Best Practices

 I look down at my leg and see dried seaweed stuck to my ankle.

It's a good sign. A good sign that we began our day on the water and in the water. As we rode baby-ripple waves into the shore, I called out to Tony, "The best way to begin the day."

He was smiling, so I took that for a concur (I know it's a verb, but I just made it a noun. Beautiful, flexible, language-I love you).

In teaching, in business, there is a phrase or term: best practices. Best practices are guidelines, or proven methods that are well tested and have the best outcomes or the best results. 

Life has its best practices too. They are malleable, and subject to experimentation and the test of time. Best practices are rarely one-size-fits-all. They are like clothes and come in many sizes, shapes, and colors. A chosen practice that doesn't fit, is like wearing too-tight shoes, and too-short pants.

Best practices must be discovered, for we can follow or imitate, but even those must be discovered if they really belong to you. To wear someone else's hairstyle or makeup is never a good idea.

So how do we find our own best life practices? Get out and play. Peruse the bookstore. Try a different-ethnic restaurant. Trust others enough to experiment upon their word, then toss or keep.

To know one's best practices, is to know thyself, and to know thyself is to love thyself, and to love thyself as said by the word master himself ~~to thine own self be true.