Day 229 ~ Appearances Are Deceiving

My sadhanas have been pitiful since my return from Costa Rica.  I wake just minutes before sunrise, sit up in bed, squeeze in a few stretches and begin chanting only to check email on my ipod when I hear the seductive ‘you’ve got mail’ bleep.

Though something tells me that I am still benefiting by this slipshod sadhana practice.  I’ve been feeling generally safe these days. Quite a feat for me as I typically felt threatened or fearful on some level even in the safety of my own home.  Even my lazy sadhana is working behind the scenes for me in places and ways I have yet to notice.

This is generally true with life and especially true with my husband who has a long, full beard and mustache.  While driving on the Mass Turnpike into Boston to teach a yoga class a man pulled up beside my husband, glared at him and then spit out his window.  My husband happened to have on his big white turban.  The man had assumed my husband was a Muslim and reacted with vehemence.  Not two days went by when my dear husband sat in the parking lot of a nearby gas station and a man, after climbing off his shiny crimson Harley, gave my husband a smile and the ‘up-nod.’ As if to say, “ts’up brother.” This particular day my husband wore his graying hair down in a pony tail which hung out of the back of a baseball cap.  My husband, who thinks he’s more of a Ford Mustang guy, but actually drives a Toyota Prius, never straddled a motorcycle in his life.

Both men assumed things about my husband and were wrong.  I find this very true of life.  How many times have you looked at someone with jealousy or pity and later on found that your assumptions were incorrect?

Appearances truly can be deceiving and I am thankful that they are.  It keeps me on my toes, reminding me not to judge others.