I tried as best as I could to have a great day, a day that included at least a sampling of all the things I love to do and all the things I’m committing to do more of in the new year. I’ll make a quick list here for your generous perusal.
- Holding good to the promise I made to myself yesterday, a promise I made public by writing about it in yesterday’s blog post, I began the day today with 30 minutes of sitting meditation. That’s not entirely true–before I could sit for meditation I had to clean up the dog shit and piss from the entryway rug. But just looking forward to that meditative practice, when I noticed the dog had desecrated the doorway, I was not angry. I did not curse. I did not scold. I just got down to business so I could get down to business. It was the first time I had sat for meditation in a year and a half. It felt right. It felt good. My foot fell asleep a couple of times, but I just noticed that, maybe gave it a bit of a massage, stretched it out a little, and went back to concentrating on the breath.
- Again, holding good to yesterday’s commitment, immediately after 30 minutes of meditation, eating a granola bar, and setting up a pot of coffee, I rode my bicycle. It was not a long ride. A few miles perhaps, with a few inclines along the way. That felt right and good as well, except for that my fingers got really cold, and I understood that if this is a practice to continue through the rest of the winter, I need to find me some gloves. My knee felt a little sensitive in a climb, but not enough to spoil the experience or to prevent me from trying again tomorrow.
- I made music. I did mixes of two songs to run by my friend Adam in Vermont. He’ll give me some feedback in the next day or so and I will refine those mixes in preparation for a mastering session before releasing these two new songs into the world.
- I did some laundry–which is not a thing that I love and wasn’t really in the plan for having a wonderful first day of the year–but it is nevertheless a thing that sometimes, or often, needs doing. Additionally, other necessary but not altogether unpleasant chores had to be done. I got the garbage and the recycling out for tomorrow’s pickup, and I helped my wife de-trim the tree and put away all the holiday decorations.
- I took a nap.
- I read inside the first books I will pick up in the year 2024, perusing, reading the first sections or the introductions of each: The Book of (More) Delights by Ross Gay, The 50 Funniest American Writers According to Andy Borowitz, The Little Book of Lost Words by Joe Gillard, and Is It So? Glimpses, Glyphs, & Found Novels by Kevin McIlvoy.
- I’m writing this little blog entry right now. It wants to be short, so I will wrap up this last wonderful thing, have some dinner with my family, and later, maybe read some more, listen to some music, or watch a show.
So that, in my opinion, is a very good day, an auspicious beginning to the new year. Its only drawback was that I was not able to fully share my joy with anyone in the household, as both my wife and my son are recovering from yesterday’s COVID booster. Not a fun thing to plan, but something I know I need to do for myself very soon. Such a mixed bag, isn’t it, to have access to a vaccine that helps protect you from illness, that, in its process of working, makes you feel ill. On the day that I get my next booster, I imagine that, unless I time it just right, there will probably be little meditation, bicycling, music making, reading, or household chores. Those boosters typically lay me up for a good 24 hours. I am happy I was not suffering through the first day of the new year. It was a great first day, the first day of a dry January, the first day, as they say, of the rest of my life! Cheers!
michael jarmer 