New Page

With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,

This morning I am beginning a new page.  For me, it is important to settle into a routine.  Clearly, in my view, as well as the view of others, I have spent entirely too much time online and with Android in palm.  As I said in my note yesterday, I am limiting this to three times a day. 

I have been feeling as though I have been neglecting my physical and emotional health of late, as well as the state of my relationship with Soku Shin. I slacked off my training and, for all intent and purpose, stopped lifting weights, stopped daily yoga, and settled into the life of a person without a schedule.  The result has been troublesome.

So, this is my new page:  I will check email and phone messages three times a day.  I will respond to messages as needed.  In all cases, I will spend no more than an hour on the machine and will have the phone turned off throughout the day.  The exception here is scheduled Skype interviews with Zen students around the country. 

My exercise plan is simple.  It is the plan I have always used.  Daily aerobic exercise of at least thirty minutes (running, walking/hiking) or biking.  Weights Monday through Saturday, each day hitting two muscle groups, and yoga daily. Of course daily Zazen is a given. We have decided to train for a ten k race in the future.

As to diet, I will be eating much more of a Mediterranean diet with fruit and salads, oils,  nuts, cheeses, and fish.  This diet suits both Soku Shin and myself and is relatively easy to maintain as a lifestyle diet. 

Dean Ornish suggests “opening one’s heart to others” as an essential ingredient in his reversing heart disease program.  I think this is important and I feel that I do this often, but probably not on the deeper levels of intimacy required.  This is certainly something I need to work on.

Those with regularly scheduled interviews with me, please confirm them ASAP as I am not sure I have everyone in place. 

Be well.