My little place in space...

Another challenge about planning better :) One area that I know can save both time and lessen the stress: groceries shopping!! In our household we didn't hav a car until our youngest daughter was about 17 (if I remember correctly). But we were able to borrow one to go shopping once a month. I made this list with the typical items that we normally used and went over what was need every month. Then, once a week, I would go over what was on sale for that week and make a dinnerplan thereafter. It didn't take much time to do this and we never had to drag tired kids to the store each day. When I was studying computer programming, it showed me how much you can save if you do the groundwork properly before you even start programming. It amazes me to see how much money programs costs today and when they break down, they are so poorly made from the start that it cost additional money and a lot of headache to try and fix it. Oh, I miss that type of work ;-)

It is interesting how much you suddenly start thinking about an issue when you are addressing each days challenge. I really enjoy every day and take it as a new area to look at, just for what it is. When this is over I will have several 100 days gongs to work on. It's a fun way to commit to doing something that you've put aside for far too long.

The excercise today is to imagine yourself in the future, lying on your deathbed. It is time to take a look at your life. What are you grateful for, what brought you most joy. What regerets do you have? Do you feel like you have waisted you life on some areas? Was it worth it? What made you take that path in life? Sit with the emotions that comes up as you go over your life. If your future self where speaking to you here and now, what advice would see give you? Write down what ever comes to mind. And remember to allow the feelings to flow along. Commit to your future self to making changes where they need to. ”This practice can be your guiding light for years to come. It'll help you stay on track and invest your time in the right people, activities, dreams, and possibilities.” This is something that I will take some better time to do, so I have put it on my gong list :)

Pedram once again uses the garden as an example, when he talks about using it as a tool to relax :) You don't need a garden, place pots on the balcony or if you only have window space, great. The idea is to plant a seed and tend to it and watch it grow. Is the goal to bring out a flower to enjoy its beauty or is it going to be something you can eat? Both will recieve gratitude and even more so, because you have nurtered it from a seed :) When I was sick, I found it very relaxing working in the garden. Sadly I had a very low periode for a couple of years and everything more or less was overtaken by weeds :/ We have cleaned up and removed almost every flowerbed. When we sell the house we want to live where we can have wild flowers and things can grow more freely. Having a garden that is too neat can also turn on you and suddenly become a duty and the whole idea of stress relief is gone. So don't go overboard, just start with something small :)

Stay under your breath means not getting so far ahead of yourself that you need to stop for recovery. Today is about looking at your life and be honest about how you've been running it. Pedram talks about getting out of breath when you do too much too fast and the need to stay focused to prevent this. Again, check the workload, delegate, rearrange etc. Remember to do the same in your private life as well.

”Your eternal self is the gem you've been looking for, and it is inside you. When you whittle away all the noise and pretending, you will find the real you. Take the time to reflect on this today and your relationship with time will never be the same. The eternal aspect of you is the real you.” This need much more time to dig deeper into :)

I amazes me how many angles there is to look at how we spend our time. And today is about planning for those things that take more of your time and therefor more of your energy. Once again we take a look at the calendar to see what is coming up of bigger things that need to be done. Try and see if there is anything scheduled on not so energetic times of the day and rearrange them if possible. Bigger things that needs attention will require that something else will need to be set aside for later. Delegate smaller things that can not wait, so you can keep your focus. In the end it will get things done quicker so you can have time to relax too :)

As long as I can remember going back, I've always taken notes and made to-do-lists. But then again, I'm also the type of person who likes to have things in order, otherwise I miss the big picture..... or rather the details....lol Workwise, I used to make piles, 1. priorety, 2. priorety etc. That way, I always got the most important stuff out of the way. At least, it worked for me and my job then. At home, living with a man who was away 3-4 weeks (or longer) at a time, I came up with a to-do-list for the house. I mangage a lot of things, but leave everything that has to do with something electrical for my husband.....lol Besides, he's not one to sit still for hours anyways. So instead of keep telling him about something that needed attention and he forgot, I made a to-do-list for each and every room in the house and also one for the outsides. So when he got home, when ever he felt like it, he would go over the list and see if he wanted to fix any of the items..... ...

”Today let's kick it a bit old school. Let's roll back to how our species used to communicate before technology.” YES! I miss some of the old ways of communicating. I have said it before, I like technology …. if it's used properly. When it comes to communicating we suck these days!!! I don't have many people close to me, but when the two last calls I've recieved on my phone have been from our realestate agent, that's an indicator for how often my phone rings....lo Oh well, everything is exactly as it should be here and now :) So back to todays challenge. To observe other people and their non-verbal communication. A stare, rolling eyes, shoulder shrug etc. It made me realize that I don't really have much eye contact with people anymore. When most of those I meet is so busy with their phones, listening to audios /music, etc. I can see that I am turning my head away, looking at anything BUT the people I meet, because there has been no feedback f...

We get bombarded with news, adverts and lots of other stuff at every time of day. Pedram suggest to choose for yourself what you want to listen to. Find a podcast or audibook that is of interest to you. And we should stimulate ourselves by learning about new things, but why doing it half? Why not give it your full attention? Do one thing at a time. So remember not to multitask ;-)

When you lead a busy life, the meals can often be the ones that doesn't get the most attention and care. So it saves time to pick up some fastfood on the way and then heat up something in the microwave for dinner …. and your digestion will in the long run, not be your friend :/ I've picked up my shares of pizza until I began to be more aware about my food. And the idea of having my meal zinged with microvawes is one of the biggest reasons why I never eat out. But todays challenge is to really focus on your meal, where does everything on your plate come from, how is the texture, what does is taste like etc. …. and be thankful. It reminded me of a lecture I was attending a few years back. It involved a raisin. That was one of the most intens experiences I've had and made a hugh impact on how I saw what food I was eating. All participants recieved one single raisin. I can not recall every step, but we started by smelling it, then put it between our lips, not tast...

Ever since I got married and had kids, spending time with my family was first priority. We went for walks, or riding our bikes, we played fun games and just had a great time together. Today it's just me and my husband in the house and the two of us enjoy going for walks in nature. That is the main ”us” time and unless the weather is bad we go once or twice a day when ever he is off his shifts. So make sure you set some time off to spend some quality time with your loved ones, because you never know what the future brings.

Another 10 days!!! YAY!!!! I'm really proud that I have been consistent to doing a chapter each day. I can, however, see that it is focused on people who are living busy lifes, but I just take what I feel is okay for now and do what I can. So this is what I've gathered that I will take a closer look at: Combine a dream journal with the daily diary notes. This would envolve that I start dreaming again...lol After that dream I had, I've only had one more that I can recall, and funny enough both times was after watching tv. So not so sure I can get much out of those....lol But will have it in mind to when they come back again. Making a regular note in the calendar regarding ”cleaning out”, maybe every 3 months. Let's see how it goes. Working more deeply on the ”digesting moments”. Not anything specifics on how to or what to yet. Like power naps, I will be doing more of the ”Doing nothing” or just small focused breathings. Cutting people...

Today is about looking back at some eventful days and also for future events to happend. Can we prepare ourselves to be fully present when the day is here and what can be learned from previous days and the way they were handled? And how can we create events to bring more excitement in our lives. If it's a new experience it must depend on what that is before you can know if any other events experience can be used that day. I think it is more of a different experience when it revolves around big emotions. How attached you are to the person or pet or what the natur of it is. Birth and death are two events that are never the same. So you may be able to prepare yourself the next time and find that some things are familiar to the last time. I can see it being easier when it's something practical in an event though....lol Have something to look forward to. My husband and I decided a year ago to sell the house and make a life closer to his job. So we have made a vision board ...

So todays challenge is not an easy one … I know. Although there are several ways to how you do this and not the way that I did it the first time, but Pedram suggest that you make a list of all the people you spend the most time with. From your family, coworkers, people you regularly bump into etc. Take some time to think about what you do together with each person and how they make you feel afterwords. Do you feel uplifted or drained of energy? My husband and I have done this ”weeding out” before. First it was family. If there are genuine feelings among family members, the occasional indifference will come and go, but in this case (this is my husbands siblings and their families) it was more just someone we didn't really have anything in common with and ended feeling obligated to visit. And it left us drained afterwords. Never regretted the desicion. We never had many friends. We are the kind of people who have one or two close friends that we can trust and be there for ...

Deceleration = slowing down to allow for sleep. When I was younger I loved to read in bed as a way of slowing down before sleep. But I can't remember if my sleep was better or worse because of it. But on the other hand, I didn't get to bed very late either and I think I was pretty good at managing my time during the day. The need for routines was nessecary in the house as my husband (a man at sea) was away for 3-4 weeks at a time, so me and our 2 girls needed to have a daily routine for our selves. The most important routine was not going to bed to late and up again with enough time to have a good start in the morning. The few times when I have been running late because the alarmclock failed, messed up the whole day....lol I never understood the placing of the tv in the bedroom. Never had one there and never will. Even the light from a clockradio is actually a stimulation that the brain could do without. But again, we are so very different in how we are affected ...

Sitting down for 10 minutes or more and do just nothing, that is no easy task. And as Pedram says, it takes Zen monks years to master it. We live in a world where we are on from the moment we open our eyes and until we go to bed.....for some, even in their sleep :/ So how do we bring balance to this full speed way of living? People do different things to relax, but the thing is, they are still doing something. See, we may be different in what we feel is the right thing to do to reach that state of stillness, that deeper sense of calm or whatever you want to call it. This is actually a question that I have asked several people over the last couple of years. For someone who knows first hand what damage stress can cause and how hard it is to find something that calms the body AND mind, without medication, searching for an answer to this has been one of the things I've focused on. The closest I've come to an answer is meditation and focusing on my breathing. But again, I...

My head can not really grasp what this time stuff means. Watched the Time Dilation Qigong Practice and it seems too hard to do with those rapid eyemovements. Think it's better to let this one go for now. Will make a note to try and get back to it at some other time.

Today is all about our meals and taking the our time with it. It's funny to think back to a time before this journey began. Even then I wasn't a fan of fastfood / processed foods. I would rather make things from scratch and nothing to complicated. We are all energy and so is the food we eat. The last 2-3 years we have slowly changed our eating habits to buy organic as much as possible for several reasons. Like, we want to regulate our intake of all the toxins that are filled in our produce today and the plants and animals should be treated well before we eat them. And with that change we are eating far less meat than we used to. On some level the gratitude has always been there that they are giving their lifes for us to eat, but now we are much more aware. I think gratitude when I shop and pick out the produce and again when I am preparing the meal. That way I try and keep the energy as loving as possible. So when I know when a day is a bit hectic and I will need to ...

This one is a must to work more deepy on, so will make a note right away. I'm going thrue some things right now that makes me questioning when to let go and when to deal with different things that happens. No matter if it's something old or something resently. I see it more and more that it is suggested to just take a deep breath and one should move on. But being an empath who feels very deeply, I find it very hard to do so. I have the need to understand what's happening and why before I let things go. So definetly need more time on this.....lol My husband and I had a long talk about this today and I remembered that I was suggested to read a book about shadow work, some time ago. Found it again and will have a read and see if I can get some answers from that one ;-)

I've always been a prolemsolver, or at least trying to solve the problems...lol And always the one with the ideas to get things started and to make sure things got rolling. I was also the one who did most of the tasks, because if people didn't do it I might as well do it myself. Yep, I was the bossy lady, but hey, I got things done … and fast ;-) The practical one with the sense of the details. So yes, I was multitasking BUT I always wrote things down on checklists AND I also used a calendar;-) I agree that focusing on one thing at a time is better as you give it all your attention. We see it today how people need to be everwhere at once and many times leave poor impressions or results. For ex. I find it very frustrating asking for help in a computer group on social media. You get several quick responses with halfhearted substans and when you ask if they can elaborate on that, they never reply because they're already gone to the next thing that catches their eye. So ...

We buy so much stuff – and for what? Does it make our lives better? Or as Pedram says ”Is it still serving you, or is it weighing you down?” Most of us have bought items we just had to have, having problems as to were to place it when we got home, ended up putting it somewhere for later..... never to give it another thought. My husband and I have the house up for sale, so we have alredy tossed away or given to secondhand stores, so much of our stuff and we far from finished. A good way to prepare yourself, is to make 3 piles (or boxes). So you have ”Keeping” ”Not sure” ”Tossing”. You can add another for ”Garagesale” or something like that. The hardest pile is ”Not sure” because most of the time it will contain stuff that you are attached to emotionally. I still have a wooden chest with my dads stuff and he's been gone 10 years now. One of these days ….. It's a bit late to go over that one tonight, so I will do my underware /socks drawer instead....lol Be right back ;...

I've always had very vivid dreams and no problems remembering them when I woke up. Until about 18 months ago, where there was a shift in the energies. Nothing but negative things happend to us or around us after that, like being jinxed or something. But the weird thing is, I haven't remembered a dream since then either. A lot of cleaning up is going on I believe, but I miss the dreams sometimes. Never payed much attention to what the dreams were about though, except for those 2 times where I woke up cause the smell of death was so strong. It wasn't that I was scared, just the smell that was so overwhelming I had a hard time breathing. Pedram says to try and think back if it could relate to something that was going on in ones life at the same time, but I can't recall. He also suggest to write a dream journal along with a diary. Then it will be easier to see if it relates to something going on here and now, or if it can be ruled out as a present sign. Sound li...

The first 10 gongs are done, so I thought a little evaluation was in order to pinpoint what I want to be working more deeply on when these 100 days are over. A bit confusing start as I was a bit unsure of what the purpose was by doing a gong EVERY day. Too me that seemed more stressful and timeconsuming. But thanks to the feedback from the Facebook group, I could see how it would work. The suggestion was to read a chapter each day and do the challenge / exercise or whatever. If it was something that I would feel like I would go more in depth with, I should make a note for a further extensive gong. All in all the book is primarely for people who lead a busy life. I, however, isn't busy working anymore. I do wish though, that I had this book in my hands before I got sick from stress. But, I believe that there's a lesson to be learned in all that we do, so I got sick for a reason … I haven't found that reason yet. Unless it was time for my own journey to start :) S...

If we try to track our every movement thrue the day in regarding of how much we sit and how much we move around, most of us will probably be surprised about the result. Because we sit when we drive, we sit when we eat etc. So add it all up and it will most likely be more than you actually thought. Energywork interests me, but todays gong is rubbing me a bit the wrong way or I just read something into it that is triggering something in me. ”Sitting is considered the new smoking, and there are multiple studies that show how terrible it is for our health. In fact, a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology ties stagnent lifestyle with a greater risk of mortality in both men and women.”!!! I don't like fearmongering statements like these, were studies has shown that this and that is bad for you etc. Studies and statistics are more and more beeing adjusted to serve a specific purpose, so I don't listen to much of that anymore. Use some common sense instead and s...

In todays gong, Pedram asks if you have an outlet for those thoughts that needs some extra time to be analysed or taken care of. Those thoughts that makes you a bit distant even when you are with others. Because it is those thoughts that stresses you if they are not handled. When I finally got to see a psychiatrist to help with the stress, he gave me this great explanation of what state my head/mind was in. ”Imagine your mind is a computer harddrive and once it gets full it can no longer hold any more information. Normally you will have a filter that allows you to sit across the table and have a conversation while you don't pay attention to everybody else that might be close by. You don't have that filter right now. It's like one big hole where ALL information that surrounds you comes right at you and you can not focus.” The reason why I wanted to tell that is to show how the mind can end up if you have too much unsorted thoughts that ends up stressing you instead. ...

This challenge I am going to skip because HIIT (High-intensity interval training) is not something that would benefit a body that's in a chronic stress mode. I can go with a good speed on my walks on days when I've had a good sleep etc. but not going for anything that will spike my pulse for a longer periode. Took me years to get it down! Lol I do a small exercise program that the physiotherapist made for me and I do a little bit of Chi Gong. Never been a sportsperson, just a hard worker ;-)

We want it all just because....... but remember to stop and B R E A T H !!!! I wrote about the importance of having me-time in Day 5, so I wont say much about it again today. But take it from someone who never took time for myself until that day, when my body and mind closed down...enough was enough. 10 years … it took 10 years of my life before I could have a normal day again. I thought about writing down all the downside that came after that, but I wont. Just because my body reacted that way, doesn't mean others will. It's more to stress out HOW important it is that you find that me-time. It can make all the difference for you and yours. And there is no right or wrong. Find what will work for you. My days always starts with a cup of coffee and reading. Apart from saying goodmorning to my husband if he's not away at work, I wont talk to anyone for the first hour or so. I must say that would be my main me-time right now. A woman I knew took 1 hour each day when s...

”The challenge of today's exercise is to isolate a moment when you're feeling anxious and use it as feedback for the way you experience time and life in those moments. The more awareness you can bring to this experience, the better you'll get at moving out of that feeling and, later on, the better you'll be at avoiding the reactions that lead to that state in the first place.” Almost everyone on my mothers side of the family have had some kind of anxiety, but it wasn't until I experienced it myself that I would understand how overwhelming it can be. Prior to my breakdown in 2004 I had episodes where I suddenly felt claustrophobic when riding in a buss and just had to get out and get some air. Those times gave me some long walks home :/ It all seemed to be triggered when I was mostly stressed, no matter if it was workwise or personal stuff. It could be a smell I couldn't cope with or load music maybe. Now, anxiety in it self is the fear of being afr...

I forgot to take the time to lie low, so I ended up burned out. That was back in 2004. Unfortunatly I didn't get the proper help in time, so I ended up on a disability pension. I had to learn how to be selfish by making ”me-time” whenever I need it. For me, most of the time it just entitles peace and quiet, no noise to disturb my time with me and just BE ….....and breath :) Going for a walk 1-2 times a day can also be "me-time". In our society today everything is going so fast. I asked my oldest daughter what she does to relax. I remember when she was young, she liked to go for a walk out to the beach and sit down reflecting over whatever it was that needed to be solved. But her answer today was, meeting a girlfriend on a café. So I said, okay, that sounds nice, it's good that you can take the time to meet up in person for a couple of hours. But when do you spend time with just you and your thoughts? No internet, no tv, no books, not surrounded by other peopl...

Pedram suggest to set up som time for dealing with all those emails. Depending on the amount one get/send, he then says to set 30-60 minutes twice a day. And no checking on it in between. Sounds like a good plan :-) And while you are making the changes, remove the email from your phone too Even when I was working I never had that many. Oh wait, that's not true. My personal email was a problem, because my internetprovider didn't have a proper spamfilter, so I got around 100 spam mails every day.....sigh. I went online and checked what spamfilters were good at the time and found Spam Fighter. I think it costed 10-15$ a year, but it was well spent. But these days, I have only a handful that I email with maybe once a month. I get a few newsletters that I signed up for. But I also unsubscribe again if I don't find it interesting anymore. So for me, this is not a time consumer at all. And my phone is only for calling, texting and photos. Oh and by the way, it is s...

I am fortunate to live in walking distance from the sea and that is by far my fvourite place to walk. The smell of the salty water has a very cleansing affect on the mind and automatically makes one slow down. At least that is the case for me. Today I go for 1 or 2 long walks, but I don't take the same route each time, so always something new to enjoy. Spending time gardening is also very terapeutic. I had a wonderful garden while I was sick. Since I got anxiety and had trouble leaving my house to go for a walk, the garden became my therapy. But being a perfectionist it became too much and I ended up more stressed by the maintanence. The grass and weeds took over so in the end the flowerbeds were removed and only grass was left to mawn.....lol We are moving as soon as we have a buyer for our house and the type of home we want is somewhere where nature is natural. More permaculture style. Unless you live where the climate is warm all year around, it's not eas...

When was the last time I actually thought about or wrote down what I am grateful of? Well, it's been a while. I can't remember what book I was reading that suggested to make a gratitude-book where you write 3 things your grateful of every day. And it had to be different things every day. I didn't last long doing that. When ones life is filled with stuff that drains you it is not easy to find things to be grateful of. But the way Pedram suggest is to take 10 minutes and just write every thing down, no matter if it sounds silly. Also pay attention to how you are feeling before you start and after. The list can be added to whenever needed, so hanging it somewhere where it can be easily accessed would be good. I think doing it like this will be more me as I like to read and remember good things instead of trying to come up with something just to be able to write it down. Feels more natural, for me anyway. The last 18 months have been hard and negative feelings have be...

Looking at your life as a garden is just another way of looking at it. Wich plants need extra care, what brings you joy and good energy and what drains you. Since I have done quite a bit of ”weeding out” in what steals away my energy etc., several times, I think I will look at this from another angle this time. Since I don't have a busy work life or big on social stuff, it's not important for me to get more ”time” out of this. The main reason why I broke down with stress was that I have always put others first. And finally my mind and body closed down. So this gongs focus has to be on myself. Goal: To do things that give me energy on a daily basis, like Chigong exercises and Reiki selfhealing long walks in nature meditate writing a journal/diary Doing this 100 Days Gong!

Update April 17th 2018. So, I've been wondering about something.... As I understand it, a gong takes 100 days. It is a challenge you set for yourself and if it is not consistant for those 100 days, you have to start over. So the idea of doing one gong each day is already starting to seem quite overwhelming and chaotic to me. A change needs time to be implemented before it becomes a new norm. So if you lead a busy life, even one change in your everyday life will need som time to be incorporated.  Wha t we are doing right now is adressing one new subject/issue each day and that is a lot of changes, no matter how small. I asked this in the work-group and one of the suggestion was, just to read one chapter from the book each day. If the subject resonates with you then take notes for a future gong! Exellent! That makes so much more sense....lol Pedram Shojais book "The Urban Munk" was one of the first books that I was able to read after I "came out of t...