39 days to go...

“Without leaving my house, I know the whole universe,” Lao Tze wrote a long time ago.

I guess that when the master did leave his house he didn’t do it to find more knowledge. He lived each moment fully.

I left my house today, my retreat resort for the past weeks while I was doing my research almost full time. Back to my office from today, and I liked that too. Further work on my research – I have much more to do before it's completed – is now assigned to evening hours, until I can create a block of free days again.

At the start of the new year, I found the atmosphere in the office bustling and the people looking fresh. The work of last year was being wrapped up and evaluated, and plans were being drawn up at a feverish pace for the work and accomplishments in the new year. A good time to exercise a positive attitude, for sure.

Some of the people I met expected the new year to be “more of the same”, while others seemed to deliberately open themselves to new perspectives and a shake up of their priorities. Perhaps some in the latter group had also drawn up new year’s resolutions. And some in the former group might have reflected that such resolutions almost never get done.

A friend shared that a fear of loss had ended with a realization that the universe is complete, so there is no reason to worry. (That’s in Lao Tze’s league I think.)

Another friend who had just finished an intensive period of giving training and coaching told me that she was now looking for a workbook to help her determine what to do next. How nice, I thought, to be so open.

For my work in this new year, I decided that I should take good care in planning. Quality needs priority-setting. It’s all too easy to continue in last year’s tracks. The new year can be different, and in fact I am sure it will be very different. Anyway, why would we call it new year if it wasn’t different? So I will find out what I can leave behind, and select fewer things to focus on.

I also took a decision on the personal front today, to share my blogs with my parents, brothers and their families. It’s another kind of openness, like opening the door and the windows of my house. More light, more sharing, more happiness…

Photograph: Through the eyes of Zen, the old and the new, the black and the white, look interlinked.