creating dreams come true: sharing our dream lists

it’s sunday – which means it’s creating dreams come true day.  (if you missed the first creating dreams come true post you can catch up here.)

dreams are about so much more than accomplishments and things.  they are about expressing ourselves fully out in the world.  living our dreams means saying no to the status quo and saying yes to our own hearts.  living our dreams means fully waking up to our creative potential.  i do believe that living our dreams is the most powerful thing we can do as human beings.

i see us creating a world where everyone is free to pursue their dreams, where people understand that we all have valuable gifts inside us, and that we are here to share those gifts with the world.  a world where we support each other in doing just that – sharing our valuable gifts with the world.

can you see this world?  can you see how there is no space for war, violence, belittling others, harming others or the earth, injustice of all kinds?  how could there be space for that when everyone is filled with and by their creative dreams?

creative dreams are important and needed in this world.

whatever your dream is, know that it is needed.  each person living their dreams, living in openheartedness and happiness, helps and inspires others to step into their dreams. we create this world one dream come true at a time.  so i am extremely grateful for each one of you who is joining in this creative adventure.  thank you.  each one of you is such an important part of this.  and i’m so happy to see more people joining each day!  (if you want to join and have your name added to the list of creative dreamers send me an email at andrea {at} ABCcreativity.com with your name and website/blog address and i will happily add you)

and i am so looking forward to reading your big dream lists!  the big dream list is a warm-up for creative dreaming.  it stretches our dreaming muscles as it opens us up new possibilities.  it helps us to really look at our lives and consider what we want to do, be and have.  it stretches us to keep thinking about it longer than we normally would, to keep coming up with more dreams to add to our lists.

as i said last week, these lists can really benefit from incubation time.  so share what you have now but do continue to add to your list.

before sharing the lists, i want to go over the next part of this.  we are going to create another list – a list of dreams come true.  this list helps to deepen our belief that dreams come true, and strengthen our faith in ourselves as the creators of dreams come true.

when you stop and think of how many dreams have already come true for you, it’s really amazing!  we are all living with dreams come true that have become so natural to us we forget that at one time they were something we wanted and did not yet have.   taking the time to remember re-enforces in our minds that dreams come true and helps us to relax about the whole process.  it also helps us to see that we are ready now to create the bigger dreams come true.

your dream come true list should include any of the “big dreams” that have come true for you.  for me that would include things like: selling my art,  buying a home. getting a bachelor of applied arts in fashion design, having a solo juried art exhibition, being a landlord.

then if i look at “having a solo juried art exhibition” i could also add: getting my proposal together and submitted for art exhibition, making great art for the show, going to the opening party and talking to strangers about my work even though i was scared at the time.

if i look at “buying a home” i can add: built up a great credit rating, was approved for a mortgage, got clear on what i wanted and found the perfect home.  these were all significant accomplishments on the way to the accomplishment of buying a home.  then i can also add: designed and created a garden, grew my own veggies, bought new windows for my house, decorated my house in a way that i love.

stretch each thing out and really acknowledge and celebrate ALL of your accomplishments.  you have done a lot already!

also, things that i started and did not finish, and things that i tried to do that did not work, can be included on this list.  i have over 1/2 of a degree in interior design.  so i could add: started interior design degree, quit working on interior design degree when that felt right for me.  it’s a dream come true to not be forcing myself to finish things that i no longer want to be doing!

i once`had a textile design/painting business where i custom designed amazing bedding for people.  i would paint their exact perfect pattern onto soft silky sheeting and create beautiful beds for them to sleep in.  i loved my work and so did my clients.  but i didn’t have very many clients.  i didn’t know how to market my work successfully and i was struggling financially at the time and it all felt too hard, so i shut it down.  i can still add this to my list.  i can see that i was a success because i tried it, instead of feeling like a failure that it didn’t get as big as i wanted it to.  seeing it as successful for having begun also opens up the possibility that i can go back to this when the time feels right.  i still have all of the experience and knowledge that i gained through trying it.

so part of what this list does is re-frame your self concept to see that you are already a success!  when you feel like a success, you tend to create more successes.

so next week we will share our dreams come true list.  and now we will share our big dream lists.  sharing lists encourages and expands creative dream energy.  you get to see that you are not alone in this.  you get to inspire others with your dreams and be inspired by other people’s dreams.  and we get to know a bit about the people we are embarking on this amazing journey with.  and most importantly we are announcing our dreams to the world and declaring ourselves as fully capable of making them happen.

there are two ways to share your list:

1. write it out in the comments section below
2. post it on your blog and fill the the mr. linky below to create a link to your list. please link only to your blog post that contains your list, do not link to your blog home page.  this is so that people can easily find your list, read it, and cheer you on.

(i’m sorry to all of you who had shared your links here – mr. linky is having some problems and he is making this whole post inaccessible, so i had to take him down.  please feel free to post your links in the comments section. )

i’d also love to hear your comments about how the exercise went for you – how it felt to work on the list, and any challenges you may have come up against.  it’s important for me to hear how you guys are doing with all of this, so i can tailor the next exercises to exactly where you are at.

and here is my list:

1. write up all of my creativity workshop materials into workbooks
2. knit myself 20 (more) pairs of socks and experiment with different patterns, i especially want to try some lightweight lace patterns
3. publish my creative journaling game
4. go to turkey (already bought tickets, am going this february)
5. and egypt (going to egypt in february too)
6. make rose flavoured turkish delight (yum!)
7. make chai from scratch
8. meditate every day
9. walk 25 km each week
10. ABCcreativity is a thriving successful business with 10 different totally amazing product lines that support, nurture and inspire creative dreamers
11. keep making changes to my home that reflect the changes inside me so that my home always reflects who i am and who i want to be
12. paint my livingroom ceiling deep french blue (it’s currently aqua)
13. dye my art room curtains deep blue (currently lime green) (i have a thing for deep french blue right now!)
14. sell my duplex, buy a tri-plex or quadra-plex and increase my rental income
15. take a photo every day of my eye makeup (i love playing with makeup and glitter!)
16. go to morocco
17. go to iceland, especially the blue lagoon spa
18. learn how to cook meals that are: easy, healthy and delicious.  (i can always do one of the 3 but rarely manage 3 of the 3 at once)
19. get back into sewing, starting with dresses and coats
20. learn how to explain what i do to people in a way that is clear and concise
21. paint portraits – paper doll portraits of people’s dreams come true
22. organise my kitchen
23. be a source of calm no matter what is happening around me
24. go on an alaskan cruise
25. go on an abraham-hicks cruise (maybe the alaska one?)
26. do a creativity workshop cruise – maybe mediterranean?
27. buy more classical music from itunes
28. eat more edamame (i filled my freezer with it so i am off to a good start here!)
29. reach out to friends more
30. sell my old ibook (it has been sitting and waiting to go to its new home for a year!)
31. knit the sweet amazing lace tops from french girl knits
32. make sure creating dreams come true creative adventure is a huge success (success = the people who participate feel supported in creating their dreams come true, huge success = and the dreams start coming true)
33. find neat beaded things to hang in the canopy in my bedroom
34. learn to be a better writer
35. go regularly to dance your prayers workshops
36. be the president of the centre for conscious living board of trustees (currently vice-president)
37. share more of my journals on my blog
38. share more of my life on my blog
39. do something more with the holistic interior design workbook i made years ago
40. make more affirmation cards
41. get back into textile art
42. bring my sewing machine up into my art room
43. paint flowers on more of my clothes
44. have my own line of totally sweet art supplies available all over north america
45. be more open to more kinds of love
46. be less judgmental
47. procrastinate less
48. spend more time in my art room
49. stay grounded
50. experiment, explore and grow as an artist
51. double my income in 2010
52. be more open to going to new places and meeting new people
53. re-arrange my garden, make more room to grow veggies in sunniest part of the yard by the pond
54. illustrate my horoscope every day for a year
55. grow cucumbers and then ask my grandma to help me make pickles
56. experiment with different ways of doing guided meditations (i lead them regularly at the centre for conscious living and i really like the way i do them, but feel like i want to try new ways of doing it)
57. do creativity workshop retreats in beautiful places all over the world like france, greece, spain, ecuador, peru, bali etc etc etc
58. have 5,000 people subscribed to my blog – nourishing creative community
59. buy a jaguar (car)
60. fall in love with someone totally inspiring
61. pay my mortgage by the time i’m 40
62. spend a week at deepak chopra’s spa
63. paint the rocks in my garden, and this time use a protective spray so they don’t fade again
64. do more creative prayer workshops at the centre for conscious living, maybe create a monthly group of creative pray~ers
65. really love healthy food more than junk food
66. make deep purple velvet covers for my floor cushions and ottoman in the living room
67. feel strong and powerful in my body
68. buy carcassonne (with the princess and the dragon expansion pack) and invite people over to play it
69. figure out how to wear orange eye shadow (and have it look good)
70. go on an amazing shopping spree all over europe, buying amazing clothes
71. have more parties
72. find more sparkly ornament type things to hang all over my house
73. find the perfect henna to colour my hair with
74. buy more string light sets that make my heart sing (got one today – different colours of paper chinese lanterns with geisha girls printed on them – so sweet!)
75. explore new forms of art
76. explore animal spirits and paint them
77. sit in my garden and sketch flowers
78. go on more picnics
79. take debbie ford’s course on shadow work
80. keep my heart open

i’m still working on it.

i look forward to reading each of your lists!

next sunday (january 10) is my make it happen in 2010: creating a year of abundance, possibility and healing workshop in winnipeg.  this is a creative visioning workshop where we will create a map leading to our dreams come true.  we will be examining the terrain between where we are and where we want to be, and building paths that lead right into our dreams.  the participants of that workshop will all be invited to join creating dreams come true as a way of staying in touch and keeping on track with their dreams.

for those unable to make it to the winnipeg workshop and who want to learn about creative visioning, i will be offering the workshop materials in a workbook format.  the workbook contains lots of photos and guides you through the creative visioning procress to create your own map at home.  i have really enjoying creating this workbook, and filling it with photos, affirmations and creative nurturing.

i have found creative visioning immensely helpful in making my dreams come true, so i am really happy to be able to offer this workbook for sale.  more info will be out on that next week.

also – i made a new button for this project:

which you can add to you blog or website by using the following code:

<a href=”http://www.abccreativity.com/2009/11/30/creating-dreams-come-true/”><img src=”http://www.abccreativity.com/images/creativedreamer.jpg”></a>

some people are having difficulties copying and pasting directly as it tends to insert extra quotation marks when you do that.  you may have to re-type it to make it work.

if you need the button to be smaller:

<a href=”http://www.abccreativity.com/2009/11/30/creating-dreams-come-true/”><img src=”http://www.abccreativity.com/images/creativedreamer.jpg” width=”150″></a>

and that’s it for this week!  now it’s your turn – i want to read your lists and hear about your experiences with this.

andrea schroeder creates creativity workshops, downloadable creativity kits, art and guided meditations to support you in knowing and remembering that you are a creative being and you can create anything.

If you like this post, you may also like:

• Your Dreams Are Important
• {creating dreams come true} the awkward stage
• creating dreams come true: preparing for success
• internal shifts: creating dreams come true from the inside out
• The Last ABCcreativity Creative Dreamer Check in