Happy New Year’s Day! Before I set new goals for this year, I want to reflect on my goals for last year. Last year I wanted to immerse myself in Vipassana meditation so I had a clear understanding of what it was, I wanted to establish my daily meditation practice, and I wanted to start living in the world as a Vipassana meditator. While the last 366 days have been long and challenging, I feel that I’ve been successful on all three fronts. I’ve meditated morning and evening every day that I can remember. If someone is curious what this practice is all about, I feel comfortable explaining it. I’ve completed my first year as a Ph.D. student in Biology at the University of North Carolina.

This year, I want to rediscover how to immerse myself into this community full of wonderful people. On my journey to discover myself, I’ve become isolated and disconnected from the world around me. I feel healthy and independent, not lonely and depressed, but I still feel like something is missing. My life and people around me have changed so much in the last 3 years since my Dad died, and I’ve lost touch with that.

There was a time that the most important thing in my life was the family, friends, and community around me. I want to get back to that, but I also want to live each day with my meditation practice. While rebuilding the foundation of my new identity through meditation, I felt I needed to protect my practice. It was too easy to get distracted and sidetracked if I didn’t disconnect a little bit. Now that my practice is well established, it’s time to get back to sharing in the daily experiences of life with the people around me. This will be a challenge, but that’s why it’s a goal. Time to meditate.