internal shifts: creating dreams come true from the inside out

it’s sunday – which means it’s creating dreams come true day. creating dreams come true is a free ongoing e-course and creative community to support you in living your dreams. if you are new, please feel free to join in. the more creative dreamers the better!  and here we are with two our dreamy lists.  a big expansive brainstorm of creative dreams and a list of our past/present real-life successes.

the aim of this exercise, together with the creative s t r e t c h i n g we did before it with the big dream lists, it to create an internal shift.  this particular internal shift is towards an expanded sense of possibility and a greater knowing of ourselves as powerful creators of dreams come true.  it’s important to start with this kind of internal work to get all parts of us aligned with where we want to go next with our dreams.

creating dreams come true from the inside out is richer, more rewarding and more fulfilling than trying to make things happen from the outside in, which is stressful, overwhelming, exhausting and limiting.

for example – would you rather force yourself to stick to a diet (making it happen from the outside in) or become a person who really loves and enjoys healthy foods (creating it from the inside out)?

through internal shifts you can align yourself with the greatest parts of you.

in the diet example, you can align with perfect health and learn to love your body so much that you absolutely love nourishing it with healthy foods and you enjoy eating healthy foods so much that they taste better to you than junk foods.  you crave the good stuff.  this way it is a pure joy to nourish yourself with a healthy diet, instead of the test of willpower that most diet plans seem to be.

this does not mean that we never take external steps, but that we keep the external movement balanced with internal shifts.  we will continue to work on the internal as well as the external as we go through this year of creating dreams come true.

this week’s assignment

we have been focused so far on preparing for the journey.   i find taking this time to prepare first, to expand our sense of possibility and our knowing of ourselves as successful beings, makes the rest of the journey go smoother.

and now we’re ready to buy a ticket for the creative dream jet plane.  so our assignment for next week is to chart out more specifically what dreams you want to have come true this year.  to set our destination to make sure we’re getting on the right plane.

we will keep checking in on our big dream lists throughout the year, but in order to move forward with our dreams, we are going to narrow them into focus without actually losing any of the wonderful ideas we have come up with.  i call it the “this is my life” list.  if you are really focused on what you are doing in 2010, you could also call it the “this is my year” list.

to do this, i look at life categories, such as: health, relationships, abundance, creativity/purpose, self-love/self-care and happiness/adventure.

for each category, i list the main things i do want to work on this year, then i create an intention statement.  the intention statement really conveys how i want this part of my life to feel and it is that feeling that can capture everything on your list, plus all sorts of other wonderful things that you haven’t even thought of yet.

for example, in the health area:

this is my health: i feel powerful, strong and vibrantly healthy in my body.

- walk 25 km each week

- figure out a way to shop/cook/prep healthy easy meals that i enjoy

my goals definitely support my intention statement, and my intention statement definitely supports my goals and opens things up for other good things to flow into my health this year.

to clarify: the intention statement is only how you want this aspect of your life to feel.  it does not contain specific goals or desired outcomes.  goals and desired outcomes go in the list of things you want to work on.

you will do this for:

• this is my health
• these are my relationships
• this is my abundance
• this is my creativity/purpose
• this is how i practice self-love/self-care
• this is how i experience happiness/adventure

and any other categories you want to work with.

a few announcements:

today is my make it happen in 2010: creating a year of abundance, healing and possibility workshop.  (which is a dream come true for me!)  what we will do there is use creative visioning to create maps that lead from where we are today into our dream come true, and then learn to work with the maps as a tool for living our dreams come true.  the participants of this workshop will be invited to join this group as a way of staying on track with their dreams all year.

if you want to join them in creating your own map, i have put the workshop material into a guidebook is filled with easy step-by-step instructions, photos and affirmations that allow you to tap into your unlimited potential to make your dreams real.

it is called create a map: a simple guide to creative visioning and it is available right here.

if you do choose to do this, you can work from your creative visioning map going forward and will not need to do this week’s exercise.

buying this book is not required to continue participating in creating dreams come true.  it is only a supplement for those who want to work more deeply with creative visioning.

announcement #2 – there are new dreamers joining us all the time, so check it out and get to know them (you can find them on the list of dreamers on the left sidebar) and you may want to revisit last week’s creating dreams come true post to see the new big dream lists that have been posted there.  they are fantastic!

annnnnd don’t forget tonight one dreamer from the creative adventure mailing list will win an original mixed-media paper doll called dreams come true.  there is a photo of the doll here.  you can sign up here.

check-in time:

let’s share our success lists and our experience with all of this so far. how does it feel to write about your successes and share them?  this one can be difficult, if we are uncomfortable shining our light so others can see.  but it is important to own our successes and be proud of what we have done.  this can fuel is to accomplish more.  sharing our lists with our fellow creative dreamers expands the sense of success~fullness and helps us bring that sense of success into our dreams for 2010 and beyond.

link to where your success list is on your blog with mr. linky here or put it in the comments section below.  don’t forget to check out everyone else’s lists!

edited to add: i’m sorry, i had to remove mr. linky as he was acting up and making this whole post inaccessible.  please post your links in the comments.

my success list:

• learned to knit
• learned to knit the really advanced stuff
• painted murals on doors in my house
• grew a green thumb
• opened my heart
• studied art and working at it until i liked my work
• found my creative spirit
• filled up loads of art journals
• accepted into ryerson school of fashion
• graduated from ryerson with a bachelor of applied arts in fashion design
• learned to make cloth dolls
• found my self
• learned to meditate
• became a daily meditator
• took new thought classes
• interned as a new thought practitioner
• became an accredited as a new thought practitioner
• being able to truly support and uplift people as a new thought practitioner
• being financially secure and feeling abundant working only 3 days a week
• qualified for a mortgage
• bought a home
• learned to take care of my home
• bought rental property
• have a great credit rating
• growing my savings account
• growing my retirement savings
• own a car
• found a mechanic i trust and appreciate
• learned how to use wild colours of eyeshadow
• found the lip gloss of my dreams
• found a doctor i trust and appreciate
• created a dressing room full of clothes i love, making getting dressed fun
• shoe collection
• found the perfect cowboy boots – decorated with butterflies and hearts
• decorated and furnished my home exactly as i want it to be
• created and facilitated creativity workshops
• grew my workshops
• became a better public speaker
• learned how to market my workshops and grow my business
• being brave enough to apply for a solo juried art exhibit
• put on a solo juried art exhibit
• sold my art in a gallery
• had a successful studio sale of my art
• designing and creating costumes for a play
• designing and painting sets for a play (did this one with a friend)
• commissioned art works
• learned to be honest even when it’s awkward
• created the garden of my dreams
• learned to care for the garden
• being a great landlord
• being a better communicator
• built better relationships
• learned to let go of relationships that aren’t nourishing
• became more open and loving
• got over a lot of my shyness
• learned to be more present
• taking good care of myself (regular spa days, vacations, bubble baths, etc)
• became more playful
• learned to deal with my wounds and pain
• learned to deal with my emotions
• learned to be there for others when they are in pain
• got really good at trying new things and going to new places
• got really good at talking to strangers and having them become friends
• developing my own creative style
• developing my own writing style for writing affirmative prayers
• leading live guided healing meditations
• setting up a business for my hand painted custom designed textiles
• learned to stay peaceful when the world around me is not
• learned to stay positive when the world around me is not
• sang in front of people
• drink enough water every day
• went to guatemala and climbed a mayan temple
• booked a flight to istanbul
• saw every province in canada and 1 of the territories
• went to “celebrate your life” conference in arizona with 3 amazing women
• started my interior design degree
• stopped working on my interior design degree when that felt like the right choice
• took a road trip by myself
• bought a tent and learned how to camp
• joined a spiritual community
• became a leader in that community
• made new friends
• made my website
• turned one of my creativity workshops into a creativity kit
• blogged for almost a year
• got a macbook and learned how to use it to make videos
• made art journal videos
• made guided meditation videos
• created this “creating dreams come true” creativity program

my list feels kind of random and incomplete.  but when i look at all of this i see – i am a huge success because i enjoy myself and feel like my life is a true reflection of who i am and how i want to live.  that is real success to me.

i am looking forward to checking out your lists and diving into all of this success energy!  i am seeing each one of us shifting into greater success and allowing more dreams come true into our lives.  we are thriving.

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.

Tagged as: dreams, success