The Bleed List: A better feeling To-Do List

​Live in the flow - do what feels right, when it feels right - for the most inspired outcomes. 

Learn how to organize your to-do list by following the Moon or your Menstrual Cycle, its called a Bleed List! ​To use a Bleed List, first become acquainted with your inner and outer cycles, highlighted on The My Moon Magic Women's Health Blog and in The Manifesting with the Moon Guide.

Checking things off a To-Do List can feel so good...but does that looming list of a thousand "shoulds" stress you out when you're just not in the mood? For Divine Feminine and cyclical beings, the practice of keeping a Bleed List is a much more efficient way to follow inspiration. ​
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Before you begin - If you are in your bleeding years, prioritize your inner, menstrual rhythm over the outer, lunar phases. Feel into where you are in your menstrual cycle and then take into account the energy of the moon. For example, Luteal Phase can feel like a time of low energy and detachment but the Full Moon may be shining bright, giving you a little more energy to complete things later into your cycle than if you were in your Luteal Phase with the New Moon. ​

​Build a new Bleed List each Menstrual or Moon Cycle.

​Each new Bleed List begins in the Deep Luteal Phase (roughly Days 20-28 of an average 28 day cycle) which relates to the energy of the Moon's Last Quarter. 
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Begin to build a new Bleed List. 

As you feel the desire to separate from everyday tasks creep in, start to write down ideas that you don't have the focus or energy to do now. This is the beginning of your Bleed List for your next Menstrual Cycle, to be accomplished as you enter your next Follicular Phase or the Waxing Crescent Moon. ​

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The New Moon or Menstrual Phase (roughly Days 27-5 of an average 28 day cycle). 
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If it doesn’t HAVE TO be done right now, don't do it.

As you approach the Menstrual Phase (or New Moon energy) of your Menstrual Cycle, your left and right brain hemispheres communicate more coherently and the psychic veils are thinnest. This is such a great time for inspired ideas! This is also a time of relinquishing daily tasks and doing only what is absolutely necessary. When you receive inspired ideas, put them on your Bleed List to be accomplished when your hormone levels begin to rise again (or as the light of the moon returns) next cycle. 

For now, put your feet up, ask for help, listen to inspiration and let a few things slide. Trust that you’ve got these to-do’s on your list for when you have the clarity and energy later in your cycle when they’ll get done faster and better! ​

The sacred importance of learning about your cyclical power and being able to talk to your friends about it.

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The Waxing Moon or Follicular Phase (roughly Days 7-11 of an average 28 day cycle)
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Follow the clarity and direction of your menstrual surrender. 

As you slowly emerge from your Menstrual hibernation, take a look at the list and see what feels good to do each day. This way, a lot of things aren’t expected of you each day but instead spread out over a few prime weeks to be done on the day that feels best. Know that if you don't have the energy or clarity for something now, it is meant for another time.

You may notice a difference in your energy levels throughout the year, take your time emerging from the Menstrual Phase, it holds incredible clarity and visioning that can support your Bleed List of inspired actions. In the summer, I feel ready to start engaging again on Day 3 of my cycle. In the winter, I hibernate until Day 10 before I feel ready to get things done. ​

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The Full Moon or Ovulation Phase (roughly Days 13-16 of an average 28 day cycle). Find out exactly when you ovulate by tracking your basal body temperature. 
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Dream BIG. Work it in reverse. 

Many people think that the energy of the Ovulation window should be used to get stuff done but for me, it's a time to be out and about, dreaming big and attraction - often attracting solutions to things on my Bleed List that resolve themselves! Always do what feels right to you in this phase but I've found that trying to sit still and tackle a to-do list can feel like a punishment at this time so instead, I discovered a way to work the Bleed List in reverse...

I get really, really energetic, excited and extroverted during Ovulation. I also get a lot of pie-in-the-sky ideas during this time that I used to follow blindly until crashing and burning out. Now, I put those high flying Ovulation ideas on the Bleed List to “Bleed On’ and see if I still like them later in my cycle. As you enter Deep Luteal separation and Menstrual surrender, see if you still like these ideas and want to apply them to the next cycle- if not, cross them out. 

Having all your inspired ideas written down, from the depths of your Menstrual or New Moon wisdom gives you a list of deeply personal things to do when you encounter all of this energy in your cycle. You get to channel and focus all of your energy on what  is most important to you. ​

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"Just as the Moon coaxes the tides toward and away from the shore. She can lull you into an effortless flow of clarity and serenity. Feel yourself calibrated under the luminance of moon magic, allow yourself to slow down and sync up with the cadence of nature."

Affirmation: I flow with the patient rhythm of the natural world.

​- The Mystic Rebel Crystal Deck by The Merhipsy

The authors of the Menstrual Cycle Empowerment book, Wild Power, created this BRILLIANT 'Bleed On It' t-shirt! Click the photo to learn more and buy one.

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The Waning Moon or Luteal Phase (roughly Days 17-20 of an average 28 day cycle). 

Complete this cycle's Bleed List. 

It's time to get things done! Have you ever felt the compulsive urge to deep clean your kitchen cabinets in this phase? It's like Ovulation energy meets Luteal tying up loose ends and you can become super focused for a few days. A word of caution, although this cycle is nearing an end, don't do things that you don't have the inspired impulse to do.

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The cycle begins again. 

The Bleed List is here to direct your energy, not to override your wisdom in each present moment. 

Whatever is left on your Bleed List as you approach the end of this cycle, carry it over to the next cycle if it still feels inspiring. If something has been on your Bleed List for a few cycles, asses whether you really want it there -  remove it or break it down into smaller steps that feel good. ​

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Every time we choose ourselves...

"Every choice you make in taking care of yourself slowly builds that internal self trust."

- Brené Brown and Jada Pinkett Smith, Red Table Talk

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​Learning to trust your deep, inner wisdom. 

I have heard women call themselves slackers or easily distracted for not finishing projects and it break my heart because we are magical, cyclical beings who do not operate in a linear fashion. 

By creating your Bleed List, you will being to notice trends in your energy and interest levels and build the trust that you WILL cycle back around to what interests you. For example: I have customer service emails from my Follicular Phase that I have no interest in dealing with now, the week before my period. I reached out to them when I was excited to clarify something and they didn't get back to me right away so I am okay with waiting until I am more logistical and outgoing instead of forcing the solution now - when I'm likely to get really frustrated. The Western culture may classify this approach as inefficient and time-consuming but I have witnessed things work out so much better and faster than if they were forced, over and over. Things that I allowed to drop from my Bleed List that initially caused insecurity later proved completely unnecessary.

​As a regular practice, this continues to amaze me and I am excited to hear how you harness your wild power. 
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"To give oneself complete and utter permission to feel good because you want to, regardless of anyone or anything outside of you. To live life free from restraint or resistance. To admit and acknowledge your true heart's desire. To permit yourself to live the life of your dreams. Living in a perpetual state of synchronicity and magic with a deep knowing that life is always working out for you." 

- The Feminine Art of Allowing according to Cree Cox, facilitator of Embody Your Flow
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Resources...

​Reach out with any questions and check out the rest of The My Moon Magic, Women's Health Blog. Share your Bleed List-inspired life with @My.Moon.Malas on Instagram

Read the books Woman Code by Alisa Vitti and Wild Power by Alexandra Pope + Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer - life changing! 

To fine-tune your intuition and tap into what you want, visit The Manifesting with the Moon Course and Manifestation Blog.