Today is my monthly meeting with money, in my journal.
As you’ll see, I don’t sit down with a pile of cash or with cash flow projections – money journaling is a soul to soul meeting, to nurture my inner relationship with money.
Doing this every month is crazy helpful.? Even when it feels like nothing is happening, you ARE developing your inner relationship with money by spending time with it like this, and this WILL open up new possibilities for what you and money can create together.
The Creative with Money Kit that I mentioned is only available inside the Creative Dream Circle.
My money journaling:
If you’d like a supportive + encouraging space to play along, filled with all the best tools for accessing + activating your magic (plus room for your very own Online Dream Journal), join me in the Creative Dream Circle!
The downside of doing a 30 day video challenge is that it means that I will have to do a video on My Crankiest Day Of The Month.? But, of course, this is an opportunity to share how to cure crankies using your journal, AKA art journaling for healing, so here it is:
Art journaling for healing is one of my favourite things.
Once you get into the flow with it, it’s beautiful and soothing and gentle and effective.? But gentle with yourself as you experiment with it, it can take some to get used to giving space to how you’re actually feeling, and explore more about what you actually need.
If you’d like a supportive + encouraging space to play along, filled with all the best tools for accessing + activating your magic, join me in the Creative Dream Circle!
Manifesting Dreams into Reality: This is what it’s all about, right?
Today I sat down with my journal and promptly stumbled into a really common pitfall when it comes to using an art journal as a tool for manifesting dreams into reality… so I immediately stopped to record this video.
One thing I forgot to add to this is that I didn’t mean to say to NEVER write about what’s happening right now in your journal… stream of consciousness journaling practices like Julia Cameron’s morning pages can be super helpful!
What I did mean is that it is helpful to have a separate journal as your creative dream journal, where you can keep your attention focused on holding the vision.
Holding the vision for long enough to bring the dream to life is not easy.
Having a journal where this is ALL you do can really help build up that energy.
If you’d like a supportive + encouraging space to play along, filled with all the best tools for accessing + activating your magic join me in the Creative Dream Circle!
So learning how to HEAR your inner voice and learning to navigate by your internal compass is a huge part of bringing a dream to life.? That’s what I’m talking about today!
Intuitive journaling is about listening.
It may feel frustrating or like nothing is happening, but usually you have to get into the practice of listening before you start to hear anything.
Your intuitive voice is there – I promise.? It’s just that if you haven’t spent a lot of time listening to it, it takes some time to start to be able to hear it.
Also – we’ve got whole class on making THE BEST Inspiration Cards in the Creative Dream Circle.
If you’d like a supportive + encouraging space to play along, filled with all the best tools for accessing + activating your magic (plus room for your very own Online Dream Journal), join me in the Creative Dream Circle!
And it’s too easy to jump on the inspiration train and invest (your heart, your time, your energy, your attention, your money) in an idea BEFORE you even know for sure if it’s going to bring you closer to where you want to be.
Processing your ideas, getting to know them, being clear on where they came from, what qualities and experiences they can bring into your life and if they’re going to help you get to where you want to be is a valuable process.
Finding clarity about all of this is PURE MAGIC.
It saves time and energy and potential heartbreak.? It helps you shift through too many ideas to find those absolute gems – the best ideas for you to pursue right now.
If you’d like a supportive + encouraging space to play along, filled with all the best tools for accessing + activating your magic (plus room for your very own Online Dream Journal), join me in the Creative Dream Circle!
Today I’m talking about the importance of pausing, resting + integrating and how that is NOT the same as “taking a break”.
This is part of what makes journaling CREATIVE (ala CREATING your WORLD).
Your art journal practice is going to bring you insights and ideas and when it does you need to give yourself time and space to process, ground and integrate or else nothing is going to change.
If you’d like a supportive + encouraging space to play along, filled with all the best tools for accessing + activating your magic (plus room for your very own Online Dream Journal), join me in the Creative Dream Circle!
If you’d like a supportive + encouraging space to play along, filled with all the best tools for accessing + activating your magic (plus room for your very own Online Dream Journal), join me in the Creative Dream Circle!
I knew at some point in this I would want to talk about how it’s important that your journal be a space that welcomes all feelings – that there’s nothing wrong with you if you feel sad or hopeless or whatever. We all feel this way sometimes.
I was hoping it would be later on in the 30 days, but here it is today, sad journaling:
I wanted to keep the videos under 5 minutes, but today’s lesson is SO important I had to share the whole thing (10 minutes).
It’s about the dangers of relentless positivity the magic + helpfulness of disappointment.
It can be really hard to know how to deal with disappointment.
Especially in your art journal where you kind of want things to be bright, happy and positive.
But putting on a happy face while trying to sweep something like disappointment under the rug actually sweeps your dreams + desires under the rug.
You know that you actually need to deal with disappointment.
Finding ways to be with your disappointment (be with is different from wallow in!) transforms it and shows you the gifts in it.? This is how an art journal can help you deal with disappointment, by giving you a space to express and be with how you’re feeling without making it, or you, wrong.
I know when you feel disappointment, the last thing you want to do is FEEL your disappointment, but I promise that that is the path to freedom.
This morning I woke up nervous and unsure about this project – will it be interesting and inspiring? Will I run out of things to say? Will I just discover that this was a dumb idea?? But right now I am SO HAPPY I am doing this.
Feeling like it would take a miracle? You’re in luck!
Project Miracle is for people who believe in the magic of their dreams and are ready for something to change.
It’s a 30 day?Choose-Your-Own-Adventure creative support groups for making change happen.
To Creative Journal every day for the next 30 days (that part is not a challenge!) and to share the stories of what’s happening in my journals here, every day (ahhh… challenge).
I am recording a video every day, and posting it here the next morning, sharing the stories, insights + magic that came from my art journal that day.
You do NOT need to do your own 30 day journal challenge!
Do what you can – it’s not always helpful to push yourself with this kind of work.
Testing out my new video camera with an update on what I’ve been up to, what’s inspiring me + making me happy right now.? Plus how miserably stressed out + creatively blocked I’ve been and how I’m shifting out of it.
If you’d like to join in on the magic of the HOLYday – if you join the Circle now, you’ll get the recordings + playbooks? from yesterday and you can attend the next one live.
For the past few days, I’ve been completely tangled up. ?I’ve spent about 20 hours writing and re-writing the plans for this tea party and it’s still not right.? I’ve spent all the rest of my hours thinking and stressing about it.
These events are primarily about energy work play.? Shifting the energy in the relationship between you and your dream, to make it easier for you to make your dream real.
So when I’m planning them, it has to FEEL right.? Like the event is a container that can hold that kind of transformation.
But it wasn’t feeling right.? And I didn’t know why.
I started to doubt myself.? But this was happening beneath the frustration and stress I was feeling about not being ready for an event that was rapidly approaching.? So I didn’t realise that was the real problem.
I started listening to the voice that said:? A THREE HOUR Playdate?? That is RIDICULOUS!? Who has TIME for that?? MAKE IT MORE USEFUL!
I started working against myself.
This is what most creative blocks are.? YOU doing something that stops YOUR creative flow.
Creativity doesn’t stop flowing on its own.
Doubt, fear, listening to inner critics, trying to change what’s coming through because you think it’s not good enough, trying to control the process, lack of trust in your creative genius – this is what stops creativity from flowing.
And that’s where I’ve been the last few days.? Fun times!
Last night I had a good long meditation.? I brought myself back to my truth.
Then I looked at what had been happening over the past few days.
And when the voice came back: A THREE HOUR Playdate?? That is RIDICULOUS!? Who has TIME for that?? MAKE IT MORE USEFUL!
I giggled.
Yes, no one has time for a three hour playdate with their dream.? That’s why it’s important.
A commitment to a monthly playdate with your dream shifts the inner relationship with you and your dream, opens up possibility, creates opportunity and dissolves obstacles.
The art of MAKING time for a three hour playdate with your dream is the art of bringing a dream to life.
And that’s what I am here to teach.? How to creatively play your way to your dream.
And that booming voice started swirling around.? Like it still believed that it is right.? But it also sees that this IS what I’m here to do, and it doesn’t know know to handle these two opposing facts.
So I tried to help it.
Andrea: Listen, I KNOW that most people in this world will not make time for a three hour playdate with their dream.? You’re right that if I make it more practical and shorter, more people may sign up.
Voice perks up a bit: I am right!
Andrea: You’re right about that, yes.? But then I would have diluted my teaching in order to get more people to sign up.? And that’s just not where I want to be.
Voice: Oh, right.
Andrea: I know you were trying to help.? You want things to be easier for me and I appreciate that.? But let’s remember that happened at the last one of these events… magic!? And let’s remember how important it is that I trust myself, and that I trust what I know.
A big part of bringing a dream to life is letting go of this-is-what-people-are-supposed-to-do so you have more room to hold YOUR truth.
I woke up this morning bursting with ideas.
I could see that supporting others in the revolutionary act of MAKING time to PLAY with their DREAM is big, important work.
I know what I’m doing.
It’s ok to trust myself.
As long as I am being as true to truth as I can be – I can’t get this wrong.
And now I’m off to un-tangle all the tangles and re-plan the plans for tomorrow’s Dream-Growing Tea Party.
I am treasure-mapping my way to growing my business, and sharing the honest actual story, AS IT HAPPENS, as I fumble along this path with creativity, heart and soul.
What is the treasure?? Feeling good (and creative and inspired and elegant) about how I promote my work.
The funny thing about a journey like this:
Being where I am now, it’s hard to remember where I was when I started.
The things I discovered along the way are so OBVIOUS now it’s hard to remember not knowing them, which is a sign of transformation.
I know I wanted to bring more of my creativity and authenticity into how I promote my work, and step up my game a bit.? For so long my focus in my work has been on creating transformative products and I wanted to shift my focus to promoting my work.
But not, like, you know – promoting promoting..
Promotion in a really authentic, creative, inspired and elegant way.
Promotion as a thing of light in itself.? So people can get something useful and inspiring out of it without ever even becoming a client of mine.
What I’ve come up with is Dreamtastic Creative Journals.
It’s a 2 prong (free!) e-course, with material that gets you started using your creative journal as a tool for creating amazing things in your life, and an ongoing creative journaling project to support you in cultivating and sustaining your unique creative dream journal practice.
On a personal level, this helps me make a deeper commitment to my own practice, and to sharing my practice, which is good for me.
On a professional level, this can get more people engaged with my work which may lead to more brave Creative Dreamers joining me in the Circle or purchasing my premium dream-growing journaling kits.
Biggest gift in all of this:
I’ve developed a real appreciation for where I am.? When I started this journey I was looking ahead, like I usually am.? Focused on everything I still want to do instead of at everything I’ve already done.
As a creative person I am ALWAYS going to be looking at what I want to create next, that’s normal.
But it’s ALWAYS better to do that from a space of being over-the-moon happy with where you are right now and what you have already created.
I have a lot to be grateful for and I feel kind of ridiculous that I wasn’t being actively grateful before.
These days I am grateful to be actively grateful for where I am.? And grateful to my Treasure Mapping Journey for showing me the way.
Area of Ongoing Confusion:
Creating a free course that kind of overlaps with two of my paid courses is a little confusing at times.
I don’t want the free course to feel like a free course.? I want it to be full and whole and inspiring and totally beautiful on its own.
I also don’t want to re-create the materials that are in my paid courses, and give them away for free.
A few weeks ago, I sent out an email asking for people’s questions about creative journaling, so that I can make sure to tailor this new course to what people want.? Over 50% of the replies were asking for things that are what I already sell.
I’m not sure what to do with that right now – but I am sure there is an elegant, creative solution.
There is a way to do Dreamtastic so that it’s a valuable and gorgeous resource – for my clients and for non-clients and potential clients.? So I imagine that it kind of sort of plugs into my other work for people who want to go deeper with it, but also works on its own.
My creative process is more of a journey than a straight line.
That is something that consistently got me into trouble in design school, as we had hand in sketches and idea boards that showed the natural progression of our idea and my progression bounced and boogied all over the place before arriving at a surprising destination.
Twenty years later, I’m still bouncing and boogieing around, working on something that I can’t quite see just yet, but I can feel it.
Last week in my post about how your dreams make you cranky when you don’t give them what they need, I shared that I was committing to spending 2 hours/day writing about creative journaling in support of this course.
Of course, not all of this writing is making it into the course – I want the course to be simple simple simple.? I’m focusing on creating the EASIEST possible way to help you get started.
But spending 2 hours/day writing (sometimes on my laptop, sometimes in a journal) is helping me remember everything I know about creative journaling.
I have been teaching creative dream journaling for 6 years!
I’m thinking back to my first class and smiling on the inside.? Even though in 6 years I have done a lot to refine my approach – the magic was still all there in that first class.
Creative journaling is magic because it connects you to your inner magic.? It makes your soul smile.
Creative DREAM journaling is even more magic because it directs your inner magic to help you bring your dreams to life.
I can’t wait.
As I said earlier,? the things I discovered along the way are so OBVIOUS now it’s ridiculous.
OF COURSE I should be putting more free Creative Dream Journaling resources out there!? OF COURSE this is the perfect way to promote myself and get my message out to more people.
So I am feeling really, really good.
And I’m feeling complete with this Treasure Map.
The finished treasure map!
I am declaring this journey a SMASHING SUCCESS.
Thanks to this journey, I feel more aligned, more sure, more energized, more inspired and more clear.
I am BEAMING with joy about Dreamtastic Creative Journals.
Which means I am BEAMING with JOY about how I am going to promote myself from now until the end of the year – how amazing is that?(!)
Treasure Mapping is the BEST way (for me!) to run my business.
We’ll meet in a Worldwide Circle, on the phone.? Bring your journal, a cup of tea and your dream.
We’re going to transform obstacles with the power of your gorgeous creativity.
Make maps and discover amazing new things about what our dreams need RIGHT NOW.
Create space for what is ready to be born.
It’s a play-filled and deeply supportive way of connecting with your inner wisdom.
And it’s startlingly affordable.
The Creative Dream HOLYday is three hours of focused, live (on the phone – with time off between calls to explore + play on your own), guided adventures in Dream Incubation, Obstacle-Busting and Deep Magic Activation for people who want to lead creatively abundant lives ? and do ?impossible? things, with ease & joy. Every day.
The Creative Dream HOLYday is just one of the MANY dream-growing obstacle-busting goodies you get in the Creative Dream Circle.
It’s happening September 3.??Join the Circle this week and you can be all settled in and ready for the MAGICS on the 3rd.
This is the place to be if you want to make Big Amazing Things Happen in your world, powered by heart and soul and play.? I hope to see you there!
PS everything from the HOLYday is recorded, so if you can’t be there live you can still play along in our private forum.
I am treasure-mapping my way to growing my business, and sharing the honest actual story, AS IT HAPPENS, as I fumble along this path with creativity, heart and soul. 
