I did my Dream Self page in my new Dream Book yesterday.
This is the practice where you get in touch with the part of you who already has your dream, so you can get advice from yourself about what to do next. The dominant qualities this version of me holds about this dream are CHILL and TRUSTING.
Which is such helpful advice about how to pursue the thing…
But also, how do I apply that advice?
I was feeling frustrated, and when I really sat with all the layers of feelings I was feeling, there was a growing fear at the base of it all. Fear that I would’t figure this out.
So how I do I take my frustrated fearful self and… just BE chill and trusting?
This is where a lot of manifesting and "live your best life" teachings really fail us.
The "JUST BE POSITIVE" and "GOOD VIBES ONLY" stuff can easily make us think that this is a BATTLE between my frustrated fearful self and my chill trusting self.
And there is the assumption that the chill trusting self is BETTER.
There are hierarchies to how we see the different parts of us because we live in a world that divides everything into hierarchies. It's NOT the natural way of things, it's the way humans have chosen to orient our societies (for now).
So it can feel like the ONLY way to see these different parts of myself is to see that the chill trusting self is obviously wiser and more successful at achieving this dream... and the fearful frustrated self is not good enough to have the dream, this part of me is a problem to... I don't know, lock it away somewhere where it can't bother me?
I mean - we're in a world where people are being dragged out of their homes and put into cages.
I think the only way to proceed is to recognize that ALL LIFE IS SACRED.
I mean literally - all people deserve dignity. All animals. The planet itself and all the waters, rocks, plants, everything.
But for me, right here right now, it means my fearful frustrated self is just as valid as my chill trusting self.
Yes, I would prefer to be chill and trusting and my preferences are fine.
But that doesn't mean I abandon my frustrated fearful self.
The approaches that tell us to just focus on being chill and trusting really fail us because they don't lead to HEALING.
If I choose to just BE chill and trusting right now, then I am starting a war inside me. I am suppressing and oppressing my genuine feelings to put on a mask of how I think I should feel.
Creative Dreaming is all about noticing where we are wearing masks, and looking for the safest way to remove them.
There is no "right mask" to put on that will get you your dream. It's your most authentic self who is your most powerful self.
So. Here I am with my fearful frustrated self, knowing that the way forward is to move towards chill and trusting.
What does that look like:
- The me who believes in this dream and wants to move forward.
- The me who is so frustrated that I haven't already figured out this next step.
- The me who is growing more fearful by the minute that I will never figure it out.
All walking together TOWARDS chill and trusting without trying to FORCE chill and trusting?
It looks like BEING WITH and TENDING TO.
It looks like ALL LIFE IS SACRED. ALL PARTS OF ME ARE SACRED.
It looks like forming a circle and holding space for all of it.
Which does not mean: letting my fears throw tantrums and run the whole show!
If ALL PARTS OF ME ARE SACRED then my dreams, my hopes, my creativity, my inspiration, my drive... these are sacred too. They matter too.
If I am not letting my chill trusting self suppress, oppress and abandon my fearful self to get ahead... then I am not letting my frustrated fearful self the run show either.
Cultures that did hold all life as sacred HAD BOUNDARIES. They didn't rip people from their homes and lock them in cages because they didn't like their paperwork or the colour of their skin, but they did exile people who refused to respect the community if nothing else worked.
We get to, and we have to, have boundaries in our own inner worlds.
All of the Creative Dream Alchemy Library of Inner Work practices work from this perspective. Making space to tend to these places in us without letting them take over.
It's awkward and multi-faceted and nuanced.
Authoritarian movements categorize people and suppress differences and some people go along with this because (I think) they feel a kind of comfort in knowing what the rules are and a sense that everything will be ok (the economy will keep growing) if everyone complies. (Of course once the regime turns on them, and there is no way for them to comply, then they'll see why this was a mistake all along)
We are experiencing some intense authoritarianism right now... but we've always had it. At least for all of my lifetime, and for some time before that. This IS the way our societies are structured. Sexism, racism, classism, ableism, etc. Genocidal colonialism. War.
We do absorb these values and we very easily use them to structure our own inner worlds.
Confident is better, I'll lead with that part of me. My fear is shameful, so I will hide it.
Shifting out of this hierarchical way of organizing our inner worlds, into a more expansive ALL LIFE IS SACRED way of being, does need boundaries.
It needs intention. Devotion. PRACTICE.
This IS Creative Dream Alchemy.
As we practice, as we make space WITHOUT letting certain parts run the show... we move deeper into the alchemy of it all.
The fears reveal their treasures.
The doubts alchemize into little yellow bricks you can use to build your path.
The "I don't know how to do this and this freaks me out" unravels into a kind of plan that you can follow.
We move forward WITH OUR WHOLENESS INTACT.
So all this to say....
After sitting with the frustration and fear yesterday (using the Un-Sticking Station) I really didn't know what else to do. So I took a nap. And then I made tofu noodle soup (A dish I've been experimenting with this winter, chicken noodle soup style but vegetarian with tons of veggies and grated tofu fried with poultry seasonings).
Then I worked on non-related art projects and went to bed early.
Then I woke up this morning early, knowing EXACTLY how to do this next step.
That's the alchemy.
If you keep showing up - Dream Work as a regular practice, Inner Work as it comes up, the next steps in the Outer Work will reveal themselves to you.
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