Don't tell my wife.

I had some fruit that was ready for the recycling bin, so I put it into my Vitamix, including half of a rotten apple, a really soft grapefruit, and some once soft but now frozen grapes...oh, an old lemon as well. The I noticed I had some old Briggs Apple Cider Vinegar, so I poured some of that into a glass of the juice... along with some nutritional yeast. It was so sour. I finally found my match. Down the sink it went. How sad to lose all that good food!

Then I poured a glass of juice without the vinegar, and added yeast and agave. Not too bad.

Earlier I went to Wheatsville, our food co-op, to get something for dinner. I ended up just buying some eggs... which we didn't need at all. But I spent some time reading all the labels in their deli section. I don't like garlic, and almost all their stuff had garlic.

And they never have free samples. But I guess they saw me coming, because the woman behind the counter asked me if I wanted to try anything. I am a fan of their popcorn tofu so it crossed my mind that I could really take advantage of the situation and tell her I'd like to try it... but no, I said "no thank you." It felt good not to be a slave to every urge.

I was reading something in the Talmud about the rules for the sabbath. A man is not supposed to put his hand outside of his window, even to hand something to someone else. All "codes" have rules which seem arbitrary... like my new rule of not eating samples, or my kids refusal to eat from buffets (they both say, dad... the food has been sitting out.)

This issue of discipline is fascinating to me. Maybe all the rules are about teaching discipline. Containing passion, so to speak. Last night we were reading about watching your breath when you meditate. Someone asked how watching your breath could make you enlightened. The priest explained that it was just a tool. We read about a group of accomplished meditators who had to tell their teacher each day something new that they discovered about their breath. Was there anything special about studying the breath? Of course not. But is there something special about learning to concentrate. Of course. No one wants a surgeon that has "monkey mind."