How To Do Inner Work | Adventures In Getting Unstuck

You already know how to do this

Monday Morning live meditation + journaling session is on soon!

It’s happening on Instagram live this morning at 10 am (Central, North America). Join me here, or catch the replay at that same link after we’re done.

We’ll do energy clearing + alchemy meditation to connect with your intuition, and get more clear on what YOU need this week to help move you towards where you want to be. Then I’ll pick journal prompt cards for some questions to help guide you through this week. It's MAGIC.


This morning in my Dream Work practice, my dream was a glowing red jewel that wanted to beam me the instructions for how to make it happen.

Yes please, I said.

The dream jewel began beaming instructions and Bear snuggled in beside me.

At one I point I said: You know, I already know this. You're showing me my plan.

And the dream jewel said: Yes. I was hoping you would notice that sweetie. You already know what to do.

Then the dream jewel had arms and hands, and reached over to touch my heart.

It grabbed something that was around my heart. Like a frozen block of something...

My dream said: I am melting your hesitation to ACT on your genius plan.

You need to just DO IT.

You don't need to see all the steps and how they fit together.

You just need to stake the step that's in front of you to take.

Sweetheart, I am literally reading to you from the Dream Book course material that you wrote. You know this.

And then I could feel that block of frozen hesitation melt.

Right. Just start doing it.

Before this meditation, I was looking at my goals for this week and it felt like I was juggling impossible burning knives.

It was 8:30 am, but I wanted to just go take a nap in the hopes that I would feel more clear after.

And now I just feel excited to play around with my projects.

I love all of the things I'm doing so it feels like YAY! AN ABUNDANCE OF GOOD AND INTERESTING THINGS! instead of the previous OMG*DOOM*TOO*MANY*THINGS feeling before.

This is the magic of Dream Work.

Dream Work is NOT just about making a vision board and repeating affirmations to convince yourself to believe in yourself.

It's about the deep and focused work of partnering with your dream so it can GROW YOU into the version of yourself who easily does the thing.

What I teach in Dream Book is Dream Work AND Inner Work AND how to use this work to POWER your Outer Work.

But "teach" is too small a word for what really happens in Dream Book.

I hold space for you to go deeper into your own ways of partnering with your dreams, your magic, your creativity, your power, your process of healing and growth.

What is means is:

✨ more HEALING and GROWTH along the way
✨ less time wasted in STRESS and OVERWHELM
✨ you have what you need to forge your own path

Join us today! Your future self will thank you.

You already know how to do this Read More »

A snippet from my journal: Why is this so hard?

I'm trying to work on a thing that I really want to work on.

But I am just noticing the minutes tick by and I'm just.... not doing it.

I'm distracted and stuck and.... I don't even know.

So. Why is this so hard?

Hmmmm.

I think I'm listening to the wrong music.

OK that's an easy one to solve. I'm now listening to Creativity Boost - Binaural Beats Meditation. Perfect.

What else?

My heart feels tight and breaky, not broken but like it could break very easily.

Well yeah - look at the world! How could your heart NOT be breaking? What do you want to do with this?

I don't want to try to fix it. Just make space for it. I don't want to insulate myself from the realities of the world with positive thinking and spiritual healing. I want to be here.

So, how can you do the things you want to do, WITH a tight and breaky heart?

Wow. This is a surprise but the first thing that comes to me is: less coffee, more tea.

What else?

Look for the simplest ways to do things.

Have LOTS of self care things going outside of work time (I already have this).

Take a break? That feels weird, but, it also feels true.

What if you do take a break from this? What would you do?

I would do that other thing.

Would you do that to AVOID something hard in this or because that's where your flow is calling?

Mostly to avoid.

Shit.

Yeah, I actually do want to understand WHY this is so hard. What it is that I want to avoid?

I might do it wrong.

Yes, that's always there with every project. But is that all?

I really want to do it right. I want it to RESONATE. I'm scared it won't.

(Oh! This is the first answer that feels really true and open.)

If you want it to resonate, how come you're not doing the things that help it to resonate?

Well, shit.

There it is.

I know where to start now: by doing the things that help build resonance.

Do this with me!

In Dream Book, my ongoing creative dream mastermind, you get 24/7 access to 15 different meditation/journaling processes to help you work through different kinds of stucks: like procrastination, overwhelm, fear, inner critics, self doubt, etc.

We ALL have inner fears and doubts and the culture we live in sets us to fail every day - but your creative genius is bigger than the obstacles. There is always a way through.

Find out more about Dream Book here.

A snippet from my journal: Why is this so hard? Read More »

You’re wrong about why you’re stuck

You’re wrong about why you’re stuck

The only people who never get stuck are the people who are not going after their dreams.

You get stuck. I get stuck. We all get stuck.

It's fine to be stuck.

BUT

You're wrong about WHY you're stuck.

You're not quite seeing a part of your path clearly or you're caught up in something from the past or you just don't know what you don't know.

But once you see it more clearly - you'll also know how to get un-stuck. Those two things tend to happen together and they create the foundation for your breakthrough.

It really is that simple.

Every time.

We just make it seem complicated with all of the layers of stories we make up about why we're stuck and we can't get un-stuck, and also with a stubborn refusal to look at the thing we most need to look at.

I am not saying that you are the SOURCE of your stuck.

I'm working on a longer blog to share about that later this week - how a lot of New Age/Life Coaching approaches to getting un-stuck assume that you are 100% the cause of your problem and that leaves you powerless to get un-stuck when the cause of the stuck is any kind of systemic oppression.

And so the places where you have a hard time getting un-stuck are likely the places where your own stucks are intersecting with some forms of oppression that you face living in a patriarchal capitalist white supremacist colonialist culture.

Which does NOT mean that you are powerless to do anything about those stucks. It just means you need to take a different approach. But, again, I'll share more about that later this week.

Think about the place where you're stuck right now.

Really take a good long look at it.

And then imagine being un-stuck. Take a good long look at what being un-stuck will be like and feel like for you.

Then look back:

What's between where you are now and where you'll be then?

That's your breakthrough.

I know, it's probably all fuzzy and unclear.

It's right in the middle of your blind spot so it's very hard to see on your own, which is why it's so easy to be stuck.

So.

Come to the BREAKTHROUGH Alchemy Coaching Circle for the February full moon!

(The cost is $33 USD, to reflect my commitment to BE the change I want to seeing the world, and not charge a fortune because I think breakthroughs should be affordable because we all need them!)

In the circle we'll go deeper into this and you'll have a chance to see your situation in a whole new light.

You'll leave the BREAKTHROUGH Alchemy Coaching Circle with:

  • Clarity. The kind of clarity where you KNOW FOR SURE what to do next. Either you'll just get un-stUck right away or you'll know HOW to work with your stuck, if it will take more time to clear it.
  • And you'll get whole month of support for DOING THAT THING in my online creative mastermind so you have space to create LASTING CHANGE for yourself.

Get your spot here.

You’re wrong about why you’re stuck Read More »

When you push yourself out of your comfort zone to follow your dream but get so overwhelmed you just want to hide under the duvet and cry

When you push yourself out of your comfort zone to follow your dream but get so overwhelmed you just want to hide under the duvet and cry

I was SOOOO excited/inspired to do this Festival of Dreams in January. (I'm doing a whole month of free classes, coaching videos + creative dream challenges! Join me here!)

It felt SO GOOD push myself in what felt like a really GOOD way.

(There is good pushing and bad pushing!)

But now here I am with too much on my plate and I just want to cry.

This IS what happens every time.

And this IS why I hesitate to push myself out of my comfort zone at all.

I hate this feeling.

But NOT doing the things I feel inspired to do in order to avoid this feeling.... means I am letting this feeling control me.

Why would I let a thing I hate control my life?

So here I am.

Hello feeling of total overwhelm I just want to cry, can we talk?

The about-to-cry sensation goes away.

Oh cool, you just needed some attention?

Well - you don't have any attention to spare right now, do you? There's just too much coming at you.

Maybe. Kind of. I think I just have a big pile of things, and need to make an organized list. I feel less overwhelmed and more likely to ENJOY my work when it's organized.

But you can't organize all this other stuff that's happening right now.

Yes - a bunch of little things are not quite going well today. That's true. Also I feel super-very-easily-frustrated/overwhelmed by any little thing. Like the fact that the pizza pans from NYE are still dirty! WTF?

Yeah! See! Too much is happening! You should scale back.

Well. Cleaning the kitchen would take like 10 minutes, max. I do have 10 minutes. Or Joseph can do it later. Do you really think it's a reason to not go after my dreams???

What about that other tech stuff that wasn't working this morning?

It's working now. Those things are annoying, but they don't happen that often. Again - is this a reason to NOT go after my dreams? And why didn't you answer the last question?

Oh shit. I'm being evasive, aren't I?

Yes.

That's a bad sign, right? Like it means I'm not really on solid ground.

Well, YOU are on solid ground, WE are on solid ground, but your reasoning around why I should scale back is not on solid ground.

BUT I CAN'T STAY ON SOLID GROUND IF YOU GO THROUGH WITH THIS.

Well. Bingo! There's the issue. That you for sharing your real problem so clearly. It's always easier to work with things that are clear.

(Just in a puddle on the floor, so scared of what will happen)

Oh sweetie. Please. Here (sit down next to her, offer a hug and a mug of decaf eggnog latte)

It's just. Everything is so good now! Why do all of this?

"All of this?" you mean why do the stuff I feel inspired to do and excited to do? Why generate more creative momentum?

Yeah. I mean really. Why?

Because this is what I want.

Well what I want is to lay in bed with the duvet over my head.

I get that. But I also feel like... is that really what you want? For always?

Ugh. Yeah probably not. I do want to do fun things and I do love that feeling you get when you're trying new things and stretching and everything is clicking but you have to go through all these uncomfortable spaces to get there.

Again. That's letting the discomfort control your life. Are you really happy to lay in bed with the duvet over your head and allow a fear of getting uncomfortable to control you?

No. But that does't mean I want all of this either!

Yeah I hear you. So how do we compromise?

Hmmmmmm.

Hmmmmm.

Actually a detailed list feels really good. Spacious. And permission to just cross things off without doing them if it gets to be too much.

Yes, I had already decided that.

Really? I guess I wasn't paying attention then.

I'm glad you see it now - I do want to try to not be overwhelmed as much as possible WHILE ALSO being open to whatever discomfort I need to work through in order to follow the dream.

Yeah, I know. I just hit discomfort and freak out.

It's ok.  So: making an email more detailed list than I have, and holding permission to cross things off if I get too overwhelmed... what else?

(I go over to my list and see where I need to add more details to it)

OK yeah I see the problem now!

I need PAPER LISTS.

And my daytimer for 2021 is not here yet.. so I checked my email to see what's happening with that...

(Got sidetracked and cleared out my emails which had been piling up and THAT FEELS VERY GOOD and overwhelm is shrinking)

... my daytimer has spent the whole last week moving between facilities in California. Not any closer to me in Canada.

Lightbulb! I just realized I've been putting paper-list-making on hold until it got here and that is not going to work.

OK back to my digital list. It's got all the big stuff and what I need is to break down the smaller tasks - I always do that part on paper. So I'll just do it in a random page in last year's daytimer which I hardly used, lol!

OK WHOA.

I felt the overwhelm literally just leave my body. Like in a WHOOSH.

And now I feel energized.

And like "yeah it's going to get messy sometimes but I want to PLAY with all of these ideas and really ENJOY the festival of dreams!"

And I'm off to make that PAPER LIST of the smaller tasks I need to focus on right now.

Update:

On the way to making that paper list, I made a cup of coffee and put all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and started it and asked Joseph to clean the pizza pans and now the kitchen is not an overwhelming mess.

Just to say - my overwhelm often believes things are WAY MORE OVERWHELMING than they are. That's how it FEELS, and even though my feelings are valid - they are not telling the truth about what is happening.

PS: COME TO THE FESTIVAL OF DREAMS IT'S GOING TO BE AMAZING.

When you push yourself out of your comfort zone to follow your dream but get so overwhelmed you just want to hide under the duvet and cry Read More »

This is what healing looks like

This is what healing looks like

This weekend I ordered take out from one of my favourite restaurants.

A woman met me at the door to ask my name. Through the window I saw her coming back out of the kitchen holding my order and it really hit me right in the feels.

These people cooked my favourite meal for me, and now this woman was walking back to the kitchen to bring it to me at the door, so I didn’t even have to go inside and we didn’t take a risk of infecting each other.
It all felt so beautiful I wanted to cry for a minute there. I felt so loved. And like we’re all in this together. My heart was sparkling the whole way back home

This was so far away from how I was feeling just the day before, when nothing was working and everything was overwhelming and all I could do was cry.

But this was also a direct result of me giving myself the space to feel how I feel when everything felt stuck.

Feel how you feel, and then let it go when it’s done. This is actually the best way to hold onto the gifts and lessons - by releasing the rest.

This really does open you up to all sorts of good feelings, like turning ordering take out into some kind of cosmic experience of love and connection.

But more importantly, it opens you up to YOURSELF.

Your wishes and dreams, your authenticity, your potential - and your inner wisdom which shows you how to get there.

This is what we’re doing today at the Healing Circle for 2020, making space for reflection, processing and release.

This will be about 60-90 minutes long, depending on the discussion. We'll do a special meditation with time for reflection on your 2020 and journaling and then an alchemical releasing process.

You'll leave with a few prompts to keep exploring over the next month, and to allow the healing and release to INTEGRATE, so you are ready for the Blessing Circle for 2021 that we’ll do in January.

I can’t wait!

Join me here.

This is what healing looks like Read More »

I want to put myself out there in a new way. But I have been a million kinds of stuck about it.

This morning I poured my heart out into this blog post.

Then I re-read it right before I was going to hit publish - and instead I deleted the whole thing.

Now here I am trying to re-write it.

After a year ago, I got a LOT of attention/comments from people about my new look for the Creative Dream Incubator. The funny thing was, it wasn't a new look at all. I was just using art that I'd made for my journaling printables (which are a small part of Dream Book)and sharing it on social media.

That was just one of many things I was doing to experiment with how I want to put myself out there.

This is the part of my business that is the most challenging for me, and the place with the most opportunity for growth.

Dream Book changed things for me.

I made my first full e-course in 2010 - The Creative Dream Incubator e-Course. That course contained everything I learned during my four years of training become a spiritual counselor/healer/teacher.

I thought it was the final step for me in this work - and it is a truly life-changing course - but it was just the beginning.

Now, ten years later, I have created Dream Book which is a totally new way of holding space for navigating the space between where you are and where you want to be.

Dream Book has changed everything for me. And I want the way I show up in my business - my marketing - to reflect this.

It doesn't.

Yet.

A few weeks ago I had a LOT of stories + explanations for WHY I was stuck and how it wasn't my fault.

(Defensiveness is a form of being stuck that will keep you zooming around in circles inside your stuck 😉 )

The thing is, being stuck with this felt exceptionally painful.

But I know that ALL stucks around our dreams feel that way.

Because our dreams are leading us towards our True Self, who we are here to be, so being blocked from means you are being blocked from a vital part of your self.

That's going to hurt.

It was important for me to be with all of those feelings.

I felt shame that I haven't already done the things I want to do. I felt shame that the fact that I haven't done it yet could mean that I'll never do it.

I felt fear that everything could fall apart.

I felt like no one cares why bother?

I felt like eating cookies, watching Netflix and ignoring this whole thing.

Being with all of these feelings was an important part of the process. Not wallowing in them, but actually processing them - to turn them into compost for growth. (This is one of the things I teach in Dream Book)

If you don't do that work, the feelings will not go away. They'll go underground and you will continue to hold back on wholeheartedly going after your dreams.

This is the part that is amazing to me:

Once I'd worked through all of my emotional reactions, all of these impossible-feeling feelings - I came to a place of clarity and calm.

Suddenly it was all so simple. After feeling heartbreakingly and impossibly complicated for so long, it felt SIMPLE.

The truth is: Marketing is simple. We make it VERY complicated because of all of our stuff around: visibility, vulnerability, owning our gifts, having clear boundaries, actually HAVING the things we really want, self doubt, etc, etc, etc.

But it's simple.

Once you understand the basics it's just a matter of how you want to implement it. Marketing is actually VERY creative and fun and can be a source of healing and light, especially in a business like mine.

I want to be putting myself out there in a ✨NEW✨ way. I want to bring the full force of my creative magic to how I put myself out there.

Of course I don't know exactly HOW to do this!

There is no way to fully clearly see the way to do a thing I have never done before.

This is the nature of NEW!

You learn by DOING IT: giving it time + love + attention. You learn by EXPERIMENTING WITH YOUR IDEAS and learning from those experiments.

But when it comes to marketing your heart work, experimenting with your ideas can feel sooooo awkward and vulnerable and very, very, very public. Which is why I got so twisted up about.

But now, having worked through my feelings and brought healing and transformation to the parts of me who needed it, it's not twisted.

I have NEVER put as much energy into marketing my work as I have into DOING my work. I know every business guru says this is the wrong way to go.

The thing is, I've had people stay in the Creative Dream Circle for YEARS. I've had long-term one-on-one clients for YEARS.

So I don't need to keep finding new customers.

But now that I've had all the space I need to grow and evolve my work, now I want to grow and evolve my marketing.

It just feels important now that the Creative Dream Incubator be shining it's light more clearly.

It should be simple in that: it's just about giving marking more of my time attention. APPLYING the magic of my creativity to my marketing.

I have thousands of ideas for how I could do this.

I am starting now: experimenting, playing with my ideas, letting marketing have more of my TIME and ATTENTION.

 

As always, I'll share my daily steps, ups + downs and the practices I use as I do this in the daily miracle masterminds that are a part of Dream Book. I also teach you a way to journal that will turn your stucks into compost for your growth! Join us here.

I want to put myself out there in a new way. But I have been a million kinds of stuck about it. Read More »

When something or someone is standing between you and your dream

I got an email from someone who is struggling with her dream because she's got this situation in her life that makes it IMPOSSIBLE to move forward.

I get emails like this pretty regularly, so I though I'd make a video with some ideas for what to do.

I believe there is always SOMETHING you can do - and that every little step you take moving towards a more meaningful and authentic life is worth taking.

Here are my thoughts:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Andrea Schroeder (@creativedreamincubator) on

At the end of the video I am talking about the work of ENGAGING with this process.

I have a free class that helps with this!

Sign up here:

When something or someone is standing between you and your dream Read More »

You are *always* worthy of your dreams. But you won’t aways *feel* worthy.

Today I hit a milestone: All of my courses + libraries have been moved over to the new website.

This is HUNDREDS of pages of content, all re-designed, re-organized and better than ever. I’m not done, there are a least 1-2 weeks of work to get the site operational, but still, having all of the content moved is a big milestone.

I hit this milestone at 7:45 am this morning, sitting on the patio of a coffee shop I used to work out of all the time, pre-COVID. For computer tasks, I am more productive in a coffee shop and not having access to them since March has impacted my productivity, on top of how the stress of these times has already impacted it.

So it was a real gift this morning, to wake up super early and get to the coffee shop early enough to get a table on the patio, as our patios are open at 1/2 capacity with social distancing measures so getting a table is not something I can count on being able to do most of the time. Also – I usually don’t WANT to be there, but early in the morning is good.

I was up so early because I went to bed so early because I really hit a wall last night.

It felt equal parts emotional and physical. The physical part I understood but it felt like I was hitting new ground in the emotional part and I didn’t know what it was.

I did NOT have the capacity to be with it and figure out what it was. I took a hot bath and went to bed early, which is my go-to self care practice for when things are hard. It always feels more clear and hopeful in the morning.

So this morning I was happily working away at the cafe, and at one point I tried to access I page but I wasn’t logged in and this flashed on the screen:

And suddenly I knew what this new emotional wall I’m hitting is all about: I don’t feel worthy of this new website.

Like – who am I to plaster my smiling mug all over the login screen like that?

When I designed this page, I was DELIGHTED with it! I thought “it’s like I am right there smiling and welcoming them in!”

But now that “who do you think you are???!?!?” voice has taken over and trying to shame me into NOT showing up in this new way.

This is good.

Every time I level up in some way (and I must say that levelling up is NOT all about things you can measure – like an increase in income or audience – there are infinite ways to level up and our dreams will need us to level up in all sorts of un-measurable ways along the way) I come across my inner resistance to showing up BIGGER and BRIGHTER and TRUER.

This resistance is made up of parts of me who need healing before they can feel safe with me taking my next steps in living my most brave, free and authentic life. 

We ALL have these parts. We live in a culture that is constantly telling us who we should be and what we should want so living by your internal compass feels TERRIFYING for some parts of us. 

This is just a part of the work.

It’s never a sign that we really CAN’T do this, or that we am NOT good enough or NOT worthy of having what we want.

It’s just a thing we have to work on, a part of the process. Just as important as making the website or recording the podcast or writing the book or making the art.

This is why Dream Work and Inner Work need to be a part of your daily practices! Otherwise you don’t notice this stuff because it’s all happening way beneath the surface – and the stuff you don’t notice about yourself has a LOT of control over you.

You are *always* worthy of your dreams. But you won’t aways *feel* worthy. Read More »

Calling myself out for believing my own bullshit

I started seeing the world differently about four years ago, and then I started re-creating my work to match my new understanding of how the world is and my vision for what the world can be.

The more I learn about how colonialism and the patriarchy and capitalism and white supremacy function in the world, and all of the different forms of systemic oppression they create - the more I wanted to make my work DEEPER and STRONGER to help people free themselves from the toxicity of all of that.

Because this is NOT who we ARE.

One of the things that’s always pissed me off about the Live Your Best Life Industry is the spiritual by-passing.

I see how much the spiritual by-passing only serves to help privileged people focus on manifesting what they want for themselves while ignoring the role they play in maintaining systems of oppression in our society. I used to think it was ineffective and lame. Now I see it’s fucking DANGEROUS.

So, I've always understood that the world we live in is hostile to dreams, and that a huge part of making a dream real is this inner work of healing all the bullshit stories you have about yourself and who you really are and what your potential actually is, which you picked up from living in such a toxic culture.

But over the last four years I started to see it all much more clearly.

I started to see the connections between our personal growth and political systems and structures of oppression.

All of this learning has helped me feel so much more hopeful about how to create a better future for everyone. And more sure of my role in this as a teacher in the Live Your Best Life Industry.

Onto my bullshit story… after spending a few years re-creating my approach to teaching I felt like… I don’t know how to sell this.

I don’t know how to be marketing in capitalist systems when I want my work to be a part of helping people un-hook from the toxicity of capitalism and colonialism and the patriarchy.

And for a while now I've been in this story of… I am figuring out how to sell this.

Which keeps me in a place of… I don’t know how to sell this.

Which, today I just noticed, is 100% bullshit.

I do know how to sell my work because I DO sell my work. My work has been financially supporting me for almost 10 years.

But a part of me has been clinging to this “I don’t know how to sell this” story.

One of the ways I changed how I teach is that instead of teaching classes on different topics I now focus on helping people develop a daily/regular practice that fits into your life AND creates a MUCH deeper container for healing and growth.

Because otherwise you don’t notice where you’re living in a bullshit story!!!! Bullshit stories are GENIUS at making themselves feel true.

It’s my daily practice, and showing up each day to write about my practice in our private daily online mastermind blog, where I noticed… wow I’ve been repeating myself about this “I don’t know how to sell this”. What’s up with that?

The good thing about bullshit stories is that they don’t hold up well to that kind of examination.

Once you look them in the eye you see it’s all smoke and mirrors.

Because this part "I don’t know how to be marketing in capitalist systems when I want my work to be a part of helping people un-hook from the toxicity of capitalism and colonialism and the patriarchy.” IS FUCKING NONSENSE.

I mean the answer is obvious.

Authenticity.

Honesty.

Creativity.

Inspiration.

Integrity.

Living and working in alignment with my values.

THAT is how you market heartfelt creative work. BY BEING HEARTFELT AND CREATIVE IN HOW YOU PUT IT OUT THERE.

It’s NOT a mystery.

Yes, there are *so many* different tactics and strategies and approaches you can take. But you CAN see these as an art studio full of art supplies, each one does different things, and you get to pick and choose which ones to use and how to use them to create your own masterpiece.

And you get to experiment and try new things.

And you get to learn as you experiment and try new things.

And take what you learned and apply it to your next experiment.

So, this is me putting down my bullshit story about not knowing how to sell my work.

I LOVE what I’m doing.

I LOVE the insights and healings that happen all the time in the Creative Dream Circle.

And I LOVE my ideas for how to keep inviting YOU to join me in all of this magic.

Because there’s nothing better than that feeling of spotting a bullshit story that you’ve been living in, and then putting it down.

It feels like freedom and healing and love and joy all wrapped up in a burst of glitter.

And each bullshit story you put down moves you closer to your true self, who is POWERFUL and WISE and CREATIVE beyond measure.

That’s what I’m here for.

Calling myself out for believing my own bullshit Read More »

When you see how much growth is possible for you, it’s easy to feel small. You’re not small.

When you see how much growth is possible for you, it's easy to feel small. You're not small.

I’ve been getting a TON of email about my last blog post.

I share these stories because the process of writing is a balm of healing and clarity for me. Writing it in a way that explains it to another person shows ME a new perspective on my experiences.

And I share my stories because we need more REAL stories in the world about being on the path of pursuing your dreams wholeheartedly.

We make up stories about other people’s journeys all the time! We make up that we are more stuck than this other person is, that we have more self doubt or bigger obstacles.

For example: the first three years that I was self employed with the Creative Dream Incubator, I kept getting emails from people who assumed I had a husband who was bankrolling my business! I had been single for so long and had never even mentioned having a boyfriend!

People saw my experience through their stories about how “the only way you can live your creative dream is if you have a partner who is financially supporting you”.

So, when I wrote about taking my power back a lot of people were inspired by the post and the idea that I just decided to take my power back and then flounced off into my new website.

But of course that’s not how it’s happening. So I wanted to share this bit of journaling I did while freaking out yesterday:

 

Today I had a call with someone to help me with the set-up of the new website. There is a LOT of tech stuff to consider in this set-up, so I had a huge list of questions and she was so super helpful and the call was great...

But then after the call I just crashed.

I was looking over my notes I just... couldn't process it.

My whole body tensed up, especially my shoulders.

I wanted to cry but couldn't.

Suddenly I felt frozen and stuck.

This whole thing felt impossible, like I am in WAY over my head here.

So this part of me who WANTS all of this felt like a wave crashing into this other part of me who is so overwhelmed and afraid of fucking it all up that she just wants to give up and go eat ice cream.

I am an ocean of different feelings and desires crashing into each other and I want it all to stop.

In that moment, I wanted to give up even though I knew giving up isn't an option.

I have grown enough that staying where I am doesn’t feel comfortable anymore. But I haven't yet grown into the new place. So I bounce back and forth and can’t feel comfortable, or at home, in either place.

This is what it means to out-grow a thing.

When I was nineteen, I moved away to go to University. That first summer, I came home and everything had changed. My friends had all moved on with their own lives. I didn’t really know where I fit. I had been homesick while I was away but now that I was home it was like I felt “away sick”.

I didn’t know where home was anymore.

This is the growth that our dreams demand of us.

You have to step out of where you are before you can create a new home for yourself in a new place. And that part where you are out of what WAS familiar but haven’t yet created what WILL BE familiar to you next - IS BRUTAL.

So much about what I teach is about creating space where we can stay in these hard parts because the only other option is to just NOT grow and that kills dreams.

So that’s where I am right now. I do know 100% where I want to go. AND some parts of this journey are stretching me past where I think I can be stretched. Some parts make me want to give up.

Instead of giving up I am taking breaks.

I am reading novels and going for bike rides and taking long bubble baths and going to bed early because these things help me bounce back from those places.

So after I freaked out and wrote that journaling piece, I re-potted some plants, played with my cat Bear, made hummus and ate some with a toasted pita.

Then I felt better, went back to my laptop and finished the stuff I had wanted to finish yesterday.

I see now that I freaked out after that meeting because the person I was meeting with showed me whole new options for how to do what I want to do.

Like - there are even MORE possibilities than I thought and I felt too small to figure it all out.

My dreams are always making me feel small because they keep growing. But I'm not small - I'm just ready for growth.

We are NEVER never too small for our dreams.

Your dream is here to grow you. Some parts of that growth are going to be uncomfortable, but always worth it.

When you see how much growth is possible for you, it’s easy to feel small. You’re not small. Read More »

A Conversation With The Voice That Says I’m Not Doing Enough

Where is it uncomfortable and what does this tell you?
This is a page from the Dream Lab: Explore The Miracle Of Your Dream Playbook (which you can get as a part of Dream Book)

Exploring what feels uncomfortable about your dream is tricky work so I thought I would share my process today in exploring that voice that says that I AM NOT DOING ENOUGH.

This voice has been getting louder lately. And I have been assuming it's because I am in this big creative expansion and I don't really know where this process is leading me to.

I just have so many ideas I want to do them all at once.

This part of the creative process is always confusing for me. I have been assuming this voice comes from my creative process. But I just remembered - hey! Fears are TRICKY! They like to dress up as reasonable responses and ideas.

They know when they show up as fears they are treated differently than when they show up as reasonable voices. Oh shit I fell for it.

This voice isn't a part of this creative expansion I am in. This voice is a fear that is coming up in response to the creative expansion I am in.

So, ummm, hello voice? Can we talk?

Voice shows up as a GIANT rainbow caterpillar, about 6 feet long, floating about 3 feet in the air, cool as a cucumber and says "Oh sure we can talk" I stand there for a few minutes, just getting used to being here with the caterpillar.

And I notice that the caterpillar isn't real. It's a costume.

There is a person standing there wearing a caterpillar tied around their waist.

"So could you take off the costume?"

The caterpillar is furious. They rip off the costume. Now it's a very angry person.

I shift my weight around a bit, feeling very uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"You want to know why I'm angry?"

"Yes"

  • You work so hard for so little.
  • You're sharing your heart out there, day after day and people ignore it.
  • You take the work so seriously and no one else takes you seriously.
  • You are not properly seen or understood.

I am feeling bowled over by the intensity of the anger, which I had not noticed was there!

"This is why I have been pushing you to share more do more be more. To get the recognition that you deserve."

Oh wow. I struggle to find a balance between acknowledging the voice of anger and also wanting to rush in and remind it of all the good.... that I am not wealthy but have a good life and there are people who listen and take me and my work seriously and that I love my students and my work.

But I know I need to give this anger space.

It doesn't need to be right it needs to be heard.

So I sit down and let my anger know I'll sit and listen for as long as it wants to talk. Anger mumbles "Yeah I know actually we have it really good.  We have amazing people in the Circle. We have a fantastic life with enough money to enjoy it."

Then anger asks "But still, can't I just be pissed about how hard this is sometimes?"

"Oh of course. How can I help?"

"Well I was thinking if you would just work harder at doing the right things then everything would be easier and I wouldn't be upset anymore, but now I can see that that's not right."

So I say "Right. You're upset and you need to be heard and respected. Once you have enough space then we'll know what to do about this."

OK something is really shifting in my heart. I'm not sure what it is, but this feels like a good spot to stop our meeting and give this a chance to marinate. T

his is the mess of exploring the uncomfortable parts!

You just don't know where it's going to lead. But right now I am feeling immense relief to have seen the anger for what it is and have given it some space.

A Conversation With The Voice That Says I’m Not Doing Enough Read More »

Hello Resistance [A conversation with myself as I struggle to make myself get to work]

helloresistance2

In April I’m running my Creative With Money course.

This has been a really popular course. ?I’ve offered it live online several times.

So putting it together should be a breeze, right?

But when I read over the course description (which is a few years old now) it didn’t feel right. ?So I decided?to re-write it.

And then I got stuck.

So, here I am meeting with my resistance. This may get weird.

Resistance shows up as heavy sludge. Dark black.?Kind of gritty.?Threatening to totally take over.

Ummmm, totally take over what, exactly?

Oh, this little world opens up. ?It’s full of inspiration and light and being deeply present.

Resistance wants to just pave over this world.

Why?

It’s not safe there.

Why not?

You might go too far.

Too far where/how?

Too far: ?

  • Too weird.
  • Or you’re too into your own thing that no one understands you.
  • That world isn’t real you shouldn’t go too far into it

So what world is real?

This one. ?The heavy dark gritty stuff.

Well that doesn’t really make sense to me. ?I mean look around.

[resistance is silent]

I think you’re trying to make up some fantastical story to throw me off track.

Yeah, I think I am. ?You know what? I didn’t even realise I was doing that. ?Interesting.

Interesting. ?So what is it that you want?

Oh I want you to be safe and happy.

So something feels un-safe and un-happy about putting on this course?

No, something feels un-safe and un-happy about giving it your all. ?I want to stop you from re-writing the description and putting effort into promoting it.

So I can do the course as long as I don’t try to fill the course?

Yes.

Are you seeing the lack of logic there?

Yes. Part of teaching is helping?your potential students get ready to say yes.

Yes. And also put the course out there as honestly as possible so if it’s a wrong fit for someone they won’t be tempted to join anyway.

I think you always go too far with the honesty part. I mean have some composure!

I get that honesty and vulnerability are scary.

But you’ve made the choice to be that way.

Yes and I’m not changing that. So how do I help you feel safe anyway? ?How do we get to work here? I really want to re-write this course description today and it’s feeling impossible right now.

[resistance is silent]

[I wait a while, nothing happens]

OK I’m going to pour love all over you.

Resistance turns into a kitten, throws itself on it’s back, belly exposed, to soak up all the love.

I breath deep and feel something inside me soften.

OK let’s get to work then.

[And I did! I wrote the course description for Creative With Money. You can read it here.]

 

Want to learn more about how this stuff?works?

This was a fairly simple conversation because I have been working with my resistance for years.

Sometimes you need more than a little chat – you may need the full Resistance Rx to help you move through creative blocks in a fun and fabulous way.

Come play with us! Click here to find out more.

 

Hello Resistance [A conversation with myself as I struggle to make myself get to work] Read More »

Meeting with the cranky fairy of holiday resentment.

crankyfairy

I’ve been really snippy lately – just?quick?to get frustrated when things don’t go right.

The holidays are a stressful time.

Most years I take great effort to avoid this and to create a really peaceful and happy end of the year – but?this year I just walked right into the madness of the holidays.

(Last year I even did a whole class on having a happy, calm and peaceful holiday season, which is now in the Creative Dream Circle?- at the beginning of the month I reminded the Circle members that it’s there if they need it but I didn’t think I needed it. ?Ha.)

I just walked downtown in the snow before sunrise – one of my treasured winter rituals which usually makes me feel so peaceful and happy.

But this morning I spent the whole walk following my negative thoughts around in sad, angry circles.

And then when I got to the coffee shop to work of course I couldn’t. ?I mean I can’t do the work I do from?that kind of headspace.

So I am asking my cranky feeling to meet with me and see if we can work this out.

Cranky feeling appears as a blue haired fairy. ?Her fairy wand is bent… actually when I look closer, she looks like she’s been on a bender.

Hey fairy, how are you doing?

How am I doing? How can anyone be expected to think with that horrible banging? ?What is that?

That’s the music in the coffee shop.

It’s terrible.

Well, yeah, but I’m sure the next song with be less bangy.

Let’s never come here again the sound system is wrong for my ears.

OK, I agree. ?But since we’re here now I’d like to be able to just get to work.

Hmrph.

What else is bothering you?

Well everything is changing and I’m so scared. ?

The fairy bursts into tears.

Oh, I’m so sorry you’re feeling scared. ?How can I help?

[Fairy asks for something that I don’t want to share online]

Well, my intuition says yes.

But I say no!

Hmmm, can you remember some other times when my intuition said yes and you said no? ?Like when I bought the loft? ?You were terrified, remember?

Yeah….

And that worked out really well, right?

Well…

And then this bright light eclipses everything.

My heart softens.

I remember that I can trust my inner truth.

I look around for the fairy, she’s teeny tiny now, sitting?on the armrest of the chair. ?I pick her up and put her in the palm of my hand.

I want you to feel safe – more safe, more of the time. ?How can I do that?

I want you to be more aware of how much things are changing! You’re just?carrying on like you’re fine! ?

Well I guess I thought I was fine.

I want you to be more present with the change, so I can be fine too.

Oh, ok I see that. ?I’m sorry I haven’t been doing that for you. ?I love you, you know. ?I want to take care of you. I don’t want you to feel afraid.

Fairy sparkles for a few minutes, then flies into my heart.

Here’s what I got?from this:

Well, first – a healing. ?My heart is soft and sparkly and I’m not all cranky anymore.

But more importantly?I got a reminder that that small, scared parts of me are small and scared.

Small as in easy for me to not notice.

Scared as in really afraid of things that I think are “not a big deal”.

This is one of the ways that stuff like PMS is actually a gift – it makes those small things bigger and sharper and unavoidable.

We think we’re being crazy, getting so upset about something so insignificant.

But we’re not crazy.

The world we live in is crazy.

We do our best to cope and carry on like everything is fine, but?these?tender, vulnerable parts of us always remember that what’s happening out there in the world?is completely crazy.

And we need to tend to these tender, vulnerable parts of us so that they don’t get hard, so that we don’t get hard.

Because when we’re hard we disconnect from our inner gifts.

And when we’re disconnected from our gifts the whole world changes.

It gets harder and meaner. ?And we get harder and meaner in response. ?Or we get sad. ?Or we just shut down and get really quiet and small.

And suffice it to say, that path that doesn’t lead to your dream.

So as uncomfortable as it it so make space for the discomfort – what else are you going to do?

And for?Creative Dream Circle members: remember you can take your holiday crankies into the Un-Sticking Station so you can transform them into helpful gifts.

PS: Come back next?week – I’ll have free journaling + coloring pages for you to download.

Meeting with the cranky fairy of holiday resentment. Read More »

There is no way to “be safe”.

safe

In my journaling practice, I keep encountering this part of me who has been working very hard for a very long time to create safety for me.

It sees every potential pitfall in life and tries to guard against them.

So while I’m skipping towards the things I want, this part of me is trying to pull me back because it believes that avoiding pitfalls is more important than chasing dreams.

Meanwhile my wisest and most heart-connected self believes that I do need to be moving towards what feels true for me – pitfalls or not.? In a universe that is always expanding I can’t contract myself and my life for fear of getting hurt along the way.

Plus – getting hurt along the way is often a part of the process, and a place where I learn a lot.? So it’s really not something to be avoided.

This creates a tug-of-war in my inner world.

When I left my day job to be a full time dreamer, this part of me started working double overtime.

So I had to spend more time working with it, bringing in healing and love and calm to transform this part of me.? I didn’t want to obliterate it or pretend I didn’t have this huge knot in my stomach and slap a big “fake it till you make it” smile over it.

My aim was to love it and give it what it needed to settle down and be happy – to heal and transform it.? To take all the energy and power that the fear had and re-write it to do something more useful for me.

For me, dealing with this part of me was the hardest part of the change from employee to my own boss.? It mean facing my own worst fears and learning how to access more inner strength than I knew I had.

And now here I am again.

It’s definitely not as dramatic or intense right now, but as I have set new intentions for what I want to create in my life as I work through Grow Your Depth, Nurture Your Brilliance, this part of me has been re-activated.

So when this part of me popped up in my journaling recently I was not very happy.

I felt exhausted and overwhelmed at the thought of working with this part of me again.? I wrote in my journal:

Oh shit. This is going to be a Big Job.

But you know what?? It’s not.

In the journal classes I teach, I show how to work with symbols and essence and how doing this opens up new possibilities.? It’s a way of dropping the story and getting to the heart of what’s actually happening and then changing it – which then changes the story in the outer world.

I created symbols for the thing I want and for safety and then looked at how they play together.? This is where it got really interesting.

They didn’t play nice.

The thing I want actually CLOBBERED the symbol for safety.? It didn’t trust safety, which startled me.

And safety wasn’t too thrilled about having to hang out with the thing I wanted either.

And then the symbols showed me the truth: There’s nothing wrong with the quality of safety but trying to CREATE safety is what fucks me up.

Because I am inherently safe.

(And so are you)

Trying to create safety means giving weight to the belief that I am small and separate from life, that the universe doesn’t care about me and that there are pitfalls to be avoided.

Obviously, in the physical world there are pitfalls to be avoided – that’s not what this is about.

This is about living from a sense of internal trust.

Trusting my dreams.

Trusting my self.

Trusting the process.

Trusting in meaning and purpose.

Trusting that there are no pitfalls to avoid because I can handle whatever comes my way.

Trusting that as long as I am allowing my intuition to lead me I’m always in the right place.

Trusting the mystery.

Remembering that I am already safe.

Trusting that I am safe allows me to relax into the process.

Trying to create safety holds me out of the process because I’m too busy trying to control the universe, which strengthens the belief that I am small and alone and powerless.? Not a recipe for creative dream success.

Back when I first left my job and was just getting settled in my new life as a dreamer I did need to coddle and soothe these fears – they were too big and agitated for me to just say “Hey, dude, chill out and trust the process”and working with them brought me the insights I needed to do the healing work that needed to be done at that time.

And that brought me to where I am now.

And now that I am on more stable ground a different approach is needed.

By meeting with the heart/soul/essence of how you’re feeling and bringing in love and healing it’s so much easier to see what, exactly, you need to move towards what you want.? (For Creative Dream Circle members – the video in the Un-Sticking Station leads you through this process)


There is no way to “be safe”. Read More »

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