Staying Flexible

I read articles on how to maximize happiness when getting old. One of the factors seems to be the power to remain flexible. I think about that often – wondering how I can practise that technique. When I go shopping with my sisters I see that they have a different pattern than I do. Wyona, especially, looks at every item on every shelf, which is really good for the merchant. This is excellent for me in terms of practising flexibility. My usual shopping pattern is to keep my nose right in my To Do list, checking each item off as it goes in the cart and look neither left nor right.

So yesterday we popped into the Planet Organic Market, only to browse. The shelves were lined with golden beets, kohlrabi, lacinato kale and the regular vegetables were there as well, in perfect formation. Wyona was doing price-checking. I was transported to a spot quite close to vegetable heaven, thinking of recipes I could use with each item I touched.

We even walked into the Health and Beauty section: tincture of horse tail, oil of cat’s claw. I am not making this up, nor lifting it from the brew that the 3 witches are stirring together at the beginning of MacBeth. There were organic soaps, made in Alberta. Wyona was picking out incense, slipping each piece into a long transparent bag. Beside the incense were necklaces, pieces of glass beads tied by the same method that Rebecca ties her clay necklaces. One glass bead, $30 and well worth the price to me, once I saw Mary doing glass blowing.

I thought Wyona was going to buy the Himalayan Salt Crystal Lamp, for we looked at it a long time. I can’t suspend my belief about the real world enough that I can imagine a magical and invisible protective bubble around the lamp protecting me. I am flexible, but not flexible enough, I think. I do give the Himalayan Salt Lamp full marks on beauty.

Arta