4-Part Feminine Creation Cycle: Read/listen to the introduction of this modality

**Note this blog is part of a larger series

Phase 1: Dreaming/Resting

 a feminine creation cycle starts with Rest & Desire

HOW NOT TO WRITE WELL

 I share a lot of my own stories in our weekly writers' space as well as the other women sharing their experiences. When I used to write, I sat down and took myself so seriously, and I was like, “Oh, I'm gonna be a writer. I'm gonna sound smart.” What happened when I did that I was in a weird headspace. I could never figure out why my writing felt so cramped and forced and preachy, and obnoxious. It became really hard to edit. It was also hard to read. It wasn't any fun to write it.

Now I can share that agony with you with amusement because I was in a forcing space. I sat down every day at the same time, I said, I have to crank out a certain number of words. And it was this pushing linear drive. There was no ease in it.

One of the things that came up recently in our writer's circle

several of the women were saying, “I get the dreaming, I get the planning, but I'm stuck in the planning and I really hesitate to do the next piece” and we're gonna share I'm going to share in the next couple of episodes, just a lot of, of why we get stuck in that space, but more importantly, how to get out of the space. Why we're stuck doesn't matter so much is what are some of the ways out and what I shared last time.

If you're trying to force it, and what you're getting isn't any good or you're not trying to force it, and still not sort of in the space, try a new strategy.

Tapping into this inspiration space,

You can't force inspiration; you have to cultivate it.

I'm pretty sure that is not a realization for anybody. If you're forcing it the opposite, which is why this dreaming, resting soft space is so important, is so missing from our ordinary lives, downtime.

As a woman, as a mother, as an entrepreneur, as somebody living in the 21st century, downtime is extinct if not endangered, right? Unless we prioritize the resting, unless we say this is a vital part of what I do, how I do it, and who I am, It doesn't happen. Rest only happens when we are crashing and burning out or we're sick. That's not the same. That's like survival. That's recuperating that's trying to get to the next moment.

Intentional resting dreaming is opening this up for something to come. You can't schedule inspiration from 7:00 to 7:25. I'm going to be inspired and just go let it flow. Doesn't work like that. Inspiration is a fickle little beast. She has a very great sense of humor, but if you don't slow down, rest without the intention of capturing inspiration. Rest for rest's sake. Say that again. Rest for rest's sake.

• Do you know how you rest?
• Do you know what that would look like?
• How it feels good for you?
• Do you know how to tap into your dreaming?

For a lot of women, myself included, this concept of dreaming and exploring desire was fully shut off. I was shut off to desire to avoid disappointment. I didn't want to want, in case I couldn't have it. I didn't want to dream because it hurt too bad. I felt sad and lonely; I felt desperate and hopeless. So instead of resting and dreaming, I pushed harder; I worked more. I tried to force an outcome. This is true in writing. It's true in my life as you will hear me say again and again.  These cycles play out in your other life as well because nothing is separate. These are not distinct things.

What is true in one part of our life is true in another part of our lives.

Tapping into inspiration, if you go into rest or you go into dreaming with a desired outcome of “oh, I'm gonna find inspiration and come out with it.” You will probably be disappointed. you'll get frustrated and you will maybe even write to me and say, “what the hell I did what you said and I didn't get the desired result.”

(So here's a little side note about resting and dreaming: Do it for its own sake. Rest for rest's sake. Explore desire dream, imagine play for the sake of itself. Okay, a lot happens beyond our conscious awareness when we can slow down our bodies need it to remain healthy. Our minds need it to remain sane. We detox, we digest. We let go of stuff. We don't even have to do this intentionally or on purpose. It happens automatically when we allow ourselves to rest.

I am going to belabor this point about resting and dreaming because it does not come naturally to so many of us because culturally, it maybe even carries with it these negative shameful elements. Dig in a little bit while you're going through this process. If you're watching the video, listening to the podcast, reading the blogs, take a moment to reflect and feel into what does rest feels like for you.

• Is it something that comes naturally or does it carry with a lot of doubt and shame or resistance in some capacity?

Each of us has one, at least one of these four phases that comes really naturally we're very good at comes easily where it's our zone equally. Each of us has one of these phases at least that is really a sticking point that does not come easily. The only thing you need to know is that much. Okay, which one comes easily which one has more resistance, and then play into the space. Okay? That's it. 

Click here to join the women’s writers’ circle and experience it for yourself.

Tapping into inspiration is not something that you can do super intentionally. (There are actually some great books and some resources when we get geeky, but I'm not going to give them to you right now. Because if I tell them to you, and you're like me, you're going to go off and read them and go off and learn them. And that's the opposite of this energy. Okay? The new moon, like winter, is dark. It is quiet. It is intentionally withdrawn. It is the opposite of the shining showing up the running around. It is internal. Maybe it seems like nothing's happening. But below the surface, a lot is happening. Let it happen. Show up for your resting; show up for your dreaming. (In future episodes I'm going to be sharing ideas about how to rest ideas about where and how to dream.)

But for right now, I just want you to lay this foundation on this concept that rest is valuable. Planting the seed that when you are resting something will come.  I use this phrase, "planting the seed" all the time quite intentionally.

You plant a seed; nothing happens immediately. Rest is not this instant gratification where I did it now I should feel this or I did it and now I should be inspired and ready to blast into the next thing. It doesn't work like that. You put a seed in the ground. Maybe you water it, maybe the ground is prepared. It's not full of other weeds. Then you wait. You can't stare at the ground and make that seed grow any faster; it's gonna grow just the way it was meant to. If you're clawing at the walls with that concept I want you just to recognize that maybe the doing is something that you feel more comfortable with.  If resting is a little bit less comfortable that does not make it less valuable. 

As always, this is why we do this week after week in our writer's circle because hearing something once is not enough to make it in your psyche. It does not mean that you get it. The knowing-doing gap is the space between learning and implementing. Repetition is how we learn.

We show up and we practice this. We return to the basics, we come back again and again and again. If you are interested in supporting your writing process, your creation process, discovering those obstacles but overcoming them, accelerating your growth, writing with ease, and fun. Check it out. Join us in women's writers' circle. We would love to be sharing this with you. In the meantime, there's going to be another episode coming soon. 

Read the next post about the Dreaming/Resting Phase

Do you prefer listening? We have a #podcast version of this series. Listen here. 

Photo Credit: Cartagena, Colombia Island Writers Retreat. The next one is soon, learn more.