A Time of Change

Happy New Year, everyone.

As you can see, I changed both the layout and the title of my blog. I figured, hey, it's a new year, why not make some changes.

If you're wondering about the name, "Fourth Turning of the Wheel," allow me to explain. In Buddhism, there are Three Turnings of the Dharma Wheel, one for each of the schools of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana). The Fourth Turning of the Dharma Wheel is the movement of Buddhism into Western society. With each turning, Buddhism changes a little and becomes suited to its new home society. In other words, it evolves.

At the same time, this year is the Fourth Turning of the High School Wheel for all of the seniors. That makes it a time of great challenges, of great change, and of great accomplishments.

For me more specifically, this is the Fourth Turning in my own path. I've devoted each year of High School to a specific aspect of myself. For example, Freshman year was the year of the mind, where I devoured every book I could come across on improving memory, study skills, creativity, etc. Sophomore year was the year of the body, where I changed my diet, bought tons of books on physical fitness, and started a real exercise regime. Junior year was the year of the spirit (amongst other things), where I read books about Buddhism, Hinduism, and mysticism in general. And now it's Senior year, the Fourth Turning of the Wheel, so to speak. And this year's theme has yet to present itself.

But the theme I'm picking, my "New Year's Resolution," so to speak, is two fold: to spend more time with people in general and my friends more specifically, and to be more "aware." These two goals compliment each other, creating a sort of constructive interference: meeting and talking with people more will force me to be aware, and at the same time, being aware will allow me to overcome my habitual tendency to be lethargic in social situations. Voila. And so we have it. The Fourth Turning of the Darmon Wheel.

That's all for now. Feel free to leave any criticisms (like if you were really in love with the old layout and title and you just have to have them back), compliments, or concerns. Oh, and if anyone wants to share their new year's resolutions, that'd be cool.

Enjoy the new year. 2005 is over. 2006 has just begun. Whew. :)