I am tremendously grateful to find myself just past the threshold of my half-life disciple anniversary on Sri Chinmoy's spiritual path.

From this point forward, I am more years of my life as a conscious spiritual aspirant than not. Something about the notion of crossing that threshold leaves me somewhat speechless in the face of the grace that brought me from an almost atheist in 1985 at the age of 25 to a conscious seeker hoping to embody my spiritual name as a road leading to the highest destination of divinity.

None of it would have been possible without the sleepless inner and outer guidance from my Guru Sri Chinmoy.

Because I am also very inspired and enthusiastic about this personal milestone, I am embarking on various projects and goals related to turning my 50th birthday this October. As I begin them, I will add to a list here.

Number 1: 5 smiles a day for 50 days

Number 2: Lose 25 pounds - the number of years I have been on the spiritual path. I am using a website called Myfitnesspal.com to count calories, exercise and track my weight. So far as of Dec. 16th I have lost 20 pounds. I started on July 12th. Only 5  pounds to go!