The crazy day it snowed in October, I was running around all morning totally freezing my ass off, not dressed at all for the sudden artic tundra. I finally got home and my building still hasn’t turned the heat on. Fine. I try the shower to at least warm up in there…no hot water. Really?

I decided to get work done, hoping everything would turn back on in a couple hours. As soon as I sat down, literally, the second I touched my computer, the electricity goes out…

I’m basically fuming at that point. I called my mom and started venting to her, “there’s no heat or hot water, this is crazy, the fridge is off, all my food is going to go bad, I’m freezing…”

As I was talking to her, I went to the sink to fill up a cup of water…as the water is filling to the rim of my cup, a huge wave of sadness poured over me.

There I was complaining when I can still turn on my sink and have a glass of water while people are dying by the day from dehydration. I have a closet full of warm clothes while others are dying by the minute from the cold. I can go down the street and buy a warm meal while so many are dying by the second from hunger.

We expect these things to be there for us, to work for us all the time. And we get angry and frustrated when they don’t.

But everything in life is always changing. Buddhism teaches us that nothing stays the same - not your water, not your heat, not your hair, not your skin, not your emotions, not your feelings, not your bodies.

We have to appreciate what we have, because we never know when it will be gone…especially our bodies. When you step onto your mat, be mindful of where you’re at that day, that moment, in each pose, because every time we practice, we should appreciate that we can at all.