Actually, it was yesterday, but I'm just getting around to posting.
1.
Don't shake your bottle of Kombucha tea (pronounced kom-BOO-cha) before you drink it, like you might an O.J. or Gatorade that's sat too long on a corner-store shelf. This tart trendy nouveau-hippie bevvie is loaded with active enzymes, viable probiotics, amino acids, antioxidants and polyphenols, that froth, grow and explode EVERYWHERE when agitated, like your big-fat-'F' high school science experiment. Not cool. Especially in places where urban tree-hugging hipsters co-nestle and congregate. I did it
twice yesterday.
2.
Make time for your friends. I'm bad for this. I love them to death, but often get too wound up in my work, projects and need for solitary down time. But just a phone call or visit, a laugh, shared story, five minutes of connection in the middle of your hectic afternoon will put a smile on your face, pull the plug on stress and become the day's highlight ... if you let it. We are not our jobs, to-do lists or over-scheduled lives. We are human beings who need time for just being human. (P.S. Thanks for the hugs and stories, Joe!)
3.
Give people the chance to do the right thing before busting in like the karma police. During my rental property check-out inspection a few weeks ago, my landlord (a real-estate agent acting as a multiple property manager for his client) tried to bully me into believing I should not be reimbursed my $1550 damage deposit due to what was clearly only minor wear and tear.
After refusing to sign the inspection document, I left the premises, distraught, bewildered and spiritually near-broken by what my gut told me were seriously honed manipulation tactics and systemic abuse.
For 10 days, he ignored my emails and texts and I received no cheque or Statement of Accounts in the mail. So this conflict-phoebic yogi bit the bullet and sent him a note stating "Tomorrow I will take legal action, and if I don't hear from you, my former editors at the newspaper will hear from me." A bit dramatic, I know, but effective, I hoped. I could see the headline now:
"Fat-stacks agent swindles frugal yogi-tenant."
I wasn't gonna let him break my spiritual bank or steal my hard-earned paycheque.
The next day, before serving the legal paperwork, I gave him one more chance. This time when I called he answered, sounding tired and slightly more humbled. He said he was settling the account and would send me "something" shortly.
I hope I've helped him do the right thing. But only Karma knows what really went down.
4.
Always maintain an interest in your work. Whether you wait on tables, push paper in a corporate office or run your own business, taking pride in what you do and staying clear and passionate about your purpose, is something you will always have when the winds change or times get tough. If you don't like what you do, change your work. Life's too short. "
Work is" not drudgery but
"love made visible." (Kahlil Gibran)
5.
Trust in yoga. If you're a yogi, you get it. If you're not Down, Dog, why not meet me at the crossroads between spirituality, science and serendipity, tomorrow night @ 6 p.m.,
Lotus Soul Gym on Whyte Ave., and find out why the practice of yoga is so amazing, and will teach you all that you ever need to know about yourself, life and the unseen universe! Seriously intergalactic stuff, yo.
