When I first started my recovery from morbid obesity the exercise component took the form of a daily T’ai Chi practice. At first I had it in mind to make exercise a physical habit. I had read that if you want to break the physical habit of smoking you could do that by stopping for 21 days. Since I wanted to build a habit I decided that was a good goal to set. As I got close to start day, I read in a fitness magazine that if you did a weight lifting routine for five and a half weeks, your body would miss it when you missed a workout. So, that became my new goal.
Then my good friend Anthony, a long time student of Kung Fu, Yoga and Spirituality in general said, “In martial arts I always heard it was 1,000 days to mastery.” Something clicked and I was hooked. Right there and then I decided that I would do T’ai Chi once a day, every day, for 1,000 days.
I learned a great many things during those 1,000 days of T’ai Chi, not the least of which is that a vow of daily practice is an incredibly powerful motivator. There were many days during those 1,000 where the only thing that pulled me through was the fact that I had said I would. I also learned to appreciate the power of friendship, community, family, love, trust and faith.
When I moved into my Aikido Dojo as an Uchi-Deshi (live in student) I ended up staying for just over 1,000 days. That was not planned, it was purely a coincidence. I committed to staying until I got my black belt (which ended up taking a year and eight months) then re-committed to stay for an additional year. During this time too it was often my vow that pulled me through.
846 days ago I took up a meditation practice, for (you guessed it) 1,000 days. Again the power of that vow is pulling me through. I suspect it is also adding a depth to my time on the cushion that had been lacking during previous bouts of sustained practice.
Due to my positive experience of keeping 1,000 day vows, and as a counter-statement to today’s quick-fix, go-go-go world I have started a side project, 1000DayVow.com. The purpose of this site is to explore the benefits, pitfalls, and outcomes of keeping a medium length vow. I’ve started a forum there in the hopes of generating community support as well. Please take a look, reflect on the idea, and if you think it’s useful please do jump in.
As always, thank you for your time & attention. Let me know what you think.
Tags: Distinctions
