The weather is pretty dismal. Having taken care of many a chore, I am sitting alone and sipping wine. From time to time my thoughts stumble upon the future. Things to do. Ways forward. Goals to reach. Without warning, a thought shapes in my mind: when in doubt, double the time dedicated to regular yoga practice. As of the beginning of this year, I am doing postures, breathing, and meditation twice a day. The postures and breathing take five minutes each, and meditation takes twenty minutes. Double all the numbers, and there will be an hour of regular practice twice a day. Double it three times in a row, and there will be eight hours of yoga each and every day. Assuming that eight hours is quite enough for sleeping, this would leave eight hours for all the rest. Plenty, I would guess. How many years could it take me to reach the fourth and final doubling? Eight, say, by which time I will be seventy. When I finished all these calculations, a big smile appeared on my face. It lingered. If plans are needed, now I surely have one. And the future looks bright.

Addendum (September 25, 2016)

A bit more than eight years later, my erstwhile calculations make me smile. At seventy, I still have similar thoughts about things to do, ways forward, and goals to reach. And they have to do with yoga to this day. This time around, though, I am thinking about doubling the amount of time I spend without a thought in my head. And then doubling it again and again, until eight hours is left for nothing but sleeping. My liberation stretched to its biological limits, as it were. As far as goals worth pursuing are concerned, none can match total and complete thoughtlessness.