I took off from my routine again on Tuesday and took in some more of the Gem Show. Whereas last time was inside a convention center, this time was the more grass roots, street party face of the show, the sprawl and hustle and bright colors and sunshine lining the motels that line the frontage road on the west side of the I-10.

So much is happening at the moment, and as I said before, it would be so easy to miss out on this. During my wanderings, replete of course with conversations with strangers, I ran into people who've lived in or close to Tucson for decades who were finally coming to see what all the fuss was about with the gems.

Even the way I got myself out to the show was a beautiful illustration of how life converges. I experience myself as the center of my own web, giving meaning to the connections between different parts of my life.

Today for me is day 51 of the 100-day Gong.  Can you believe we've come that far from Winter Solstice already?

Essentially, we're halfway between solstice and equinox. We've moved out of the still point of midwinter but we're not all the way over to plowing the fields yet. It's time to ask groundhogs for their predictions. In the Celtic calendar, it's Imbolc, where old crone energy is replaced by maiden energy. And in the Jewish calendar, originating farther south, it's Tu b'Shvat (was just last week), which is the New Year of trees!

So, what does it mean to be halfway through a 100-day discipline, halfway between midwinter and spring?

It's the great paradox. "The harder I work, the luckier I seem to get." No one seems to know who was the first person to say that, but it rings true. Likewise: "The muse is more likely to show up if you sit at your desk ready for her."

Likewise, when you're not depleted and deprived, you're better able to respond to emergencies.

When in tune with the cycles  going on around you, and when you create your own cycles, you're laying the groundwork for liftoff. If you know what your goals are, you'll see your way clearer toward achieving them. If you don't know what they are, you'll see clearer toward identifying them.

That's what the 100-day Gong is for. Here are some resources that will help. (Edited once, and likely to be edited more as people suggest to me resources that have worked for them.)

Moving out of gratitude... Right before Thanksgiving I completed a 100-day practice of discipline, about which I'll say more soon. Most crucially, it was a vehicle for me to really privilege my sleep and to establish a sine-qua-non morning routine.

I'm preparing to start another on the Solstice, so I'm reflecting on the experience  in order to decide what to undertake for those 100 days. One hundred days to build something meaningful! Grand, right? Something meaningful. Exploration of life purpose. Something I've been neglecting and would like to do more of is writing book reviews.

Here's one for this week, and maybe a regular stream of them starting on the Solstice. Let's see how it goes.

Happy Monday; Happy Thanksgiving week.

As I strive to be conscious about what comes into my life, I hope what I put out reflects this discernment. If we're all connected, let me be a signal repeater for light and glory!

So,  last week I shared about the free showing of Origins, Now there's a mini-telesummit adjunct to the movie playing for the next three days, with 36--thirty-six--interviews with experts featured in the movie as well as others, exploring how we can do better as a species in all areas of life.

Almost all the experts are people I already enjoy listening to and feel that I learn from, and there are some that are new to me from whom I'm glad to learn. I'll write sometime about the benefits of benign brainwashing/positive self-hypnosis, although "being conscious about what I allow in" is really the long and short of it.  

Bearing in mind I expose myself to a lot of this stuff, there was one expert I hadn't heard from in a while whose presence I appreciated in the movie, and the "deep dive" interview with him is what spurred me to write another post about this--it's worth far more than the price (free!) of admission.