Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver. -- Barbara De Angelis

I was pushing my cart out of the grocery store yesterday evening when I saw a woman with a flat tire. She had pulled out her parking space before noticing the flat and was in the process of returning to her parking spot to get out of the way. My car was parked across from her. As walked to it, I saw several people walk by, watching as she backed into her spot. A man by himself, two young couples, a woman and her two children, a woman alone. They glanced at her, but no one stopped.

I put my groceries in the back seat of my car and walked over to her driver side door. Her window was down. She had a cell phone in her hand.She was a middle-aged woman, frazzled looking, her car an Oldsmobile Cutless that had seen its share of miles.

"Need any help?"

An expression of relief suffused her face. "Yes. I have a flat tire."

"I noticed. Do you have a spare?"

She nodded. "In the trunk."

I gestured toward my car. "I need to start my car for the air conditioning. I have groceries inside."

When I returned, she'd opened her trunk. She had one of those standard mini spares and a jack. I pulled everything out. She was profuse in her gratitude, thanking me several times.

It took me about ten minutes to complete the swap. I put the flat tire and the jack in her trunk.

"Be careful on the spare," I told her. "You shouldn't go faster than about 45 or 50." I showed her where her other front tire was worn through to the cord. "You better replace this one too. You've gone all the way through the tread on the side here."

"Will it last until tomorrow? I won't be able to get new tires until tomorrow morning."

"You'll be fine," I told her. "Just don't drive too fast."

She offered her hand. "Thanks, thanks so much. You're a good Samaritan. Thank you."

"My hands are pretty dirty," I said, showing her.

"I don't care, I want to shake your hand."

So we did.

Being kind to others is an easy way to make yourself feel good.

(reposted from from my journal, February 1, 2008)

Having quite a bit of elbow pain recently, including numbness in my left hand. I've had that for a while, but it seems to be getting worse. I've been wearing one of those carpal tunnel wrist things when I sleep for a few years now and it doesn't seem to be working as well. The research I've done on the Internet suggests it's more likely an elbow problem, not a a wrist one - compression of the ulnar nerve. I don't think it's a result of the Muay Thai, although that might be aggravating it, but rather 20+ years of lifting weights. I'm probably going to have to get that checked out.

Did some more sparring in the ring, this time against a young fellow named Nate. Nate is 18 (less than half my age), whipcord thin, and fast as a snake. He only comes in around 120 pounds though, so he's giving up a good 70 to me. We went 5 rounds. He was so quick with his strikes, especially his front push kick (called a teep), that I finally gave up trying to block and starting walking through most of them. There wasn't much he could do about it since I was so much heavier. I was able to get some good shots in, including several body blows that knocked him backand sucked his wind out. At the end of 5 rounds, however, I was pretty tired of getting kicked in the stomach....

According to the CDC, in 2007, only one state (Colorado) had an obesity rate lower then 20%. Thirty states had a prevalence equal to or greater than 25%; three of these states (Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee) had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 30%. What does this mean? It means that, overall, Americans are a bunch of fatties.

Have you ever been someplace where you can watch people eat? Most people cram down their food as fast as they can shovel it in. They're overfed fatties; people who revel in the ecstatic joy of stuffing their bulging bodies as quickly as they can. And despite this willful over-indulgence, they moan to whomever will listen about how unhappy they are with their weight.

In Being Here, I talked about being mindful, about paying more attention to what you're doing at the moment, and thus bringing more satisfaction and enjoyment into your life. When we eat as described above, we aren't really paying attention to the whole process of eating. As such, we don't get all the pleasure we can from our meal

So I'm offering a tip which, properly employed, can do two things:

• Help you lose weight
• Enable you to enjoy your meals more

Chopsticks will force you to slow down, as you won't be able to lever the half-pound fork-fulls of food into your mouth. It will take longer to eat, and you'll be forced to pay attention to your food and to the whole process of eating. Willfully slow down and notice how the food feels and tastes in your mouth. Close your eyes and focus the entirely of your attention on that single bite. You'll be surprised at how good it can taste.

Eating like this can have another benefit - you'll end up eating less. It takes about 15-20 minutes for your body to acknowledge the food you're eating and to begin to feel sated. Eating with chopsticks and taking your time means you won't have eaten as much food in that 15-20 minutes.

But you need to listen to your body; there's a difference between eating until you're not longer hungry and eating until you're full. Most people keep going, feeling some sort of compulsion to eat everything in front of them. Instead, stop eating when you're no longer hungry instead of going until you're full.

Eat less, enjoy more. Why not try?