It is my conviction that slight changes in imagination
have more impact on living than major efforts at change.
Thomas Moore

 

Please note that the first listing at the top of the right sidebar contains the 2021 Creative Energy Report MP3 file. I invite you to listen today. Make a note in your calendar to listen again near the spring equinox, again at the summer solstice, again at the fall equinox, and lastly at the close of 2021. This our ‘Year of Change’ when the primary opportunity and adventure are to learn new ways to grow beyond negativity.

I’ve been reflecting upon the 100 Day Challenge that I began on August 1, 2020. At that time I was nearing the close of my thirty-six chapters, chronicled here as weekly posts, exploring my Nineteen-Year-Olds Rite of Passage started in January.

I knew that for my health and well-being it was important to consciously choose the direction that I was going to take with the cliff-hanger of an election up ahead. I researched and reviewed tools for balance and selected the framework of the Eight Worldly Dharmas for my 100 Day experiment.

The Eight Worldly Dharmas outlines four pairs of opposites. These opposites help us to recognize the ways in which we bounce back and forth. There is what we think we want and there is what we think we don’t want. The dharma (teaching) is to notice. Notice. Notice while practicing the Middle Way, what I view as standing in the Center.

These two lists of pairs are referred to respectively as attachment and aversion.

ATTACHMENT

We think we want:

pleasure

gain

praise

fame

AVERSION

We think we don’t want:

pain

loss

blame

disgrace

We are constantly grasping and/or resisting these opposites. This pattern is not wrong or bad. However, it can lead to confusion, overwhelm, and exhaustion. The opportunity is to stand between these opposites and be objective. We might say on any given day, “I am a person experiencing pleasure.” At another time we might take ten steps back and say, ” I am a person experiencing loss.” Give this exercise a try. Choose any one of the eight worldly dharmas and observe how it feels to experience that. There is tremendous freedom in this education. We might imagine, “I am a person experiencing blame.” We stop and feel what that feels like. To be blamed. To be ostracized. To be ‘less than’. We feel that. It may take some time to gain the outcome of recognizing that we are all in this together and that we have all struggled with this bounce. Coming closer to any one of these eight and seeing the universality in its effect, can bring us freedom. As Marianne Williamson said in one of her weekly talks long ago. “No one wakes up in the morning and says, ‘I think I’ll be a jerk today.’ They may be experiencing loss, pain, blame, or disgrace. You get the idea. We might have compassion, we might remember a day when we walked in those same, or similar, shoes.

I took on my project. I found a 100 Day Challenge template online, printed and taped it to my studio door. At the end of each day, for 100 days, I used a variety of bright and colorful markers filling in the numbered icons representing each day. I wasn’t rigid or obsessive, I looked upon the 100 Days as an art project, a creative game. I was interested in seeing what kind of balance I could experience and express without saying anything to anyone. It was my Magical Mystery Tour. I had just finished reading Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and this brought an additional layer of gravity to the project.

Ignorance is no protection from the consequences of inaction.
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

I began on August 1. I was plotting the days to make my way beyond the presidential election of Nov. 3. I was curious to see if I would be able to maintain a state of well-being ‘no-matter-what’ the outcome. I was aware of the trauma that lurked. I wrote into my journal on the 17th day:

I refuse to give my power away. I refuse to give my precious human energy of heart and mind to the insane control of consciousness dictated by the madman in the White House. The only action that I have control over is my thinking. I am being vigilant in recognizing the power of my choices.

I am not going to ignore what is happening. I am educating myself. 

Your heart is such a fine, fine brush and your feelings are its paints.
Today is the only canvas. 
Drinking from the River of Light by Mark Nepo

I found tremendous support in this experiment. So much so that I have a vision of hosting an upcoming Challenge as part of my winter studio online programs. If you are interested in learning more let me know and I’ll make sure you are in the loop. Email me now, simply copy/paste: drozda@donnaionadrozda.com 

Note in the subject line: The UP^-coming challenge

I have for many years offered workshops on creative map-making. For the up-coming free challenge, I will be sharing daily 3-minute LIVE stream video sessions. The map that we will explore is what I refer to as the Circadian Circle. In these daily short sound bites, you will be able to make a creative power tool that prevents overwhelm and confusion when applied to whatever area of your life calls for a more creative, enlivening approach. 

(c) Drozda, Circadian Circle, 2021

Everyone has his or her own unique map or model of the world, and no one map is any more “true” or “real” than any other. Rather, the people who are most effective are the ones who have a map of the world that allows them to perceive the greatest number of available choices and perspectives. They have a richer and wider way of perceiving, organizing, and responding to the world.
Sleight of Mouth by Robert Dilts

 

What maps help you navigate the journey? Leave a comment or suggestion here or via email … we grow together. Thanks for being here.