Progress not perfection: 100 days of positive self-talk

I am a work in progress. Every day I practice. Every day I get a little better and believe a little more that I can. I am focusing on progress not perfection on this creative and personal journey.

I drew the sketches above a few days ago and decided to count it as a day of my 100 days of drawing and positive self-talk. Day 37 to be precise. I kept messing up and not capturing what I wanted to share which was about me gazing at the full moon.

I want it to be perfect or at least good

And I realized, story of my life, that I wasn’t willing to share it with others if it wasn’t really good. I always say I’m not a perfectionist but I am concerned and worried with others judgments of me and my art, my body, my being. Although their judgments can’t be nearly as harsh as mine, which is why I am on this journey of perfectly imperfect action.

Positive self talk doesn’t mean pretending everything is okay. It means being real, telling myself the truth and honoring where I am in the moment with compassion and acceptance.

Celebrating the journey

Today I made it to day 40, here are two more of my others drawings and thoughts. I am celebrating making it this far in my 100 day journey.

Doing this #100dayproject has definitely made me more conscious of my thoughts all the time and how much I need to focus on staying positive and not drifting into the habit of dissing myself. It’s a practice.

Behave like a Bodhisattva

I read a wonderful article today in Lion’s Roar Magazine on How to behave like a Bodhisattva. Step 2 is ethical discipline which requires us to be attentive to all of our actions of body, speech and thought. I am sitting with this thought and practice today. How can I deepen my practice of ethical discipline?

I am thinking today about my non-negotiables for self-care. What am I willing to be more disciplined about and committed too when it comes to my health? Big questions that will take some time to unravel.