Every month we do this amazing playdate/tea-party-of-miracles in the Creative Dream Circle.? And every month as I’m preparing it I think we’re going to learn x and then we end up learning abcdefghihjklmopqrstuvw.

This month I wanted to create space for us to create? Support Systems for our Creative Dreams.? You know what I’m talking about, that system or product or way-of-doing-things that makes everything magically easy, always, forever and ever.

How embarrassing is that?? I have been doing this for how long and I am still looking for that magic bullet?

Luckily, the playdates are a container and an invitation for magic + miracles to occur.? So it doesn’t matter what I think we’re going to learn, everyone’s going to learn what they need to learn, including me.

So when we invited the heart and soul of SUPPORT to join us in the circle, I was completely blown away.

My Creative Dreams don’t need support.

They are already perfectly and beautifully supported by spirit and purpose.? Nothing I can create or find or buy would add to this in any noticeable way.? My creative dreams are already completely supported, perfectly whole and complete and real on the spiritual plane(s).

It’s me who needs support!? You and me and all the other creative dreamers.? Bringing a dream to life is a big job that demands internal growth.? Internal growth almost always requires a different kind of support than you think it does.

This is part of the nature of being in the process of change, you can’t properly anticipate what you need because you’re thinking from where-you-were and the support is needed at the level of where-you’re-going.? That’s why I playdate these things instead of attempt to teach them – playdates open you up to your creative genius and divine intuition so you can get the answers you need.

During the playdate the heart and soul of support asked me to let go of some old dreams, and old ways of seeing myself, to free up my energy to be more supportive of the dreams that want to come to life now.? This is NOT even close to what I was expecting.

I was expecting stuff like: spend more time working on it, be more organised and productive, have a better system, get expert advice, hire the right help, blah, blah blah.? In hindsight, those do sound like things my inner critics would say, not my inner genius.

So I wasn’t expecting, even a little bit, to be asked to let go of dreams that I’d held for so long they feel like a part of who I am.? When I received that message, I felt totally blown away and confused.

But now?? Not even two weeks later, I think it’s AMAZING the way our dreams can lead us to discover new aspects of who we really are.

Of Course(!) it’s time to let go of some of those dreams.? I have been feeling like it doesn’t all fit.? Letting go makes space for what’s really important right now.? And it’s not like I destroyed the old dreams – I can always go back to them if I want to.

Right now I feel free.? Like there is enough room for what matters, like there is even enough room for my dreams to grow bigger than I think they can.

So thank you playdate!? And thank you to my fellow Creative Dreamers in the Circle who help make the playdates so stunningly transformative, healing and FUN.

This is the soul work play of bringing a dream to life.? I am blown away grateful that this is also the work work I get to do every day, and that I get to do it with such amazing and inspiring people. I have so much love for all of you.

I’ve spent the last few days exploring 2013, to learn more about what is possible here and how I want to be this year.

I started with my Create a Map kit which showed me that what I really want in 2013 is to feel satisfied + gorgeous.

Satisfied + gorgeous.

I was not sure what that meant, I was looking more for business direction, so it felt a little confusing – at first.? The longer I sat with it and explored it, the more sense it made.

And a few days later I can see how perfect it is.? Now I have this clear picture of what is happening in my life when I feel satisfied + gorgeous:

• It means I’m not comparing.
• And I’m not striving or trying to get somewhere.
• It means I love where I am and what I’m doing.
• It means I’m having adventures.
• And I’m relaxed and filled up and taking exquisite care of myself – body, mind, emotions, soul.
• And I’m being me, like really being me.? And my life feels true to who I really am.? And my business supports all of that.

But I can’t make any of these things the goal.

Because as soon as I do that, everything starts to collapse.? I start to look at how-to and what-to-do.? I get lost in the details.? My inner critics come into play.

When I think about feeling satisfied + gorgeous, right here right now in this moment, everything comes back together.

The first time I consciously took this approach to the New Year was in 2010.

After lots of meditating and exploring it felt like the energy around me was “Make It Happen” energy though I didn’t define what “It” was.? I led a workshop (I was still doing all of my work in-person back then) called Make It Happen In 2010.

In 2010 I was really very comfortable working part time and doing my creative soul work part time.? I needed that “Make It Happen” vibe to crack out of that comfort zone.

And by the end of the year – I quit my job to do my creative soul work full time.

I “made it happen” because deep down no matter how comfortable I was I always knew I had a much bigger purpose.? And that my job, even though it was just part time at that point (I spent years growing my creative soul work while slowly working fewer and fewer hours at my job) was holding me back.

But had I set that resolution/intention/whatever on Jan 1, 2010 – I doubt I would have Made It Happen ?I would have gotten too bogged down in how-to and what-to-do, not to mention the inner critic attacks.

Knowing how it will feel to be there is much more important than knowing what being there even means.

It gets you there both faster and easier.

The trick is to be working with the right energies/qualities.

That take into account your personal energy and the energy around you.

Your creativity, passion, spirit and uniqueness.

The direction that moves you towards your personal evolution.

The qualities that your purpose wants to express out into the world at this time.

There is a theme that will hold the essence of all of that for you.?

That theme holds the most powerful qualities for you to align yourself with at this time.

Aligning with those qualities is the shortcut to get to where you want to be.

The best way to figure that out? Creativity, imagination + play, of course.

Your ultimate trio of Creative Dreamer Superpowers.

This is what we’re doing at the Hello 2013 PLAYDATE on Jan 3.

PLAYDATE = 4 magical hours of miracles, healing, transformation and expanded possibility.

It happens on the phone, in our Creative Dream Circle forum and in your home.? Everything is recorded so you can play along in your own time zone, at your own pace.

Plus you get magical workbooks!

This goes waaaaay beyond intention/goal setting and right to the heart of the magic of what is really possible for you for 2013.

I’d love to explore this with you.

The Hello 2013 Playdate is a part of the Creative Dream Circle.? If you’re going to join for the Creative Dream Incubator LIVE Session, sign up now to get this too.

You + Me + Your Dream = Magic. Let?s play together:

If 2013 is your year to make your dream real, I am here to help.

Yes! Let?s play! And giggle, and find secret passageways that lead you right to where you want to be.

Click here to read more + sign up.

Your 2013 is looking brighter already.

You are cordially invited to usher in ALL the magic of 2013 with me at the Hello 2013 PLAYDATE on Jan 3.

PLAYDATE = 4 magical hours of miracles, healing, transformation and expanded possibility.

It happens on the phone, in our Creative Dream Circle forum and in your home.? Everything is recorded so you can play along in your own time zone, at your own pace.? Plus you get magical workbooks!

This goes waaaaay beyond intention/goal setting and right to the heart of the magic of what is really possible for you.

The Hello 2013 Playdate is a part of the Creative Dream Circle.

You + Me + Your Dream = Magic. Let?s play together:

If 2013 is your year to make your dream real, I am here to help.

Yes! Let?s play! And giggle, and find secret passageways that lead you right to where you want to be.

Click here to read more + sign up.

Your 2013 is looking brighter already.

On the 3rd of every month, we have a playdate in the Creative Dream Circle, I call them Creative Dream HOLYdays.? These are days of celebrating and honouring our dreams, and also days of exploration, miracles and healing.

This month our theme is Believing In Yourself.? I picked this theme thinking how if were shore up our Believing In Ourselves skills this month, it will make it easier for us to bring our wildest dreams to life in 2013.? Makes sense, right?

So I wasn’t expecting it to turn my whole world upside down.

But it did.? And I’m still to figure out which way is down, and which way is up.

And as I do, I keep bumping into things.

Things that I know I used to see as SOLID.? True.? Real.? Un-Changeable because that’s just how life is.

THINGS that I am now seeing, thanks to my new friendship with the Goddess of Believing In Myself, are actually just bullshit excuses.

OMG!? So unsettling.? And so freeing!

You + Me + Your Dream = Magic. Let?s play together:

Every Sunday in December I am writing about Visionary Visioning.? I’m creating this space for myself to step out of what’s happening around me, so I can explore what my greater vision is and how I can align my world with it.? Post one is here, post two is here.

So, even before I heard the horrible news, this past week was complete crap – full of inner critic attacks on a scale I have not experienced before.

And now that I see that in words – inner critic attacks on a scale I have not experienced before – it’s really clear.? I’m stirring things up more than I realise in committing to explore my greater vision this month.?

Inner critics are naturally afraid of us stepping into our greater vision.? It would have been good to remember that ahead of time!? Maybe then I wouldn’t have been so totally knocked out by them.? But, as it is I didn’t remember that and I did get totally knocked out by them.

Not to be overly dramatic, but looking back to last week’s post feels like looking back on another lifetime.

I am so grateful to me-from-then for listening to the messages and acting on them.? Moving things around and giving things away and creating new space even though she could only see the teenytiny tip of the iceberg about why she was doing that.

I have to share this kind of ridiculous in hindsight quote from last week’s post:

Surprising discovery as I connect to Heart-Centered Richness + Fullness: I want to make less money

It felt surprising at the time but is really a natural extension of it?s not about about having lots of stuff.? It?s more about having what?s right and trusting your needs will be met.

It started to become clear that the only reason I want to make more money is to have more money socked away in case of an emergency.

And then, of course, this week presented a financial emergency on a scale I had not really considered possible.? Which then turned into a series of financial emergencies.?

Ahhhhh thank you universe you are so funny!? And you’re right.? I DO like having what I call cushions of money.?? Cushions feel entirely different from having money socked away in case of emergency.? Cushions can cushion emergencies, they can also create space for adventure and exploration and joy and anything else.

This is where visioning is kind of confusing.

When I set out to connect with the greater vision, of course I can only see what I can see.

Each Sunday, I sit with it and a new aspect of it gets clearer.? Then each week I do what I can to align myself with what I’ve learned about the vision, which makes it clearer still.

The process of getting clearer can be confusing.?

It’s like cleaning off a painting that is covered in whipped cream (the painting is safely under glass).? You start by clearing off one part and you see gorgeous flowers.? You’re all… oh yes! My vision is flowers! I want to be the greatest floral designer in the world!

If you run off and go with it and don’t keep coming back to get more clarity and wipe more whipped cream off, you’ll never discover that the flowers you uncovered were just a small part of the greater picture.? In the greater picture, which of course includes your love of flowers, the gorgeous bouquet is sitting on your desk where you are happily working away as the director of some superamazing world changing charity.

Last week what I was seeing is how important it is that I not be driven by money.? There is a part of me that feels strongly about that and wanted to assert that.

There is also the greater part of me that understands and knows that money is my friend and partner in making my dreams real.? Money doesn’t want to overshadow the dream, it wants to protect it.? This part of me trusts that I can easily grow my business without becoming driven by money.? This part of me remembers the years I spent working on developing my relationship with money and filling it with trust and support.

This part of me loves having extra cushions of money around.? More for in case of desire, than for in case of emergency.

So, even though this week it feels like I am going in the opposite direction from where I was with this last week, it’s actually a perfect continuation.

Sometimes, some parts of us need to assert certain things before allowing us to go in a certain direction.

This part of me who felt afraid that I would become driven by money if I tried to grow my business too quickly has made its case known, and has been assured that this will not happen.? And now there is more space to more forward.

And in conclusion: I don’t want to make less money, that’s ridiculous.

But it’s important to remember that I don’t want to let money drive me.? I don’t want to do things that aren’t in keeping with my greater vision and purpose just to get more money.? I don’t want to let money get more important than the mission.

Money is a beautiful friend and supporter of my dream and that is not going to change.

Because this week what I see when I sit with my vision is EXPANSION.

EXPANSION in all directions though.

It’s the most beautiful thing.

I see how amazing my work is now and how it has deepened over the past 2 years.? What we do in the monthly playdates in the Creative Dream Circle is nothing short of miraculous.

As a participant in the Circle: I am learning so much about myself and my dream, so quickly, and with so much FUN.

As the creator of the Circle: I am so proud of what I have created and how it can support dreamers and their dreams.

I’m seeing an expansion of this.? Letting more people into the Circle to experience this.? Bringing more dreams into the Incubator so that the obstacles can shrink and the dreams can GROW, NOW.

I’m seeing a deepening that sparks, holds and informs the expansion.

My JOB is the deepening.

My VISION is the expansion.

That’s where things are starting to come together and paint a clearer picture for me.

It’s not that I didn’t want my business to grow, it’s that I didn’t want growing my business to be my JOB.

There is a push and a strain and an energy of striving to that that doesn’t work for me.

What does work for me: grace and trust and a strong clear sense of purpose.? (With a solid understanding of business as one part of my foundation – it’s not that I want to leave the practicalities out of it.)

My next steps:

Last week I fell into a hole.? Then I dug myself out.? In the digging out I became stronger, surer and magically obtained a shovel.? Now I can use that shovel to start working on the deepening.

This week I’m going to explore the deepening.? I’m going to draw it out and journal about it and talk to it every day and see what it has to teach me.

And I’m going to read inspiring books about success – different approaches to success and stories of people who succeeded.

You + Me + Your Dream = Magic. Let?s play together:

Last week I got the sweetest email from Josephine, from Penreaper Arts Studio.

Josephine’s mom, Dionne from Goddess Tea House is in my Creative Dream Circle, where we’re in the midst of The Abundance Activator Challenge.

We’re listening to the Abundance Activator every day, which is a 6 minute supercharged meditation to activate your Creative Spirit.

What’s happening as we do this is we’re learning *so much* about our relationship with abundance and possibility and blocks and believing in ourselves and trusting and not trusting and etc, etc, etc.? It’s completely amazing.

And Josephine has been listening with her mom, and was inspired to create this:

Obviously, Josephine is completely adorable.

What really strikes me though – is how free she is, how connected she is to her own creative spirit and how willing she is to share it.

It kind of makes me want to cry for me-from-that-age. And then get all pouty about how amazing I’d be doing now if I had learned how to express myself freely and creatively at her age.

But mostly it makes me very, very happy for the future.

Thank you Josephine!? You are a light.

PS: You and your dreams are cordially invited to join the fun in the Creative Dream Circle.? The best time to start is always NOW.

In honour of the Solstice, and how creative dreams = shining your light into the world, we’re doing a Visibility Teleclass on Friday, Dec 21 in the Creative Dream Circle.

Visibility terrifies me.? I’m also convinced it’s the only way for me to reach my goals.

This conflict has held me back and continues to hold me back and I’m sick of it.

So I’m holding a tele-circle about it.

Not to say “Hey I’m the expert, let me explain this to you” but to say “this is something we all need to explore and work on (me maybe more than the other Circle members) so let’s draw on the magic + possibility of our circle, invite Visibility to play with us, and see where it goes”.

In preparation for that, I invited Visibility into my day today, and with it has come an inner critic who wants it to be known that I have no time for this.? We’re in a disaster situation and I have important work to do and holy crap this is stupid.

And visibility is here, kind of like a ball of sunshine Smiling and Loving and not being even the slightest bit upset about the chilly reception she’s getting from my inner critic.

Visibility wants to pick me up and hug me and when she does, I turn into a very cuddly smiley face.? And she holds me up in the sky, like the sun.? And I get to shine my gifts for whoever wants to see them and it’s pretty amazing.

And then a bit of terror starts to burst through my little smiley face body… and it feels so big but actually it’s smaller than her smile.

Visibility whispers to me that the things I am afraid of actually have nothing to do with visibility.? The things I’m afraid of are just the things I’m afraid of.? I’ll be afraid of them with or without her.

That’s pretty mindblowing, in that well of course it’s true kind of way.

Visibility opens her hand to show me the story of what happens in my world when I let her in.? There’s success and ease and light and ohmygosh such gigantic smiles.? Who knew about the smiles?

Hmmm.? So visibility is not just a necessary evil like I thought it was, it’s a smile and a gift and a hug and I’m starting to want some.

The gifts of visibility.

I never even think about them. I’m always seeing the pain in the ass of visibility.

Which I am now seeing, is the pain in the ass of my own stuff, not the pain in the ass of visibility.? And that actually I can put that down now, if I want.? It’s time, it’s safe to do this, I’m ready to do this.

In fact, the “disasters” happening in my life right now are merely invitations to put this stuff down.

And again with the that’s so true it’s blowing my mind.

Want to play along?

You can invite any quality you like into your day just by pretending it’s there. Let it hang out with you, get creative with it and see what kinds of mindblowing true things it will tell you.

Or you can join the Creative Dream Circle and come to the Visibility Tele-Class which, now that I understand how to make friends with visibility, is going to be quite the party.

I’ve been doing Monday Morning Creative Genius Planning Sessions for a long time.

First, I did them by myself, in a coffee shop.

Coffee and a breakfast sandwich and journaling and planning.

I worked out lists of things to explore each week in these sessions, and then took what I discovered in those explorations and used that to create my schedule for the week.

I shared how I do all of this in the Creative Business Incubator (which is free for Creative Dream Circle members).

This past summer it evolved into all sorts of different Picnic Creative Genius Planning Sessions. Some weeks I did this every morning.

With a few car-picnics in the fall when it was too cold to journal outside.

And then it got chilly and I went back inside.

Now – every Monday morning, there’s a new Creative Genius Planning Session in the Creative Dream Circle where we focus in on consciously creating our week, using creativity, spirit, imagination, intuition, play and MAGIC.

I love this!

And I’ve been feeling another aspect of this wanting to come in: something like bigger picture visioning. But not “big picture”, ugh. Somehow that feels kind of forced and gross. No, I want visionary visioning.

What I want is a sense of openness and trusting in spirit and intuition to lead. Not me-trying-to-control-everything-and-MAKE-things-happen. More like connecting into the more expansive vision that is always there and sometimes I’m not aware of because I am focused in on the details of my life.

There’s this thing that happens in Creative Dreaming – when you get the things you wanted. If you’re not continually connecting into the greater vision of your purpose you end up stagnating.

I feel like I am reaching this point. I got my dream loft! I’ve created an art studio and play space in here that totally exceeded my own dreams and desires. 20 foot ceiling! GIANT windows with crystals in them that throw rainbows everywhere! The most delicious indoor tent ever! Pink and orange and purple curtains! A sleeping loft! All brand new appliances! Someone else to shovel the show!

I’ve restructured my business and it feels like a better fit now that I get to work more closely with the amazing dreamers in the Creative Dream Circle on an on-going basis, as opposed to running individual classes. Staying in the process longer = WAAAAAAAAAAY more magic, all around.

There’s lots to do still with both of these, I’m not saying I’m DONE. There are lots of things I want to add to the Creative Dream Circle next year. And lots of decorating still to do in the dream loft.

But working with what-is-here is different from connecting to the greater vision and I miss that part!

Luckily, I have lots of tools and processes for how to do this.

Today I don’t know which one I want to use.

This is another thing about creative dreaming: you’re constantly being brought to places that you have never been before. Your inner and outer landscapes shift continually. When you find yourself somewhere new, you have to look around and explore and discover before you can make a plan for how to proceed. What worked there will not necessarily work here!

That’s what this is, me exploring where I’m at now with the intention of gathering the information I need to make a plan.

Right now all I know is this:

I want to do visioning on Sundays.

I want Sunday visioning to fuel Monday Creative Genius Planning.

And, because baby steps are important when you’re venturing out into the unknown, I’m going to do this slowly. I’m going to write + publish a blog post about visioning every Sunday.

It feels important to me that I write it ON SUNDAY to help ground me in experiencing Sunday as the day of visioning. My commitment is to do this for December and then see where I’m at with it. You are so welcome to join along, in the comments, on your blog, in your journal – wherever.

…..

So after writing that I went off to meditate with the intention of connecting to the more expansive vision and this is what I discovered: heart-centered richness + fullness.? That’s the energy of this new vision.

It’s important to do something that anchors you in your vision. So I did this:

It sits right above my desk so all week I’ll be remembering the visionary vision, connecting to it, and being open to learning more about it.

A little while ago Brene Brown’s publisher contacted me about sending me her new book, Daring Greatly, to give away on my blog.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

What amazes me most about Brene is how she comes to all the exact same conclusions about life + dreams that I do, but she comes to them via research and I come to them via intuition/healing/spirituality.? She can present actual research-proven facts about the importance of wholeheartedness!

I read the book and was inspired, especially by the parts about enoughness and how messed up our whole culture is when it comes to this.

That part inspired me so much I made ENOUGHNESS, and growing our dreams from a place of already being enough, is our theme this month in the Creative Dream Circle.? (Which has been sparkletastically magical. Enoughness makes Creative Dreaming even better!)

I take such a deep breath every time I say ENOUGH!? And then I sink into this place that can only be described as heavenly.

You are enough! You do enough! You have enough! Your dreams are enough! Enough! Enough! Enough! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

We started the month with a magical tele-class/playdate where we spent the day trying on and exploring ENOUGHNESS and what happens when we bring that energy of already being enough to our dreams.

(Everything was recorded, and we’ll keep playing with this all month in our private online circle, so you’re welcome to join and play along if this sounds good: CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED.)

Delicious!

The beauty of Brene’s approach is that she makes it all so logical and sensible.

As though really you have no other option but to accept that you are already enough.

This book is such a deep sigh of relief.

The book jacket has become a little worn around the edges.? I’ve been carrying it with me for a few months, savoring it.

And now it’s time for this book to go and live with one of you.

To Enter the Giveaway for Brene Brown’s Daring Greatly:

Leave a comment below telling me (and the world) that you are enough, exactly as you are right now.

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

The winner is Christine from Lady Myer’s Wordsmithing.

Congrats Christine!? And thanks to all of you for your comments + statements of ENOUGHNESS.? You’re gorgeous!

If ENOUGHNESS and exploring your dreams from a place of already being enough is something you want to explore with me: get yourself into the Creative Dream Circle!

I’m making coffee and getting ready to open up the weekly Creative Genius Planning Session in the Creative Dream Circle.

*SO MUCH* good stuff to come this week!