The Experiment: Day 342 ~ More About Joining Me On September 24 With Your Own 365 Day Project!

“She Is Happy Sleeping In Her Chair With Her Pugs
(Even though everyone thinks she should be sleeping in her bed.)…”

First of all why should you do it? Because maybe it’s time you say what you have to say. (It would also be helpful if you would read yesterday’s blog post about this to further understand what I am proposing.)

In the picture above you see Anna sleeping with her pugs in her recliner chair. I, too, sleep in my recliner chair with my pugs. And everyone worries about it. It is something my therapist wants to “work on,” getting me back to sleeping in my bed. Well I haven’t slept much in a bed since I left my marriage in 1999, I especially haven’t slept much and not for a very long time now, in my bed since the fire (If the fire had started a little later and the pugs and I were asleep back there we would have died in the fire that night, there would have been no way out.) But furthermore, I love my big recliner. I have talked about it before and people laugh. This chair is actually called “The Beast” and will hold a man up to 400 pounds (Mine is the big brown one on the right in the picture.). It is huge and it is the most comfortable chair I have ever had and I love it. Period. End of story. I don’t need to work it out in therapy. The pugs and I are happy and sleep well there. Leave us alone! That’s what that picture at the top of this post says. What do you need to say to the world in your own way? Or share, or work out in blog posts, or write or develop or work on creating a business or make art or work on a book or any other thing under the sun.

A dear one wrote to me after yesterday’s post that she was thinking about joining all of us who are going to do our own 365 day projects together, using the comments section of this blog’s posts each day after I post my post of the day with a link to their own blog’s daily post, we will be accountability partners for each other. There is a tremendous power in creating in community. I have been doing this for 20 years in various circles and groups and communities I have run and it is truly magical. Here’s what I wrote to this woman…

“Ah Dear One, let me tell you something…

Last night I drew Anna and her pugs again, you will see it sometime today. I didn’t get a chance to paint much of it last night. And then I got up this morning, just sat down at my desk, haven’t even had my first sip of coffee yet, and my first thought was, “OH MY GOD!!! WHAT WAS I THINKING??? Spend the next year drawing Anna’s story and writing her book? Impossible!!!!”

I felt somewhat like that last year starting the current 365 day project but the stakes feel higher now, it is a goal with a purpose. And what happens if at the end of the year there is no book? Well, I’ll tell you what, if that’s what happens that’s what will happen, BUT, based on the outcome of this year’s experiment I think I can do it, and further I will BE here every day doing my level best. What this year has taught me, and oh Lordy there have been days I didn’t know how I would do a blog post at all, but I asked myself, “Maitri, if not this, then what? What else are you doing that is so all-fired important that you can’t write a simple little blog post? It can be short, a picture and a few words, but you will feel awful tomorrow if you didn’t do it…” One single blog post, that’s all I had to do on any given day. And today will be Day 342. And my whole life has been changed for the better in so many ways for having done it.

And Anna and her book, well, it’s more daunting because I am not an experienced artist, I have no training, and I am flying by the seat of my pants with every single little drawing, but I’m DOING IT. One day, one drawing, at a time. And at the end of the year maybe I won’t have a book ready yet but I’ll sure have a lot of it done and I’ll have a LOT more experience under my belt. And I’m really scared but I’m going to do it.

There is strength in numbers. Creating in community is awesome. And I would love to have you with me on the journey with your own project. Imagine how you will feel at the end. I’m telling you sister, you will be over the moon…”

And to another dear one I wrote, “I can promise you a 365 day blog challenge is life-changing. And it doesn’t matter what you blog about as long as it is something meaningful to you. More important is the act of showing up each day and doing it, developing a practice. This works magic in our lives. I can’t wait to finish this challenge and start the next but then again I’m in no rush. I’m about to write #342. There’s still time left, and heaven only knows what else might happen between now and then!”

I can honestly tell you that I am a different person with a different life for having done this experiment. So many doors have opened, so many changes have been made, there have been so many gifts and so much magic I can tell you with complete confidence that you will be forever changed by joining us. We start Monday, September 24, the day after I complete this current project. Again read yesterday’s post for more details. As we go along between now and then I will put some helpful ideas for creating your own 365 day project. Are you ready to change your life? I know I am. I hope you’ll join us!

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

Comments

  1. katya taylor says

    i love how you understand that when “two or more gather” in the name of something, the power is exponentially magnified! which is how i have been doing my writing prompts for many years now (either in a class group or one on one in person or with a pen pal).

    i love that you want to lift everyone up, not just yourself.

    and, i have a request. I want you to stop saying I’m Scared. You say it much too often. You aren’t afraid to write, paint, sleep in your recliner with your pugs. That is your LIFE, Maitri. Don’t be afraid of what the muse calls out to you, ever.

    ok sermon over!

    (Maybe you think everyone is scared so you’re trying to say you are too, but instead, we can be saying I CAN DO IT, I WILL DO IT, I AM CALLED TO DO IT!)

    ok, NOW sermon over!!! xo ka

    • Katya, first of all, thank you. It is important to me to create and work in community, and lifting other people up has always been part of what I wanted to do.

      And you have not read my blog all along for the 11 years it’s been going I don’t think but the underlying theme for me has always been, Okay, I’m scared, and I’m dealing with bipolar disorder or whatever, but I can DO this and so can you. People are scared, they are uncertain, I have had a lot of people write to me since I put yesterday’s post up here, on different pages on Facebook, on Instagram, and they are all saying essentially the same thing, that they WANT to do this but they are afraid, they don’t know if they can. And so yes dearheart I will say that I’m afraid and that despite it all I will DO this thing, I have DONE this thing and you, whoever “you” are and whatever your limitations or difficulties, can do this too. It is important to me to lift people up out of the place of fear and uncertainty and show them that they can do more than they think they can. I have accomplished quite a lot in the face of scary things and life’s limitations. We need people who are willing to be honest and vulnerable and tell the truth. It’s how people feel less alone, it’s how they come to believe, seeing me go through so many bad days but continue on, that they can too.

      I have seen this born out for a very long time with my blog and other writing and work. I know what you are saying and I appreciate it but this is my truth and it is right for me.

      Love you sister,

      M. xoxox

      • katya taylor says

        ok, i hear you maitri. you are afraid, you are scared, and so are other people.
        by sharing your fears, discouragement, depression, sorrow, you also invite other people to go past their own armor and share their own vulnerabilities.

        still, as long as you really mean it, and aren’t just saying it for AFFECT.

        and i trust that you aren’t.

        xo
        ka

        • Katya, I would not, could not and never have written or said anything for affect! That would be disingenuous. I was rather shocked to even read that you wrote such a thing!

          Gracious!

          • Well, I think we don’t always need to say we’re scared, but we often are (at least I am) and we do “it” — whatever it is, anyway.

            That’s the spirit of your posts, I think, and how I try to live myself.

          • It is indeed my intention Lisa, and I hope that comes across. Over the years I have had a great many people thank me for being so honest because it made them feel less alone. When I write that I am hurting or afraid it is in attempt to help others who are suffering TO feel less alone and then to show them that despite it all I hang in, I keep trying, I survive, and others can too. That is my deepest wish and I hope I accomplish that…

  2. Beverley Paulsen says

    ✌🏽💙🌹

  3. Qui belle!

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