No Excuses

If I were to pick a motto for the New Year, I elect “no excuses.” This is the year I write my book, no excuses. My second cousin, Michael Chorost wrote his memoir “Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human” in 2005. This heartfelt and compelling story, chronicles his journey from a person with a hearing disability to total deafness to the world of cochlear implants. He discusses with great candor and cogency the implications of cochlear implantation that include the fact that he is now a cyborg, and the effect that cochlear implants will have on the signing community. On a personal note, I read the book with great alacrity waiting to see if I was referenced in any of his childhood memories. No luck. In fact, he barely mentioned his sister and brother. From his website, I delight in the fact that his book has been very successful. It has already come out in a paperback edition and it has been translated in into several languages, including Japanese. Just recently, the book received the PEN award in the creative nonfiction category. Enjoying his success is known as mudita – sympathetic joy, or rejoicing in the happiness of others. At the same time, it is challenging that he has soared ahead with this book project and I have managed to let mine languish for over 4 years. My book that incorporates mindfulness with our tendency to be hard on ourselves, has been mostly written since May of 2002. Yikes! It has gone through a number of revisions in my head. And I made one serious attempt to put these revisions on paper the summer before last. The demands of practice and my new teaching responsibilities at the University of Vermont have served as “excuses” to completing the book. No longer. There are many things that have lied just out of reach. Not actually out of reach, but out of the willingness of my grasp. So, stay tuned for excerpts from the book, coming soon.