Happy New Year

2017. Already. That's amazing to me. When i was younger, years crept by ever so slowly. I could run, bike, and hike all summer and those months lasted forever. Now, it seems that as soon as i settle into my summer running/biking season, it's over and we're looking winter right in the eyes.

In any case, i'm wishing everyone the very best in this new year. Wishing all a year of fulfillment, a year of growth, a year of deepening love, and a year of success in all that you do.

I hope many of you have downloaded the Insight Timer app and have joined us in the challenge to meditate every single day this year. Look inside the app for the group called 365 Days Together. I would be especially pleased if i saw others from here in Locport joining, but sadly, i haven't yet. I would be almost ecstatic if i heard from some of my fellow henros saying that they are on the team. :-) Please consider joining us.

I have a pretty long list of books that i intend to work through this year, but i'll be spending the beginning months working on three books in particular. Because of the meditation challenge, i want to take the time to reread Daido Loori's The Art of Just Sitting. But this time through, i will slow down and let each chapter sink in before moving on to the next.

I will also spend between now and March working on two oldies, but far from moldies. Both are translations of some of the earliest Chinese writing that could be considered Zen. The first is The Zen Teachings of Huang Po: On The Transmission of Mind. The second book is Entering The Tao of Sudden Enlightenment, by Ta-Chu Hui-Hai.

After that, my plans right now are pretty eclectic. I'm going back to the practice of writing the Heart Sutra once each morning. Whether i use my ink brush pen or just a ball point pen hasn't been decided. I'll know by the end of the first week. On the science and math front, i've recently gotten back in to the habit of reading physics and spent a week with a video series on the discovery of the Higgs Boson. As the year starts, i'm going to pull out old video courses on physics and calculus and run through those again. At the same time, i'm pulling a course off the shelf on the founding of the US, from before the war to the writing of the constitution. Plus two shorter audio courses on the constitution and the prevailing ideals around that time.

As for running and biking, i'm planning on another 600 mile year of runs but haven't decided how much i want to do on my bike. My leaning right now is to simply aim for 600 miles on that as well, even though i know that isn't very much riding. We'll see. And, of course, there is my yoga practice; one class a week down at the yoga studio and several times a week in addition here at home. Would like to get up to 4 times a week at home, but don't know if that will happen.

I'll be on Shikoku for almost all of April this year. There's a chance i could be on the Kumano Kodo trails in October and then back in Shikoku again in November, but those trips won't be decided until this summer, most likely.

So that's how my year is looking. I'm excited about all these plans. Wishing all peace and love.

Happy New Year.