The Experiment: Day 102 ~ Charting My Course For The Year Ahead, Body, Mind, Spirit & More…

There is no day before this day. Today I am beginning to write a new story for the rest of my life.

Today I am laying down the foundation for the year ahead, for Body, Mind, and Spirit. Everything else that I do will rest upon these things.

Body: I am firmly committed to the Ketogenic Lifestyle. It has become a spiritual path for me and to that end falls, really, under Body & Spirit, but I shall put it here. Riding my recumbent bicycle every day. I am starting again after many lapses but I will not allow myself to lapse this year unless I am physically sick. I am starting at only 10 minutes a day to set the practice firmly in place but will grow to 60 minutes a day (2-30 minute periods) over the course of a year adding 5 minutes to my regimen as I feel I am able.

Mind: Weekly therapy. Medication management until I am safely able to go off all medication which I feel I will be able to do over the course of the next year due to diet and other practices. Daily Meditation.

Spirit: I have joined The Open Heart Project sangha guided by my teacher Susan Piver and will meditate with she and the community daily, starting at 10 minutes a day and working up to one hour over the course of the year. My spiritual/sacred work/practice will begin with this daily blog and branch out into many other kinds of writing in the coming year. In the deepest sense I am a writer, I have written seriously since I was 9 years old, and now, at 63, I am committing myself to writing as my life’s work. Anything else I do will grow out of this. I cannot separate Spirit and Work because my work is my spiritual practice, and my spiritual practices guide and inform all of my life.

Word For The Year: Abundance. In every area of my life. Each day I will write in my Logbook ways in which I see abundance in my life, every conceivable kind of abundance, to remind myself how much I truly have and how grateful I am for it all.

Color For The Year: Rose Pink, representing a heart full of love.

Stone For The Year: Citrine (For joy, happiness and abundance.)

How I Entered The New Year: From 10:30 p.m. onward I watched documentaries that helped me affirm and commit to my core beliefs and practices for the coming year. Mindfulness, and Happiness as a practice. I started by watching a documentary on Bhutan who says that their “Gross National Product” is happiness. It is truly one of the most extraordinary places on the planet. And I watched the wonderful documentary called Mindfulness: Be Happy Now, it is a 3 day rental and I intend to watch it several times in the days ahead. It’s basis is in the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and the film is centered around segments of the beloved Vietnamese Buddhist monk sharing his teachings. Many wonderful inspiring people appear in this documentary and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I went to sleep at 1:30 having already stepped onto my path for the year ahead. This commitment is deep and strong.

My Daily Logbook: I call it a Logbook because it is just that, not a journal. It is the Moleskine page-a-day calendar book, this year Alice in Wonderland. You can see it below, I love the quote. I fill each page every day with notes about the day so I can look back and know what I did every day. I am charting, and recording, my life in 2018.

My Oracle Deck For This Year: This was a Christmas gift from a dear friend and I treasure it and it is perfect for this year. Each day I will draw a card to keep me steadfast on the journey to love. I know, I feel it deep inside, that this year will be a year in which I am to give and receive love abundantly and in ways that will change my life. I welcome it, I feel so much joy about it, I am ready for it. Let the Lovefest begin!

Talismans: This year I purchased two small prints by Amanda Grace. One represents being true to yourself, the other is all about love. The images are so deeply personal I decided not to picture them here but they are very powerful for me. One goes on each side of my computer to remind me what this year is about. I highly recommend finding something(s) you can look at every day all year to remind you of who you are, what you want to achieve this year, as well as being a reminder that you have everything you need already, it is inside you, believe this to be true. It is so.

And so as I head into the year ahead I have these things carefully selected and put firmly in place. I need do no more this year than what I have written. Everything, my goals for body, mind, and spirit, my sacred work, my color, my word, my gemstone, my Logbook, my Oracle deck and more provide a firm foundation under me for this year. I have built it to support myself every day, in every moment, all year long. What are you doing to set yourself on a course that will support you this year? Plan it now, plant it deeply in your heart and in your daily life, and there’s no way you will not succeed to achieve your plans and goals and dreams for this year. And you are not alone, I am right here with you. Come here and talk to me in the comments below, I will answer you, I will support you in the year ahead. I am offering my work, this year, on a donation basis. The paypal link is near the top of the right hand column. These are my love offerings and my deep work. Even if you can’t afford to donate never fear, I am here for you too. I am learning to value my time and gifts and talents, finally, and you should too.

Each one, reach one, and love, always love. And Happy 2018! We’re gonna ROCK this year!

 

 

The Experiment ~A 365 Day Search For Truth, Beauty &
Happiness: Day 1 ~ Introduction To The Project
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
Yoda