The following are some key ideas that I need to consider further:

1. I need to have a unity of purpose in all that I do.  I should view everything I do through the lens of how it helps me build towards this singular purpose of building my pure land.
2. I need to learn to listen.  I am usually either talking or planning what I am going to say, and I rarely listen.  I need to create the space to listen to and appreciate what others have to say.
3. I need to create the space for my kids to “join the conversation.”  My wife and I talk a lot together and we have been doing so for all the time we have been together.  But what I have realized is we are so busy talking about what we need to do that we have not created the space for our kids to join in the conversation.  When they are babies, we deal with things; but as they grow older they too want to participate in the conversation and we need to create the space for them to do so.
4. The reason why we do retreat is to “see ahead” on the path so that we know where we are going.  When we do retreat, we gain profound insights about how everything fits together.  This serves as a beacon for the direction we need to head in.  Then our job in non-retreat times is to catch up with that insight.
5. The key to being being a diplomat is to be considered likeable by everyone.  People naturally want to help you out and draw closer to you when they find you to be likable.  When people don’t like you, they don’t want to help you or work with you, and they naturally resist your efforts. 
6. I am way too attached to not wasting time.  Of course we should not waste any time, but that does not mean we should be attached to not wasting time, where we become upset when we feel like our time is being wasted.  Ultimately, we are only wasting time if we do not know how to use a moment for the accomplishment of our goals.  If we are singular in purpose of wanting to build our pure land (transform ourselves into the pure land), then every moment can be used towards that end and no time will be wasted at all.
7. I need to find the right voice for this blog.  I think I need it to be a log or journal of my own thoughts about my own practice, not so much me explaining things to others.  Then it is more of a sharing of experience of a practitioner as opposed to a platform for teaching.  But ultimately, I am sharing with an audience in mind so there is necessarily a connection.  This is something that will have to evolve with time. 
8. When people want to do something, they find excuses and reasons to do it.  When they don’t want to do something, they find excuses and reasons not to do it.  If you want to know what somebody really wants, just ask yourself what the final implication is of whatever reason they are giving.  The reasons are secondary and more a reflection of what in their heart they want (even if they don’t realize or know it). 
9. If you want to know what is the correct path to follow, it is the one that leaves your mind at peace the more you travel down it.  If you want to know what is not the correct path to follow, it is the one that feels like you are chasing, but never quite reaching, the end of the rainbow.
10. While communicating through the computer is better than no communication at all, it should never be a substitute (or an escape) from cultivating real relationships with real people. 
11. At the end of the day, the reason why the Spiritual Guide is reliable is because he “sees farther down the road” than we do.  We think we know better, so we don’t listen to what he has to say. 
12. I very often don’t want to listen to people who just want to tell me their stories because I feel like they are wasting my time.  This is arrogant, rude and a bad habit that I need to work on.
13. Multilateral diplomacy is a higher level of diplomacy, but often the questions addressed are of lesser importance because at present the nation state is still the primary actor.  So there is a balance to be struck.  But it is clear, the relationship between the the US and Asia is where the future is, and within that the bilateral relationship between the US and China is the most important.  If I want to have the biggest beneficial impact, this is the direction I need to go.  The relationship with Europe enables a stronger collective voice for the world to be shaped by the shifting of the center of the world to the Pacific.