Blog – Page 2 – Creative Dream Incubator

Stop trying to be better

By Andrea Schroeder / July 25, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

*That magical moment when I crossed the train tracks right before the train got there 🚲💙*

I went for a 40 minute bike ride first thing this morning. I feel amazing.

There are so many reasons why I can't get the amount of exercise I need to feel the way I want to feel. So when things (weather and smoke conditions, energy levels and what my symptoms are doing) line up and I can get a ride in, this always feels sooooo good.

But while I was on my ride I was remembering when this particular ride was a path I used to take in the evenings, after already having ridden that far, or further, throughout the day. And I thought about how I FELT then when I had the right amount of exercise for me, how much energy I had and how easy it was to take care of my mental health. I thought about how much I miss those days.

Yesterday we had another beautiful and transformative Co-Dreaming call. (Replay is here for members)

We started with a 40 minute alchemy meditation for getting the insight/advice/healing/shift you need from the soul of your dream. Then we focused on STAYING IN THE MAGIC for the rest of call, and using that magic to work on whatever we wanted to work on.

The soul of my dream said to me: STOP TRYING SO HARD TO BE WELL.

Which felt like WTF? I am struggling with my health so much, of course I am doing everything I can to be well.

I asked the soul of my dream if it could make things easier for me and it suddenly grew arms, reached out, and pushed me down (!!)

It was saying "Hit rock bottom. There is something for you there."

I felt upset by this advice in the moment.

The soul of my dream insisted: What if your most messed up, sick and depressed self is the version of you who can take these next steps?

When it put it like that, I thought about how I would never suggest that anyone who is working with me needs to stop being depressed before they can have their dream, or even take their next steps.

Often we FEEL LIKE we need to "get our life together" before we can dive into this magic but that's NEVER true.

I thought about, and this is another thing that came up on our call yesterday, how we are pushed to conform on so many levels in this culture and how our dreams are generally pushing back against that and how hard that can be.

Dominant culture always wants us to be well. Productive. Positive. Accomodating.

Your dream wants you to be YOU. In all of your glorious mess.

Your dream also understands the reality of life... that there are so many ways to be and all of them are valid. Your depressed self and your sick self are completely worthy of your dreams.

A healthy culture would make space for diversity. Ours does not. We can internalize this without realizing it.

We can feel like we need to be "our best self" to make our dreams happen.

That's not true.

Your dream wants you to be your most REAL self.

Your dream wants you to remember that you were born worthy and nothing ever changes that.

So this week I am going to be thinking about...

Where am I pushing myself to be well instead of validating where I am...

Where could I better care for myself AS I AM instead of care for myself as a way to trying to coerce my body and mind to behave the way I want them to...

And what magic exists right here during flare ups that make me miserable?

PS: Yesterday I added the Anti-Doomscroll Journaling + Meditation Kit to the membership! Get it here.

I also added a new meditation to the Weekly Dream Status Report process.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Do a Hello Day Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

Stop trying to be better Read More »

The real reason why most people fail with their creative dreams AKA My creative block wants to heal me + give me everything

By Andrea Schroeder / July 23, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

This one is long, but it’s important to me to share all of these details because this is how to REALLY be in the process of making a dream real and I want you (and everyone!) to have your dream.

I’ve been doing the Creative Dream Incubator for 16 years. And before that I was very involved with a New Thought center, which is a spiritual organization whose whole thing is manifesting. At that center, I saw how few people actually manifested their dreams in a grounded and lasting way and as a teacher I wanted to figure out how we could do better.

Even with all this evidence around me that… this stuff isn’t actually working for most people… I wanted to believe that there was a way we could help more people create the lives they wanted to live. Because the alternative is to blame people for “manifesting wrong”. To say that it’s their own negative thinking, fears and self doubt that are getting in the way. Which is actually what happens in those centers!

When I was a teacher at one of these organizations, I sat in rooms with other teachers where I brought up the question "What can we do to help the people who are really struggling?”

And the answer was always some form of “we have to just wait for them to get out of their own way”. The official “teaching” on that was that the length of time it takes to manifest a thing is a measure of your own disbelief. That line was always stated as though it is profound and there was no support or thought given about how you might HEAL or CHANGE your disbelief.

It was all so profoundly un-helpful to the people who struggled the most, and then were blamed for their struggle.

I think it’s more helpful to blame the APPROACH. Not to point fingers, but so that we can find a GOOD and HELPFUL ANSWER to the question: How do we help more people have more of what they want?

How do we help people ACTUALLY believe in themselves and their dreams, in such a tangible way, that they make them happen?

Seeking that answer led me to leave those organizations because the things I was learning were putting me at odds with what was happening there.

That was 16 years ago. In the time since I have found so many BETTER answers to the question of how to help more people make more dreams real more often.

Unfortunately, a big part of the answer is to go DEEPER into the feelings that come up when you TRY with your dreams.

You TRY and then…

You fail and feel helpless…
You get overwhelmed and feel depleted…
It goes well and you feel terrified about what’s next…

... Whatever it is, that thing that happens - THAT is where the MAGIC is.

Going deeper and deeper into it will bring you the answers, healing, insights and energy you need to keep doing the work of building your dream.

Which means going deeper and deeper into your uncomfortable feelings which is completely counter-cultural. So we all have all these parts of us who scream at us to stop. Don’t feel it. Don’t look at it. Just be positive. Just put that dream away and lock the door and throw away the key because it brings up too many FEELINGS.

But this is the process of making a BIG dream happen. Your feelings are a part of it.

This is why I share my embarrassing and messy personal process so openly.

I am pushing back on these cultural norms because they are hurting us.

I am pushing back on these cultural norms because this is the culture that is destroying the world. The endless wars and overconsumption and violence and destruction is a part of the culture that tells you not to feel your feelings. It’s all connected.

I am pushing back on these cultural norms because this is what artists DO. We CREATE culture. We hold up a mirror. We offer new possibilities.

When I share my personal practice, I share what it means to actually to do the work to believe in yourself and believe in your dreams strong enough to not just make them real but make them sturdy enough that you can live inside them.

So… this morning I did the Hello Day practice with the soul of my business - part of the Dream Book 2026 program which is where you establish a regular practice of holding space for yourself. This is a foundational thing so that you can get into the deeper work of creative dreaming - you are holding space for the magic to happen.

I was feeling kind of all over the place - yesterday’s Un-Sticking work was intense (I’ll share more on that below).

In the meditation, the soul of the Creative Dream Incubator showed up like… kind of like a fountain. An energy that was bursting with CELEBRATION.

The soul of the Creative Dream Incubator was just so happy about the Inner Work I’ve been doing with this stuck. It didn’t care that I’ve been moving sooooo slooooow in the Outer Work this week, it is certain that this particular Inner Work IS what is needed before this Outer Work can happen… like I feel I am kind of stuck and moving so slow but the soul of the Creative Dream Incubator things I’m doing great.

Well that is reassuring!

But I showed it my projects - these meditations I have recorded and am trying to get ready to share in the membership… I really want this DONE like yesterday.

The soul of the Creative Dream Incubator says that my wanting to do them fast is the only PROBLEM. I need to slow down, and really BE WITH what I am doing in a deeper way - and that this changes how I put this stuff together which changes how helpful it is.

The soul of the Creative Dream Incubator, now an energy being in the shape of a being, puts it’s hands on it’s hips and cocks it’s head and looks at me. It’s saying “GIRL! You KNOW this! Why are you acting like you don’t already know this?!”

And I’m like… yeah I know I know this. I’m just… everything feels so raw right now, I wanted to finish these to feel like I am doing well, I want to see that external progress.

I know the internal progress is invisible but MORE IMPORTANT than the outer progress, in the long run.

And yet here I am wanting to measure my progress by the external accomplishments.

So, I am holding onto that as I go into my day. I will NOT focus on getting this stuff done ASAP, I will focus on doing the best work I can.

I feel clear and ready to get to work - for now anyway. But how I got here was an absolute MESS.

And when we avoid that mess we avoid the REAL inner progress.

So let’s talk about the mess.

Yesterday I wrote about having this huge creative block and then finding out that it wanted to heal me and give me everything.

Then I did the long (all three steps together) version of the Un-Sticking Meditation to meet with my creative block, and paused often to take more time with the questions. I spent at least an hour with it.

My creative block had so much to show me.

My creative block has MEDICINE for me.

It feels like a video game where I am bopping along my path, and this… thing… appears in front of me. A portal. An opportunity. A teaching. Bonus stars or whatever video games give out these days.

Even though yes it is ENTIRELY blocking my way, this block is not an obstacle or a problem, it’s actually an important part of the path.

And when we got into it, the creative block had a lot to say. I filled 4 pages in my BIG journal.

And then things started to shift….

I had this really clear guidance about is needed and I felt myself freeze in response.

I felt myself start to feel incapable of acting on that guidance.

I started to think “You know what? I should just lay in bed with my phone and scroll until I feel better”

And I was not referring to feeling better physically I meant until I feel brave and inspired and ready to create.

Like, I wanted to just let this frozen self be in the driver’s seat of my life for as long as she wanted to be there.

So I made a drawing of this frozen self and, keep in mind I am still in the Un-Sticking meditation. I went into that meditation to work with the creative block and now that’s gone, now I am sitting with my frozen response to the creative block’s wisdom and guidance….

It felt like I had gone into a deeper meditation from within the meditation.

And I thought maybe I should start over the meditation and go through the process with this new “stuck”, but when the next question came on it felt like the perfect question for this frozen self, so I just carried on.

I worked with that frozen self stuck and filled another 2 pages in the big journal.

I worked through SOME stuff, enough that I went into my day and did make some decent, measurable progress in the outer work.

But as the day went on, I became more upset. I was sad and angry and just… all the feels.

I was crying and I asked myself “Why are you so upset?” because I wasn’t even sure what had happened, I was just REALLY upset.

But eventually I realised what was happening.

It was that frozen self. She was melting.

That frozen self had a lot of feelings about a lot of things.

And by getting in touch with her, by getting in touch with the deeper thing beneath that creative block, I unleashed all of the feelings that had been frozen.

So I focused on validating my feelings and making space for them and figuring out how to tend to them. (This is also in the Un-Sticking Station alchemy meditations, the one called For When You’re Too Upset To Do This)

And then EVERYTHING started to make sense.

The creative block itself. The frozen self. The way I’d had a couple of REALLY GREAT WEEKS and was feeling like I was getting to these next level creative dreams….

I WAS getting to my next level creative dreams. I AM doing that. I am in process.

And a part of that work is to face next-level hidden/buried/frozen feelings.

Sometimes this work is SO no non-linear it feels TRIPPY and then all of a sudden everything snaps into place and makes sense.

But being in process is SO messy and SO scary and SO overwhelming that most people stop the process to get out of all of those big feelings.

But the only way out is through. You DO NOT get to that place where it all snaps into place and makes sense by avoiding the mess.

Having the Dream Book 2026 dreamer/planner gives you a gentler way to stay in the process. No matter where you’re at, you can do the Hello Day Energy Clearing + Intention Setting practice to just… sit with yourself and look at what you need and want. And I’ve added more Hello Day practice for different situations.

But the idea is to have a simpler way to hold space for yourself in the mess of being in the process.

Compared to Dream Book which is focused on navigating the path between where you are and where you want to be. Sometimes that path is SUCH A MESS that you want to step off it.

So, step into Dream Book 2026 instead of taking a break from dreaming altogether.

Give things a chance to settle while staying in process. Because every time you give up completely because it's too hard or too messy or feels too impossible... it gets harder to pick it back up.

You will find your way though if you keep showing up.

Messy is GOOOOOOD.

And please remember I am here! When you're not sure what to do, come to the forum or send me an email and let me know what's happening. Let's talk about and find an approach that will help.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Do a Hello Day Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

The real reason why most people fail with their creative dreams AKA My creative block wants to heal me + give me everything Read More »

I have a creative block and I am miserable

By Andrea Schroeder / July 22, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

I am also feeling very sorry for myself.

And I am having a flare of up my health stuff, due to the heat, and I have another month to wait to see a specialist and… it’s so hot and just getting hotter.

Like, can I just be put to sleep somehow and woken up in 1 month?

And then this other part of me is like… well yeah you can't really go out but you could stay in and spend this month making art. And she points to this closet full of ideas of things I want to do and I just… blech.

My creative magic feels so far away.

I’ve had several weeks of breakthroughs and that palpable feeling like “things are coming together” in my creative dream process lately. Everything was going SOOOOO GOOD! That makes it especially suck to feel so blocked.

So I was distracting myself by cleaning, meal prepping, laundry….

And while putting away the last of the laundry it hit me.

What would I say if someone in the membership told me they had this problem?

Can't I coach myself through this?

So, if any of you said this to me, the first thing I would do is legitimize how much my situation SUCKS. To have a health issue that is aggravated by heat, and to have to wait to get help, during the hottest part of the year, is especially frustrating. And the health thing on it's own is enough to make it harder to have the energy to create.

I would wonder if this is a good time to be gentler with yourself and your goals.

And then I would wonder… can we re-vision or re-relate to this time period of 1 month while waiting to see the doctor? Could this be a 30 day project? Could it be a kind of temporary magic bubble?

But I don't want to do any of that. I want to do the stuff I want to do and NOT be creatively blocked.

Well then, unfortunately, my coach/mentor self would say "So have you taken that to the Un-Sticking Station?" and no I hadn't.

I hadn't even thought about it even though I always say... the step you are on is the only step you can take! Do not JUDGE where you are, just figure out how to be with what is actually there! If you're on a step where all there is is a creative block - work with the block.

A creative block needs Un-Sticking.

And guess what?

That was instant magic.

I saw right away that I was holding the creative block TOO FAR AWAY. Like holding it at arm's length instead of really being with it.

When I could be with it, I understood...

My creative block wants to heal me and give me everything.

Which felt like... whoa this is TOO trippy. I have taken this alchemy meditation stuff TOO far.

But I sat with that a while and then I could see how all of our creative blocks really do want to heal us and give us what we want.

A creative block is a signal to look deeper.

A creative block demands that you step off the path you were on and dig deeper.

Digging deeper always creates a BETTER way through.

So... my creative block isn't the problem.

My relationship with the block is the problem, all of the resistance and distraction I am bringing to the situation is the problem.

Which feels especially funny/aggravating since one of the projects I wanted to finish this week is the Anti-Doomscroll Alchemy Meditation + Journaling Kit. But here I am doomscrolling to distract myself from the pain of my creative block!

That happened last night, so I didn't do anything more with it. And here I am this morning, still feeling blocked but understanding that the work is to BE WITH the block and all of the feelings and thoughts it brings up, and to keep digging deeper.

Here I am, understanding and accepting that THIS IS THE PATH. These are my next steps. I am not "off track" I am in the process.

I don't know how I am working through this. But I am showing up.

I do know that when I saw the block in my meditation, it looked like this papier-mâché thing that I do want to make for my home. And I was thinking if I can't get myself un-blocked to do my projects, I will start the papier-mâché project instead of scrolling today - as a way of "being with" the creative block.

And I know that I need another Un-Sticking meditation, so I will start there.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Do a Hello Day Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

I have a creative block and I am miserable Read More »

Getting deeper rooted in creativity + soul [Dream Status Report]

By Andrea Schroeder / July 19, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

I am siting down to do my Dream Status Report for this week to check in with myself and my dreams and what I need and what my dreams need, for the coming week.

Doing this, consistently over time, IS MAGIC.... this is where your dream becomes REALITY. This is where you stop and notice: How am I showing up? Is this working for me? What else might be needed? This is where we figure things out!! There is so much we can learn by witnessing our own process.

AND... Consistency is hard for most of us these days! So - I try to do this on Sundays, and write about it, to remind you to also take a few minutes to check in with yourself and your dreams. Do this with me!!

Creative dreaming isn't about ALWAYS moving forward.

Integration periods are needed too. That's where I've been this week.

LISTENING TO MY DREAM about what's next.

I've been in a deep process, for several years now, of exploring the question:

How do we hold space for our dreams in the dystopia?

This has led to so many feelings, so many thoughts, so many other questions.

Some of the ones I spent the most time with were: Do our dreams matter in the dystopia? Is there something else I should be doing?

Have I been wrong about everything? Is this whole thing about how your dream is actually your soul calling and that it is imperative that you answer and if more people answered their soul callings we would make the world better... was this all a pipe dream?

Thankfully, making space for all of the thoughts and feelings sparked by those questions ultimately led to: An unshakable knowing that our dreams are the only thing that can save us.

That we carry the medicine that we need.

That collectively we carry the medicine that the world needs. That we create the future.

And that the answer to the question of how I can hold space for dreams and dreamers in this dystopia is to root more deeply into creativity and soul.

This is where we find our medicine - and the power to use and share it.

But rooting deeper into creativity + soul isn't going to look like you think it will.

So instead of trying to force this to look like my preconceived notions, I am practicing trusting the process.

What that looked like this week is a lot of rest and processing. And then really focused and incredibly productive bursts of creativity. Depending on how that continues, you're going to get 4-6 new meditations in the membership this week!

I re-arranged some furniture this week in a way that feels MAGIC.

One reason why I wanted an open loft is so I could re-arrange as my life and priorities change. Sometimes I might want more space for art making and sometimes I might want more space to have people over. I love this flexibility.

I moved everything. I also did some decluttering in a few areas, including giving away a big shelving unit that I have known I haven't wanted for a while but didn't want to do the work of actually getting it out of here.

I have been feeling ridiculously happy about how my home feels.

Like, RIDICULOUSLY happy.

AND... I want to stress this... I DIDN'T WANT TO DO THIS.

It was listening to my dream that led me to do this. As I share last week - during the Make Space In Your Life For Your Dream class, my dream was telling me that the shape of my life wasn't quite right.

At the same time my dream was telling me it's time to move a few pieces furniture in a particular way... and once I did that other ideas started coming in, it turned into this whole thing.

Now I am feeling ridiculously happy, I am feeling like I RE-SHAPED my life. Not just my space (which is important) but the ways I will use it.

I feel like I am making space for new possibilities.

I am making more space for my dream in more ways that I realized.

This is the work!

WE have to keep LISTENING to our dreams and PARTNERING with our dreams, not just trying to force them to come true on our terms.

This is why I want you to have a Creative Dream Alchemy PRACTICE (the Dream Book 2026 program or some kind of daily-ish practice with Dream Work practices)

And also to have a Dream Book for navigating the inner and outer path towards your dream.

And also do these weekly check-ins and monthly intention settings....

Because this is the work that roots you more deeply into your creativity and soul. This gives you the opportunity to hear your own self more clearly.

This connects you to your MEDICINE and gives you the knowing of how to use which is exactly the thing you need right now.

This week, for me, that looks like de-cluttering and re-arranging and starting to make plans to paint my whole condo.

What does it look like for you this week?

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Do a Hello Day Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

Getting deeper rooted in creativity + soul [Dream Status Report] Read More »

Becoming my next level self. [I finished embroidering that big snake]

By Andrea Schroeder / July 16, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

snake jacket embroidery

That photo shows the last piece that I still had to embroider (inside the hoop).

I'll take more pics once the jacket is sewn, which may not be until fall.

But I finished the embroidery! I put a whole snake on a jacket!

This project represents the layers I have been shedding in my (really intense!!) midlife experience.

I didn’t realise that when I started. I actually got the pattern and fabric years before I felt ready to start on it, and then I spent a lot of time just thinking about to embroider on it, then at one point I KNEW it had to be a snake, but I didn't know what that would look like so I kept thinking about it.

Then one day, in therapy, my therapist said something like “You are shedding a lot of layers at once here, but you’re not just tossing them aside, you’re really present with the process of shedding and letting it have the time it needs.”

And the jacket project flashed in my mind.

And I said WHOA! I am working on embroidering a snake on a motorcycle jacket! I felt so compelled to do this, this must be why.

Which dovetailed with the explorations I was thinking about… Who am I as an artist in midlife after an unexpected divorce gave me space to come back to my art in a bigger way?

Because if you have been reading for a looooong time you might remember that I spent a lot of time in my late 40s dreaming on who I wanted to be in my 50s. And that felt important, that felt like the thing to explore at the time.. AND... who I am and what I want here at 52 is nothing like what I thought it would be even 3 years ago at 49.

So this jacket represents a LOT of pieces coming together.

This is a LONG project. After a lot of planning, dreaming and experimenting, I started the actual embroidery this last winter.

And as I have been working on it it also felt like… once this is done, that is signifying the start of a new era. But I thought that I had more time before this new era got here. I thought it would be next winter.

I have been getting ready for a new version of myself in a lot of ways, and the completion of this jacket is like - ok! Here she is! I am her!

Not that I won’t keep becoming new versions of myself of course. But this midlife new self has been the biggest “new me” I’ve ever experienced.

So I haven’t been working on this as fast as possible. I have finished multiple other embroidery projects while this one has been “on the hoop”.

I really followed my feelings about how fast to finish it, so the timing feels RIGHT.

This completed embroidery is a threshold and then the completed jacket will be another one.

AND the next morning after finishing it, an idea that has been incubating for years… LANDED.

There is a new way I want to share about working with dreams + obstacles. Something I have done on my own that I haven’t known how to share, and suddenly I feel ready to share it.

Like I needed to be this next level self first?

I’m not going to start doing it instantly, there is still a LOT to figure out it’s just that I feel ready to start figuring it out.

So I am adding it to the mix of projects I am working on for the Creative Dream Incubator.

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!!!

I finished the snake embroidery one evening... that afternoon I put the snaps on another big “sewing/embroidering for my dream self” project - I was making a painting smock. That project had been done for a while, I was just waiting to get the snaps I wanted for it.

I've never had a painting smock, I just have paint stains on most of my clothes.

And this feels more like a painting/creating/dreaming smock with embroidery on it. Like something to put on to REMEMBER MY MAGIC.

It’s a full long dress length shirt made out of white high threadcount sheeting, it kind of looks like a lab coat which is so great with the DREAM LAB meditation!

On the back I embroidered in big letters: KEEP YOUR HEART FIRE BURNING which is a teaching I received in January. I will share photos and more about it at some point.

For now I am just so thrilled that I finished these two HERE I AM AS MY NEW DREAM SELF projects on the same day.

And I am excited to see this smock get stained with paint splotches, and to keep embroidering more things on it. I think REMEMBER WHO THE FUCK YOU ARE would be good to have on there somewhere.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Do a Hello Day Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

Becoming my next level self. [I finished embroidering that big snake] Read More »

Some hard feelings about how my dream doesn’t really fit in my life…

By Andrea Schroeder / July 14, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

This year I’ve done so much exploring of habits and routines and how to structure my life and work and dreams.

This stuff doesn’t necessarily come easy. Your dream is here to CHANGE your life, not fit comfortably inside it.

You do figure it out WHEN YOU STAY IN PROCESS but staying in the process when things don’t fit is sooo uncomfortable, and a lot of people give up before they get there.

I had a big chunk of it figured out, things had been smooth in that department…

And then during the Make More Space In Your Life For your Dream session it felt SO OFF.

During the alchemy meditation - there was enough space in my life for my dream, but it wasn’t the right kind of space. So it didn’t fit.

THIS. FELT. TERRIBLE.

Especially after working on this so much this year, still seeing that my life isn’t a good fit for my dream is like WTF????!?!?!?!?!?! I felt distraught and heartbroken that I'd been working steadily at this all year and the space I'd created is WRONG.

I was also so confused.

!!!?!!????

I had to remind myself that in this alchemy work - you WON'T always understand what is happening and THAT IS GOOD, even when it is distressing in the moment. Your emotional response is showing the inner work that is asking for attention, it's not showing you the truth.

So, after giving it some time, sitting with the feelings, holding onto the message… I saw it.

I’s like I was trying to create a structure based on what I already know about structure…

But my dream needs a structure that is beyond what I know about structure…

(which is not that unusual, our dreams are our spiritual + creative callings, so they don’t want to help us stay inside what we already know, they are here for EXPANSION)

This dovetails with my life changes and physical/mental/emotional changes of midlife…

It’s been a real time of letting go of what worked to find what can work next. Which is so great in theory but in practice it means letting go of what worked and having NOTHING, stepping into the abyss and trusting you’ll figure it out…

And, in the end, I saw how my dream was right. The stuff I already know about structure isn’t helpful right now.

There is a new form/shape to how I can structure my time/energy that is a better fit for where I am now.

Less linear, more presence.

If you remember earlier this year I got the message “less structure more devotion” and I made a focus card to stick into my Dream Book 2026 planner as a way of holding onto that message and figuring out how to implement it.

(Those focus cards are SO HELPFUL! They are a physical way of reminding yourself of the lessons/gifts/healings/insights you are sitting with. And a physical way of marking when you are finished with a particular journey.)

Now I can see that the “less structure more devotion” WAS the right message at the time, but from where I am now I can see that it’s not necessarily LESS structure but DIFFERENT structure.

It’s all in process.

Each step you take changes where you are, changes how you see things, and sometimes the steps you take CHANGE WHAT YOU NEED to take your next steps.

What got you here, to this point, isn’t always the thing that will help you get all the way to your dream.

So much re-configuring needs to happen en route.

So much magic and insight can be found in really digging into your reaction to the different prompts from the Make More Space For Your Dream In Your Life call.

So today I am taping my “less structure more devotion” card to this date in my Dream Book 2026 planner and journaling about how this message helped me, and what’s next in this journey.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Do a Hello Day Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

Some hard feelings about how my dream doesn’t really fit in my life… Read More »

I am bewildered about this NEXT LEVEL DREAMING that has been unleashed [Dream Status Report]

By Andrea Schroeder / July 12, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

I am siting down to do my Dream Status Report for this week to check in with myself and my dreams and what I need and what my dreams need, for the coming week.

Last week I started by saying: I am still reeling from the Make Space In Your Life For Your Dream Call we had on Friday.

PLEASE DO THIS ONE!!!!

If you're in the membership - get the replay here.

If you're not in the membership - sign up here.

We are making more space in the world for our dreams.

I still don't have the words to describe it - it was a big, collective, energy alchemy process. All week I've been getting emails and comments about shifts and insights that came out of that call.

It feels like a concentrated and sustained PUSH to open up this space. To fight back against existential dread and the patriarchal/colonial/capitalist march deeper into the dystopia.

And then the almost bewilderment about what is available to us here, in this new space.

It speaks to how we (collectively) have been getting intention/manifesting wrong.

If you, as your everyday self, decide "I want a mansion" and then set an intention to receive it and manifest it and focus on staying positive and receptive about your mansion...

That is so incredibly different from you focusing on doing the work to shift out of your everyday self and root deeper into creativity and soul, root deeper into your medicine and magic. You become so much more POWERFUL this way but you also are less IN CONTROL because this is where you co-create with your soul. So from this place, your dreams may change! Your soul may not care about a mansion. It may be more interested in your learning how to bake sourdough.

(Your everyday self is more rooted in the culture it lives in so becomes influenced by it and capitalist forces really out there trying to and impact who you want to be and what you want to have - capitalism essentially colonizes our dreams. So if you are manifesting from that place, you end up fighting against your own soul/power/magic and you can get what you want - but you won't understand why it doesn't satisfy you.)

So if you focus on practicing staying more deeply rooted in creativity and soul, not only do your dreams sometimes change - the path changes (in surprising ways!) and your capacity/capability changes (in surprising ways!). You become more powerful. Your impossible dreams feel do-able.

It is bewildering when you are in it.

I am in it now. I am bewildered.

This was a PIVOTAL week for me in my work of growing into my next-level self as a space-holder for your dreams.

In processing all of the chaos of the last few years, in my own life and out in the world, I have healed, grown and learned so much.

Even all of the health problems I have had, I realised, I feel so grateful for because of how being disabled by them, even temporarily, changed my relationship with myself and with my life. It helped me be more ME.

(Not that I think we SHOULD try to be grateful for the hard things that happen or that we will always become grateful for them if we do our healing "right", or that gratitude is better than being angry about them - this is just where I am with this right now)

So much is still in process with this.

Which is what I was talking about on our Co-Dreaming call on Friday. I created a more powerful meditation for it and am asking the to use our time together to STAY IN THE MAGIC of being in that space of being more deeply rooted in creativity and soul... so stay in the Dream Work and not get into our heads about the path in the Outer Work. Not because I don't want you to get your dream in the outer world, because this is what makes you more powerful so you can create it.

One person shared the imagery that came to them in the meditation was about a sexy sheer lace skirt, the kind of thing this person hasn't worn since the 80s I think she said, but by staying in the story of the sexy skirt instead of shifting into "let me figure out what this means in my head in a linear way", all this energy shifted. New possibilities were birthed.

So much can happen there when we relax about "understanding what is happening" and trust the process enough to go DEEPER into the Dream Work and Inner Work.

I am so happy and excited to watch this NEXT LEVEL DREAMING rippling out across the Creative Dream Incubator and supporting us all to shift deeper into our magic.

I know this dovetails with some big things that happened for me this week like the completion of TWO big art projects, personal projects that were helping me explore and embody my own next level self.

And I am still in the bewildered state with them, but I want to share photos and stories as I can.

Please come into this magic with us!

Tomorrow is our New Moon Intention Setting Ritual for July in the membership.

We'll reflect on everything that's been happening this last month, dig deeper into creativity and soul to help you find the intention for the next month that will best serve you.

Members: Details are here.

If you're not a member: Get more details + join us here. Or start with the free Make More Space In Your Life For Your Dream.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Do a Hello Day Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

I am bewildered about this NEXT LEVEL DREAMING that has been unleashed [Dream Status Report] Read More »

You are so weird + powerful. Let’s root deeper into that.

By Andrea Schroeder / July 9, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

Me, holding up my Big journal open to a page that reads: You are so weird, powerful + creative. Let's dig deeper into that.

You are so weird, powerful and creative.

Stop conforming to who dominant culture tells you to be. You’re not beige, you are a rainbow. You are a galaxy.

Your dreams are a PORTAL to your healing and growth which is a portal to your power and none of this happens while you are tying to be who the world wants you to be.

Your dreams are asking you to do the BRAVE inner work AND brave soul work AND brave creative work that allows you to BE who you really ARE.

GET. WEIRDER.

That was a message I received from the soul of the Creative Dream Incubator.

And let me say: WEIRD IS NOT AN INSULT. It's an intentionally chosen word. It means YES if you are fully your true self out loud you may seem WEIRD to the dominant culture that says you're supposed to be satisfied with a "griege"(a grey-beige blend) life.

It's time to root deeper into creativity + soul.

I share all of these details because I want to share how I co-create with the soul of the Creative Dream Incubator and with the people I work with. This is a way of working that is contrary to dominant culture, and contrary to what the "online coaching/Live Your Best Life industry" teaches. It is a way of doing things that came out of my work of decolonizing what I had been taught as a spiritual healer/counsellor/teacher.

I started talking about this on Co-Dreaming calls about a month ago, that I know it's time to make a change and I was listening for what the change should be.

Then we had that one Co-Dreaming call that FELT the way I thought the new calls should feel. What happened on that one call is that we went deeper into the Dream Work and stayed there. And we agreed: let's do more of this!!!

When I started the Co-Dreaming calls I described them as "casual". As in - you can share whatever is on your mind. This felt really important at the time!!! I do believe it was the right decision because the world was quickly becoming more stressful and chaotic and we needed places to process. To talk about what was coming up for us in a space that was supportive and ultimately geared towards growth, healing and creativity.

Now, what feels important is that we root deeper into creativity and soul.

So - go deeper into the Dream Work. And stay there.

I have created an extended version of our meditation to start the calls, and we're going to make space to receive the messages/healing/shifts/ideas that the soul of your dream is ready to send you now.

This will create a lovely atmosphere for co-working, to start with the meditation and then leave the audio on or off, and do your thing within the bubble of the magic we create together in the meditation.

And we can talk about what comes up in the meditation and look at how we can really receive and act on the messages/ideas/healing/shifts we receive in the meditation.

We can use the forum to share updates and talk about the Outer Work stuff, both while you're on the call and during the week, so everyone can participate there, not just the people who can make the live calls.

I hope to see you there - our next Co-Dreaming is tomorrow (Friday).

Members: get the details here.

If you're not a member yet: join us here.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Do a Hello Day Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

You are so weird + powerful. Let’s root deeper into that. Read More »

The only way out is THROUGH so let’s go THROUGH

By Andrea Schroeder / July 7, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

During the Make Space In Your Life For Your Dream call, I felt completely inundated with self doubt.

This was incredibly uncomfortable both in my body and in my mind.

But it’s actually really common! To GET TO YOUR DREAM you do need next-level self belief, which means you need to face + heal self doubt.

So seeing your self doubt in a new way is good! Even though it feels terrible.

This is why I talk so much about the HARD PARTS of creative dreaming, because when we dig up the things that are ready for healing, it feels terrible. And it’s easy to feel like “If it feels this wrong, it must be wrong” but if you stop when it feels terrible - you leave all that stuff un-healed.

The only way out is THROUGH.

So, this is me going THROUGH.

This is another reason why you need a daily(ish) practice of Creative Dreaming! Because when you have that already established, then you have this a container and structure, so when something comes up that needs some work… you already have a container and structure for it.

It’s easier to show up for the healing.

Right now, my daily(ish) practice is the Dream Book 2026 program, so instead of using my daily pages to do the Hello Day or Dream Lab practices as I have been, I’ve been doing Self Doubt practices.

Someone wrote in the forum about being SURPRISED by how their dream showed up in a dream lab meditation and I told them that I LOVE when the dreams come in WEIRD. Those weird ones can have a lot to teach us.

The first day, self doubt came in WEIRD.

In the moment it felt weird, both sticky and also sharp. I wanted to draw my self doubt and didn’t know how to draw “sticky and sharp”.

The second day it was like “WELL OF COURSE” my self doubt IS OBVIOUSLY sticky and sharp. It sticks around so matter what and it’s sharp. It stings!

In hindsight that seems kind of obvious, but in the meditation we are NOT in that logical/linear perspective so it comes up more from a soul/feeling/creative level and we feel it in a different way. THIS IS IMPORTANT. How it feels in the moment matters. We need to be with those feelings. We don’t need to understand what is happening there, our logical/linear minds can’t heal us or make our dreams happen.

Now on the third day of doing this, I’m noticing that my awareness of my self doubt has shifted.

Like a bunch of stuff got DUG UP during the Make Space In Your Life For Your Dream session and that digging up was so uncomfortable, but now as I keep sitting with it, I am building thot new river bank, to hold the expanded perspective, so that the floor of healing and stay here and I can root into it instead of the water receding and me going back to how everything was…

And I am noticing my self doubt in a different way.

There is a little sting.

Not painful, but it FEELS DIFFERENT from my other inner thoughts now.

While before, up until last week, it sounded and felt the same as other inner thoughts and I had to do more work to get in there and untangle - What is self doubt? What is intuition? What is self belief? What is true here?

Now, this self doubt piece feels crystal clear. There is this little sting. And I feel and it’s like “ugh, no, not going to take action based on that thought!”

After a few days in to the process of sitting with self doubt I can see - I need to sit with self belief now.

Self doubt is more clear to me. I can stop myself from acting on it.

There are lots of ways to keep working with it - this part of me still needs healing. It’s like it is no longer trying to get into the driver’s seat and derail me, but it’s still here, needing healing. Like a child throwing a tantrum.

We have a few practices for doing this work in the membership:

The Un-Sticking Station (There are a different options here, this is the deep work of healing the inner obstacles, it’s good to take a look at this when you’re NOT stuck, to get ready to do this work the next time you feel stuck)

Alchemy Process for working with Self Doubt (20 minutes, with a journaling sheet)

Self Doubt Relief (also 20 minutes, with a journaling sheet, but a bit of a different process - try them both to see which one you like best)

Your Self Doubt Is Not Yours, You Deserve To Believe In Yourself (1 hour class with a whole guided journal)

But what I want to do is focus on self belief.

I want to meet with my Dream Self who fully believes in the magic of what she has to offer as a daily practice and see what she has to show me.

The Dream Self practice is another tool available in the membership, it’s about the “other side” of the healing, ways of tending to the spiritual and personal growth that our dreams are asking of us.

And in the Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual Practice calls we do regularly, we work specifically with the Dream Self who believes in the magic of what you have to offer the world.

So that’s the Dream Self I want to sit with now in my daily practice.

And I'll see where this takes me...

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Do a Hello Day Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

The only way out is THROUGH so let’s go THROUGH Read More »

The shift is only the beginning

By Andrea Schroeder / July 6, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

Your presence is your most powerful tool for creating anything.

Of course I went in to the Make More Space For Your Dream In Your Life call meaning to hold space for YOU to make more space in your life for your dream, but the shifts that happened in ME were really unreal.

I still feel the shifts unfurling inside me, shifting my perspective on how I do everything and seeing new options for how I COULD do everything.

Like, the visceral experience of shifting perspectives was really intense to the point of being uncomfortable.

This is a transformative experience.

AND

A transformative experience is like a river flooding, only as a positive instead of a negative. Just like water floods the banks of the river and gets everywhere… energy and ideas explode out everywhere in your life, into places where they don’t usually go. The whole terrain of your life becomes flooded with new possibilities.

This is what happens in any kind of transformative work. This is predictable. If you show up for it, the magic if there.

What’s not as predictable is: What are YOU going to DO with it?

You can revel in the magic and feel healed.. but if you go back to your “usual” way of doing your life, your usual hobbies and habits, then you just… shift back to where you were. You bring a bit of that expansion back with you into your usual life, but most of it is gone.

The flood recedes. The river goes back to where it was.

If you want to stay flooded with possibility and self belief and dream belief and LIVE in this place of expansion: This is where the real work begins.

The real work wasn’t the initial healing/transformation. That’s just the doorway.

So that’s where I am now.

And you know what I want to do here?

SCROLL!!!!

I keep picking up my phone.

I just want to distract myself.

Because the work of shoring up entirely new boundaries, creating a whole new riverbed for the energy to flow through so it doesn’t recede back to where it was… it feels like too much for some parts of me.

I’m grateful that the parts of me who BELIEVE IN DREAMS are taking the driver’s wheel, turning on soothing music in my headphones and then putting my phone out of reach, and pushing my journal stack and zipper pouch full of markers towards me.

I am bringing the things I learned into the call into my ongoing work with my dreams by:

Re-reading my notes from our call.

Sitting with the thoughts and feelings that come up.

Listening to myself about how to navigate it all....

And actually a new plan is starting to form. I'd been working on plans from the Spring Clean Your Creative Dreams call, and things brought me a new layer of good information for how to approach HAVING MORE OF WHAT I WANT IN MY LIFE.

I encourage you to do the same!!

Keep sitting with whatever came up for you, share in the forum if you like, and make a plan to attend (live or on replay) the New Moon Intention Setting Ritual next week.

The shift is only the beginning Read More »

The answer is probably not what you wanted it to be [Dream Status Report]

By Andrea Schroeder / July 5, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

I am siting down to do my Dream Status Report for this week to check in with myself and my dreams and what I need and what my dreams need, for the coming week.

*Membership members: this practice works well with the Weekly Planning Sheet and Creative Genius Planning Sessions. If you want more progress and momentum with your dreams, you likely need to plan differently!

I am still reeling from the Make Space In Your Life For Your Dream Call we had on Friday.

PLEASE DO THIS ONE!!!!

If you're in the membership - get the replay here.

If you're not in the membership - sign up here.

I ended up spending most of last week working on this... I was creating an energy alchemy that surprised even me.

If you're used to doing calls with me, know that this is a different format. Usually we have lots of time for sharing after the meditation and journaling - but this one was ALL meditation + journaling. So be ready to spend 90 minutes with this at once - and come out with a whole new perspective on how to make more space in your life for your dream.

I do not suggest breaking this one up into smaller pieces.

As I shared during the call, I was experiencing a LOT of self doubt - I went in there trying to make space for my dream in my life - and ended up feeling like I was being buried in mountains of self doubt.

THIS WAS SO HARD TO BE WITH.

But by the end of the session, it was more clear: Self doubt is THE obstacle for me right now.

By the end of the session we were in touch with a deeper inner truth and my inner truth actually said "Oh that? Fuck that. Who cares?" about my mountain of self doubt, lol.

So I've been sitting with that tension - the part of me who feels buried under the self doubt and the part of me who doesn't give a single fuck about it.

And I don't want to make one part of me more right and one more wrong.

(I think that is where a lot of mindset work gets it wrong)

One part is more TRUE, more connected to my truth, to my soul.

But the other part of me has weathered 52 years living the capitalist patriarchy and she's been through some shit! So who could blame her for feeling buried when a mountain of self doubt collapses on her?

To move forward trying to connect more with that brave, ready, powerful part of me and just leave the self doubt in the dust... leaves that hurting part of me in the dust. It splits me off from a part of myself.

And we can't actually leave parts of us behind, they are still there... If we don't work with them, they become weights we drag with us through life.

Though they don't FEEL LIKE weight, they FEEL LIKE reasonable reasons to not have our dreams. Our un-processed stuff does so much harm to our futures.

This is the stuff that makes our dreams harder.

Not that the outer obstacles are not real, they are. And sometimes they are terrifying. But always - you are bigger than the obstacles.

So I am taking my time to really BE WITH THIS self doubt.

I'm thinking about drawing it every day? Like, I have no clue about how to draw self doubt, but if every day, in my Dream Book 2026 pages for this week, I just... draw whatever comes to mind (no judgement, these can look like a 3 year old drew them)... well what could I learn about this self doubt?

The shape and weight and texture of it.

The stories that this piece of self doubt, specifically, is carrying.

The healing that is needed to create new stories...

I've been so unsettled by this all weekend.

I don't think this is a new layer of self doubt.

I think the only thing that's new is that I am SEEING IT.

Which is actually a form of leveling up!!

Even though it feels so hard to be with.

And I am struggling to do my Dream Status Report for this week!

It feels like too much, so I Am not doing it.

I am giving this self doubt a day to kind of settle. I am tidying, meal prepping and sewing a new outfit.

And I'm making a promise to myself to start my day with it tomorrow. This weekly reflection is VITAL for figuring out your path as you go. But that doesn't mean you force yourself to do it when you're not feeling it.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Do a Hello Day Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

The answer is probably not what you wanted it to be [Dream Status Report] Read More »

I feel so uncomfortable sharing this

By Andrea Schroeder / July 2, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

I want to share this partly BECAUSE I feel uncomfortable about sharing it.

These are the parts of creative dreaming that feel so awkward and vulnerable that we want to hide them… and then we feel so alone in them… and then it’s so easy to start to feel like we ARE alone in it... and that this “stuck” is evidence that we can’t have our dream.

I see this play out all the time with people I work with, so I’ve always shared this stuff quite openly to help them not feel alone in it.

I've always tried to create a culture where we validate all parts of the process. You'll be scared and awkward sometimes, and you're super brave to keep going anyway.

So, I am in an awkward and weird place as I get ready for the Make Space In Your LIFE For your DREAM call tomorrow.

I hope to see you there! This one is available for free for anyone!

If you're in the membership - get the details here.

If you're not in the membership - register for free here.

I am planning then re-planning and re-planning and feeling a lot of feelings and I am starting to avoid working on this and this is a problem! This is happening tomorrow and I need to be ready!

I've been kind of going in circles with my resistance and big awkward feelings, and I decided to stop that, and use the Un-Sticking Station practice to met with the part of me who doesn’t want to look at this.

She comes to life immediately.

Oh wow. Thanks! I’m so glad to get some attention from you because I wanted to show you this recipe.

A recipe?

Yes, I want to make Rice Krispie squares with those unicorn marshmallows you got last summer and have no real use for.

Well, yeah it would be nice to use those marshmallows up and I thank you for remembering that they are in the cupboard and yes we can have a goal of using them up in sometime this summer… when we need to make a treat to share with other people because I don’t want to eat a whole tray of Rice Krispie squares by myself right now.

That’s fine you can actually just make them and share them, like go drop them off at people’s houses. Your friends would appreciate this.

Sure, they would. But I wanted to talk to you about this class that’s happening tomorrow.

But I want to talk to you about Rice Krispies and the unicorn marshmallows.

Which are highly processed so they are not going bad any time soon, but this class does have a deadline, so could we talk about this first?

It’s AMAZING to me how this part of me wants to focus on treats I don’t even like that much.

She puts the marshmallows down and starts to cry. “I just don’t think I am ready for this”

Oh honey. Why not?

I’m actually struggling with the whole idea of doing this class AS A CLASS because I think it’s something that is better done one-on-one. Like, how do I speak to the specific challenges that EACH PERSON faces when it comes to making space for their dream? I can’t! People may be in all different places and need all different kinds of “ways in”.

Yeah, I feel that! I agree! There is no one size fits all, and different people have different ways of defining what it means to pursue a dream and getting into the nitty gritty like this, in a general way that would be helpful to a group of people, does feel like a challenge.

Oh wow, I’m glad we agree, so can we cancel it?

We agree that this is the challenge, but I believe we are up to the challenge. Do you not agree with that?

Heavy sigh.

I guess I know I can do it. It’s just, I am not sure HOW to do it.

Well that is the whole thing about creative dreaming right? We can’t wait to already know how, we figure it out as we go.

But that’s so HARD!

Yeah. If it was easy everyone would do it. Creative dreaming is actually really brave work.

I see this part of me reach for that bag of marshmallows… and then the bag disappears!!!

WTF?

Her distraction is gone.

We both look in the place where the marshmallows were.

She starts to cry.

It’s just that, if we are going to do this, I want to do it RIGHT. I want to really reach and help the people who are wanting to make space for their dreams. This is such sacred important work. It matters.

Yeah I hear how important that is for you. But that’s how all parts of me feel about all parts of my work! Like - this is what we do, girl! Why do you have so much doubt about this class in particular?

That’s when I realise this part of me DOES NOT feel this way about this class in particular and that this part of me just resists all of my ideas because she cares so much about doing them PERFECTLY that she just freezes up and can’t do anything.

And that’s when I realise that I am giving her too much space in my creative process.

And so I call in the part of me who does know how to set this class up to be helpful and supportive and healing and magical.

And I re-read everything I have prepared for this, from her perspective….

AND WHOA!!!!

That was a good idea! That part of me edited my ideas a little brutally but I LOVE it now!!!!

*****

Sometimes all we need to do is acknowledge and validate how BIG our feelings around our dreams can be.

Your dreams matter.

I hope to see YOU on this Zoom tomorrow but I will send out the replay a few hours after we're done.

If you're in the membership - get the details here.

If you're not in the membership - register for free here.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Do the Hello Day Energy Clearing + Intention Setting Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

I feel so uncomfortable sharing this Read More »

6 months of HOLDING SPACE for my self + the future I want to create: Journal/Planner Flip-through

By Andrea Schroeder / July 1, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

Today marks SIX MONTHS of Dream Book 2026 which is SIX MONTHS of holding space for myself, my dreams and the future I want to create.

I just posted a video of a planner/journal flip through of my Dream Book 2026 on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. IT FEELS SO MAGIC.

(Dream Book 2026 is where I am using a PLANNER as a DREAMER - the program comes with meditations + journaling prompts to get you showing up consistently to hold space for yourself, process your thoughts and feelings and practice setting intentions. This is not about the focused DREAMING + DOING that we do in the full Dream Book program. Dream Book 2026 hold space and makes space for things to happen when you don't feel ready to "full on get out there and make it happen" like we do in Dream Book. Both programs are available in the membership)

Flipping through if I can really feel how I have become more GROUNDED in my dreams from doing this practice every day(ish).

It's easy to think of a dream as something outside of you, or something far away from you, or a change you need to make... but your dream lives inside you. This is a sacred visionary part of you. This is where your gifts and wisdom and most authentic self speak to you.

So when I say I feel more grounded in my dreams, I mean I feel more grounded in all of that. More rooted into my own soul. More connected to myself.

I feel more powerful.

Which is really saying something because I have felt so overwhelmed the last few years. And I am still struggling with some health stuff, like there is still reason for me to feel overwhelmed about my life, but I feel powerful about it. I credit that to this practice. Flipping through my planner I can see it, I can feel that powerfulness emerge from showing up consistently these last six months.

Getting grounded any our dreams and your soul and your creativity and your gifts means that when you look at the outer work of making a dream happen - it doesn't feel so overwhelming and hard. It feels do-able.

Dream Book 2026 is a program for holding space for yourself and the future you want to create - wherever you are.

It doesn't ask for any kind of commitment of taking action on your dreams, it's just about holding space.

Holding space is transformative, generative and powerful.

If you haven't done this with me - now is the ideal time to start!

You can still start from the beginning of the Dream Book 2026 program in the membership, dream up what you want for the rest of this year, set your intentions, and dive in. You don't have to feel ready to do anything. You just have to decide to show up.

A month ago we did the SPRING CLEANING FOR YOUR CREATIVE DREAMS call.

We checked in with our intentions/dreams/goals for this year and reflected on the process and said... let's take the month of June to gather up what we learned from that process and use it to make a plan for how we're going to move forward with our dreams for the rest of this year.

I thought I was going to make a really detailed plan....

Instead what I realized is that what I am doing is working!

The commitment to show up and do some kind of creative dream alchemy meditation and some journaling, every day (ISH)...

Coupled with the weekly Dream Status Report where I reflect on how things are going and listen to my dreams about it...

Coupled with the monthly New Moon Intention Setting where I really look at what is needed for the next month...

Also coupled with a new thing I added where I do a project check-in once a week, to list the things I am doing, check in with how that's feeling for me and what the project needs...

All this together adds up to me feeling like I am HOLDING ALL OF my dreams really sturdily and focusing on doing the things that feel most important each week.

I do trust this loose kind of plan to get me to where I want to be especially because I am checking in with ALL projects every week, so nothing gets left behind.

How about you? If you're doing this with me I'd love to hear how it's going - please share in the forum.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts or start a conversation about whatever you're working with.

Do the Hello Day Energy Clearing + Intention Setting Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

6 months of HOLDING SPACE for my self + the future I want to create: Journal/Planner Flip-through Read More »

You can’t find the magic if you won’t jump into the mess [Dream Status Report]

By Andrea Schroeder / June 28, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

I am doing my Dream Status Report for this week to check in with myself and my dreams and what I need and what my dreams need, for the coming week.

My Dream Status report feels so vulnerable this week.

I put myself out there in a new way this week. I started the "Outfit Of The Day" videos on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

I felt so sure about it going in, and then after a few days had a HUGE vulnerability hangover, which I had a lot of resistance to really feeling because I was telling myself I shouldn’t feel this way because I have so much experience putting myself out there and being vulnerable, so why is it hard now? Get over it!

Which is NEVER a helpful way to speak to our inner selves, and actual in the moment feelings.

And I know that!

But I really wrestled with my feelings, all around. This really stirred up SO MUCH RESISTANCE to everything. I am just IN A MOOD.

At one point I decided to "STITCH AND BITCH"

A REALLY GOOD decision I made this year is that when things feels hard, to step back from them, and do some embroidery. The simple repetitive hand motions and creative satisfaction of watching a piece come together are really helpful in those moments. So I added embroidery to my Un-Sticking Station work.

And since I was doing that, I decided to turn on my video camera and talk about what was on my mind while I stitched. I enjoyed doing this, it felt kind of energizing, and I felt good about putting it out there. I knew it wouldn't get a lot of views, but I just wanted to put it out there.

But I will come bak to the "low views" thing right away...

The thing that is really staying with me from our Co-Dreaming call on Friday is the idea of taking the LITTLEST step in and how that puts you into the process and then once you are in the process so much becomes possible!

So I don’t need to figure out how to get myself ALL THE WAY TO WHERE I WANT TO BE.

I just need to find the smallest thing I can to do get into the process.

Which is exactly what I saw about how Creative Dream Alchemy works, but there are times when it is hard to trust that. When we want to figure out the whole freaking path before we step into the process because it’s too vulnerable otherwise.

So - lots of vulnerability this week. Also, irritability. And ALL OF THE RESISTANCE.

Coming back to the "low views on my stitch + bitch video this week".... I followed through on my creative inspiration and that MATTERS.

IT! MATTERS! MORE! THAN! VIEWS!

We have to value the inner work and the creative process and the growth and transformation and healing along the way MORE than we value the outer outcomes.

If you only do a thing focused on the outer outcomes you MISS OUT ON THE MAGIC. You keep yourself OUT of that alchemical process... which always brings you exactly the healing + magic you need in the moment.

Because I did it, and trusted my inner feelings and experience about it, I put myself IN PROCESS. There is lots I could do with this idea, there are lots of different outcomes I can turn into goals and work towards achieving. There are lots of possibilities there that wouldn't be there if I had just shut down the idea because it "wouldn't get views".

At the same time: of course you don't have to put every idea out there in a public way. I tend to do more of that because I am a mentor! I want people to see me fail as much as succeed because that's the reality of how you get to a place where your dreams can HOLD you.

It ALWAYS brings you the healing + magic you need in the moment.

The vulnerability hangover and irritability and HUGE MOUNTAINS of resistance I felt this week actually were the healing + magic I needed.

I needed to sit with some hard stuff. To let some feelings have space.

Some parts of the process are hard. I'm still in that part.

Last week's update was about how I felt like "I have my life together"

It makes sense. I felt on top of things - that's when we tend to feel ready for a challenge.

So I want into new terrain both in the Outer Work and the Inner Work and it felt like a mess.

I'll get back to that place of feeling like I have it together.

Then I will leap into the next mess.

Before I go - how are you doing with the Spring Cleaning plan making?

We are taking June to come up with a plan for how we want to HOLD ONTO OUR DREAMS for the rest of the year. We want to make space in our lives for the things that matter and bring us joy!

If anything feels stuck - send me an email or post on the forum! Let's figure this out.

And we'll explore more on the Make Space In Your LIFE For Your Dream call this week!

This is a 90 minute healing + alchemy circle. We'll look at everything from scheduling and practicalities to alchemy healing and magic for the shifts that need to happen for you to really believe in your next dreams.

And this one is available for free for anyone!

If you're in the membership - get the details here.

If you're not in the membership - register for free here.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Do a Hello Day Practice (from Dream Book 2026)

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.

If you're not a member - find out more + join us here!

You can’t find the magic if you won’t jump into the mess [Dream Status Report] Read More »

Stitch + Bitch with me… holding onto hope for a better future in this dystopia

By Andrea Schroeder / June 25, 2026 / daily practice, Manifest Your Dream Life

INTERNAL RESISTANCE has always been a part of Creative Dreaming. It seems like we'll always have parts of us who want to sabotage our dreams and hide under the covers.

But these days the resistance seems to team up with the heaviness and overwhelm about everything that's happening and it's a lot more work to get through it. I see this in myself and in the people I work with.

So I continue to explore... how do we keep creative dreaming in a dystopia? How do we keep making space for hope for a better future for everyone?

One of the things I do, for myself, on the really bad days, when I can (ie when I don't have really pressing things to do) is I embroider. The simple repetitive hand movement and creative satisfaction are really grounding and help bring me back to center.

Today I decided to turn on my camera and talk about what's on my mind as I did this... and then after I finished recording I realized - this is a STITCH N BITCH! lol!