My 100 Day Personal Transformation Experiment

One of my long standing core beliefs that I have done my best to embody throughout my life is the understanding that a fundamental reason we are here on this planet is to grow, learn, create, make mistakes, explore, and evolve ourselves, our relationships, our consciousness, our understanding of the world, our understanding of our Selves, and ultimately, where we fit in all of this. If the flow of will and intent are directed to this purpose, the overall progression of one’s life would be in a direction toward their highest Truth – the most accurate, living description of the Universe that one can reach during their current visit to Earth. This type of journey requires one to maintain an open heart and critical mind, allowing one to continually take in new experiences and wisdom that resonate with their true being.

Through the sharing of stories, communities develop and establish common agreements, or descriptions about the world and how it works. The power of these agreements comes from the power the people give to the stories. Stories help to teach us. Stories help us to be connected. Stories help to motivate, inspire, and pass on the thread in the weaving of the tapestry of our collective Human Story. I will be posting an on-going, live, and completely honest, one hundred day story of the experiences I encounter while I embark on a personal journey of transformation.

Too often we experience a complete disconnect between knowing the changes we want to make in our lives and actually living them. We all do it. One of the more popular methods for maintaining the present, comfortable situation – at least for me – is through self-rationalizations. The reasons you tell yourself why Monday is the day you are going to start hitting the gym, why you are okay to eat that treat today because it’s that special occasion, why you don’t need to change now, you can do it another time. The most ironic part of self-rationalizations is that all you ever have is right NOW!

I have created a list of deeply personal changes I want to make in my life; changes that I know align with my highest truth, right now. Each person may have different ideas of what “radical” could mean so I have refrained from using it; suffice it to say these are reflections of important changes I feel are attainable while still being personally challenging. As such, I have decided to start the 100 days with four transformations and the remaining goals will be introduced in 10 day increments (two during a couple instances). This will help ensure that I am not overwhelmed at the start (set up for success) and will give me a good chance to embody each change incrementally.

Enough rambling – here are the changes I will be making over the 100 days, along with a brief description of why I will be personally integrating them into my life.

I will start on January 13th (day 1) with:

1. Meditate for 30 minutes per day

The health benefits linked to deep belly breathing as a stress release have been long established, both through traditional teachings and now even through scientific studies. Focusing within helps me centre and ground my energy. Morning meditations are useful for creating the day ahead and evening meditations are excellent opportunities to reflect on the day that has passed.

2. Read for at least 20 minutes each day

This one is really simple – I love to read, why not do it every day?

3. Be completely honest

Let’s be honest, we all lie in one form or another. It ranges from telling a white lie about a shirt that looks good on someone to making up stories about where you went last night. They hide themselves in culturally accepted responses – when you told your neighbour that everything was good, was it? I am going to only speak my highest truth and when I forget to, I will go back and correct it immediately. If you stop lying to people, they will stop lying to you.

4. Not purchasing anything I don’t need

Reducing my purchasing to those items that I only REALLY need will help tackle both my contribution to unnecessary over-consumption rampant in our culture as well as serve to balance my outward spending and finances. The best part of reducing my spending is that it reduces the amount that I need to work for money. This allows me to better align with gifting and reusing previously loved goods.

Day 10 (January 22nd)

5. Blog for at least 20 minutes each day

It’s important to share our stories and I love to write. If this inspires change in even one person then it is worthwhile. I am paying special attention to where my intention is flowing from as I write this and I do my best to avoid anything coming from the ego. This will help connect you with my most honest and sincere intentions, while creating the best chance for inspiration. Each commitment I am making should create some interesting observations, insights, and experiences that I will be openly and honestly sharing.

Day 20 (February 1st)

6. Celibacy

Not sure how happy my girlfriend is about this one but I have come to feel like I have a lot of unhealthy programming from my external environment that I need to sort out. Sexual energy is an energy within your body and I feel like my understanding of it has become warped with unhealthy inputs and outputs. This will help me turn within to find my truth as to the best way to work with this energy.

7. Love and accept everyone as they are

Judgement and comparisons comprise of too many thoughts in my head. We are all equally amazing expressions of the Universe and I have no right to judge any action taken by an individual. Everyone is doing their best with what they know and we are all whole and perfect as we are in this moment.

Day 30 (February 11th)

8. Stretch for 30 minutes each day

I have long had a history of extreme tightness and build-up in my hips and have noticed positive effects from daily stretching. I know this is something that makes me feel better and more flexible – without a doubt I need to make this a habit.

Day 40 (February 21st)

9. Keep the flow going

I will be writing more about this later but for now I will say that this stems out of my paradigm shift away from viewing the world through the eyes of separation (i.e. we are all connected) and my belief in the law of karma. When I keep the flow I mean that I only keep things in my life that I currently or will immediately need. If someone else can use it, I will gift it to them, trusting that everything I need will come into my life when I need it.

Day 50 (March 2nd)

10. Stop smoking cannabis

This one has really been a back and forth for me. I am well aware of, and understand all angles on this topic. What it comes down to now is to find the balance that works for me. I will be integrating this change halfway through the 100 days so that I can experience both extremes and then find my personal balance.

11. Don’t complain or use the word “good”

It takes energy to complain. I no longer want to put any energy out through creating streams of words that carry the emotions associated with complaining. I have also noticed how too often I use the word “good” to describe something – be it my mood or an experience. This word carries no useful image for the person on the receiving end. Time to flex and expand my language muscles.

Day 60 (March 12th)

12. Ask a question before I give an answer

Too often in life I am too quick to speak and don’t really take the time to listen. My most profound insight and learning come from all of the teachers in my life and their wisdom only surfaces when I listen. I believe that we are all teachers. Asking a question before I say anything else will ensure that I am actively listening and will help me empathize with whoever is speaking.

Day 70 (March 22nd)

13. Eliminate added sugars

I have done this now a few times for a month’s span and every time I do it I feel incredible. I feel high, constant energy instead of a daily roller-coaster between high and low energy levels. Added sugars are in pretty much anything pre-prepared and this product does way more harm than good in my system. This is probably the biggest one for me since it is the most obvious addiction of mine – I am barely able to go a day without craving a sugary treat.

Day 80 (April 1st)

14. Create one thing each day

We are creative beings. We are here to create and to make manifest our thoughts, ideas, and dreams. Whatever you are doing at any moment you are getting better at, so why not improve creativity? This category includes pretty much anything that is not consuming. Writing, drawing, playing an instrument, making a craft, building something, cooking a meal, or even creating a beautiful conversation with someone counts.

Day 90 (April 11th)

15. No packaging

I find it very strange when I see how much packaging is used on things that you simply take home and open right away. A Tim Horton’s cashier hands me a donut in a bag that gets used for 10 seconds and then is thrown in the trash. Is that really necessary? Even recycling isn’t the best option – it’s better but there is a reason it is the last of the three R’s. First is ‘Reduce’ so I will be making a personal commitment to not purchase anything that has packaging. This will likely steer most of my food purchasing toward the bulk bins.

Day 100 (April 21st)

Completion of the 100 days and the continuation of all the changes that resonate with me and my highest potential 🙂

If anyone is pulled to connect with me I welcome all feedback, comments, responses, and wisdom from all who wish to share. If this inspires you to make change in your life I would love to hear about it! Feel free to take and modify my ideas and maybe you would even like to do a similar experiment! I look forward to sharing my stories with you <3

One love,
Mat Rix <3