My 100 Day Projects

With the 100 Days of Building Creativity E-Course beginning on June 16th, I've been preparing and reflecting on where I've been, and thought I'd share with you the content of my past and future 100 day projects.

The First 100 Days

When I did my first 100 days in 2014, with author and soul alchemist Stacey Robbins, I incorporated daily yoga and a gratitude practice.

I needed more gratitude as I was struggling with perfectionism and all that was not right in my world. So I chose to write (actually write) what I was grateful for everyday and on Fridays, to do a special gratitude practice by Brené Brown called TGIF, where I reflected on the week as a whole and wrote what I was Trusting in, Grateful for, Inspired by, and how I was practicing my Faith.

​I definitely cultivated more joy, and even though I don't do it everyday, I can tell big time when I let large periods go by where I am not in some way acknowledging gratitude. I'll usually include some things I'm grateful for in daily journaling, or just begin my day by focusing on being grateful before I even sit up in bed.

The Second 100 Days

The next 100 days I did in 2015, I was a little bit more ambitious and I really wanted to make some lasting habit changes in my life that I knew would support me in so many ways.

I focused on my body, mind and spirit with yoga, meditation, and greens. I actually never stopped doing my daily yoga from the first 100 days, so I continued with my daily yoga (even if only corpse pose, meaning laying on your back), I meditated for at least 5 minutes, and I had a green juice, smoothie, or salad daily (actually didn't start this until day 7, so know if something comes to you late that's okay).

The Third 100 Days

I didn't do any 100 day projects in 2016, or technically, I did three and half because I did a 366 experiment building with LEGO bricks everyday for a year. Never say never, but in 2017 I was more than ready to return to 100 day projects. I felt a calling to share this practice of daily sustained commitment that I had gained so much from over the years, and so I decided to make an E-Course called 100 Days of Building Creativity so that others could join and be supported. So for my third 100 days, I was also journeying with 25 other brave souls who had committed to building creativity into their lives for 100 days too. We had a diverse group who were focused on things like meditation, art, health, spirituality, a new skill, and more. It was amazing. ​

My practice this time grew out of a desire to really connect with myself and God, rewire myself for some new habits, and unlock my intuition. I did daily tea meditation, and intuitive art on rice paper after some song and dance. I also felt called to journal daily about my practice. This 100 days was also the first time my spouse participated with me. We always said we wanted to pray together daily but yet we never did consistently, so we committed together to reading a psalm and praying. 

The 4th 100 Days

I honestly wasn't sure if I would be motivated to commit to and facilitate another session of the 100 Days of Building Creativity E-Course in 2018. Even when I'm not doing an official 100 day project, I'm still always doing a daily practice because of what I've learned from my 100 day projects, so I wasn't sure if I really wanted to commit to something else.  But hearing two people I care about say they are ready to commit to daily practices to help them with their lives and health, I knew I was ready to help create a space for that transformation and that this was the time.

I practiced 100 Days of Love with Spirit. I always love to encourage others, and it felt like more than ever it was the right time to do my part to plant generous seeds of love in the world without any expectation of return, hopefully in a hidden or unseen manner if I can (the book Unseen by Sara Hagerty has reinforced this lately). This creative courage quote by Michael Card from my 366 project also spoke to my desire, "Artists in medieval times did not sign their work. Their art was a gift meant to point away from themselves and toward the God who gave it."

This 100 Days of Love ending up turning into the inspiration for my book on self-compassion, Rooted In Love.

The 5th 100 Days

I wasn't going to run a 100 Days of Building Creativity E-Course in 2019 (because I was working on having a book ready as guide for the following year), but I had already collected all the quotes, so I decided why not give my newsletter subscribers an on-demand experience for free. 

The 6th 100 Days

I spent this 100 Days final editing the book I had secretly written the first draft to during the 3rd 100 Days.  But this time I shared what I was doing and how the writing process was going for me. 

The 7th 100 Days

In 2021 we used the book I finished during the 6th 100 Days: Practice Pilgrimage. My practice was to spend time dwelling and learning from my equine herd of three each day.