The Smoker

I have a friend who smokes cigarettes.  Now you say, "What a filthy habit.  She is so silly.  She is killing herself.  What a waste of time."  Are you finished with the judgments?  Let me context her "bad" habit in a wider spectrum.  She spends maybe twenty minutes to a half hour a day with a cigarette in her hand.  The rest of the time she is loving, giving, caring, doing all kinds of charitable things, going out of her way to be helpful and kind.  I have seen this in her.  Now I look at myself who does not smoke.  But little of my time is spent doing all the human connections of my friend.  I exercise, meditate, read, go to a museum, shop, write blogs and none of this has any human contact.  I am not being kind and loving or going out of my way for anyone.  So ask yourself, when you are patting yourself on the back for having no bad habits, "What's in your day?"  Being self-centered may not be connected with cancer, but it can be quite addictive.