Doing The Impossible by Andrea Schroeder

I'm setting out to do something I'm not sure I can do.

So I wrote out a few things I know are true, to help light the way. Hopefully they are helpful for you too.

1. If you apply your creativity and your intuition and work and it and give it time: you can do anything.

2. The stuff you think you can't do is the best stuff to do. If you know you can do it, it means you've already done it and there's no adventure in it.

3. Being in the adventure of doing something you haven't done before and aren't sure you even can do pushes your creative edge and grows you in all the best ways. I know it's hard now, but you'll be so grateful you did it.

4. If you are NOT doing things that you don't think you can do - you're stagnating, you're staying in already-been-done-ness.

5. You wouldn't have the desire to do it if you weren't capable of it - that desire is a new part of you being born, the part of you that can do it - once she figures it all out. It's ok if the figuring it all out part is messy.

6. Floundering. Mis-steps. Having it take more time than you want it too or look different than you thought it would. That's all ok. Giving up is not.

7. Changing course is different from giving up. Dreams change as you work on them. Flow WITH the inspiration and you'll get somewhere amazing. Try to control the outcome and you'll get somewhere pretty sad.

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy.

Sometimes a wrong turn is the only way to find the right path by Andrea Schroeder

This week has been frustrating, all around. A special kind of frustration - the kind where you are doing exactly what you want to be doing and yet it feels off.

This is the thing about creative dreaming - in creating your dream as a real live thing you have to do things you have never done before. Which means you can't know how it's going to go ahead of time.

This is how it goes:

You're inspired -> You act on it -> You learn stuff -> That feeds the next inspiration

But this is how we all seem to want it to go:

You're inspired -> You act on it -> Everything is PERFECT BLISS - > Happily Ever After

Somewhere in leaping towards PERFECT BLISS and landing on YOU LEARN STUFF there is a world of pain.

It didn't go the way you'd hoped. Maybe your idea sucks. Maybe you suck. Maybe everything is impossible. Who cares about dreams anyway?

But it just feels like a world of pain.

It's actually a world of information.

Information about what does, and does not work. Information about how to try it differently next time. Real life information that helps you build your real life dream.

(Real life as opposed to DREAMS OF PERFECT BLISS.)

Your fantasy is not going to happen.

You'll never just be handed the key to your dream.

Or a map that shows you how to get there without messy, painful detours.

Dreams come true through this messy process of:

1. acting on inspiration
2. having things go way differently that you thought they would/should
3. being upset about that
4. getting over it
5. finding the gems in the experience
6. letting that inspire the next step.

And so on and so on.

The people who live their dreams engage with that messy process.

I just wrote all of that to remind myself.

This was one of those messy weeks where I was doing a bunch of PERFECT BLISS kind of things and what I got was a pile of life lessons.

That's me this morning (bedhead and all!) with one of my custom made Creative Soul Alchemy cards - a perfect bliss activity if there ever was one.

I learned A LOT.

And this morning I am remembering the magic of how letting go of how you thought it should be creates space for it be what it is. And life, what it is, is beautiful.

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy.

Your Creative Dreams Don't Need Support by Andrea Schroeder

Last month I hosted a tele-playdate where we played with and explored the idea of Creating Perfect Support Systems for our Creative Dreams.

I set this up in hopes that we would discover that system or product or way-of-doing-things that makes everything magically easy, always, forever and ever.

But when we invited the heart and soul of SUPPORT to join us in the circle, I was completely blown away:

My Creative Dreams don’t need support.

They are already perfectly and beautifully supported by spirit and purpose. Nothing I can create or find or buy would add to this in any noticeable way. My creative dreams are already completely supported, perfectly whole and complete and real on the spiritual plane(s).

It’s me who needs support! You and me and all the other creative dreamers. Bringing a dream to life is a big job that demands internal growth. Internal growth almost always requires a different kind of support than you think it does.

This is part of the nature of being in the process of change, you can’t properly anticipate what you need because you’re thinking from where-you-were and the support is needed at the level of where-you’re-going. That’s why I playdate these things instead of attempt to teach them – playdates open you up to your creative genius and divine intuition so you can get the answers you need.

During the playdate the heart and soul of support asked me to let go of some old dreams, and old ways of seeing myself, to free up my energy to be more supportive of the dreams that want to come to life now. This is NOT even close to what I was expecting.

I was expecting stuff like: spend more time working on it, be more organised and productive, have a better system, get expert advice, hire the right help, blah, blah blah. In hindsight, those do sound like things my inner critics would say, not my inner genius.

So I wasn’t expecting, even a little bit, to be asked to let go of dreams that I’d held for so long they feel like a part of who I am. When I received that message, I felt totally blown away and confused.

But now? Not even two weeks later, I think it’s AMAZING the way our dreams can lead us to discover new aspects of who we really are.

Of Course(!) it’s time to let go of some of those dreams. I have been feeling like it doesn’t all fit. Letting go makes space for what’s really important right now. And it’s not like I destroyed the old dreams – I can always go back to them if I want to.

Right now I feel free. Like there is enough room for what matters, like there is even enough room for my dreams to grow bigger than I think they can.

This is the soul work play of bringing a dream to life. I am blown away grateful that this is also the work work I get to do every day, and that I get to do it with such amazing and inspiring people. I have so much love for all of you.

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy.

Your Infinite Creative Potential and Why it Means All Your Dreams Are Possible by Andrea Schroeder

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy.

Creative Dream Success by Andrea Schroeder

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy.

When there is so much in your way you can't even start by Andrea Schroeder

When you're in this situation, the first thing to know is that obstacles are good! Obstacles are the means through which your dream comes true. I do mean that literally, you can watch this video for more on that. So having a lot of obstacles doesn't mean you can't move forward and make your dream real. Even when you have so many obstacles that are blocking you from even being able to see your dream.
 

When you're in this situation, the energy dynamic you're in is like a pinball game - you're the ball.

Thinking about your dream just gets you pinging between the different obstacles. I can't do it now because of this. Oh but I also can't do it now because of this. And if I do get started, well then I'll hit this. Ouch! Everywhere you turn there is another obstacle - another reason why your dream can not and will not come true. Not a fun place to be. And it can feel like the only way out is to just give up on the dream and declare it impossible. That gets you out of the pinball game. But then you're just living in this world where your dreams are impossible and that's no fun either.

 

What you have to do is remember that the obstacle is the way through.

The pinball effect stops when you stop running away from the obstacles. When you sit down with them, get out your journal and start exploring. MAKE A LIST. Make a list of all the reasons why your dream is impossible right now, all the things holding you back. Just creating this list shifts the energy around your dream. You're not bouncing around anymore you're staying with it. You're bringing yourself into the inner process of bringing a dream to life.

As a side note: The reason why you're bouncing around is because you're looking for an external process for bringing your dream to life. This does not exist. Bringing a dream to life is an internal process.

SIT WITH YOUR LIST. You've been spending a lot of time bouncing up against these things, and trying to run away from them, or maybe even trying to blow them up. It can take some time to un-plug from that energy dynamic and come to a place of stillness and being able to just sit with the obstacle. This is important! If you can't stay present with the obstacle, you can't work with it as your means of bringing your dream to life. It might feel like nothing is happening but actually everything is happening. It's totally like this scene from my favourite movie:



The most magical and amazing things cannot be experienced until you're willing to open your mind and really be with them.

Here's the secret:

As you're sitting with your list of reasons why you can't have what you want right now eventually you discover a truth: these things aren't actually what's stopping you. It's your attitude towards and beliefs about these things that is stopping you. Your attitude and beliefs are things that you can change. And when you start to work on that - congratulations. You are now on the path of making your dreams real.
 

I tried this myself yesterday.

I was a little stuck with something and made a list of why I couldn't have I wanted right then. And hot damn if that list of things that felt like real and insurmountable obstacles wasn't anything more than a list of sad excuses. Making the list forced me to face my own bullshit. And then get over it. And then do something about it. I know it can be very uncomfortable to do this - especially if you haven't done this kind of inner work before. But it's not like being in the pinball game is comfortable either, just give it a try.




xo Andrea


With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Your dream is important.  Let's make it real at www.CreativeDreamIncubator.com.

Creative Dream TV: When You Have Obstacles In Your Way by Andrea Schroeder

"It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure." - Joseph Campbell

Obstacles and stumbles are super annoying! They are also the means through which our dreams actually come true, so it's important to pay attention to them. And that's what this week's Creative Dream TV is all about. Watch it now:

xo Andrea

Andrea Schroeder: With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.

Creative Dream TV: How To Know Which Dream To Pursue NOW by Andrea Schroeder

Is there a such thing as too many dreams? YES. Yes there is, because you can usually only focus on and bring to life one dream at at time. When your focus is split, you end up with a Creative Dream Bottleneck. The result: ALL DREAMS ARE STUCK AND NO DREAMS BECOME REAL.

My clients HATE THIS!

They want all their dreams, right now. I have had so many clients REFUSE to pick just one dream. And I get it - I feel the same way! But the result of not picking just one? ALL DREAMS ARE STUCK NO AND DREAMS BECOME REAL. Holding onto ALL dreams means you actually get NO dreams. Grrrrrrr.

If you want to succeed, you've got to focus in on one dream.

You don't throw your other dreams away - you just put them in order. Each dream you nurture to fruition opens tiny doorways and makes the next dream easier to bring to fruition... like magic.

 

Watch this week's episode of Creative Dream TV for some tips on how to figure out which dream to pursue first:

 

xo Andrea

Andrea Schroeder: With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.  

Creative Dreams + Money. It's a problem, right? by Andrea Schroeder

I mean, dreams don't pay the bills, right?

Well, actually, that's wrong.

Creative Dreams can and do pay the bills.

The problem is that CreativeSpiritual people shut off their genius when it comes to money.

Admit it, you do this.

So, before your creative dreams can pay the bills, you have to re-route a path in your brain - from your genius, to your money.  

I promise: This is not anywhere near as complicated or weird as it sounds.

In this week's episode of Creative Dream TV I talk about a whole bunch of questions I got from Creative Dream TV fans, about creative dreams and money.

And I and share a crazy-magic transformational tool that helps no matter what your specific struggle with money looks like - a tool that helps you to start to re-route a path in your brain - from your genius, to your money.

 Watch it now:

So let's get your creative genius flowing when it comes to money!

Your dream wants to pay your bills.
xo Andrea

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.

How to handle limiting beliefs, fears + doubts on the way to your dream by Andrea Schroeder

I received an email from Louise, a lovely portrait artist who has:

• lost all confidence in her artwork
• has a belief that she can't shake off that she can't support herself with her dream

And so she feels frozen and unsure about how to move forward with her dreams. We've all felt this way. We've all felt like we can't have what we really want, like we don't deserve it and it will just never happen. Learning how to deal with this stuff is your Most Important Work, when it comes 
to bringing your dreams to life.

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea Schroeder lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.

Creative Dream TV: Why it's so hard to get started sometimes and what to do about it. Andrea Schroeder

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.

Why is it so hard to get started sometimes? (And what to do about it) by Andrea Schroeder

I made a commitment to work through my Creative Journal Magic Kit, and do a creative journal page EVERY DAY THIS SUMMER. I am having a hell of a time keeping that commitment. Even though I love this so much! And still, it's hard.

These commitments we make to ourselves are important!

Signing up for classes. Promising to do yoga or journal or meditate or spend time with your dreams. This. Stuff. Is. Important. So when we sign up and then don't follow through it feels gross! It's like inviting your inner critics to have a a big, critic-y party in you head.

We let other things get in the way because this stuff is also terrifying.

It's the inner work that makes outer change possible. And when change is possible then things might change! Scary scary territory! It's so fascinating to me how we crave and fear change at the same time. So I made this commitment to Creative Journal every day to give my new dreams some space to grow this summer. I do this stuff for a living so I should have no problem holding that commitment, right? Right. Then I ate popcorn and watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

So what do we do about it?

First: be gentle. Assume there is purpose behind the resistance. Insisting that you're not resisting, you're just busy or whatever, only strengthens the resistance. Then: be gentle. Have permission to be in resistance! It's a legitimate stage of the Creative Dream Incubation process. Important things are happening when you're in resistance - deep inner shifts that are bringing you to a place where you can begin. You are activating the superpowers of Perfect Timing and shoring up your inner resources. You are preparing for adventure. Next: be extra-super gentle. Let yourself be with your resistance without forcing anything. For me this means leaving my creative journal out and open on my art table. Sitting down and looking at it even if it's just for 20 seconds. Yesterday I wrote 2 sentences about where I'm at:

  

Not much but I creative journaled for a few minutes anyway. I can tell my inner critics that it's not much but it's something. It throws a real damper on their stupid critic party.

I'm also resisting getting back into my yoga practice.

So I put my yoga mat down on the floor and left it there. This morning I woke up, came downstairs and stepped right onto it and stopped, noticing "Oh my gosh I'm on my yoga mat!". Since I was already there, I did a few stretches and it felt amazing. Not more than 2 minutes but it's something. If you're resisting, and you just stop looking at it, it will fade away and all opportunity to change will fade away with it. This means your dreams will wither and die. But if you keep looking at it, and spend even 20 seconds with it each day, being gentle and remembering that there is purpose to resistance and that this is a legitimate part of the process - you'll get through it.

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea Schroeder lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.

Soul Journal Magic Class by Andrea Schroeder

The class is a guided meditation and journal journey into your inner world where you can start to change your story.

Changing your story in your inner world creates shifts that ripple out into your outer world, making those stubborn, hard-to-get dreams soften and open up.

So before you begin think about what it is you'd like to change.

Think about what kinds of new stories you'd like to create for yourself and your life.

Do you want to invite something new in? Let go of something old? Move things around?

Whenever you want to change something, it all starts with writing a new story.

So grab your journal and a pen, find a comfy place to sit and click the image below to listen to the recording:

   

Andrea Schroeder: With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.

Desire is How Your Soul Speaks to You by Andrea Schroeder

Last month Desire was the theme of the month for my Advanced Creative Dreaming group.

Today I want to share with you the video I made for them - explaining how important desire is. It truly is how your soul speaks to you and guides you along the path to your purpose.

Working on your relationship with desire is kind of like a shortcut to your dreams.

  

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea Schroeder lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.

Your Dreams Are Possible by Andrea Schroeder

I've got a special treat for you today - a half hour class on possibility and dreams:



With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea Schroeder lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.

Creative Dream Adventure with SARK by Andrea Schroeder

Years ago, I went to Toronto to do a writing workshop with Creative Dreamer Extraordinaire, SARK.

Afterwards, I was lucky enough to be invited back to SARK's hotel room (!) to hang out and keep chatting about Creative Dreams and writing and succulence and all things juicy.

It wasn't too long before we got hungry and ventured out to find some food. It was a really lovely night (spring, I think?) and we walked around for a while, looking for a place with yummy food that wasn't obnoxiously loud (which is difficult to find in downtown Toronto and one of the reasons why I moved away from there).


At one point, SARK stopped in front of a beautiful rug shop, with piles of gorgeous handmade rugs piled up in the windows and proclaimed:

"I Have A New Creative Dream!"

First we stood in silence, feeling the magic of a new Creative Dream being born.

Then SARK shared her dream: to be photographed naked on those piles of rugs.

I share this story to say: there are a lot of ways to have a Creative Dream.

And whatever your dream is - it's perfect. Just the way it is.

Most people think their dreams are too big or too strange or too impossible or too grandiose or too flashy or too stupid or too small or too insignificant.

Not creative enough. Not worthy. Not interesting enough. Not anything that anyone is ever going to really care about...

But the thing is, your dream isn't anything but perfect.

Even though sometimes it's so hard to see that. And it's so easy to compare your dreams with other people's dreams and feel like your dreams come up short.

But the thing is, your dream isn't anything but perfect.

Remember that, sweet pea.

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea Schroeder lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.

What if You Don't Know What Your Dream Is? by Andrea Schroeder

I get this question a lot.

And I think it's a lot less about "What if" and more about "Why don't I know what my dream is?" and probably more importantly "Where can I find my dream?".

If you don't have a dream and don't care about not having a dream - well then you probably aren't reading this anyway.

If you don't have a dream and you do wish you had one - I believe that wish for a dream is actually a sign that you do have a dream... it's just buried under some other stuff right now.

I'm going to share some possible scenarios of what could be happening here and some ideas for what to do with them:

Scenario 1: You know what your dream is, but you are scared to admit it to yourself or to others.

This is completely understandable! Having a dream is scary. Having a dream and going after it means everything could change. Having a dream and going after it means taking big risks. By not admitting that you have a dream, you can avoid all of this change and risk and uncomfortable stuff.

And yet - well, it's still uncomfortable, isn't it?

In avoiding change and risk you also avoid the joy of the dream come true. You avoid the adventure and excitement of the creative dream path. And mostly you avoid doing the thing you really want to be doing.

Your dream isn't a superficial thing. It's important. It comes from your heart and your soul. It's tied to your purpose for being here on this planet.

Avoid the dream and it will not go away. It will only grow more and more difficult to avoid.

But all that stuff you are avoiding? It's real too. And it's scary. Pretending it's not there is not a good plan.

What may work here: Admitting it very quietly by writing it in your journal. Start to give the dream just a little bit of space. You don't have to tell anyone else about it and you certainly don't have to do anything about it. Just give it some space to be and see what comes of that. Baby steps.

Scenario 2: You know what your dream is, but don't believe that you can have it, so it's kind of uncomfortable to think about it.

Awww. First I just want to give you a hug.

Everything I said above about your dream is true:

Your dream isn't a superficial thing. It's important. It comes from your heart and your soul. It's tied to your purpose for being here on this planet.

And also:

Avoid the dream and it will not go away. It will only grow more and more difficult to avoid.

That last part is even more true in this case. Your dream is really important and it is asking you to work through your fear that you don't deserve it or can't have it for some reason. It is asking you to believe.

What may work here: Asking "What if?" What if it was ok for me to pursue this dream? What If if was ok for me to have this dream? And some gentle journaling about deserving - What do I think I deserve? What would have to happen in order for me to believe I deserve more?

Forcing yourself to go after your dream won't be helpful here, working on changing your mind about what is possible for you will be helpful. Taking some slow baby steps towards your dreams may be helpful too - sometimes that "I don't think I can have it" starts to fade when it sees evidence that you really can have it.

Scenario 3: There is so much that you want to do, that you can't pick just one to identify as "your dream".

Well this is actually a fantastic situation to be in, even though it doesn't always feel like it. I really believe it's better to have too many ideas than too few - I always have waaaaaay more ideas and dreams than I can possibly work on.

Sometimes this "I have so much I want to do I can't commit to one thing" is just a way of sabotaging yourself, usually due to one of the fears mentioned above, so you may want to check those out and see if any of the ideas there feel like they may be helpful to you.

If that's not it, then what is happening here is a bottleneck. Too many ideas, too little time/resources and nothing can get through. You relieve the bottleneck by choosing some dreams to work on now and putting the other dreams aside for now.

If the thought of putting some dreams aside makes you freak out a little: look at what is really happening here - the bottleneck is essentially putting all of your dreams aside because none can get through.

If you focus on one or two dreams for now, and actually bring them to life, then it becomes much easier to go back to those other dreams and bring them to life as well. With each dream come true you become more experienced at bringing dreams to life and you open up new possibilities for how to bring your dreams to life.

But still, choosing can be hard.

What may work here: Asking yourself Which dreams am I most passionate about? can help to narrow it down. If you start to work on the dream that you are most passionate about - all of that passion can help to make it happen faster, so you can get back to the other dreams.

Or you can ask Which dreams feel the easiest to work on right now? which is, of course, the easier way to go. Pick the low hanging fruit. Start with the easy dreams and work your way up. It could be that nothing feels easy but something is bound to feel easier than the others.

It can be hard to put some dreams aside. I have a notebook that I put all of my ideas and dreams in. This way it doesn't feel like they are lost, they are waiting for their right time to be brought to life.

And sometimes, because creative dreams are magic, those dreams sitting in the notebook come true all on their own. Because they're been taken out of the bottleneck! Dreams stuck in a bottleneck tend to not come true.

Scenario 4: You really just don't know what your dream is:

Ask yourself: If I could have anything you want, what would it be? If you had no limits. None at all.

Where would you live? How would you live? What would you do? How would you spend your days? How would you feel? What kinds of hobbies would you have? What would your social life be life? Your romantic life? Your finances? Your health? Your creativity? Your spirituality?

Somewhere in all of that there must be something you dream of. Something you want to build in your world.

Your dreams are about so much more than wanting things to be different than they are. Your dreams are how you express your purpose and authenticity and uniqueness. Your dreams are healing. Your dreams can make a huge difference.

So there is is. Four possible reasons why you don't know what your dream is and what to do about it.

Does that answer this question for you? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea Schroeder lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.

Sometimes Dreams Die by Andrea Schroeder

About 15 years ago, I was finishing University in a big busy city and dreaming of moving to a tiny quiet magical town in the mountains.

So I took a big huge crazy leap of faith and moved to that magical town.

And it was pretty much a disaster.

Well, a disaster all wrapped up in magic and big lessons and amazing adventures that I wouldn't trade for anything. It was a disaster only in that I really couldn't stay very long because there was no way for me to make money there.

And so I called my parents.

Ugh. But I was going to need a place to stay, temporarily, as I figured out what to do next. So, ugh, I went back to my parent's house. (Not that my parents aren't lovely people but I am sure you understand the ugh about going back to their house after having been on my own.)

And so there I was. In my parent's house, reading the paper every day, looking for jobs.

And I had all sorts of interviews and trial days for different design jobs and none of them felt like a fit.

And one day there was a little ad in the paper.

Fashion shop for sale.

I called. I went to meet with them. I fell in love with this idea.

The fashion shop was in this adorable little mall in an old railway building near the river. Gorgeous. I saw myself getting a latte in the mornings, and drinking it while sitting on a bench looking at the river and happily planning my day. This was one of my favourite places to hang out. I saw myself working really hard but being really happy with it all.

Given that I had just graduated with a degree in Fashion Design and a dream of one day having my own shop - this felt a big giant spark of Creative Dream Magic. Like maybe my other dream died so that this one could live?

The owners were so sweet. And the business was going well - they were just ready to retire and move, ironically, near to the little magical town in the mountains that I had just come from.

My parents were supportive and willing to loan me the money to buy this shop, if their accountant could look at the numbers and agree that this was a good idea.

I was on pins and needles. I could not believe how long it was taking... getting files, having meetings, getting more information, having more meetings. Ugh!

And in the end the accountant said yes. This was a smart move.

And my parents loaned me the money.

And I raced down to the shop, papers in hand.

And they had just sold it to someone else, 15 minutes before I got there.

I don't remember what I did next. I probably bought a coffee and went and sat on that bench overlooking the river.

I've thought about that day many times over the last 15 years.

I have to trust that what happened was for the best. I have to trust that my dream didn't die - just that one path to it was blocked off. That there are other paths and other opportunities and that I would find a way.

And then - a lot happened.

A lot has happened in the last 15 years and now here I am. In a place that is better than what I had imagined for myself back then.

And things are going really well for me and my business. All sorts of great things happened and one Monday morning last Spring, I wanted to celebrate.

Monday mornings I had been going to this sweet little coffee shop near a park, to sit by the window and look at the park while making my plans for the week. (Patiently waiting for spring to come so that I could actually sit in the park)

This Monday morning it was sunny and warm and spring was finally here and I wanted to do something special and celebratory and be outside so I went down to that spot by the river. I got a coffee and an ooey gooey fresh baked cinnamon bun and found that sunny bench.

And I thought about the fashion shop that I missed out on by 15 minutes. I thought about how my life would be totally different had I just gotten there earlier.

And I thought about how happy I am with how things turned out.

Your dreams don't die

Certain paths will end. Obstacles will come in from nowhere. Sometimes you have to start over on a new path but the dream does not ever die.

It's always there, waiting for you to find your way to it.

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea Schroeder lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.

Your Dreams are So Important by Andrea Schroeder

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.

What Are Your Dreams? by Andrea Schroeder

You already know that your Creative Dreams really are important and needed.

But do you know what all of your Creative Dreams are?

Taking some time to really explore this can open up vast new possibilities.

Your assignment here is to come up with 100 Creative Dreams.

That's 100 things that you would like to do, be or have.

I was given this assignment when I first started taking classes to become a New Thought Healing Practitioner. That was years ago and it remains one of my favourite assignments.

I had a sheet of paper with 100 little lines on it. (I had to write small to fit everything in)

For that whole week, I kept it out on my table with a rainbow pack of coloured pens beside it, always ready to record new dreams.

Any time a wish or idea came to me, I added it to the list. I had 150 dreams when I brought it back to class at the end of the week. And I kept adding to it from there.

What I love about this list is that it opens things up.

It gets you thinking of what you really want.

This is not a list of things to do or dreams to chase after.

Just a juicy list of possibilities.

It can remind you of lost dreams and also it can show you where to go next. Sometimes when we're busy bringing one really super-big-delicious creative dream to life we forget about all of these other things we want to do, too. Taking a little time out to do those things replenishes and refuels and re-inspires us along the creative dream path.

If you already have a list - add another hundred things to it. Or start a new one. We are always growing and changing and our dreams grow and change with us.

Print out the 100 Creative Dreams Worksheet and get started today!

With a paintbrush in one hand & a glitter-gun in the other, Andrea lovingly mentors men & women who want to lead creatively abundant lives — and do ‘impossible’ things, with ease & joy. Express the greatest parts of who YOU are, at www.CreativeMagicAcademy.com.