I bought these orchids yesterday from a street vendor.  My reward for a risk and well worth it, I’d say.  The risk didn’t turn out the way I wanted, but I got my treat anyway.

And, here are some more treats from my morning walk today.  An iguana suns himself on the seawall.

Biscayne Bay is clear and sparkling.

The bougainvilla are spectacular.

I love this door.  Looks like Rumi himself might live here.

–Rumi
*Shams was the name of Rumi’s mentor, and means “the Sun.” We can interpret this as walking towards our truth, towards our hearts’ desires.  Above is Rumi’s tomb, in Konya, Turkey.

My treat last night was a Yoga Nidra class, which means “sleep of the yogis.”  I normally wouldn’t have considered going to this class, telling myself it wasn’t enough exercise.  But for a treat, why not?

After a series of low to the floor poses, there was a guided meditation, a half-hour of which is said to be as beneficial as three hours of sleep.  I have no idea what the guided meditation was like.  I was out cold.  Strangely, I woke up, a bit disoriented, just at the very moment when it was time to sit up.  I floated home, and slept like a baby.

How are your treats going?

Here’s the extra cool part—after the polls closed, I stayed to observe the poll workers unload the voting machines. The precinct clerk and her assistant followed a precise written protocol, removing the paper ballots from a lockbox underneath the voting machines, sealing them in special cases, then printing the scanned results from each voting machine.  Every ballot and every voter sign-in was counted and had to match the number of votes counted by the voting machine on the printout.  The clerks patiently explained each step to me as they proceeded.

It was a real thrill to watch the computerized tape print out the results from each voting machine, and to see the vote counts for each race and referendum.  Three copies of the results were printed by each machine, and one of those copies was posted on the front door of the precinct for public inspection.  The results got posted like this in every precinct in the state. The other two copies of the printout were locked up and taken downtown to the Dade County Election Department, along with the paper ballots.

I’m really in love with democracy today.  And feeling like, in this teeny way, I was part of it.  Worth bragging about, don’t you think?

A friend from out-of-town and staying with me, called to say she was at work, an hour away, and she’d forgotten something critical for her day.  She couldn’t leave, and asked if I had the time to drive it to her.

Of course I didn’t have the time.  No way.  My mental to-do list immediately popped into my consciousness.  I’m teaching a joy diet class in a few hours, I’m in the middle of writing a blog post, my email is piling up, and there are a bunch of phone calls to make…. The list is endless, limited only by my ability to dream up things to add to it.  Besides, it’s rush hour, and it might take two hours.  Or longer if there’s an accident on the expressway….

Being on the joy diet, though, I noticed the discomfort I was feeling.  A quick assessment of the Truth revealed that I will never complete that to-do list, and I had an opportunity to be a real friend in need.  I told her I would do it.

I took a few extra minutes to assemble some Treats for my journey–a cup of hot tea and some lyrical cds for the road.  I also reminded myself to expect the traffic to be heavy, and not to be surprised or get upset when it actually was slow-going or there was an accident.

The extra few minutes for Treats was well worth it.  I enjoyed the drive and used it to do my 15 minutes of Nothing, and the rest of the time just to goof-off.  The tea and music were delightful, too.  And the look of relief on my friend’s face was priceless.

I drove home, finished preparing this morning’s class, and let the rest of the list wait.   Sometimes that’s what joy is about.