Hey there, friends —

For those of you following along the life and times of my crazy life, you may know that I’m past the halfway mark of a 100 day Gong.

Day 70 to be exact.

For those who are new: A 100 Day Gong is when you take on spiritual/physical practices of your choosing, in order to move forward and more deeply the transformation you’re wanting in your life.

The tenets of this Buddhist-based practice are: truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

And the idea is that in 100 days time, unhealthy habits can be broken — and healthy habits can be established.

Good things, right?

Well, for those who do this in Communist China (where the peaceful Taoist practice started) it’s actually something that can cost you your life. Not kidding. People are dying for their practice of peace.

Here in our Western culture, we’ve taken the spirit of the Gong and adapted it to our desires.  Someone may want to meditate for 5 minutes a day as their gong.  Another may want to focus  the consciousness on their breath. While another may want to knit or jog or write a memoir for an hour a day.

For me, I chose to take items from my ‘I want to/should be/need to do this’ list and I made it part of my Gong.

Now, let me just say this, before I share my list.  I don’t think that I quite considered how ambitious mine was until I hit day 63 and wished it were only a 63 Day Gong.

Here’s what I created (and yes, I made them all ‘p’s’  it’s just worked out because I’m weird that way:

For my Peace: Yoga 5-7 days a week.
For my Purpose: Writing an hour a day 5-7 days a week.
For my Passion: Studying Italian 15 minutes a day.
For my Pleasure: Reading 15 minutes a day.
For my Project: De-cluttering 15 minutes a day.

So…if you do the math, that means that on my longest day, I’m looking at about a 3 hour Gong.

Which really required me to think about my day and maximizing my time.

Those are the specs, but here are some of the things I’m noticing about having a Gong.

1. I am clearer about my form and order of my day. When you know you have three hours of work you have to do, you make things work in a more streamlined fashion.

2. It killed the voice in my head. The nagging list of “I should be doing this…” is pretty much gone because I incorporated so many of the naggers into my gong.

3. It’s focusing me. The other areas of my life that were fuzzy or undefined got swept up into the focused and defined energy of my gong.  So not only were the items on my Gong list focused, but also the other areas of my life like making meals, cleaning the house, and time with the kids.

4. It’s helping me as a mom. I’m a good mom and a growing mom. Defining my Gong helped me to be clearer about what my boys needed to be doing in their life with greater order.  Whether it was their homework or thank you cards or cleaning their bathroom.  There was less hemming and hawing in my own life about my responsibilities and it translated into me being a clearer communicator and leader in theirs. The Gong was containing all of us in a more secure, strong and clear way.  Super cool.

5. My communication is clearer in general. My need to talk about bullshit things became less. Content and quality reigned in a greater way.

6. My husband is inspired. My husband told me more times than I could count how inspired he’s been by what I’m doing with the Gong.  He’s been a reflection to me of the progress.

7. I am proud of me. I have said these words more than I can tell you. When we finish 10-15 full minutes of Sun Salutations in yoga (I used to have to stop after a minute) and I put my hands in front of my heart in a prayer pose, I give a little clap.  I hear myself saying often throughout the day, “I’m proud of me.”  That is so much better than the berating voice I had in my head for years. This is much nicer. Trust me.

I could go on.

My muscles are stronger.
My head is clearer.
My e-mail has gone down from 6600 – 2900.
My patience is greater.
My dreams are more revealing.
My business is growing.
My mind is more peaceful.
My presence to others is more focused.
My cravings for sugar are decreased.
My coaching is sharper.
My appreciation for nature is deeper.
My endurance for meditation is longer.
My gratitude for people is stronger.

Notice that none of those above items are on my original gong? But they are part of the result of my gong in my life.

It’s wild.

And there were days when I was like, “Man. How am I going to get it all in?”

And what I noticed on those busiest of busy days?  When I was tempted to get really out of balance — not eat, not exercise, not do anything pleasurable but just work, work, work for the deadlines, the Gong went, “Nuh-uh.  You promised.”  And I would do my Gong and come back to center.  It centered me.

At the end of each Gong task, I put a little heart on the sheet I had created.

It felt satisfying and good because this Gong really was created from my heart to do something great in my life. Without realizing it, it’s been my way of loving me.

This going has required something from me, yes —

But what it’s given to me is so much more that what it’s required of me.

And for that, and so much more

I am so freaking,
gonging,
grateful.

<3