daily practice

I love the pages I have written but I am struggling to put them all together.

Dream Book

This is a common theme for me, because the process of Creative Dreaming is entirely non-linear.

And even when we say we know it’s non-linear, we all tend to approach it looking for a linear path.

I mean the metaphor most people use is the spiral path.

But the spiral path is both linear AND directional. The line goes in a smooth, calm spiral.

Creative Dreaming is more an explosion than a spiral.

And that explosion creates new possibilities and destroys others and it’s disorienting but also life-giving. It’s like the creation of our galaxy.

Really beautiful things can come out of the messiest places. And also - sometimes things die, sometimes things are hard. It’s messy.

It feels like there is this whole industry out there trying to convince us that we don’t need to be messy. We can just manifest everything we want without ever knowing how we actually feel about anything. Which I think is a manifestation of our deep collective fears of being in the mess of life.

But I can’t make a book that is in the shape of an explosion.

I need to have pages, and the pages need to be in some kind of order.

I can encourage you to just open it up to a random page and work through it that way.

But I still have to put them into an order. Unless I print them out and pile them up and pick pages, like picking oracle cards, and put them into order that way?

That’s interesting.

I could also make little maps that guide you through in different ways.

The thing about a Creative Dream Practice is that it’s ALIVE. Once you’re in it, you can follow it and it won’t steer you wrong.

BUT

Getting into and then staying in it when things are hard, that’s the challenge.

That’s what I help people do in Dream Book. I know this book can’t do everything I do in Dream Book, but I want it to offer a way in, a new way of connecting with your dreams and navigating possibilities.

Because I have been doing this work for so long, and I’ve gone so deep into it, it can be hard for me to just keep things simple. I mean, Dream Book is a two year program and that’s if you’re going as fast as possible for two whole years. Most people take much longer, but by the time they get there, they’ve grown so much and so much has changed that it makes sense to start again at the beginning with their new dreams.

But this can’t be that!

  • I need this book to stay simple. A beginning book/journal about Creative Dreaming as a Practice.
  • How do I put this book into order, and give it some shape, and keep it simple?
  • Or am I not at that part yet? Should I just keep making pages and exploring my ideas?

Sometimes I end my practice with a few new questions and no new answers.

I love the pages I have written but I am struggling to put them all together. Read More »

Making changes along the way

Last week I said I was going to start sharing the book I am writing, as I go. I said I would post it on my social media and blog.

I did that last week, I did two posts and both times I wasn’t happy with the process of putting it on my blog.

Posting on Instagram felt great. I have a bunch of drafts ready to go in there, and the process of getting those drafts ready felt flowy and fun. Posting the drafts felt great.

But then going over to my blog, to share the same thing there, didn’t feel great. My body felt heavy. The work felt annoying. Even though it was the same work! Which is fascinating to me.

So I sat with that feeling and asked “Is this a sign I shouldn’t do this? Not share these things on my blog?”

And in the grand scheme of things, who even cares?

But, I care. I wanted to share it on my blog to have it on MY website and not just out in the social media ethers. And I always like to do what I said I would do, and I said I would do this.

But when I check in with how this feels in my body, my body does not care about either of these things. It cares about how uncomfortable it has been to get these blogs together, and how much it would rather be doing other things. It’s just giving a big NO.

That was the first post. I decided to try again for the second post, and see how that went. It went the same, and now here I am.

My head says: OMG this takes like two minutes, just do it. In all the work you’ve done to build your business this is hardly the most annoying thing! And you always ENJOYED doing even the annoying admin tasks because you’re doing it in service to your work! Where’s that attitude now?

I say: I don’t appreciate the attitude or you trying to boss me into doing it, but that is a good question. Why don’t I want to do this in service to this project?

The thing about approaching Creative Dreaming as a PRACTICE is that there is space to explore all of this, there is space for ALL thoughts and feelings.

You don’t just push through and focus on the outer work and getting things done, making visible progress. You make space to find YOUR way of creating YOUR path.

You try your ideas to find out how they fit and work for you!

This idea is not working for me.

If I stop doing it, that’s not a “I tried to do it, got uncomfortable, and gave up, and I am sure I will never get my dream now” kind of thing.

If I stop doing it, it’s a “I tried my idea, I processed my thoughts and feelings about it, I listened to my intuition and the soul of my dream, together we learned from these steps I took and used that learning to map out different steps to try next” kind of thing.

And THAT is how you make the magic happen.

THAT is how you practice your way there.

So, when I do all of this, here is the next idea that emerges:

I’m going to stop posting the little-book-blurbs-in process on my blog. I will keep posting them on Instagram. On my blog, I will write about the process of writing the book.

Write about the writing!

This feels curious and inspiring. My body feels open, light and sparkly. No part of me is against this idea. The soul of my dream is cheering for it.

So this is what I’ll do next.

And maybe I’ll do this two times and be all “oh wow this sucks” again or maybe this will be a really great thing for me. The outcome of any particular step doesn’t matter because I know I will stay in the process long enough to get to where I want to go.

It’s so much easier to stay in the process when you embrace and make space for all feelings and reactions. And it’s kind of ironic that pushing yourself to get to the finish line often pushes the finish line to far away it gets impossible to get there.

PS: I just posted the next blurb.

Making changes along the way Read More »

Having a practice

Having a practice means to do something regularly or repeatedly.

In the most practical sense practicing improves skills.

So once you are practicing, anything is possible because you keep improving.

You show up, do a thing, make mistakes, get inspired to try new things, learn and grow.

A Creative Dream Practice is all this and more.

It is a container for:

✨Healing
✨Creativity
✨Transformation
✨Magic

It holds space for new possibilities to emerge.

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I am writing a book/journal about how we need to PRACTICE our creative dreams. Which includes practicing the healing and growth and creativity that gets us there. And then how once we have a practice, that practice becomes a CONTAINER for healing, growth, creativity and magic. Once we have a practice, that practices helps us access everything we need.

When I say I've been writing a book - I mean by hand, drawing each page. It's a slow process but I am having so much fun. As I do this, I'll be sharing posts on Instagram and here on my blog. 

Having a practice Read More »

In the beginning it’s like this…

When you look to where you want to be, there is no path.

Just an impossible chasm and no way to cross it.

This is how dreams begin.

When you're not engaging with your dreams it easy for them to feel impossible.

Once you are engaged, the magic happens and possibilities begin to emerge.

How do you engage with a thing that feels impossible?

Practice.

 

++++++++

I am writing a book/journal about how we need to PRACTICE our creative dreams. Which includes practicing the healing and growth and creativity that gets us there. And then how once we have a practice, that practice becomes a CONTAINER for healing, growth, creativity and magic. Once we have a practice, that practices helps us access everything we need.

When I say I've been writing a book - I mean by hand, drawing each page. It's a slow process but I am having so much fun. As I do this, I'll be sharing posts on Instagram and here on my blog. This is the first one.

In the beginning it’s like this… Read More »

How Nanowrimo Changed My Life

How Nanowrimo Changed My Life

This year I attempted Nanowrimo for the first time (which is challenge where you write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November).? In fact, this was my first attempt at any kind of fiction writing.

I don’t have any logical explanation for why I decided to do this.? I have learned that it’s best to follow these kinds of inner callings, so when I got the call I followed it.

With no clue or experience in fiction writing, I didn’t go into this with the hopes that I would end up with a brilliant novel.

I went into this thinking there would be something for me in the process of showing up every day to do something that I don’t actually know how to do.

And there was.

The first 5 days or so I played with it.? I showed up every day and took my characters on the kinds of adventures I thought I wanted to take them on and it started to feel more and more meaningless and stupid.

I didn’t know what I was doing. I was embarrassed about what I was writing.? My inner critics came out to play and it started to get really hard.

And then I had a heartbreakingly bad day. This was unrelated to Nanowrimo but I decided to use my writing time to work through it.? So I used the story to explore what was happening me, like the way that I write my Tiny Fairy Tales, only not in a tiny way.

From that day on, I used my daily writing practice to write myself deeper into my inner process.

Working with whatever I was facing on that day, I turned my own transformative work into an ongoing story.? By looping the tiny stories together and writing out the bigger, ongoing story I found I started telling a deeper story.

The stories led me to a new depth of how I want to express my work, which led me to what I REALLY want to write: a guidebook on the mechanics of inner and outer transformation.

You may have noticed I changed the header on my website recently.? These stories led me there, to: Grow Your Depth, Nurture Your Brilliance which is the name of this guidebook I’m working on now.

More in-depth and thorough than anything I have ever seen out there about how inner and outer transformation actually works, I want this guidebook to be the basis of what we do next year in the Creative Dream Circle which will be less about teaching classes and more about creating space for you to go deeper into your own depths.

Plus, I’ll use a lot of the stories from my Nanowrimo novel to illustrate how the process of transformation works, so it feels like a lot of the guidebook is already written.

And beyond that, establishing a practice of meeting myself, and then staying there for at least 1,667 words, was so helpful I’m going to keep doing it.

In my classes I’m often asking people to spend more time with a question than they think they need to.? This is a super helpful practice, because just sitting with it works to melt (some of) our resistance.? And being engaged in a regular practice helps hold space to go deeper into ourselves.

Right now, I’m sitting at 44,369 words written this month for my novel, and 4,718 words written for the Grow Your Depth, Nurture Your Brilliance guidebook.? And I’m happy to keep going.


How Nanowrimo Changed My Life Read More »

Creative Dream TV: For Those Days When You Don’t Feel Like Showing Up

showingup

The secret to making ANY dream real is in showing up every day: daily practice.

But, inevitably, some days you’re going to want a day off.? You’re going to think that you “deserve a break”… but actually that’s bullshit.? I explain more in this video:

 


 

Creative Dream TV: For Those Days When You Don’t Feel Like Showing Up Read More »

If you’re not showing up every day, how can you expect your dream to?

show up every day

So here I am, showing up with my art journal for my creative dream practice this morning, even though I didn’t want to.? Even though doubt built a stronghold in my stomach overnight.? Even though I’m tired.? Even though I’m not sure what my next move is.

My dream is a radiant ball of light.

My doubt is a rough block of concrete.

I’m giving them both space in my art journal.

Exploring possibilities.

Doing my best to ground myself in my truth.

Last week, my Daily Practice was a bliss-generator.

This week it’s a container that is keeping me from falling.

Because I stayed in it last week, this week it can hold me.

Daily Practice matters so much for dream-growing.

It’s like your life-line to your dream.? If you’re not showing up, how can you expect your dream to?


If you’re not showing up every day, how can you expect your dream to? Read More »

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