Healing

You are worthy

YOU ARE WORTHY OF YOUR BIGGEST DREAMS.

We all have a ceiling on what we think is actually possible for us and that ceiling isn't about reality, it's about our own self concept, which is completely malleable.

Though I don't believe we should be constantly pushing on that ceiling in the name of "dreaming bigger".

It's that we have a mental concept of "right size" "too small" and "too big" and sometimes our dreams push up against that, and so we try to shrink our dreams into what feels do-able.

But your dream is your soul speaking to you.

So, instead of trying to shove it into a smaller container that fits with your current sense of what is possible for you, how about you listen to what it's actually saying?

You are worthy of your BIGGEST dreams.

How about giving yourself space to consider... what do you REALLY want?

Yes, you live in a world that is hostile to dreams. Yes, compromises may need to be made. Yes, the world will judge and belittle your dreams and ask you who are you to think you can do this?

AND your dream is your soul calling you towards your true self. There is magic and power in this.

And there is a big difference between going after your dream and landing on a compromise, and making compromises about what you will ever allow yourself to dream about 👈👈👈

Your dream is here to heal and grow you. But it can only work it's magic if you accept it.

YOU ARE WORTHY OF YOUR WEIRDEST DREAMS

The call to conform is so powerful and invisible. We don't even notice all the ways we censor and distort ourselves in order to fit in.

All the ways your heart's desires stray from the mainstream point to your unique power and magic.

You're not a cookie cutter you're a living breathing mystery.

Everywhere you try to fit in you cut yourself off from your own magic

YOU ARE WORTHY OF YOUR WILDEST DREAMS

FEELING WORTHY of your dreams is magic. It's healing.

CLAIMING YOUR DREAMS is saying: This is the world I want to help create. This is what I believe in. This is what is important to me. THIS is who I am.

Though it's SO EASY to feel not good enough because dreams are so VULNERABLE.

FEELING WORTHY of your dreams isn't something you naturally have, or don't have.

It's a thing to cultivate. 👈👈👈

In all my years of doing this work, I have never worked with anyone who ALWAYS felt worthy of their dreams.

Of course it's possible that those people exist but just don't hire people like me. But it's more likely that we ALL struggle with this...

But I don't think it's human nature to doubt our dreams, I think it's a consequence of the colonialist capitalist culture we live in.

And guess what? ARTISTS AND DREAMERS HAVE THE ABILITY TO IMPACT AND CHANGE CULTURE.

But to do this we have to keep doing the work of freeing ourselves of the ways our culture negatively impacts us.

We have to DO THE WORK to cultivate a sense of worthiness.

Your dreams chose you.

You are already worthy.

It's up to you if you're going to cultivate worthiness as a FEELING and STATE OF BEING.

This was a message I received from my dream last year.

In response, I create two alchemy classes for Dream Book members:

FEELING WORTHY of your dreams

BEING OPEN + RECEPTIVE to your dreams

And I know a lot of you did this work with me then, I want to encourage you to keep doing it. (And if you didn't - join Dream Book now and do it!!!!)

FEELING WORTHY OF MY DREAMS is a daily practice.

Come dream with us

 

Dream Book members:

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

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.

You are worthy Read More »

Holding space for the hard during the holidays

I'm back with a second blog post for today because I think this needs to be said right now!

The holidays can be hard and our culture isn’t good at holding space for that, which makes the hard harder.

This year at Thanksgiving (in Canada, Thanksgiving is different than the US and happens in October) I was right in the midst of a LOT of hard. My husband had moved out only a month a half before and I think I was still in shock. My step-son had been in ICU for three weeks and his situation was still life threatening. (He was in the hospital for almost three moths, and is at home recovering now)

While my mom prepared a lovely meal for us, Thanksgiving day just felt so weird and wrong for me. I went home and had a cry, and then my husband texted me about how weird his Thanksgiving felt, and we had a good talk about it.

It felt so good and reassuring to be witnessed. To not be alone in the holiday feeling weird and wrong.

And that’s what’s missing in our culture.

So, that’s what WE need to bring.

We need to validate our own feelings and experiences. We need to stop trying to cram our feelings, needs and experiences into whatever shape our culture expects them to be and let them BE what they ARE.

Creative Dreaming is about showing up in your life as your true self. Shining your light, sharing your gifts, making things happen AND ALSO feeling how you feel, being how you are.

Most of the new age and life coaching worlds draw from dominant culture and push this idea of perfection onto us. Like we are failing if we’re not excited about the holidays. Like we are failing if we can’t say that 2023 was our best year yet, but we’re going to make 2024 even better.

This is bullshit.

So how can you hold space for your actual feelings and experience this holiday season?

Start with VALIDATING THE FUCK OUT OF EVERYTHING.

How you feel is valid.

What you think is valid.

Yes of course there are a lot of reasons why you might want to work on having different thoughts and feelings.

But the starting point is to stop judging yourself.

I should be more positive. I should have done more to accomplish my goals this year. I should make REALLY BIG GOALS for next year to make up for my failures this year. I should be more forgiving.

This is what we do. And of course it’s what we do because we live in a culture that completely misunderstands how feelings work.

And then when we try to heal from the impacts of that, we end up in the new age/holistic wellness/live your best life world where the same values from our toxic dominant culture are twisted up, given some window dressing to make them look different, and pushed back on us.

But the answer and the way through are actually really simple.​

We have the answers inside us.

We can find them when we stop judging and suppressing our actual thoughts, feelings and experiences.

We need to BE WITH.

This is how we hold space for difficult feelings at the holidays.

It’s not any different from how we do it at any other time of the year! During the holidays everything is just MAGNIFIED. That’s what makes it feel harder.

This week I got an email from someone in the Dream Book membership about this.

MARVELLING at how SIMPLE it is, all the magic and healing that come from BEING WITH…. but then also marvelling at how DIFFICULT it is, in the moment, to actually BE WITH.

She was super grateful for all of the tools I offer inside Dream Book - all these different meditations and journaling prompts that all really do the same thing: help you be with, and process, your thoughts and feelings. (And if you want to do this work with me in the new year, you can join us here.)

Because once you’ve done that - you’re in your magic.

THAT MAGIC IS ALWAYS IN YOU.The answers, the power, the creativity, the motivation, the inspiration, that inner knowing that YOU GOT THIS.

We naturally get in touch with all of that when we BE WITH.

This is how we alchemize the hard stuff into FUEL for our dreams.

So, since the holidays can be hard, it means there can be more hard stuff to alchemize - which is SO HARD in the moment but then also SO GOOD afterwards.

I am living proof.

Almost 4 months into my separation from my husband, I’ve been feeling like I should feel worse than I do!

Yes there is sadness but most of the time these days I feel so happy and free. And like I still love him and still feel loved by him but the relationship has space to change and become something totally new. And I am finding that, of course, without my marriage there are still a SHIT TON of things to love about my life.

And yet this one part of me still judges my process. Feeling like I can’t possibly feel this happy after such a devastating loss.

So, the work of BEING WITH continues. Tending to the parts that are still sad. Tending to the parts that feel happy and free and want to explore new dreams. Tending to the parts that are like “whoa how am I handling this all so well?”.

When Thanksgiving felt SO HARD for me this year, I was really worried about Christmas. But now that it's almost here, I feel good. It will be a much quieter and simpler Christmas and that feels really right.

So. If the holidays feel hard for you this year - how can you BE WITH and TAKE CARE of yourself and all of the different feelings that get sparked?

Where can you disengage from what dominant culture is telling you to do, and engage more deeply with your actual needs?

Holding space for the hard during the holidays Read More »

🤯 I can just NOT BLOOM. For as long as I want. This is creative dreaming too.

This is my Thanksgiving cactus.

The blooms are so precious to me, this orange flower with a hot pink centre. 

But it would just have one bloom each year.  It would grow new branches, but they would always fall off. It never got any bigger. 

Until this last year. It grew new branches. And they stayed. And grew more. And then last week it started really blooming.

And I was like WHOA. I CAN DO THAT TOO.

I can just NOT BLOOM. For as long as I want.

I can rest.

I can let things fall apart.

I can try to grow. And fail. And try again.

And it’s fine. It doesn’t mean anything about my worth or my potential or my ability to bloom again when I choose to.

This didn’t feel defeatist or anything like that. It felt like pure freedom.

Successful Creative Dreaming is NOT about unbridled ambition and non-stop success.

It’s about listening to yourself about how you live your life, and creating a life that feels true to you.

This will always include TENDING. Tending to the fears and self doubts and hurts and just… all the feelings that come with being human.

Creative Dream Alchemy is using your dream as a guiding light, to guide you through all of that. THROUGH. Not around. Not some secret shortcut you find by avoiding your feelings. THROUGH.

In my own Creative Dream practice I’ve been working through layers and layers and layers of resistance. Sometimes we just have to do this before we get to the good stuff.

In Creative Dream Alchemy we always take the same approach. When you connect with your dream, notice what’s there.

Do you feel frustrated about something that is stuck? Are you disappointed that things didn’t work out? Do you just want to think about something else and you’re not sure why it’s so uncomfortable? Do you have an inspiring new idea? Do you want to get to work on making the thing?

It doesn’t matter WHAT is there, all that matters is that you be with that thing. Uncomfortable or not. Wanted or not. That thing is your next step and facing it WILL lead you towards where you want to be.

Every time.

So. Last week it was embarrassing to keep sharing how often I got stuck, but I kept doing it.

And this week I feel a lot less stuck.

I feel like - yeah I’m not exactly blooming right now, but there are some really interesting things happening with my roots so that’s where I am focused.

Come dream with us

 

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

🤯 I can just NOT BLOOM. For as long as I want. This is creative dreaming too. Read More »

Really stuck today

I shared the post yesterday about exploring the pit of despair - I actually did that inner work in my practice last week, I just ran out of days to share it last week.

After that exploration, I had a bunch of really good days. I felt creative and powerful. I had some really good days, I felt like I made a lot of progress creatively... and now today is a bad day again.

I am so stuck today.

I don’t know why. I’m avoiding everything I want to be doing.

I have theories - that my nervous system is kind of shot and I just need a rest day. That I’m never very creative if I don’t get exercise and get out of the house in the morning and I am in the house today.

But it also feels like there’s something that I am not seeing.

So let’s go to the Un-Sticking Station.

I’m listening to it and I have SO MUCH RESISATNCE.

There is a part of me who just wants to be STUCK. Who wants to REVEL in being stuck.

I don’t want to be in the bubble of creativity, light and knowing in the meditation.

I want to lay on the floor and not move. I want to wail about how I can’t do the things I want to do.

I stay with the meditation but VERY half-heartedly.

The stuck shows up as snake around my shoulders and I notice that my shoulders are very tense.

Hi snake. What do you need?

To lay on the floor. Let’s lay down.

I lay down on the carpet. It’s a sunny day and I’m right in a sunbeam.

Oh yeah, this feels good, doesn’t it?

Well it does, but doing the things I wanted to do would feel good, too.

What if today isn’t a day for that?

I can’t keep not doing these things! I need to pay for our life! I need to do my work. Also I WANT to do the things I want to do!

The snake sees how stressful this is for me.

OK I have to admit I stopped this and went to scroll Facebook. I have SO MUCH RESISTANCE.

I’m back with the snake.

The snake really wants me to feel the feeling of the sun, feel warmed and comfortable in my body…

And then I start crying. 

And the snake slithers away saying - crying is flow. You’re in the flow now.

I have to remind myself sometimes: there were days like this before, too.

Pursing your dreams IS facing your fears and uncertainties and all the thing you would much rather avoid.

Some days are like this. Some day are crying on the floor.

This is a part of the work, too.

I hate it, but I keep sharing these days here because they happen to everyone who is showing up for their dreams. Only the people who avoid their dreams entirely can avoid ever having days where everything feels stuck.

 

Come dream with us

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Really stuck today Read More »

Exploring The Pit Of Despair

This is continued from last week's post on Why is it PAINFUL to figure out how to have more STRUCTURE?

 

Now I’m back, as The Uncertain Despair Expert to see what I can maybe do with this foundation full of despair, so that we can create safe working conditions to build a safe, sturdy and supportive structure.

I’m wearing a blazer and a hard hat.

The little green being construction worker is here. 

Oh course I’m here, this worksite is my job. I’m here every day.

But until we can clear the despair, your only job is to ward everyone away from this place?

That’s right. Keeping everyone safe.

OK well I’m going in.

I sit at the end of the site, with my feet resting on the foundation that could, at any moment, give away to despair.

I remind myself I can lift my feet at any time and get out of despair. I breathe. I'm safe. It's ok.

Once I feel grounded and ready, I push my feet into the ground, which is soft and malleable, I can see how easy it would be to slip beneath it, right into despair.

I’d like to send a camera down there to check things out but I know what I have to do.

This is where I stopped journaling.

I just stayed with it, imagining going underneath the surface, right into the despair.

I felt all the feelings.

Which triggered lots of other feelings.

And the whole thing felt like a nightmare.

But I knew that if I avoided these feelings, I’d be avoiding the ability to get organized to do the things I want to do in the ways I want to do them.

So I stayed with it and eventually drew a map of how it felt:

That one at the bottom - is this endless? - sparked a lot of fear.

And the rest of the day really sucked, but the next day, and ever since, I've been feeling so much clearer. And, step by step, I have been putting a new structure in place for how I want to do things.

 

Come dream with us

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Exploring The Pit Of Despair Read More »

Still trying to get organized over here

Our Structure Habits Routines call last week was so magical and I am so inspired and motivated to create nourishing structure in my life that is ENJOYABLE in the moment and also SUPPORTIVE in the process of moving towards where I want to be.

AND

I am procrastinating like a procrastination CHAMP this morning.

At one point, I had finally gathered all the things I needed to do what I want to do here, and then just walked away from my desk and started walking around.

I've often said that "I need to get organized before I can do the things I want to do" isn't really about organization or disorganization, that there's something else going on there.

Just like procrastination, itself, isn't a problem it's more a sign of something else.

And as I write these things, my chest tightens up. There is something I am afraid of and if I could just avoid getting organized then I could also avoid feeling this fear.

My tight chest says "Let's go lie down and scroll through reels!"

Every other part of me knows that's not the path to where I want to be.

I'll start by naming, clearly, what I want to do:

I want to make this week's "Dream Book/Bullet Journal Hybrid" page. This is a new thing I am experimenting with and new things, where I don't know what I am doing, are hard!

Oh! Naming that problem as a hard thing actually reduces the pressure.

Reminding myself: this is a new thing, OF COURSE I don't know what I am doing, so how about giving myself permission to do it badly?

Pressure reduces again.

How about reminding myself that I WANT to do this by naming the things I hope to receive from it?

I want how I feel so calm and capable when I have a plan for each week. I don't need to follow it to a T or anything but just having it all written down, IN HAND WRITING, is such a calming experience for me.

I want how I feel so inspired when I connect with my dreams, hopes, and wishes while planning my week.

I love how I feel POWERFUL when I create a plan that feels just right.

I love the clarity of knowing what I want to do and how I want to do it.

And I love the satisfaction of flipping through my planner and seeing all these messy pages.

OK I am feeling it.

 

 

 

Come dream with us

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Still trying to get organized over here Read More »

Dreams are supposed to fall apart sometimes

Me this weekend by the river - fall is so beautiful even though everything is falling apart. What if we are beautiful when we are falling apart, too?

It’s almost two months since my marriage fell apart.

It’s almost six weeks that my step-son has been in the hospital with a very sudden and life-threatening illness.

It’s been a lot.

My step-son has been getting more stable the last few weeks. When I saw him on Friday, for the first time since this started he talked about leaving the hospital and catching up with his life. After so many weeks of only talking about how painful and scary this all was, that was such a relief. The end is in sight. Not that there won’t be complications - this is going to change his life in big ways and there is still a long road ahead, but still - after all this time with all these unknowns, we can see the road ahead.

Which means I have some more emotional bandwidth to face the fact that my marriage fell apart.

Saturday morning I baked a pie pumpkin, and the seeds. Then I blended it up with oats, water, brown sugar syrup and pumpkin pie spice to make a creamy pumpkin spice blend to add to coffee or tea.

The house smelled amazing.

While the pumpkin baked I worked on a puzzle.

It was soooo quiet. 

And I’ve been thinking about how this marriage was a dream come true.

The relationship we had was healing and nurturing and playful and all the things I wanted. 

And I’ve been thinking about how dreams don’t always last forever. I mean they can’t all last forever. We can’t have everything, always!

And I’ve been thinking about how our dreams need us to TRUST THEM even when they look and feel nothing like what we thought we wanted. Even when they fall apart completely.

That following our dreams leads us in the right direction. And that the goal is not to never be unhappy or to always have a “perfect life” whatever that means.

The goal is aliveness. And wholeness.

Our dreams always want us to grow into who we really are.

And as much as my marriage did help me do that, for so long, now that it’s gone I can see that there is so much more potential for growth, here where I am, by myself.

I mean I am far from alone, but you know what I mean. After having such a close emotional bond with someone, to lose that relationship feels like loosing a limb, it’s a lot to adjust to.

I had therapy last week. My therapist noted that usually the things I turn to to help me process and heal are more creativity focused, and now they are more sensory focused.

I am really IN my body.

I have been making space in my body to process all of this. I am breathing deeper than I knew was possible. I mean, I have meditated for 30 years, I thought I knew deep breathing! 

I didn’t know deep breathing, not like this.

This weekend, there were times when I felt more peace than I’ve ever felt in my life. The kind of peace that comes from embodiment, not from having a peaceful life.

I think we try so hard to force our lives into the shapes that we think will make us happy and bring us peace but life is always life-ing.

And the world is a brutal place. I have not been ignoring the news, but I have been having big firm boundaries with it because I just can’t right now. But I know the world is far from peaceful.

And still. I feel this sensation of peace in a deeper way than I ever have before. Sometimes. I am also feeling lots of other things.

And beneath it all, a growing sense of trust that I am on the right path.

This is what our dreams are for - to lead us along our healing journey.

And as a part of that - dreams WILL fall apart. Dreams WILL make a huge mess in your life. Dreams WILL HURT sometimes.

It’s all a part of it.

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Dreams are supposed to fall apart sometimes Read More »

Why is it PAINFUL to figure out how to have more STRUCTURE?

This month we did 2 calls about structure, one for the Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual Practice series and one more general one.

I hadn't planned it that way - themes for the marketing calls come out of what people bring up on the calls. But it also happens that this month I am really working on structure.

This morning my practice was journaling. I went to a coffee shop with my journal to just explore. I know I want to be more structured, I know my routines and habits need an upgrade (hey there is the Habits Upgrade call if you’re looking at this too).

But with so much change and uncertainty in my life right now, this is all really hard for me to figure out.

I’d been avoiding doing this for a while, which is why I specifically took my journal out for coffee this morning.

And I made some good progress! Just getting everything out of my head and onto the paper it started to feel more clear.  

Until I got to the part about structure in my business.

I started by exploring the idea of a organized and structured content schedule, which I have done in the past, but it felt sooooo uncomfortable.

So them I thought about - what if I just had different types of content I create, and then each week pick 3 of them or something like that?

That also got reallllly uncomfortable.

So, I’m taking the discomfort into the Un-Sticking Station.

First, I want to note that I feel the discomfort in the back of my head. It almost feels dangerous, like if I look at this more deeply I could damage my brain.

So I invite the discomfort in and it’s a little green being, standing in front of me.

Yeah, no, we can’t do this. (It has the voice of a stereotype of a male construction worker from New York City)

How come?

Oh super unsafe. We got structural problems here.

Structural problems? But I literally wrote “structure” at the top of this journal page, like I want to create a good structure.

No, you’ve got a bad structure.

Yeah. I mean I know that. I don’t really have ANY structure and I want it to be sturdy, safe, and supportive.

No it’s not safe to look at this.

Not safe to even LOOK? I mean that feels suspicious.

I mean I can’t help but see this interesting contract here. A construction worker would want to build a safe, solid structure. But the stereotypical man would want to avoid feelings at all costs, and may even believe that they are unsafe.

And there isn’t a way to build this structure without understanding why I have so many feelings about this.

I look back at the little green being.

Listen lady what can I tell you? It’s not safe. Work is at a standstill.

I am getting frustrated. I know damn well work is at a standstill.

How do we get back to work?

The little green being looks stumped. He actually looks sad.

This feels like a real conundrum.

We want the safe, sturdy structure but to get there, we have to build the structure without a structure. Is that why it’s so hard to get back to work?

He shows me - if you step on the foundation, you could slip at any time.

What would you slip into?

I lean over and look.

It seems like despair?

Oh lady, it’s a whole mess of feelings. We don’t want to get anywhere near any of it.

So you think we need to just never build here, ever? Like leave a sign for future generations to never build here either?

That seems extreme.

Maybe we need a despair expert?

Not someone’s who can help us avoid falling into despair, but someone who can get in there and clear it out?

Oh I’ve never heard of anyone doing that. The little green being is getting more uncomfortable.

I think they don’t work in the trades.

I think actually it might be me. That might be my job.

(Note: I typed that “might me by job” like my fingers couldn’t even claim this work)

This feels really different than it did when I started. I think I will leave it here, and make a date to look at the despair problem again.

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Why is it PAINFUL to figure out how to have more STRUCTURE? Read More »

Resistance and Learning As You Go

I have so much resistance today

I want to lay in bed and read books.

But it’s not like - I genuinely don’t want to show up for my practice.

It’s like - there is a lot of discomfort all around.

So I am using the process For When You Are In Resistance.

And I want to say - I am the person who made this library of creative dream alchemy processes. I am the person who said “just do the thing that’s in front of you to do” which means - if you feel resistance then your next step is to work on your resistance, if you feel afraid then your next step is to meet with your fear….

AND

I feel so much resistance to working with my resistance!

I want to do what I want to do, not the thing that’s in front of me to do.

This doesn’t get easier.

I mean of course it does get easier. Years of experience help me know how to navigate this...

But here in the moment, with my feelings feeling so messy, it doesn’t feel any easier than it ever has.

So - knowing how to navigate the hard feelings gets easier. Actually having hard feelings remains hard.

So. I’m listening to the video. Hating it, lol.

My resistance is sharp tension in my shoulders.

A fog of frustration in my brain.

Oh there is so much sadness beneath that.

I stopped the recording 3 minutes in. I didn’t want to listen anymore I just wanted to be with my resistance.

I have a lot of grief about not having the energy to do all the things I want to do. I mean work things and personal things.

And then I my inner critic can come out and criticize me for not making better use of the energy I DO have.

And I feel so vulnerable to that criticism right now.

So many layers to this when I really sit with it.

I sit with all of these feelings for a while and then one idea emerges: make a loose schedule. A DOABLE schedule. Think through - what’s most important right now? What can wait for now? 

WRITE IT DOWN because what I have written down, the project management app I use to run my business, is not do-able. It’s like I keep juggling in the moment which thing to do or not do. I need to step back, think it through.

NOT that a schedule is the answer to resistance. But for me having a schedule or feeling organized makes me so much calmer. And when I am calmer I can take tiny little steps.

I know yesterday I wrote about bullet journaling but the things I planned in that bullet journal page… they are not working. 

Which doesn’t mean I did it wrong! I did it the way I could see to do it, and today I am learning that I need to do it differently, I am feeling all my feelings around it, and will try a different way.

This is what “build the path by taking steps” means. It’s not generally smooth.

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Resistance and Learning As You Go Read More »

Experimenting: A Dream Book Bullet Journal

I am using the weekly kits again.

I haven’t used them at all in the last few years.

Which is fine!

AND it’s fine (great actually!) to come back to using them.

The way I have been using my planner just doesn’t speak to me now. I use the calendar in my phone to keep track of appointments, events, etc. And at the start of each week I write them into the planner, which does feel good - it helps me get a sense of my week, emotionally.

But I don’t need a lot of space for each day, I am not tracking every to-do in there. Mostly I keep a list of what I want to do that week.

The detailed lists are all in Notion, my project management app for running my business.  There is nothing I write in my planner that is not already somewhere else digitally. (I need everything to be stored digitally with reminders. This is so I don’t lose anything.)

And I LOVE to write out just one week at a time, BY HAND, because this helps me get a feel for my week.

Planning is where dreaming and doing meet.

The digital stuff is “this is what I am going to do”.

The weekly planning pages are “this is how I am going to do this little part of this, this week”

And so I’ve realised - I don’t need a planner with a bunch of space for each week. A journal page for each week is fine.

AND I’ve realised - I want to be doing more journaling journaling. Not Dream Booking (which is very intentional about what you want to get from the journaling you are doing) but the journaling I call “regular journaling” in Dream Book.

Regular journaling is just about sitting with your thoughts and feelings. Getting them out of your head. Looking at them on paper. Maybe digging deeper. 

To me, journaling is quality time with yourself. I want to do more of that.

The journaling kits help with that. To give some structure and support.

So I am experimenting with a kind of hybrid of weekly planning and regular journaling, space to just BE with myself and get things out of my head where I can see them.

I don’t quite have the worlds for it yet, but it felt really good to experiment with it this week.

 

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Experimenting: A Dream Book Bullet Journal Read More »

Getting Support From The Creative Dream Garden

I was feeling pretty sensitive for Monday's Co-Dreaming call. The day before, we had Thanksgiving in Canada and I didn't realize how strange it would be to have my first holiday without my husband and step-kids there.

So I was feeling all the feels when I went into the meditation.

Then my creative dream garden wasn't exactly a garden. It was me, in outer space in a space suit. Holding a plant which was also in a space suit - it was so cute, it was in the big bubble helmet.

It was a but weird but felt ok.

Then I panicked a bit "but where are my other dreams?"

And then I saw them, and then I saw that my dream and I were attached to each other and also attached to the orbiting ship that my other dreams were inside. And then I saw that the earth was right there too, we weren't THAT far away.

I was safe, just far away from everything and all alone up here.

The little potted plant of a dream I had with me was the healing and growth I want for this transition time.

And then when we got to the journaling prompt part of the process, my dreams told me to stop going to coffee shops first thing in the morning. Don't even go for a bike ride. Have a slower start to the day - do that stuff later if I want.

I've been following those instructions and thinking a lot about this meditation this week.

By repeating the same meditation each week, you create space where your intuition and your dreams can send you messages. It's much harder to receive potent and helpful messages without the kind of space that consistent repetition creates.

I'm sinking into the FEELING from the meditation - beyond my original feelings that day when I was already unsettled and feeling very alone. It doesn't feel ALONE so much now, it feels like giving myself SPACE.

It feels really magical and I'm using this as my guide to set myself up for the winter season. Like stocking up on pantry items and materials for creative projects so I don't need to go out for things. How can I turn this winter into a healing creative retreat for myself?

 

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Getting Support From The Creative Dream Garden Read More »

Deeper into the magic of healing

I have declared that I am in a season of healing.

I've refined my dreams - the dreams I was working with are still there, but focusing on self care and healing feel more important right now. So there are the immediate dreams, and then the bigger long-term dreams. It feels really good to feel like this is "organized" somewhat.

My new slower morning routine feels so supportive of this.

I'm also doing a longer meditation - the Dream Lab but I usually stop the meditation when I'm in the Field of Creative Dream Alchemy, and just stay there. Feeling connected to myself and surrounded by support feels like the right place to spend some time.

Today in the meditation, everything was black and white and it felt animated, like everything in the field was hand-drawn art, and the art was moving and it felt so soothing and expansive. And I was crying, and my tears created a river and I knew that in the spring, I could build a raft and float down the river to my new life.

Writing this out it may seem depressing but it felt SO hopeful and healing.

 

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Deeper into the magic of healing Read More »

Creating New Routines

I do switch up my routines somewhat when the seasons change. But right now, the weather is getting cooler AND I'm in this huge season of personal change with the separation from my husband and my step-son in the hospital.

I've been quieting my mind and letting my body guide me through this more than I usually do. As a result, I can't drink coffee in the morning, or on an empty stomach. I also don't eat until much later in the morning. My stomach just needs more time in the morning to adjust to the day before it starts working.

Making that cup of coffee and going into my studio. That was always the start of the routine.

Making a cup of herbal tea doesn't land in the same way. And decaf coffee is still too heavy for my stomach.

Sometimes when things change, we want to try to find the next most similar thing to replace it with.

Sometimes when things change, we need to figure out what else wants to change.

For me, this time, it's a whole new way of starting the day.

Today I did:

sleeping in - this was kind of disorienting but also needed, it was Thanksgiving this weekend and my first holiday without my husband was really hard.

aromatherapy - a supportive but also zingy fragrance

PAINTING in my journal not a lot of words

Following my brush around the page, just giving myself space to be and express. Having this really soft way to stat the day. This felt like THE THING I need now, instead of coffee + writing which used to be THE THING.

PS: October 18: Structure Habits Routines Zoom Call. This goes with the Structure Habits Routines journaling prompts we did a few months back, which are here.

 

 

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Creating New Routines Read More »

It’s time for new dreams

It’s easy to feel like you should KNOW what your dreams are, but NOBODY always knows.

Creative Dreaming is about listening to yourself, and letting your inner wisdom guide you through life instead of following the paths in the outer world.

This gets so complicated because we have so many layers of… stuff.  Conditioning, belief systems, trauma. All the ways we put on masks to try to fit in and get approval from the world because it can feel unsafe to be who we really are.

Creative Dreaming asks us to work through all of this and find what is really truly YOU.

We’re going to get tangled up along the way. We’re going to get lost. These are just inevitable parts of the path.

The people out there claiming to always know the truth, to never be lost, to never feel scared, to always have that clear sense of direction about what they are doing - most of these people are so disconnected from themselves that they don’t even know how they feel. And in our culture, these people become leaders! I mean politically and economically but also - the well known healers and coaches in the new age and wellness communities.

When you can allow yourself to be LOST to feel scared or broken or however it is you feel - then you are on the right path.

Creative Dreaming will always ask you to work THROUGH these parts of the path, and not resist and avoid them.

So, there are a lot of layers and it all gets very complicated.

And dreams shift.

With so many changes in my life, I need to change my dreams FOR NOW. What’s calling me in this stage of my life?

Healing. Softness. Spaciousness. Gentleness. Creativity. Rest. Nourishment.

Making this list feels FRUSTRATING. 

My heart tightens up. I want to go do something else.

I don’t want to think about what’s REALLY calling me right now. I want to move forward with my projects as though nothing has happened. I want my step-kid recovered and out of the hospital. I don’t want to be in this messy part of a recent separation I want to feel grounded in my new life. I want to avoid all of this.

But that’s the other thing about creative dreaming.

It needs you to be HERE.

WHERE YOU ARE.

You can only create from the present moment.

So HERE, WHERE I AM, what do I dream of?

Softness. SLOWING DOWN. A winter-long healing retreat in the loft.

I’m going to get a pages going in my Dream Book for these dreams: dream page and dream self page for the things I need in this season of my life.

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

It’s time for new dreams Read More »

Your creative dreams want you to be more YOU

It’s POURING outside, like CRAZY RAIN and I decided I HAVE TO go to the bakery and get fresh bread. It’s only a 2 minute walk but that’s plenty of time to get absolutely soaked but I did it anyway.

And on the way back I noticed the little portulaca flowers on my patio.

And then I remembered my creative dream garden in the meditation at Co-Dreaming on Monday. In my garden, lots of things were dead and it was like “this is the season for things to die. This is what the harvest IS. Things will grow again in spring.”

And it felt VERY uplifting. And my whole body really FELT the message, that things do die and it’s a part of life and everything is ok and I will be ok.

Coming back in from the bakery, seeing my flowers, brought it home even more.

I’ve been planting portulaca flowers in this one little pot I have, every year. Portulaca are annual flowers that do really well in a ton of sun with little water, so they were the only thing that felt appropriate for this smaller outdoor planter I have because my patio is super sunny, so I got new ones every spring.

The patio is stone. After a few years, portulaca started coming up between the stones! The flowers were seeding themselves and I loved it.

After a few years of that, the portulaca started MIXING COLOURS!!! They created new variegated flowers and new shades of orange and salmon - from mixing yellow, red, pink and white.

It was SO delightful.

Then, this year we got a new company taking care of the yard who sprayed weed killed (AKA PLANT KILLER!!!) on all of our patios. And then, this year I couldn’t find portulaca for that pot!

And so nothing came up in the patio. All those new colours of flowers, gone.

But then at the end of July some portulaca plants started coming up. And they started flowering in September. And now, at the beginning of October, when I got back from the bakery and saw the little flowers on my patio what I thought was:

I hope these flowers hurry up and die.

Because I need them to go to seed before winter, so that next year there will be new flowers on the patio. 

Capitalism wants us to ALWAYS be producing. ALWAYS be growing. This isn’t what life is though.

Your creative dreams want you to be more YOU, and less a cog in the machine. They will ask you to be more present with the fallow times, with the dying things, with all part of your miraculous experience in this world.

With that in mind, my creative dream practice for today is journaling. Just follow my thoughts and feelings and see where they go.

Come dream with us
Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

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.

Note: This is a post about my daily practice with my Creative Dreams - in these posts I often link to the tools, courses and processes I use which are only available to Dream Book members. If you're not a member, find out more + join us here.

Your creative dreams want you to be more YOU Read More »

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