I’ve never seen this happen before, ever.

There is this dream I have been working on.  I was making progress, the dream was growing, things were good, and then it just kind of…. petered out.  Hrmm.

I wasn’t sure what to do next, so I made a map:

Of course, I didn’t just sit down and draw random stuff.  I used the tools on the Dream Map Kit: Intuition, Inner Wisdom, Spirit, Purpose, Vision so that my map was a good and true and accurate picture of where I was, and where I wanted to be, and how to get there.

Only something weird happened.  I’ve been teaching this map-making process for years.  And I’ve never seen this happen before, ever.

On the path that leads from where I am to where I want to be – there were no obstacles.

This seems like good news but it’s not.  The truth is if there were no obstacles I’d already be there.  So why are there no obstacles showing up on the map?

I held my giant moleskin full of maps on my lap and leaned back into a big cushy pile of pillows and pictured the map in my mind.  I took my first step onto the path and everything shifted.  The dream stayed the exact same distance away even though I’d taken a step.

This, also, has never happened before.  How can I get somewhere if it takes a step away from me every time I take a step towards it?  And how is this even possible?  One of the aspects of Creative Dreams is that they will take a step (and often MANY steps) towards you each time you take a step towards them.

I kept exploring the path and discovered that it’s less a path and more of a spacer – to keep me and my dream apart.  And that it’s thin and kind of delicate.

So I destroyed it.

It shattered into tiny pieces and my dream and I were instantly united.  And it felt terrifying.  TERRIFYING!

The path/spacer instantly re-appeared to separate my dream and I.

Hmmmmmm.

I turned the page in my giant moleskine and drew a little cartoon of the Me-Who-Was-Terrified-Of-The-Dream and I had a chat with her in my journal.  I found out why she was terrified and how hard she was working to keep me and this dream apart.

Ah!  This was an inner critic keeping me from my dream.

Do you want to know why she was so terrified of my dream?  She was worried I would get into trouble.

The truth is she wants my dream as badly as I do but she is terrified of getting in trouble and making mistakes and not being liked.  So terrified that she is willing to give up the dream and just lay low.

The thing is – she never should have been on security detail.  It was never her job to keep me safe.  She took that job because something happened that scared her, which is always why inner critics take on the job of inner critic.

And it’s my job to find where this is happening and change it.  So we worked together to give her a new job.

And this Inner Critic’s new job is the Best Darn New Job I have ever seen:

She works in a park where the grass is always green but there is also a skating ring over to the side.

And she wears a pink dress and she twirls.  (Sometimes she puts on a purple sweater and goes skating.)

And she smiles and says “Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” with glee.

Best job ever, hey?

With that part done, I went back to my map and once again destroyed the path/spacer and landed right on my dream.  And this time it felt good. It felt like a party and a celebration.  I wanted to twirl and say Wheeeeeeeee!

So that’s what I did last weekend.

And there are ripples of permission and delight flowing through my inner world this week.  Its only Wednesday morning and already this week I’ve done loads of things that before I felt I could not do.  Including one thing I have been wanting to do for a year but was too scared to do it! 

This tiny little inner critic was creating big blocks for me.  It is so freeing to have them gone.

PS: It’s all about STRATEGY, darling.

STRATEGY without INTUITION, SPIRIT and VISION is, at best stupid, and at worse dangerous.

STRATEGY with INTUITION, SPIRIT and VISION is COMPLETE MAGIC.

And INTUITION, SPIRIT and VISION without STRATEGY is beautiful but then it gets frustrating slow.

Each one of these qualities is completely gorgeous and important on it’s own but if you want to really get somewhere you’ve got to bring them all together.  The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

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