A love letter to my broken internet

By Andrea Schroeder / July 3, 2024 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice, journaling

It’s been a week and a half with no internet in my home!

Hopefully it will be fixed soon (all I know is that the technician is backed up and is getting to everyone in the order that they received our calls and I just have to wait) because running an internet business with no internet is awkward. (

And I found out I can’t add more data to my phone plan like I used to be able to! It’s just a $50 surcharge and then it’s cut off until next month. Yikes)

But on the other hand, not having internet in my home is magical.

Of course, I learned just how much I have been using the internet to distract me from the discomfort of divorce, and the state of the world, and my peri-menopause anxiety, and the stress of running a business about believing in a better future while the world is collapsing into chaos around us.

It did feel like what I assume a mild version of withdrawal feels like.

It did feel like “Wow, without my internet fix, this shit is really hard to deal with!”

AND ALSO

I’m so glad I am facing this all more directly.

I did say that 2024 I am doing this year-long project of exploring my resistance and that’s… well resisting exploring resistance is a part of exploring resistance, right?

But I did learn a lot more about how my resistance works this last almost-two-weeks.

And I got to spend more time in my… I don’t know what to call it.. state-of-being-more-connected-to-myself-than-to-wifi I guess.

After the stress of figuring out how to do my work, and the discomfort of re-arranging my work flow (not a small thing!) it was like this sense of magic and freedom opened up. All these chunks of time, alone at home, with no way of communication with the outside world, except the few people I text with.

It just feels like - this is what I need, as an artist.

And when I look at all of the stressors in my life right now: processing my divorce, re-gaining a sense of financial stability as a single person and with nightmare inflation and being self employed on the internet while the algorithms keep changing and culture keeps changing and everything that used to work doesn’t work….

Well, art is the answer to everything.

(For me, right now)

Art as a way of listening to my soul.

Art as a way of finding my truth.

And space without wifi does feel like a more creative space.

And once my internet is fixed, I want to hold onto this state-of-being-more-connected-to-myself-than-to-wifi.

I’m grateful it is taking soooo looooong for this to be fixed because this gives me a chance to get INTO IT.

I’m adding a page to my Dream Book about this version of me who STAYS in the state-of-being-more-connected-to-myself-than-to-wifi. To learn more about her and how to stay in this once the wifi is working again.

I am embarrassed about this but I think this is the breakthrough I’ve been waiting for.

I’ve been wanting to be deeper in my creative process. More connected to my inner truth. Like living IN my magic in a more potent way.

I'm embarrassed that I didn't just notice that the internet was getting in the way of my process... I'm embarrassed because it took my internet breaking for me to do this.

But OF COURSE I've been in more resistance that I realize. I’m just in an overwhelming stage of life where it’s easy for resistance to kind of swoop in and take me away.

So, this experience of having my internet break gave me what I needed.

And (especially since I have established routines around getting to wifi twice a day, and have re-structured how I work so that I am not constantly feeling stressed and behind on everything) I feel patient about continuing to wait for this technician...

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.

A love letter to my broken internet Read More »

Self-coaching journal prompts for when you’re ready to really DO THE THING

By Andrea Schroeder / July 2, 2024 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice, journaling

My coaching style is VALIDATION FIRST. ENCOURAGEMENT ALWAYS. Let’s find the absolute gentlest way for you to make the thing happen.

I am not an “ass kicking” kind of coach.

AND...

Sometimes the most validating and affirming thing you can do is face the thing you least want to face.

SO: Let’s talk about all the things you are NOT doing that you know you should be doing, if you want to get the results you want.

I know! This is brutal.

But your future self will thank you.

Self-coaching journal prompts for when you’re ready to really DO THE THING:

1. List the things that you are NOT doing that you know you should be doing, if you want to get the results you want.

No excuses, no stories, no leaving anything off this list. Just write them all out.

2. Once you have that list, for each thing: write beside it how it feels to acknowledge that you think you should do this thing to get what you want, and yet you are not doing it.

3. As you do this, notice the resistance, excuses, stories, etc, that come to mind.

4. What’s the truth?

I would bet that it’s NOT true that you SHOULD be doing ALL of these things.

But avoiding the reason why you’re not doing them makes you stuck.

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.

Self-coaching journal prompts for when you’re ready to really DO THE THING Read More »

You usually can’t just sit down and do the thing

By Andrea Schroeder / June 20, 2024 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice, healing, journaling

Most mornings I go for a walk or bike ride to a park or coffee shop, have a coffee and sit with my journal.

I need the exercise and fresh air for my mental health and to wake up my body and brain, and then I need the journaling and (even in a coffee shop since I use noice canceling headphones) I will do a Creative Dream Alchemy meditation, to get into ALIGNMENT.

This morning it’s raining and there are a bunch of things happening and I decided to stay home. I fed the cat, made coffee, and sat down at my desk with my laptop.

I CANNOT DO THE THINGS I NEED/WANT TO DO.

That is the thing about dreams.

We often CAN’T do them from our current state of consciousness. So if we don’t do the practices that help us shift our consciousness - we’ll never be able to do the “dream things”.

BUT if we make those practices DAILY PRACTICES then we can really bring the magic.

And, even when you have made these practices DAILY PRACTICES for years and years, some days come, like today, when you forget it all, sit down at your desk expecting to do a certain thing, and then find yourself unable to do the thing.

So - it’s journaling and meditation time for me.

Our dreams are always calling us into our next-level self.

What are the things that help you move towards that version of you?

FOR ME it's the daily morning exercise and journaling/meditation in a coffee shop or park routine but it's probably something really different for you. It doesn't have to be mornings. It doesn't have to be every day! Just something that helps you shift out of current-self perspective and into dream-self perspective.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts about this 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 usually can’t just sit down and do the thing Read More »

Trying to follow through, but depression and resistance are getting in the way

By Andrea Schroeder / June 19, 2024 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice, healing, journaling

Last week’s Dream Status Report brought me: focus on inner work and dream work.

(Hey! Did you see that the Dream Stutus Report Prompts have new journaling sheets? I really love this one)

I am also remembering my commitment to do Dream Book EVERY MORNING, and how I have strayed from that.

I always stray from it… doing Dream Book gives so much clarity and confidence that I drift away from it to focus on outer work - implementing all of the great ideas. This makes sense!

But then coming back to it always feels so healing and needed.

So here I am, coming back to it.

And I am noticing that it WASN’T just that I was focused on the outer work - I was in resistance, too. There was something to explore that I wasn’t really ready to look at before.

So today in my Dream Book I started a new page: How To Do This With Depression.

It feels important to me to not pathologize depression. I think there are a lot of reasons why depression is a good, healthy natural response for me to have.

And today I feel accepting that I am depressed! It’s interesting to notice how much I didn’t want to see it. How much I was trying to pump myself up to feel good...

But now that I see it, it feels like a gift.

I feel like I have moved through SO MUCH STUFF in this divorce process, and I am mostly focused on building my new life, and I just want to let go of everything from my marriage… but it’s not that easy.

I have hurt feelings and sadness that sometimes feel so sharp I can’t breathe.

And so depression comes in… heavy, sticky and foggy.

I've been soooo frustrated by how much this has slowed me down...

But now I am seeing how it fills my whole body with this heavy sticky fog and actually protects me from the sharpness. It slows me down, which I was finding SO ANNOYING before but now I appreciate that it is giving me this space for these sharper feelings to process in a safer way.

I appreciate my depression and want to care for it.

WHILE ALSO taking care of the post-divorce life I am building.

Before it’s kind of like these two things were fighting each other, so this morning I made this Dream Book page about doing this WITH depression.

Not just that I AM depressed.

But that depression and dreams can work together.

They both want what’s right for me. They both offer healing and authenticity.

This feels like such a gift.

So this morning I am not at my usual coffee shop. I went to a different part of town, so that after this I can stop at the conservatory with butterfly garden, and take a little walk through there.

Adding these nourishing and joy-sparking thing to my day feels essential for doing this WITH depression.

Also, this thing where I focus on working on my Dream Book FIRST - EVERY DAY even when I have “things I need to do”.

Doing this WITH depression means TAKING GOOD CARE OF MYSELF while I go. Making self care a priority along with measurable progress on my dreams (which is a form of self care BUT we can get into over-working with it too).

Anyway, just making this page, and giving myself space to BE WITH it has already made me feel completely different about this.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts about this 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.

Trying to follow through, but depression and resistance are getting in the way Read More »

Looking back over the last few months of working with Intentions

By Andrea Schroeder / June 18, 2024 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice, healing, journaling

I was looking through the intentions I have been setting on our last few new moon intention setting calls. (We do an intention setting every month right before the new moon in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership, or you can do this on your own with the New Moon Intention Setting Kit)

I started with intending for ____ to happen WITHIN THE NEXT MONTH.

It didn’t happen.

At the next call, after reflecting on how the month went, I decided to intend for ___ to happen. (No timeframe)

It didn’t happen and it felt kind of wishy washy and unsatisfying.

Then, the next call was frustrating for me. I went into it with no clue for what to do, and a lot of feelings about how badly this intention was going, but during the meditations and journaling I found my next intention:

I intended to TRUST that _____ is happening.

Ahhhh. Much better. Trust is a hard one, but over that month I worked on it and a few things shifted. My frustrations around not already having what I want started to soften.

The next month again I went into the call not knowing what I wanted to focus on, and during the meditation and journaling I found my next intention:

“I AM making this thing happen”

And it LANDED in my body in such a powerful way.

And I know that “we know” you “should always” frame intentions as I AM statements, frame them as positive and be confident that it’s already happened and yadda yadda yadda. I know that's "the rule" but I deliberately didn't make myself do that...

Because that shit doesn’t actually work most of the time.

What works is to BE IN your process with it.

What I shared here is FOUR new moon calls, so a three month time span.

And yes OMG how annoying that it took me THREE FREAKING MONTHS to land on the intention that really feels right.

But this is the work.

Sometimes it's easier for me. Sometimes it's harder. It depends on what you're working on and what's happening in your life.

Set the intention for what you want. Stay with it. Follow through. Be with what happens next. Process your feelings that come up. Listen to yourself. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. This is why we do the new moon calls the way we do, by repeating this process every month you WILL get there.

Our next New Moon call is July 3. If you don't have an intention you're working with right now you can do the June call now! It's never too late.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts about this 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.

Looking back over the last few months of working with Intentions Read More »

You don’t have to be an asshole to yourself about accountability

By Andrea Schroeder / June 13, 2024 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice, healing, journaling

On one of our coaching calls a member had said she had this new accountability partner, and they would meet and share their goals, and then meet again to say which things had been checked off the list.

And this person had a lot happening in their life, and some priorities kind of shifted as life tends to do and this new opportunity happened which she gave time and attention to, and so when she went back to the accountability partner, she had not checked off every item on her list and her partner was like “Tsk Tsk You didn’t get it done”

And we talked about how much more helpful and encouraging it is to do it the way to in the creative dream incubator coaching membership - where we acknowledge what you DID do. Surviving a difficult month is AMAZING even if nothing gets checked off the list, you know?

And following your own flow and taking ANY step is something worth cheering for, even if you didn’t take the steps you had planned.

These forms of accountability that are “you must do exactly what you said you’d do, when you said you’d do it, or you are a failure” are short-sighted and can kill your creative spirit - the thing you actually need to make a dream come true.

And yes, of course, check in with yourself about why you don’t do the things you plan to do. Without shaming yourself, peek around and notice - is resistance holding you back? Are you avoiding something uncomfortable? Do you still want to do these things and if so - what kinds of practices will make it easier/gentler for you to do them?

You can keep working on it. It’s ok if it takes the time it takes. You are not a robot!

AND OMG this is so important: Your dream is NOT all about the outer work!

That’s what these forms of accountability don’t take into account.

There is healing and growth that happen that are not always visible. But if you stay in the process over time - suddenly you see. Oh! I was BUILDING THE FOUNDATION! NOW I can check these things off the list because I have the foundation I need.

So, DO NOT JUDGE YOURSELF for the things you want to do, and don’t get to.

Be gentle. Be supportive. Notice what you DID do. Encourage yourself to not give up.

Find ways to look deeper at where you may be holding yourself back from doing what you want to do (you can use the Creative Dream Alchemy Library of Inner Work Practices to help with this).

And do not ever call yourself a failure for “not following through”.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts about this 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 don’t have to be an asshole to yourself about accountability Read More »

A little note from my journal that wanted to be shared:

By Andrea Schroeder / June 12, 2024 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice, healing, journaling

Hey! Did you see Project Miracle is now open for registration?!?

If you're in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership - you already have access to this right here.

But if you're NOT a member - now you can get Project Miracle for just $33 USD!

Get the details and grab your spot here.

A little note from my journal that wanted to be shared:

Every time I put one piece into the puzzle, I realise there are like 10 more pieces than I thought in the puzzle.

So, each step I take towards the finish line actually moves the finish line further away from me.

I’m still really proud of all of the steps I have taken!!!

But today I need to acknowledge that this is fucking exhausting.

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts about this 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.

A little note from my journal that wanted to be shared: Read More »

Idea Overwhelm

By Andrea Schroeder / June 11, 2024 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice, healing, journaling

Hey! Did you see Project Miracle is now open for registration?!?

If you're in the Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership - you already have access to this right here.

But if you're NOT a member - now you can get Project Miracle for just $33 USD!

Get the details and grab your spot here.

I love how this is working out!

Yesterday I shared my mantra for this week: I am full of amazing ideas. And I mentioned how having a lot of ideas can get overwhelming and talked about what I have been doing to be less overwhelmed and more structured with all of my ideas...

This is a post I had ready to go for today, which I wrote a few weeks ago, when I was in that process.

I just felt my whole body go into overwhelm.

It’s almost like it was happening in slow motion. Starting with my mind getting overwhelmed and then this sense of discomfort filling my whole body.

And now - all I want to do is run away from what I am doing, the thing that made me overwhelmed.

Which was - organizing my LIST OF IDEAS into TASKS and ROUTINES.

I’ve been working on this for over a year. And so much of it is going well AND this summer there is so much I want to add to it and I literally can’t hold it. My mind and body cannot hold it.

So I am noticing this sensation in my body.

This complete inability to hold all these things. The desire to run away as far as possible.

And I am noticing a growing sensation of frustration because THESE ARE THE THINGS I WANT TO BE DOING so of course I need to be able to hold them in some way.

Then it all turns into a jumbled mess inside me.

But I know one thing clearly: containers.

If, in my kitchen, I had flour and sugar and baking soda and eggs, coffee, milk and all the things… just loose everywhere in the cupboards and on the counter… I wouldn’t be able to make anything.

And it would be a frustrating experience every time I even went in there.

Everything needs a container.

Each of my ideas for what I want to do needs a container. An appropriate container that meets the needs of the thing inside it, like how my milk jug is waterproof and fits inside the fridge.

What I am doing right now, is sitting in the jumbled mess of container-less ideas and it is VERY overwhelming and it will never not be overwhelming. Like, I can’t say “Oh I’ll come back to this when I feel more clear-headed” because I could be at my most clear-headed, that doesn’t change that this is a jumbled mess that I literally can’t do anything with.

I am missing a step.

I have to take each idea, and figure out what kind of container it needs.

OK, the overwhelm in my body is calming down.

Going back into that jumbled mess, with the goal of just LOOKING AT (not doing, or attempting to do) ONE THING AT A TIME, to think about how to organize it… this feels doable.

(Looking back at this post from a few weeks ago, I feel so grateful that I did this. Because my ideas are in perfect containers now and I am doing the things and enjoying the process)

Creative Dream Incubator Coaching Membership members:

Come to the forum to share your thoughts about this 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.

Idea Overwhelm Read More »

Being so stuck while needing to get to work.

By Andrea Schroeder / February 27, 2024 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice

I first did a Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual Practice call as an experiment in November 2022.

Now it's a call we do every month in Dream Book!

Since we have a call tomorrow, I'm trying to write a post about this and I can't.

So, in the spirit of Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual Practice, I will write (creative practice) about my truth (spiritual practice):

I'm super stuck today.

This is not the whole truth of who I am and where I am but it's where I am right in this moment.

I am excited about the work I have to do today!

But my heart is in KNOTS and I can't do the things I want to do.

Our practice HAVE TO include these days, too.

Triangle Dream Compass

Remember the compass of Creative Dream Alchemy.

If you can't do Outer Work, you can do Dream Work or Inner Work.

And I feel too tangled up for Dream Work, I know Inner Work is what is needed.

So I am taking my knotted up heart into the Un-Sticking Station practice:

Oh, it's so sad. A floating, disembodied heart that's crying.

I notice we're in a room with a fireplace, so I light a fire and make my heart a cup of tea and sit it down on a soft couch.

I wrap a blanket around it. I want to offer it ALL the nurturing.

"Do you want a cookie?"

I would LOVE a cookie.

I bring my heart a cookie.

"So tell me what's going on"

Oh! (Heart starts crying again) It's all too much!

"Oh you are so right! It's ALL too much." And I get the sense that we shouldn't write about all the things in the world that are TOO MUCH we should just take a minute a FEEL it.

We take a few deep breaths together.

The knots slip out of my heart.

We can't solve anything. We can show up as best we can to create the world we want to see, but we, alone, cannot solve anything. But taking a minute to have a cookie, breath deep, and acknowledge how terrifying the world is to be in right now does help.

"OK so, now that I have given you space to un-knot, the day I had planned feels inappropriate for the space you are in"

Oh yeah for sure. I mean - I don't want to sabotage your goals and plans! AND I am where I am.

This has been a BIG topic on our group calls lately.

How to find a balance between all the inner work we need to do in order to be able to do the outer work we want to do.

And how it can feel like if we gave our inner worlds all the care and attention they need, then we literally wouldn't have the time or energy left to take care of anything in the outer world.

And how our inner worlds really do need us to have some stability and order in our outer worlds!

And this has always been true in a sense. It takes A LOT of inner work grow beyond where you, to grow towards where you want to be. But the impact of the current state of the world, on top of that, has really shifted the balance.

So. Back to me and my heart.

I want to do what you want to do. I am 100% on board.

"That is a relief to know you are on board with my plan. But I sense a but..."

But right now, today, I need the gentlest possible day. Can we remember that we ARE in a peri-menopausal situation where we should be getting our period but instead we are getting anxiety attacks?

"I want to just "deep breath" the anxiety away."

And if you could do that, it would be gone by now. This is not in your head. This is not a small problem. You know damn well peri-menopase is the time when women are the most likely to commit suicide and this is largely driven by how fucking un-supportive the whole world is about what we go through at this time. So it is IMPERATIVE that you be ultra-supportive of yourself.

(Not that I am having suicidal thoughts, my heart is just driving home a point, that this isn't some small inconvenience)

"OK I am hearing that you don't want to do what I had planned to do today. What, exactly, do you want to do today?"

Mediate + maybe nap if you fall asleep. Journal.

Oh wow that reminds me that I put into my journal from this week's journaling kit: What part of you feels too small for your dream? What does this part of you need?

I will work on those prompts. I will LIGHTLY hold onto what I wanted to do today while honouring the actual state of my heart. Take care of myself first, and then see what feels possible.

[Update: YES! After a long meditation thinking about what I want to accomplish with this project, I did start VERY gently and without any pressure did get a bunch of things done]

Our next Marketing as a Creative + Spiritual Practice call is tomorrow.

Dream Book members - get the call details here. Everyone else - join us here!

Topic: Drawing out a "dream map" of how you would love marketing to work in your business (continued from our last call where we first made a map)

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson or get a weekly journaling + alchemy kit.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Being so stuck while needing to get to work. Read More »

Today I am celebrating my 13th anniversary with the Creative Dream Incubator.

By Andrea Schroeder / January 1, 2024 / creative entrepreneur

My biggest dream was always to be creatively self employed in a way that felt TRUE, in alignment with my values and my soul. The Creative Dream Incubator has been that dream come true for the last thirteen years and I’m grateful for it every day.

I’ve been reflecting on the last 13 years and a lot of my reflections become rants about how the industry has changed.

But actually it’s me that’s changed.

Our dreams are sacred. They come from the part of us who wants to help us heal and grow.

So, following your dreams will heal you and grow you. Which will change you.

And I have changed.

It's fascinating to me how we always think we know how we'll change as we heal and grow - but then we surprise ourselves. So I am surprising myself.

I keep writing, deleting and re-writing this post.

There are so many different things I could say about this and I have no clue which of those things I want to say.

I think back to myself 13 years ago making this choice and feel so much gratitude for my younger self. All of her determination, courage and hard work have made my life so much better. I do cry thinking about it.

✨Thirteen years in, I believe this more than ever: Our dreams are our most sacred selves showing us the way✨

There is a mystery to creative dreaming. And as I grow with this work, I become more open to that mystery.

And I am thrilled to keep doing this work this year.

If you're not in Dream Book - join us here.

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Today I am celebrating my 13th anniversary with the Creative Dream Incubator. Read More »

When where you are is not where you want to be [which is what all creative dreaming is]

By Andrea Schroeder / September 19, 2023 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice

Last week's Dream Status Report brought me the following focus: BE where you ARE while appreciating the new possibilities that are opening up"

Two things about that:

This is what ALL creative dreaming is! Staying present in your current life WHILE building the path to what's next. Sometimes this is easier, sometimes this is harder.
When doing meditation + journaling, especially in a dedicated Creative Dream Practice, it becomes easier to find the answers you need. Knowing the answer and ACTING ON IT are two really different things.

So here I am figuring out how to do this thing.

On top of the things I have shared about what's happening in my life, another big thing happened which I do not want to share. I'll just say it adds a layer of stress and complication to a stressful and complicated situation.

OF COURSE the more turbulent your life is, the harder it is to stay present in it, especially at the depth of emotional presence needed to do creative dreaming. And OF COURSE this means that this stuff is wayyyy easier for some people that others. The more intersections of privilege you have, the easier it is.

I am where I am. How do I want to do this this week?

Starting with meditation: Sitting With Uncomfortable Feelings (using that technique from the 1 hour class we did)

And then whoa...

I don't need to figure out how to focus on what I want, because those feelings are there too. Underneath the feelings I don't don't want to feel - which means I can't access them if I am avoiding my feelings - are my dreams and desires.

The big dreams are still there but there is a new more immediate dream:

Healing Fall and Healing Winter.

Two seasons of focusing inward, creativity, healing, space, rest, quiet. Acclimating to my new life.

Collecting ideas for things I want to do when spring comes.

Every book I have read about divorce says it's at least 1-2 years to "feel normal" again (NOT that "feeling normal" is a goal for me, lol) and I accept that this will be a long process. So I don't mean I'll be HEALED by spring, and of course when spring comes I may decide I want healing spring and healing summer too as far as that goes.

Just that right now I want to focus on these next two seasons as healing time, which just makes me thing/feel different about this time.

And it leads to one important thing:

MORE CREATIVE PROJECTS. Art journaling but also embroidery, painting, just... MAKE STUFF. Would be good to brainstorm some projects, and get materials. Like I know I want to do embroidery but, what? Get patterns and colours picked, get all the threads I need, so I am ready to go.

I am really inspired by this sweatshirt pattern which includes instructions for appliquéing whatever you want on the sweatshirt - like instead of sports teams that are usually there. How fun would it be to put affirmations or qualities you are working on on a sweatshirt? Slow the fuck down! Powerful, Creative, Magnetic.

I want that ALIVENESS and HEALING of really being in my creative flow. I have so many work projects I want to do, and I want SO MANY personal projects also ready to go.

OK so now I how HOW to "be where I am and appreciate the new possibilities that are opening up". Make more space for creative projects including having plans + materials ready to go.

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

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

When where you are is not where you want to be [which is what all creative dreaming is] Read More »

Creative Dreaming while your world is falling apart

By Andrea Schroeder / September 14, 2023 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice

I woke up thinking about Creative Dreaming While Your World Is Falling Apart. This is the title of a guided journal I am imagining writing, and maybe I will one day.

Because I've been sharing my daily posts and maybe it seems like I am going on like nothing has happened, but I'm definitely not doing that.

Separation is emotionally volatile and I want to FEEL my feelings and process them and move THROUGH all of this, and not be stuck in it. AND I don't want my whole life to be this.

So - I focus on what I want to focus on when I am at my best. Mornings are my best time, I am SUCH a morning person. So I wake up, meditate, journal, get exercise, do my Dream Work, do my work work, work on creative projects.

Some days all of that inspires and energizes me and I stay pretty upbeat all day. BUT I am more tired than usual, my body is achy, I get overwhelmed more easily - there are all the signs of grief.

Some days I wear out my energy for the day early on.

So - after focusing on what I want to focus on first thing, then I focus on self care. What do I need? More water, nutrient dense foods, time with friends, time alone, journaling, feeling my feelings, hot epsom salt baths, lots of reading of things that feel helpful, stretching, re-arranging the Dream Loft - it does feel good to spread out.

It feels like a way of creating bubbles in my life that hold space for things. Holding space for my dreams and needs and creative projects while also holding space for grief and the process of separation. Of course the bubbles collide sometimes, but most of the time, this feels good - there is space for everything and over time, my new life will grow out of the separation process. This is easier to trust when I am showing up consistently for the dream work.

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Creative Dreaming while your world is falling apart Read More »

Meeting with the soul of my business

By Andrea Schroeder / September 13, 2023 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice

Today in my practice I am meeting with the soul of my business. I'm doing this as my daily practice right now as I get into "fall vibes" and am getting more focused on finishing the guided journal project, which also leads to a ton of other projects. And yes I need more money because of the divorce but I feel really calm and trusting about that part.

I am doing this as a daily practice to get more aligned with the soul of the Creative Dream Incubator to help me make the right decision because there are So Many Decisions to make about this project.

In my last post, the soul of my business asked me to make pro and con lists about a big decision, and those lists ended up being SO easy and SO helpful.

I decided: DO THE EASY THING RIGHT NOW.

I remembered: no one step is written in stone! I can do it the easy (I mean not easy but easiest) thing now and switch up to the other thing at any time.

So today what I want is: good vibes, for lack of a better term. I am doing creative work on the project (editing, which means editing artwork mostly, and sometimes re-drawing the journaling prompts if I can see a way to do it better). I want to be in the flow, loving what I am doing, and getting things done.

In the meeting with the soul of my business:

OMG so good!

The soul of my business appears with the boxes as it has been, but now it's a female figure and has wings and she steps out of the boxes and is just huge. She says "We are going to have some fun!"

My body starts to sway, I am really feeling this energy of being in the flow. I ask my questions about how to approach this project today and see the soul of the project: a campfire, but magic. It offers WARMTH for your creative dream process and WARMTH can be sometime different each time.

I stayed in the meditation a while, it all just felt so good.

And now I know what to do today.

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Meeting with the soul of my business Read More »

Meeting with the soul of my business

By Andrea Schroeder / September 12, 2023 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice

Today in my practice I am meeting with the soul of my business.

Last week this was so good and it felt like a thing I need to do more regularly. I LOVE this recording, the first part of the meditation is soooo healing. I remember doing it that way because of all the stuff that gets sparked in working with our businesses, and it feels soooo good to use it.

It's similar to last week, a bunch of boxes piled together that are alive - like a box robot.

But it's bigger. The boxes are less chaotic.

It doesn't take a genius to see the boxes are representing the actual boxes in my home with my husband's things packed in them. And he's been picking up a car load every day after work and the pile is becoming less chaotic and I have more and more space. (By the time I post this the boxes will be gone and his furniture moved and I'll be in the process of making it "feel like mine" again)

The soul of my business - I am focusing on the head at the top of the boxes - is warm and loving and welcoming. It's happy to see me.

You are giving me space to grow, with regular visits like this.

Good! This is what I want. Not growth for growth's sake, but right-sizing.

I'm actually deeper and more expansive than you think. The growth I am speaking of is not just in one direction. Like it's not just about more followers or more money.

OK that's reassuring. It felt a little off to think you are focused on growing, because that is so toxic to have growth as the only goal. It's why the air has been smoky here for weeks and my lungs and throat hurt.

Right, so it's more "I am becoming more alive". Your visits nurture me in good ways.

These visits nurture me in good ways too. I have been experimenting creatively and exploring SO MUCH these last few years. My struggles with peri-menopause, looking at ancestral trauma and the ways capitalist culture impacts my "work ethic" and distorts my relationship with my own needs and really - who do I want to be while the world falls apart? This has been such important work for me. I appreciate the space you gave me to do all of this - actually I feel NURTURED by my business not just financially but in all ways. The ways I show up for Dream Book HELPS ME FIRST. I am so grateful to have this.

I've been growing in that time too. My potential has been expanding and deepening. And everything is getting more creative and free.

Creative and free. I love it. So my questions, about this journal, you know what I am thinking, right? Should "creative and free" be the qualities we follow to answer the questions? Because one option feels this way and one does not. BUT the one that does not - is it easier? Would it make more money? Do these things matter?

Now the robot has hands too, not just a head on a stack of boxes. It, though it feels like a she now, she raises her hands to shrug like "I don't know"

Is this a case where it's like - it doesn't matter which way I go?

It's not that it doesn't matter. It's just that it impacts YOU more than ME.

OK that's weird, isn't it though? Because I thought it would impact you - like I am building a path to a new future here, aren't I?

Yup, that happens either way. None of these decisions are FOREVER babe!!!!

So I can do what is easiest right now. OR I can do what feels most creative and free right now.

Yup! This is one for YOU to journal about. Make a pro and con list of each of them. In your imagination, really put yourself into each situation and see which way feels best. This is still a very early step in this new path, there's LOADS of time to re-configure as we go. It's more important that we DO SOMETHING than that we DO THE RIGHT THING. (Which you know, you tell this to people all the time)

OK will do!

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Meeting with the soul of my business Read More »

Meeting with the soul of my business

By Andrea Schroeder / September 7, 2023 / creative entrepreneur, daily practice

Today in my practice I am meeting with the soul of my business.

It’s fall! I’ve had so much going on in my life the last few weeks. Today I want to get back in there and get organized and…

I am not sure what to focus on.

So I want a meeting with the soul of my business to check in with everything and see what comes from that - hopefully a clear sense of where I should focus for the fall.

I wasn’t going to use the recording I was just going to wing it. I am so glad I DID use the recording!

I laid down on the floor and got into it and it felt really powerful.

The soul of my business is.. box like. Lots of boxes. Stacked. Unfolding. Opening. But glowing. Alive.

I want to say, a robot made of boxes?

I sit with it, stop trying to understand it and just be with it, and it’s like “I am unpacking and unfolding and stretching out to be my actual size”

The qualities of it are: power, magic, trust, divine creativity, growth, right-sizing

I feel comforted in it’s presence, like I can trust it. I feel honoured that it works with me, I also feel totally competent to partner with it. And like it understand my humanness and how business is not always my focus and of course that’s how it is. It’s the soul of my business’ job to be always focused on the business.

So, I guess I was feeling guilty, like I have been working IN the business but not connecting with it in this way, not looking at bigger picture stuff. But that feels ok now.

Onto the meeting:

As you know, I want to get focused! I have some ideas of how to do this, I think you know what they are? Can you read my mind?

Yes, you want to finish the Creative Dream Playbook and then look at the visioning kit and maybe new year kit, get those done before December.

Yeah, hearing it back from you it feels boring somehow. But I wanted to make some real progress on this guided journal thing, there are so many journals I want to make!

It’s not boring, these journals are good for the purpose of the business too - loads of people will never take a class with you but would use journals, we can help them in this way. But I get how it feels boring coming from me because this is not my work, it’s your work. Your work is sometimes kind of mundane, doing the physical stuff. My work is all energy.

Ummmm are we working together well? I just realized, maybe we’re not? I mean all the planets are in retrograde this is time to review relationships, right?

We could be working better together. You have had a lot of other things on your mind and also you’ve slipped a bit into that “I have to do this all by myself” thing and when you’re in that thing, I can only do what I can do. The way you felt in the meditation, that’s partnering with me. More of that would be good.

So if I was partnering with you, what would that look like?

A daily meeting to acclimate our energies - mostly to acclimate you to me, so that your actions (you are the only one who can do the physical work!) are coming more from my energy.

OK whoa.

I mean yes that’s what I teach with Dream Book and the Dream Lab but WHOA I just heard it in a new way.

Dream Book members:

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

Get your next Dream Book lesson.

Go the Library of Creative Dream Alchemy to find a practice that fits for where you are or use the Dream Lab if you're not sure where to start.

Check out the calendar of upcoming calls. Make a plan to join us live or catch a replay.

Meeting with the soul of my business Read More »