I was having a really beautiful morning today. I got in a sweaty and delicious morning practice, walked off of my mat feeling great, drank some truly yummy green juice and had a cup of coffee. I decided to keep the yummy rolling and grab my favorite salad from Naked Greens (avocado, heart of palm, delicious shrimp!). My car has been begging me for gas the last 24 hours; this is what happens when you mostly drive places that are 3 miles away, you ignore the empty tank a little too long! So I pulled in to the crowded gas station and filled up, still buzzing from my yoga + green juice high.

I noticed a young man filling a GIANT black Suburban, and thought to myself “I’m glad I am not filling up that beast at the gas station!” He was glancing at me (this happens when you go everywhere in spandex tights), and a part of me was annoyed by that. If you are a woman you probably know exactly what I mean, if you are a man, just know that every woman everywhere has been subject to plenty of unwanted attention and it sometimes makes us a little hardened against strange men.

My car was full, I was still feeling great, and coffee in hand I hopped back into my hatchback and drove away.

About a mile and a half later I was sitting at a traffic light and heard a knock on my passenger-side window. And it was this same young man, and his giant SUV was pulled up alongside me. I was prepared to suffer the few uncomfortable moments of a strange man awkwardly hitting on me, in fact, I was prepared to flip this guy the bird and continue driving.

I was prepared for this young man who I knew nothing about to be an enemy.

And then he held up my wallet. The patent leather Louis Vuitton wallet I had received for my birthday all the way from Italy. The wallet that I absolutely treasure (despite the fact that it is worth far more than I generally have inside of it). The same wallet I had left on the pump at the gas station in my spacey yoga-ed out state.

The enemy had followed me for a mile and a half to return it to me. And just before I flipped him off.

Isn’t it funny how we can do all of this yoga and open open open up, and talk about love and acceptance; but, still when a strange man knocks on your window you are ready to fight him away.

Today I am so grateful to the universe, and particularly to this young man, for teaching me a lesson in judgement. I thought I had learned it, but I haven’t.

What are the lessons you are still learning? And how are they manifesting in your life right now? Sometimes they are obvious (like today, whoa baby was that obvious!) but sometimes our lessons are subtle and secret. But, if you look for them, you will find them. That part is a guarantee, getting back the wallet that you leave at Citgo is not.

photo attribution: N-Lange.de at the German language Wikipedia [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0), CC-BY-SA-3.0-de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons