Journaling

Some days my most wise, brave + creative self is hard to find

Getting to know your Dream Self is one of the big jobs of Creative Dreaming.

It's the version of you that you become as you move towards your dream - often a version of you who is a bit more wise, brave and creative than you are today.

(Not that you aren't already SUPER wise, brave and creative today!!)

Lately some days I really FEEL IT. Like, I feel myself shift into that Dream Self Me and I feel different.

I trust my self 200%. I feel energized, confident and really excited to do the work. I actually feel TALLER!

And then some days I am ready for a nap by 10am.

And in my ongoing experiments with not judging my brain and body, and instead asking "What if this is the right brain and body for this stage of my life? What if the answer is here, somewhere inside my actual current capacity?" ....

... well the answer is usually to just take a nap when I need a nap.

To not make a big deal out of the fact that I felt so confident and energized yesterday and feel so tired and foggy today.

To just accept myself where I am and do my best to give myself what I need.

And I have been having some magical naps. Like I wake up SO FREAKING HAPPY and often I even wake up with a great new idea, some perfect solution to something I have been trying to figure out.

Giving yourself what you really need IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN trying to force yourself to be where you think you should be or do the things you think you should be able to do

This is a part of what we do in Creative Dream Alchemy: Meet yourself where you are AND move towards where you want to be. These two work together.

And when I was younger it was just so much easier to just push myself. I wouldn't even have called it pushing myself! I was genuinely doing the things I wanted to do!

So getting to a place where it's just not possible to keep doing that... this felt like a loss at first.... but it's actually a huge GAIN.

That feeling like I am SO FAR AWAY from my most wise, brave and creative self is so uncomfortable... until I remember that it's just a sign that I need some rest. Then it becomes an invitation.

We CANNOT move towards where we want to be without meeting ourselves where we are.

AND

It is STUNNING and AMAZING how much we are capable of when we DO meet ourselves where we are, instead of pushing ourselves to already be where we wish we were.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

Some days my most wise, brave + creative self is hard to find Read More »

Sitting with a knot in my stomach

I had written something I was really happy with and was excited to share it…

So I went to the email software app I use to send newsletters, and suddenly my stomach kind of dropped.

And I said “Oh hush, this is fine!” and went on to format my email.

And then I stopped.

Because when any kind of discomfort comes up int he process of creative dreaming, the answer is never to silence it and always to be with it, as in take it to the Un-Sticking Station and work with it.

So - stomach, what’s going on?

Oh yikes I hate looking at this.

Looking at what?

This website. What if everyone unsubscribes?

You think EVERYONE will unsubscribe at once?

They might! I’m scared one day we’ll log in and that number will be zero.

Why?

Because everyone hates you.

Oh sweetheart I’m so sorry you feel that way. Do you really feel that way?

Do you really not understand how the world is, and how terrible some people are? Do you not see how fucking vulnerable you make yourself?

Ok yeah. Good points. You are 100% right. AND … Do you understand how amazing some people are? Do you see how me being vulnerable is a big part of the culture I have created with the Creative Dream Incubator and how it draws in the right people to work with me?

Oh. Whoa. Yeah. I wasn’t noticing that part.

Yeah. The people we cherish and love to work with probably wouldn’t be here if we weren’t sharing in the way we do. How could they find us otherwise? I mean I know there are other ways, but in alignment with my values and the values of the Creative Dream Incubator - this is the way for us.

(nothing from stomach)

How are you now? I don’t want to silence you.

I see that you’re right AND it’s nerve wracking. I appreciate that you stopped to have this conversation.

I appreciate you! Because yes - I am sending something that will likely get unsubscribes. And that’s GOOD. People who don’t like this are not a good fit for me. And it’s good to take a minute and acknowledge that that feels vulnerable.

Then I finished editing and formatting the email.

Then I put my hand on my belly and together we visualized this message finding the people it is meant for.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

Sitting with a knot in my stomach Read More »

I wake up the next day with more information

Doing Dream Work puts us in the process of really listening to and connecting with the soul of our dreams. This puts us in the process of healing and growth and really listening to and trusting our callings. This is A LOT!

Sometimes, like my meditation yesterday, it's all weird and there are no solid or helpful answers or ideas.

So sometimes while we're doing the practices we're not seeing benefits or results. Still - doing the practices is keeping us in the process. That's always the most important part.

Ideas and shifts can come outside of our practices. It's like the practices feed the process but the process is going to do its own thing, we don't control that. (We only control how quickly we move through it by how diligently we show up to practice + engage)

After my weird meditation yesterday, I woke up today with a thought in my head:

It betrays the dignity of the human spirit to live and dream from within the current paradigm.  

The dream I am working with now, the thing my dream scoffed at yesterday and called "a small shift" and said "it's already in process don't even worry about it" is about money and business and how I am switching things up to match where I am now.

And I understand what my dream was saying now.

My dreams are SOUL CALLING. This is sacred creative important work.

How I pay my bills is not sacred.

Yes - CARING FOR MYSELF and HAVING MY NEEDS MET is all sacred because all of life is sacred.

But... it's like dreaming of an organized and well functioning home. Washing the dishes is going to be a part of that but is washing your dishes YOUR SACRED DREAM?

Not to say it's not important and worthy.

But it serves a greater dream, and my dream was asking me to focus on the greater dream.

Which is.... I am still figuring that out. With so much in flux in my life this could take a while?

AND there is the part of my dream that never changes: to do this work and share it and hold space for others to do it with me. To keep exploring my creativity.

Dreaming really isn't ever black and white.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

I wake up the next day with more information Read More »

The world needs your magic. This is not pressure, it’s a healing.

This is not pressure.

Like, you are not supposed to save the world with your magic. You're not Buffy the Vampire Slayer! None of us are.

But, together, we create the world.

And every person who offers their gifts contributes to creating a better world.

And every person who offers their gifts to others IS HEALED IN THAT OFFERING. Your gifts weren't meant for just you and holding them in isn't good for you.

But this is not all about starting a business as a healer! There are a billion ways to use your unique gifts to help others. You can start a free poetry zine or make banners for local activist groups or teach free cooking classes at your community centre or start a meditation circle at the park near your home. This can be, AND does not need to be, connected to any kind of money-making thing. The choice is yours!

Either way - sharing our gifts and having them be received feels harder than ever right now.

This is why I offer a Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual Practice call every month in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership.

Because I don't believe this is MEANT to be this hard! And it's easier when we do it together.

So we sit with this. Together.

We sit with the beauty and power of your gifts and all the ways you are already sharing them with the world and all of the ways you could grow that. We think about the people who would benefit from you sharing your gifts more brightly and ways to reach out to them.

Marketing is the spiritual practice of being true to who you are and offering your gifts to the people that they are for. And marketing is the creative practice of expressing all of that in a way that people can really receive it.

We don't focus on tactics, we try to go deeper into the spiritual connection between you, your gifts, and the people they were meant to help... and then see what ideas come out of that.

Most of the online marketing tactics that used to work... don't actually work anymore anyways. It's time to really listen to yourself, trust your creativity, trust the power of your unique voice, and put it out there in your unique way.

Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual Practice is happening TODAY (May 13) in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership.

Members: get the call details here

Not a member yet: join us here. Even if you can't make today's call - there are loads of replays from past calls for you to watch and you can come to the next one!

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

The world needs your magic. This is not pressure, it’s a healing. Read More »

Holding onto hope helps create new possibilities [Year of Hope Week 20]

Year of Hope

Every Monday in 2025 there will be a new journal prompt in the Year of Hope classroom in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership.

Get this week's journal prompt here.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Leave them in the comments at the bottom of that page so we can discuss this as a group. Practicing hope in community is MAGIC.

Just over four months in. What has the Year of Hope DONE?

I continue to be REALLY behind in my Year of Hope daily journal.

AND I continue to BE more hopeful in my daily life.

The idea of filling a page a day with hope, every day all year long, ✨FELT AMAZING✨ when I came up with it in November/December 2024.

It does feel weird that four months in, keeping up with one page a day doesn't feel relevant.

This reminds me of something I learned in university.

I have a degree in fashion design. Often when we were doing projects, we would have to sketch out TONS of ideas, and then refine our ideas over time to arrive at the one final idea.

Like if you are making a pair of pants, you start by sketching 50 different pant ideas.

That felt daunting to me, I was like... there aren't 50 different kinds of pants.

But the idea is... there WILL BE 50 different kinds of pants after you've come up with 50 different pant ideas.

You don't start out already having all of the ideas - you have SOME ideas, and you give yourself some time and space to expand them.

I think about that a lot in all sorts of creative projects.

Not just about how you don't have to ALREADY HAVE the "perfect idea" to start.

But about how the idea you have to start with, you might think is THE ONE... but if you give yourself the space to sketch out 50 other ways to do it you may find something better.

It speaks to how creativity is GENERATIVE.

So, with my Year of Hope daily journal - I am behind, I am not showing up like I thought I would... AND... I feel really excited about how I will show up, given that I still have almost 8 months to keep practicing.

Each thing you try (in this case each page I fill) is not necesarily "a success". But it's a step on the road and there isn't a way to skip steps!

So, I just feel really grateful to be IN this process and to keep this commitment to stay with it for the rest of the year, in whatever way is possible for me, to let hope show me where it would like to take me.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

Holding onto hope helps create new possibilities [Year of Hope Week 20] Read More »

I hope I figure this out. But it’s OK to be in the mess for as long as I need to.

I had this moment where all I felt I could do was send out this tiny bit of hope that I would figure it out.

So I made this journal page:

And since that was all I felt like I could do - then that was all I COULD do, in that moment.

Of course I did have some voices in my head saying... this is not enough. Surely you can do more. This is pointless.

But they are wrong.

 

BEING IN THE PROCESS OF CHANGE IS AWKWARD.

BEING IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS IS AWKWARD.

CREATIVE DREAMING IS A MESS SOMETIMES.

I AM YELLING THIS TO HELP US ALL HEAR.

It doesn't matter how messy your process gets.

It just matters that you stay in it.

 

THIS IS IMPORTANT:

What you can do in any given moment has no real relation to what you'll be able to do, if you stay in the process over time.

By doing the thing you CAN do in the moment, even if it feels really small and pointless, you keep yourself in the process.

You WILL get there, as long as you stay in the process.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

I hope I figure this out. But it’s OK to be in the mess for as long as I need to. Read More »

Sitting with resistance and inertia, part two

This is continued from and related to yesterday's post about going in circles with resistance and inertia:

Have I found this SO STRESSFUL because I am trying to do something that cannot exist?

This question just popped into my mind.

I have been trying to “re-build my marketing systems”

I have these dreams of systems, routines and processes that feel really good for where I am now and are simple to do every week.

But actually creating these systems, routines and processes has felt SO HARD this week.

And it just dawned on me that I am on the wrong path.

That I am looking at this wrong and tripping over my own feet every time I try to do something.

I mean - THERE ARE NO WRONG MOVES IN CREATIVE DREAMING. Every step teaches us something. 

So - if I re-frame it: I have learned that I need to shift my perspective.

Ok Good! But, like, how?

It’s one thing to see that I am looking at this in a way that isn’t helping.

It’s another thing to figure out… what is the helpful perspective?

I’m going to use Project Miracle to help me do it. It is specifically to help “call in the shift you need” but it feels weird because I can’t name the shift I want, but if someone else was in that situation and asked me about it I would say it’s fine to not know, that being in the process will give you what you need.

So I am getting myself into the process!

This feels amazing!

I printed out the pages, watched the video from day 1, filled in my journaling sheet and did the meditation and WHOA.

Yes, this is helping.

I am starting to see new possibilities already and really excited to give this some time and see where it goes.

Project Miracle is a 30 day program but I am definitely NOT going to do it within 30 days. I am thinking a few times a week. Really give it all space...

UPDATE:

Shortly after writing this, we had our April New Moon call. And I had this intense experience in that mediation where I SAW MY WHOLE PROJECT IN A WHOLE NEW LIGHT.

I don't fully HAVE the new perspective I am looking for, but I am almost there.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

Sitting with resistance and inertia, part two Read More »

Sitting with resistance and inertia

When you feel INERTIA or RESISTANCE or just plain feel stuck.

You really only have two options:

  1. be with it
  2. avoid it

Avoiding looks like scrolling, being busy with other things, etc.

Being with it is so much more uncomfortable. It’s SO uncomfortable that most of the time we will avoid.

Avoiding gets you out of the discomfort but does not change anything about the situation.

Long term avoidance starts to look like “One day, when I _____ then I will _____”

Avoidance in the moment usually looks more like scrolling the internet or a sudden urge to do the dishes.

I just loaded my dishwasher and went through the freezer to pick out something to thaw to cook later.

When you KNOW you are avoiding, that does open up a little pathway that can lead to being with it. Like “Yeah, I am avoiding right now because this feels so uncomfortable but I am going to stay aware that I am avoiding which makes the odds that I STAY in avoidance much smaller.”

As I notice that by loading the dishwasher NOW, while trying to write this, is a sign of resistance... I try to move myself into BEING WITH I notice all the muscles in my shoulders tense up.

I feel frustrated.

I think my heart starts beating faster.

It feels like there is a heavy fog, like literally heavy. A fog with gravity. In my head, encasing my brain in heavy fog so it can’t think it’s way out of this.

Not that you ever CAN think your way out of avoidance.

OK, hello all forms of discomfort that make themselves known when I try to sit with this. Can we talk?

I want you to know that I do want to do the thing. Can you tell me why you don’t want me to do it?

I listen to my discomfort.

My jaw gets very tense.

But the only kind of response I get is a very vague and kind of far away voice that says “I just don’t want to”

But don’t you care that I REALLY, REALLY want to?

But this part is SO HARD! You don’t want to do THIS PART, do you? Isn’t what you REALLY REALLY want to be done with this part, and be further down the path?

Wow, I feel like you are twisting my own dreams on me! WTF? I really really want to do this thing, to do it I need to take all of the steps. Why are you so opposed to this step?

This is a hard step. Please admit you would rather be done this step already. You don’t want to DO IT, you want it DONE. These are different.

OK if that is an important thing for you to acknowledge. Yes, I really want to be in the place where this part is done. Does that help you feel better?

I just again, sit with the discomfort and wait for a response, and then it comes. 

But I’m scared I’ll do it wrong.

Oh. Sweetie. I’m so sorry.

Really? (the voice seems genuinely surprised that I have empathy for it)

Yes! It sucks to be scared! I don’t want you to be scared!

You’re not scared of getting it wrong?

No. I mean I don’t think there is a way to do it wrong. The next step is to EXPERIMENT… so I guess yeah some “fails” will be a part of that. But that’s just a part of the bigger process of finding the way that I want to do this.

Each fail is a fail.

Oh! Darling! You are so wrong! I’m so sorry you see it this way, it’s not even accurate. Each failure is a LEARNING and step towards finding the way. There is literally no way to “just do it” except by following someone else’s instructions about how to do it and the WHOLE THING about this thing is that I want to find/create MY WAY to do it. A way that fits for me and my life and my needs and my creativity. We can only do that by experimenting.

Can I do anything to help you feel like you have permission to have things go badly in the process and not have it be a big deal?

Oh. WHOA. WHAT IF I had permission to have things go badly in the process and not have it be a big deal? That would be so cool.

But that brings us to the next thing. This is annoying.

This is annoying? This task?

Yeah, I hate it.

This voice has more of a form. She’s like eight years old and dressed like a Holly Hobby doll, but she is a girl.

Why do you hate it, sweetie?

It just feels so much like WORK.

Now she’s flickering back and forth between Holly Hobby and my teenaged self.

I send them both love.

I get to choose to work if I want to. 

But not right now.

Why not right now?

I don’t feel like it.

I do not want to go in circles with this!

WHAT IS MY REAL RESISTANCE HERE???!?!?!?!?!?

I’m scared I will fail. I don’t know where to start. The project feels too big.

Sat with that for a bit…

OK good.

It feels better now.

I can start by finding a place to start and YES the project is too big. That feels really relevant.

Let’s break it down into some tiny do-able things.

Resistance and inertia feel gone. For now.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

Sitting with resistance and inertia Read More »

I hope this is a turning point and it gets better from here [Year of Hope Week 19]

Year of Hope

Every Monday in 2025 there will be a new journal prompt in the Year of Hope classroom in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership.

Get this week's journal prompt here.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Leave them in the comments at the bottom of that page so we can discuss this as a group. Practicing hope in community is MAGIC.

My personal Year of Hope practice is shifting and I love it.

It's also merging with my "BEING the artist I know I AM" dream.

I had a large daily planner for this project. The goal is still to fill the planner by the end of the year. I keep getting looser and looser about how I define "daily practice" lol. But as the world is more chaotic - we are doing our best!

Sitting, sometimes with the hope meditation sometimes not, and just thinking "What am I really hoping for?" and then writing out the thing that feels more relevant and then painting around the letters, which I do messy but it still takes a while, so it gives me more time to sit with my hope.

It feels like I am making wishes and I just really enjoy the process. It feels like a practice that helps to buoy me up which is exactly what I wanted from the Year of Hope.

I hope that this is a turning point and it all gets better from here is one of those hopes that spilled out.

I do hope that this is a turning point.

I also, realistically, know that it's probably not.

But hoping that it IS gives me space to think about how turning points to exist and there will be one.

It helps take some of my focus off to the collapse we are in, and put it on what we are building next.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

I hope this is a turning point and it gets better from here [Year of Hope Week 19] Read More »

Choosing POWERFUL over PRODUCTIVE

I saw this "map" in a meditation and then drew it out.

This is where I am now.

(Notice the little circle off in the corner that is: being consistently productive + getting it all done, and the writing around the circle that says: This does not exist.)

The last few weeks I've been sharing how GOOD I feel, and how amazed I am by how good I feel: this explains that.

Starting in January, I let go of all of my precious routines I had developed over years. All the things that helped me show up for my dreams every day.

I realized: I am not the person I was when I created and then refined all of these routines and systems.

I held onto these ways of doing things as I aged through my 40s, and as the world changed dramatically and then as my life changed dramatically with a divorce.

And then in January I knew two things: I want to really BE the artist I know I AM (and I felt I wasn't fully BEING that version of me) and I need all new ways of doing things.

So I dropped my routines and chose to focus on this dream of being the artist I know I am and build new routines, systems and ways of doing things.

I knew it would be hard.

It was harder than I thought it would be. For a lot of reasons.

AND

I got through it.

Slowly, new ways of being that reflect and support the person I am now AND the person I want to become, are coming into focus.

Of course sometimes I still think about past me and the things she loved and I miss those forms of joy.... And I am learning to reflect on that with love and gratitude and stay grounded in the present.

But here I am now!

That bottom corner: richness, depth, magic, expansion. There is SO MUCH GOOD here in the way I am living now.

AND

I am still stunned by how much I can't do.

What this map is really saying is: I am so powerful, creative, magnetic and magic WHEN I STAY WITHIN MY CAPACITY.

I have to move very slowly here, but I am so much more powerful so this doesn't matter in the ways I think it does.

So much is possible for me in this space that just isn't possible in other spaces.

This is amazing!!!!!

BUT/AND

So! Many! Things! Overwhelm me now in ways they didn't used to.

Even riding my bike right now, which I love doing on the bike paths and river trails - the parts where I am on roads getting to the parks is SO STRESSFUL. Part of it IS that drivers are more distracted than ever and driving more dangerously. Part of it is my decreased nervous system capacity for close calls.

And when I try to push myself and do the things.... I end up in the BEING OVERWHELMED spot on the map.

So many things I think of as very normal human activity type things are in this part of the map. THIS FUCKING SUCKS.

Last weekend I was in the overwhelmed space from hanging out with friends!

Once I am in the BEING OVERWHELMED space, if I don't immediately do the things that move me back to richness, depth, magic and expansion - then I move up into TOTAL FREEZE.

Last weekend, the day after hanging out with friends, I hung out with my family. This pushed me into TOTAL FREEZE.

Not because I don't want to do these things! I do! It's just too many things in too short a time frame.

Once I am TOTAL FREEZE I really have no choice but to do the things that move me back into BEING OVERWHELMED and from there I can move back to richness, depth, magic and expansion.

It's always better to STAY in richness, depth, magic and expansion but it still really surprises me how little it takes to bump me out of that place these days.

Part of this is my age and where I am at with aging and perimenopause. But part of it is what we're all facing with rising stress.

I worry that if we don't combat this, then we become habitually even more over-stimulated than we are and this makes it harder to act on behalf of the world we want to create - one without fascism, colonialism, imperialism, etc.

But for me personally, I am PISSED that it takes so little to overwhelm me AND really happy with how I am handling things and staying in my zone-of-magic most of the time.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

Choosing POWERFUL over PRODUCTIVE Read More »

Why is this so hard sometimes?

I painted this in my Year of Hope journal a little while back but it applies to dreams too.

Taking the time to write "Why is this so hard sometimes" and then paint around the letters gave me space to sink into the question.

Then I filled the other side with answers.

Of course dreaming is hard right now.

If you understand what is happening in the world.

And of course dreams are more important than ever. Living our values is more important than ever.

And yet we have a LOT of cultural programming that impacts how we are experiencing this moment.

I keep noticing myself saying "Why am I so tense??" Like, my muscles are SO TENSE and I think about how I have been exercising, looking for the answer. We live in this culture of hyper-individualism that impacts the way we see the world and ourselves so we do look to blame ourselves for anything that goes wrong in our bodies and our lives.

So then each time I have to remind myself: I'm so tense because the situation in the world is so tense. This makes sense. A better question to ask is "What do I need now?"

And that is usually: more rest. More gentle stretching. More art. More meditation. More water. More sleep. More than that.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

Why is this so hard sometimes? Read More »

Another Unsettling Meeting With My Dream Which Then Turns Helpful

I had another unsettling meeting with my dream - using the Dream Lab practice.

The Field of Creative Dream Alchemy was a desert, with mountains off in the distance. This just felt like an unsettling start, since this is SO far from the terrain where I live - there are 100,000 lakes plus arctic ocean shore in my province, and the city I live in is on a flood plain.

Then my dream shows up as a bunny rabbit. It’s being lowered in and it’s standing stiff/frozen.

Oh, it’s a cartoon. It’s Bugs Bunny.

He stays frozen the whole time and I’m like “I wanted a good dream meeting that made me feel inspired and energized and like everything is possible for me”

Thank goodness I was doing the 10 minute (shorter) version, so I only had to sit there for a few minutes, lol. At the end of the meditation when I held out my hands - Bugs turned into a real rabbit, so soft and snuggly and sleeping.

I just want to be soft was the message I got.

I drew it out in my journal and journaled about it and then I saw it more clearly.

Late stage capitalism, the way that in Canada we only have a few grocery store chains and they have been making record profits, higher every year, while prices soar and it’s like… this doesn’t feel like inflation, it feels like straight up oligarchy and greed. Tarrifs, fear of being taken over by the US, nothing feels stable economically and my dream right now is about having more people in the membership.

There is a part where I’m feeling so inspired and alive in my work I want to share it with more people.

And there is a part where I just need more money to feel secure with all of these changes.

And it’s like Bugs - I just want to be soft. But the coyote keeps chasing me.

So it brings up a few questions: how do I bring softness to my marketing efforts?

And also:

I can’t just kill the coyote and have it stop chasing me. Trying to do that never works and can take up energy I could use for other things.

Where am I trying to kill the coyote instead of using my energy for the things I really want to do?

I have no idea, but that feels like a good question to sit with.

And I want to talk a bit about some other dream meetings I have been having.

I am obsessed with the Dream Lab lately - I usually listen every morning before I get out of bed and then sometimes repeat later in the day.

My dream keeps showing up as things that are ready to GROW.

It showed up as a flight of stairs, and showed me that my dream is only like halfway up the stairs, so it felt like “there is more, you just can’t see it yet”

Then it showed up, on our Co-Working/Co-Dreaming call on Easter weekend, as a chick and I was like WTF but then my dream said “No! This is AMAZING! I was an egg for a long time and now I’m a chick” and it felt magical.

Then it showed up as a caterpillar. In the mediation, I was in space. And the caterpillar was made up of a galaxy. But I brought it to earth and it was bright green and I was like “This is cute but what could this mean?” and then it finally sunk in that the caterpillar will soon be a butterfly.

That’s when I put all three together: My dream is sending me encouragement.

Things are getting ready to step up, come to life and transform into something magical.

I think sometimes you get the message more clearly when you do the Dream Lab practice a few times and then look back.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

Another Unsettling Meeting With My Dream Which Then Turns Helpful Read More »

I hope we learn to truly take care of each other and keep everyone safe [Year of Hope Week 18]

Year of Hope

Every Monday in 2025 there will be a new journal prompt in the Year of Hope classroom in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership.

Get this week's journal prompt here.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Leave them in the comments at the bottom of that page so we can discuss this as a group. Practicing hope in community is MAGIC.

 

I hope we learn to truly take care of each other + make it so everyone is safe everywhere.

I've been a bit off in my Year of Hope daily practice. And I shared last week that a part of this is because... I HAVE THE THING I WANTED FROM THIS.

Which feels like a major miracle.

And doesn't look like I thought it would.

But I feel more hopeful, and grounded, and optimistic, and confident even about my own future.

And I don't feel I need to keep practicing it in the same way now.

So I am shifting to spending time practicing hoping for the things I hope for. Writing it out in big letters and then painting around them is kind of time consuming and gives me that chance to just sit with my hope and feel like I am sending it out somehow.

Which gives me an opportunity to get ideas about steps I could take, to be a part of the change I want to see with this.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

I hope we learn to truly take care of each other and keep everyone safe [Year of Hope Week 18] Read More »

You can be distracted and unfocused and still get what you need

I wanted to share this story because it shows how we can get what we need from this work even when we're really distracted and unfocused.

I did the 20 minute version of the Dream Lab.

And I was super distracted!

I kept noticing that I wasn’t listening to myself, lol.

And I kept coming back to it.

I felt like I missed everything, in terms of getting ready to meet the soul of my dream…

And then If let like I had done it all wrong because the soul of my dream appeared as some blocky thing.

Like a wooden block?

So vague and I thought… oh I am doing everything wrong here.

But I reminded myself that I decided to give this 20 minutes, and that there is no ideal way to do this, there’s just… showing up and being in the process.

“So, sit with your blocky thing” I told myself.

The blocky thing became stairs.

A wooden staircase.

And the thing I want most right now is a few steps up from where I am living, but there is more to the staircase.

My dream wanted me to see that.

Suddenly, I felt so loved and cared for and looked out for.

And I even played around with taking it one step higher, assuming that this mean having MORE of what I want now…

But then it felt like… unsure and unknown.

Like actually dreams are not always MORE!  MORE MORE! Until they collapse like late stage capitalism.

So, when I get to the step I am currently dreaming of - THEN I will have more information about what the next step looks like. It felt like… there is a lot of mystery and surprises here and I shouldn’t try to define what my “biggest dreams” can be from where I am now.

So then it felt like I was small and the stairs were big, and I could snuggle in on my stair (not the one I am living on now, the one that is my dream, a few steps up from me) and it felt like I could acclimate to being where I want to be in this gentle way.

At the end of the meditation, I felt SO MUCH GRATITUDE for the staircase as it shrunk and went into my heart.

And then it was also kind of the real life staircase in the loft, which has a big window at the top of it, facing north so it’s always a really gentle light coming through, and that gentle white light was at the top of my staircase and it felt like…

I am really going somewhere.

I don’t have to know what that destination is. I can just enjoy my trip up the staircase.

And then I felt very peaceful about my dream for the rest of the day.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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 can be distracted and unfocused and still get what you need Read More »

Notice the places where you feel ✨FULLY ALIVE✨ and find ways to cultivate more of them

Creative journal page: Notice the places where you feel ✨FULLY ALIVE✨ and find ways to cultivate more of them

So this is a lovely though unoriginal thought.

It came to me in a meditation.

What’s interesting is that I was meditating on a business question, and this was the answer.

And it answered my question in a way that kind of… opened up my perspective, changed what felt possible and gave me a huge sigh of relief.

This is what connecting to your inner knowing should be like.

Sometimes the answers are HARD, sometimes you are going to tell yourself to be braver than you think you are.

But usually, your own self has remarkable wisdom about how to do things in a way that will not deplete you. Unlike the ways dominant culture will always tell you to work harder, be better and never stop climbing.

For context: I did the 10 minute version of the Dream Lab meditation, which is an 8 minute meditation with 2 minutes of music to journal to at the end.

My dream, in this case, was an answer to a question I had about what to do about this thing in my business. My dream appeared as an intense sensation of ALIVENESS in my body. I didn’t understand how this helped me figure out my question, I just held it there and enjoyed the sensation of it.

At the end of the meditation, when I held out my hands, I was expecting nothing to happen but a “little me” appeared… it was like a Barbie doll, only it looked like me and it was ✨FULLY ALIVE✨. It felt amazing to put that into my heart and then I saw how cultivating more moments of feeing fully alive would answer all of the questions I went into the meditation with.

This is how it works.

The Dream Lab meditation helps you connect to your own soul and your dream (which is your soul showing you your path) and the place inside you where you believe in yourself…. it is an energy alchemy process to help move you deeper into all of that. So you can find answers from a richer place inside you.

You DO have everything you need, inside you, to make your dream happen.

But accessing all of that magic, power, healing, courage and creativity does take consistent work.

The right message will find you at the right time when you keep doing the work.

Come dream with us

 

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership 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.

Notice the places where you feel ✨FULLY ALIVE✨ and find ways to cultivate more of them Read More »

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