ourselves as creative beings who can create anything, then we can let go of the need to prove that we can do it because we *know* that we can do it, and so we can let go of the stress, we can let go of the pushing and trying to making things happen.
we really can relax into our dreams.
so how does that feel for you? can you take a deep breath and feel it? is there somewhere inside of you that knows this is true?
when i talk about letting go of the struggle and relaxing into our dreams, this is all on the inside. this doesn’t mean we stop taking action on the outside. when i am relaxed and sure of myself as a creativity workshop facilitator then it’s easy for new workshop ideas to flow, then it’s easy for me to turn my workshops into workbooks and kits, there is an ease and flow about the whole thing. when i’m not sure of myself and wanting to make something big happen in order to prove myself, there is stress, there is worry, there is a need to push and make it happen and my ideas don’t flow in the same way.
creative dream check-in
last week we talked about being present with all parts of our dreams, including obstacles. did you experiment with this at all last week? are you finding yourself more or less present?
please join the comments below and let us know where your dreams are growing and flowing and where they’re stuck. also share any questions or ideas about this week’s topic. there is no “official” assignment this week but you may want to write about and experiment with the idea of “relaxing into your dreams” and what that can mean for you.
my check-in:
well i did spend much of the week being very present with what was in the way for me. i was sad, tired and overwhelmed and i just let me be that way without trying to change it. i didn’t have a lot of energy so i just didn’t do very much. i watched movies and knit, i did a little gardening but mostly i was just very still – lots of naps and bubble baths. but by the end of the week i was feeling much better. that is one of the gifts of allowing your feelings to be what they are – being present with them opens up a space for the feelings to work themselves through and now i feel like i can carry on without any underlying or lingering sadness. i can miss my grandma without feeling as sad because i took the time to really be with the shock and grief when it was happening.
and now that i am feeling good again, and the grief and sadness have worked themselves through my body, there is space for inspiration and excitement. i am super excited about this:
and this week i am starting dancingmermaid’s warrior blogging e-course!
feels good to be learning and stretching. i feel like my business plans for ABCcreativity are coming into sharper focus. and i have started putting my new creativity kit together – creative with money. i am having a blast with it.
i also got my sewing machine set up in my livingroom:
sew fantastic!
i’ve bought fabrics and started drafting patterns for some cute summer clothes. and i am starting a sewing blog! i’ll share that link when it’s ready.
with all the stress of my grandma being in the hospital and then passing away, i’ve been a bit off on all the great improvements i had been making with my health. i am starting to get back into yoga but my body has lost some flexibility and strength so i am going slowly and being gentle with me.
i love that spring is here. i am tending to the seeds i planted and cleaning up my gardens. it’s so nice to be out in the fresh air.
and as i wrote this week i did plant my money seeds and am watching the grow.
oh and i was interviewed by jamie ridler for her amazing creative living with jamie podcast! talking with her is such a treat. i’m looking forward to sharing that with you when it is available.
looking forward to hearing your updates!
andrea schroeder creates creativity workshops, downloadable creativity kits, art and guided meditations to support you in knowing and remembering that you are a creative being and you can create anything.
Andrea – I understand your grief over the loss of your grandmother. I remember getting the phone call from my parents to tell me my beloved maternal grandmother had died in the UK, and it felt so terrible to be so far away, not to have been able to see and talk to her in her last days, and to miss her funeral. Take it easy, pamper yourself as you’re doing, and we’ll all be here when you surface in your own good time.
On the subject of dreams, I have in mind to write a full-length book, but to my surprise, another e-book has popped up in the meantime, quite out of the blue, to fuse my work with crystals, mandalas and astrology. Huge surprise but I feel I’m living my dream of book writing even if I’m diverting into the creation of a book I’d never even considered until it popped into my consciousness pretty much fully formed.
Thank you for your inspiration, and sending you big hugs and cuddles.
Love & hugs, Mo
thank you mo, love and hugs right back! ohhhh sounds like a special creative dream gift – a beautiful creative idea popping into your mind pretty much fully formed! i love the way dream path sometimes twist and turn.
i adore your handwritten message above.
magic indeed moves mountains.
love to yours. x
and i love your magic rachel :)
hi andrea, I couldnt find your interview dearheart, is it up yet? xx
hi holly. i’m sorry – no the interview is not up yet. i will write about it when it is :) thanks for being interested!
andrea~ my love and support and sympathy to you. When my own Grandmother passed, I found comfort in creativity and strength in remembering the gifts she gave me. Be gentle with yourself. Love and strength surround you everywhere you go.
I’ve fallen behind in my creative dreaming and blogging. The past month has been stressful and I’ve lost touch with my creative self. But it’s time to pick up the reins and get back on track. Beautiful and brighter days are ahead and I plan to take advantage of them
love and magic,
Dawn :)
thank you dawn. i am seeings lot bright beautiful days coming your way.
Dealing with death is painful and beautiful at the same time. Strength and grace to you as you work through your grieving process.
I took a look at your creating dreams e-course. I have a difficult time dreaming. I am just too much of a realist and have had a too much disappoint in my life. I don’t want ot create more. However, I am painfully aware of how my inability to dream may be the shackles that are holding me down. I will have to overcome a huge block of fear in order to join your group … but somehow it is sitll calling me.
hello gorgeous souls~
i am working on being more present in general. my new life mantras are “start where you are,” and “be here now.” one of the things i listed on my original dream list at the beginning of this course was to finish crochet and knitting projects i started last year and never finished. so i’m doing them…only instead of haphazard crazy crafting a little on each project each day (which is exhausting and really gets nothing done) i’m doing them one. at. a. time. so right now i’m working on this beautiful ripple afghan (i’ll have to take some pictures and post them in my blog) that was meant to be a high school graduation present for my beauti*full niece jade, who graduated last may and is now finishing up her first year of college. jade and i recently became friends on facebook (relatively speaking), although i haven’t seen her since my mother’s funeral, when she was just eight years old. she has grown into such a lovely and beautiful soul and is everything i wasn’t when i was her age LOL…pretty…popular. she’s in a sorority. and she just radiates. she has the most beautiful smile.
anyway, back to the afghan, i’m doing two rows a day. and if i don’t finish them, i do two rows the next day. i don’t beat myself up for not finishing the two rows the day before. i tell myself i’m NOT behind. i just start where i am.
i have put my largest creative dream~starting a musikgarten business~on hold until i finish at least my associate’s degree (i plan to go on for a bachelor’s and an mba). my gorgeous husband and i are also officially trying to have another baby! eep! (our splendid daughter melanie will be two on may 19…it’s coming up!)
i am reading, but one book at a time…using dave ramsey’s recommended reading, julia cameron’s resource list from “the artist’s way” and a list of books i made from an amazon search for “starting your own small business.” i get them from my local library and if they really super speak to me, THEN i buy them. making the process of buying books much more mind*full.
i started exercising again~doing strength training. i have lost six pounds and am below the weight i was when i got pregnant with melanie (i lost 33 pounds when i was pregnant because i’m so heavy to begin with, but gained it ALL back and ten pounds more; the ten pounds has come off, plus three pounds…when i started strength training i was 3 pounds over the weight i was when i first got pregnant).
this topic, relaxing into your creative dream, is so perfect for me right now. because i really want to do it in a way that’s going to be success*full, and that means pacing myself and going much slower than i usually do. i usually rush into starting something first and ask the relevant questions and learn how to do it later. this time i’m going to learn how to do it first and then apply what i’ve learned.
and i can’t wait.
andrea~i totally get what you mean about grief being a setback. i had a lot of growing up to do when i lost my parents, and in many ways, i still feel like i’m doing it. i was so terribly sorry to hear about your grandma and hope that you are doing well.
love~
elizabeth
hi cynthia. i totally hear you about the disappointment, and fear of creating more disappointment. one thing we looked at as a part of this (in this post about creating success lists
http://www.creativedreamincubator.com/2010/01/03/creating-dreams-come-true-sharing-our-dream-lists/ )
and something i do all the time, is look at those past events and find ways to re-frame them. i have had many different creative ventures that were not “successful” in that i wasn’t able to earn a living from them or sustain them as long as i wanted to, and times when others didn’t get understand or appreciate my work. but just the fact that i tried can be defined as a success, when we widen our definition of success. if we can really do this on the inside, FEEL successful because we tried, then we re-frame our internal belief system and begin to believe in ourselves a little more and a little more and a little more.
really i think we are successful for just having a dream. dreams really are that important.
what’s equally important is being gentle with ourselves, listening to ourselves and not pushing ourselves into anything that feels uncomfortable! so the creative dreamers are definitely here for you if you’d like to join in in a completely no-pressure way.
elizabeth! what a beautiful update! isn’t it amazing what happens when we slow down enough to be present in each moment? there are so many gifts there that we sometimes just rush right by without even seeing. it’s so wonderful to hear all of your updates and see all of this progress. sometimes slowly down and being gentler with ourselves actually creates more progress than hurrying does, because in hurry there is stress and rush and things don’t get done as well as when we’re present. feels like that is where you are at – moving more powerfully towards your dreams. love it!
I’m a bit behind with everything (blogging included). I was away last Sunday…I met up with my Brother and Sister at my Mom’s house so we could go to my Cousin’s young Son’s Funeral in MA on Monday. It certainly puts a lot into perspective and I spent most of this week just trying to “be” and rest because the funeral day was emotionally draining.
I have a quote from my herbal teacher that I’d like to share: “You can’t grasp at Joy, you can only open to it.”
That’s how I have been trying to live my life…and in the process remove myself from “grabbers” because I don’t want to surround myself with that kind of energy.
(((lee ann)))
I’m so sorry for your grandmother. Hope creativity help connect with her soul.
To relax into my dreams I used a technique of my childhood : wax pens
http://eveil-creatif.over-blog.com/article-pour-se-detendre-50527960.html