Three women walked towards me as I rode by on my bike. One woman said “Good morning” to me. I did not respond. I had just discovered an insight about a problem I was chewing on and did not want to lose the thread. Then in an angry voice she yelled… I SAID, GOOD MORNING!

I cannot know what was going on in this woman’s head but it seems to me that when we wish others well we need to do so with no attachments as to how it will land or be received.

What response do you expect when you offer a greeting? And how does that expectation help you on your journey?

Bob called my attention to a t-shirt featuring this statement about killing animals for enjoyment.

I love gardening. I have been known to shriek with delight at the sight of a red, ripe cherry tomato or the discovery of a hidden squash. Not everything goes smoothly in a vegetable garden. Recently little green caterpillars have been heartily eating my kale. My organic gardening book tells me to pick them off the leaves by hand rather than spraying with pesticides. Yes! I am in sync with that advice. Stomping on them doesn’t fit. Those caterpillars have a right to be on this earth. This leads me to a quandary: I prefer not to kill anything, but I make exceptions – fire ants, mosquitoes, cockroaches, for example. Even then I don’t enjoy it!

Do you encounter this type of dilemma?

Advice on how to better ourselves is everywhere. I read an article just last week describing the “deadliness” of sitting too long – at a desk, in traffic, in front of the television. The writer advised countering too much sitting by walking with co-workers for a business meeting instead of sitting in a conference room. Nice idea in theory. Those of us living in hot climates would need to shower afterwards.  It always comes down to an individual solution doesn’t it?

Have you been given any advice lately that is someone else’s solution, which simply doesn’t work for you?

I took a Pilates class this week, and wondered how many of us were following the Pilates instructor because we love our bodies, and how many because we hate our bodies. This Pilates mat class is quite strenuous with a lot of core work. I wondered whether my classmates were honoring their bodies with the gift of movement, or hoped the Pilates moves would reduce their waistlines.

When you exercise do you love yourself or hate yourself? Does it matter?

A “breathing expert” once said, if you can’t practice deep breathing for five minutes a day, then can you practice for thirty seconds a day? I understand what he was getting at. If five minutes seems difficult right now, can you at least do a little to help you achieve your goal?

Although it seems logical to shorten the time of a new lifestyle practice to make it more palatable, in my experience the tough part is making the effort to do the practice. If there is a stuck place, it is usually making the effort needed to go on that bike ride, go to the gym, sit down for meditation … once I’m on my bike, arrived at the gym or seated in meditation … the practice simply unfolds.

Would you agree with me, or do you have another take on this?

When Bob returned from Whole Foods, he shared this incident.

He found long lines at checkout. Just as the cashier rang up the sale of the preceding customer, a man dashed up behind Bob with an unappetizing root in his hand. He seemed very distraught and harried so Bob let him go next. The man handed over the plant to the cashier, but there was an issue with identifying the product and time dragged on. The customer and the cashier conversed while another staff member offered to go back to the bin for a price check, further upsetting others in the queue. Eventually, the transaction was completed and as Bob reached the checkout counter the cashier apologized to him for the delay and said that doctors had given the man only 6 months to live. The special plant he purchased was from Asia and might help him live longer.

Hearing that story shifted me into a state of gratitude. My problems seemed very small in comparison. Can seeing your own situation a little differently today soften your heart to gratitude too?

At the end of my yoga class, the instructor shared that her son had participated in a tennis tournament and lost every game. Nonetheless he returned home with a gold-plated trophy equal to that of the winner. She told us that he had won the trophy for “consistency.” He was at every match on time. He kept going, doing his best, even though he was losing. I was impressed that organizers of the tournament recognized the value of showing up and being consistent. This example reminded me how important it is to keep up my yoga and meditation practices.

When we travel - it’s not that way. Just about every event or circumstance can challenge us when it is a little new or different. Ever bumped into the bathroom door of a hotel room in the middle of the night?

Sometimes it can seem that it’s just too much trouble to go on an adventure. Do you recall the writer in Nimms Island? Even though adventures can, indeed, make you late for supper, they can enlarge your perspective and help you come alive….. I’m thinking about my next one now.

In preparation for a camping trip with our grandsons, we had divvied up Breakfasts, Lunches and Dinners between the cooler [cold stuff] and labeled boxes [dry stuff].

A day later it was time for the hot dog dinner. We looked for the turkey hot dogs in the cooler in vain and subsequently found them in the box of dry foods marked Dinner #2 – spoiled.

At first we were disappointed and hungry. We all put our heads together and pulled items from other meals to make a great Dinner #2 without the hot dogs.

Mistakes and disappointments happen. The question is how quickly can we adjust?

If you’ve been trying over and over to lose weight with calorie-restricted diets – low cal, high fiber, high protein – and nothing has worked in the long-term, is it possible that no one such program will do that? Then, what will?

If you really want to end the overeating/dieting cycle, a way out of this dilemma is to develop your own special practice - a practice that builds on your own insights and creates resiliency, stamina and inner resources.