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, 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, the Deep 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.​

With a Bleed List, this will become your mantra! The authors of the Menstrual Cycle Empowerment book, Wild Power, created this BRILLIANT 'Bleed On It' t-shirt! Click the photo to buy one.

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

​1. Begin to build a new Bleed List. 
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​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. 

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

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2. If it doesn’t HAVE TO be done right now, don't do it.

The New Moon or Menstrual Phase (roughly Days 27-5 of an average 28 day cycle). 

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 later, 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. Inspired projects will always get done faster and better when they feel like a "Hell Yes!" for now, surrender. ​

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3. Follow the clarity and direction of your menstrual surrender. 

The Waxing Moon or Follicular Phase (roughly Days 7-11 of an average 28 day cycle)
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As you slowly emerge from your Menstrual hibernation, look at your list and see what feels good to do each day. Spread your inspired to-do's out over a few prime weeks to be done on the days that feels best. Know that if you don't have the energy or clarity for something now, it is meant for another time.

Take your time emerging from the Menstrual Phase, it holds incredible clarity and visioning that can support your Bleed List of inspired actions. 

You may notice a difference in your Follicular energy levels throughout the year. 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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4. Dream BIG. Work it in reverse. 

The Full Moon or Ovulation Phase (roughly Days 13-16 of an average 28 day cycle). Peak Ovulation energy is a 48-hour window, find out exactly when you ovulate by tracking your basal body temperature. 

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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Many people think that the energy of the Ovulation 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 - I've found that trying to sit still and tackle a to-do list can feel like a punishment at this time.

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. 

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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

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5. Complete this cycle's Bleed List. 

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

It's time to get things done! Have you ever felt the compulsive urge to deep clean your kitchen cabinets or organize your email in this phase? It's like Ovulation energy meets Luteal tidying up, you can become super focused for a few days.

​A word of caution, although this cycle is nearing an end, don't try to fit in things that you don't feel inspired to do. 

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6. 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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Create a yearly, seasonal Bleed List. 

Once you get comfortable with a monthly Bleed List, you may start to notice the same energetic trends throughout the calendar year or seasons. Notice the things you tend to put off in the Summer or Winter and what you'd rather do in the Fall or Spring. Feel how Full Moon or Ovulation energy can feel different in the Winter than in the Summer. Use your awareness of these energetic nuances to plan your personal + professional life. 

​If anything ever feels like a 'should,' wait until it's a 'YES' or let it go - I promise it will be easier and better than expected if you do what feels right, when it feels right. 

Make empowered decisions year-round by honoring your Inner (Menstrual) Rhythm with External (Seasonal and Lunar) Rhythms in this blog. 

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"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 breaks my heart because YOU ARE A MAGICAL, CYCLICAL BEING who does not operate best in a linear fashion. 

"Just because you don't have it all figured out doesn't mean you're behind. Your timing is your timing. What's unfolding for you is very sacred. You're being prepared for it. Every little thing is adding up even when it doesn't always make sense.
​Start trusting in divine timing. All is well."
- @MoonOmens

By creating your Bleed List, you will being to notice trends in your energy and interest levels, you will build the trust and connect to your intuition.

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. Some cultures 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. Things that I nervously allowed to drop from my Bleed List that 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. 

Next: Manifest with the Moon, you Divine Cyclical Being!