My life in snack habits

Over the last couple of months I've developed a ritual before I head out for the day: toast two slices of bread; spread peanut butter on one slice, jelly on the other; align and mash. That's right, I make myself a PB & J sandwich. At first I'd use whatever I had on-hand, but it wasn't long before I started tweaking the ingredients. (Going through a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly every two weeks gives you lots of opportunities.) Currently I'm using a low-fat peanut butter (Better'n Peanut Butter), a low-sugar jelly (Trader Joe's Reduced Sugar Strawberry Preserves), and a high-fiber bread (either Natural Ovens' Hunger Filler or Aunt Millie's Healthy Goodness Honey Wheat). Fie on the naysayers! It's my daily three minutes when I get to play alchemist!

But it was during today's PB & J-making that I realized that these three minutes have become a sort of silent meditation on the day ahead. Sometimes I use a little more peanut butter than usual, spreading it all the way to the edges of the slice -- on these days I'm a little bolder, willing to risk the peanut butter going over the bread edges and onto my fingers later. Other times I use a little less peanut butter, spreading it just in the middle of the slice -- on these days I'm a little more cautious, playing my cards a little closer to my chest and suspicious of those around me, less likely to make eye contact and more likely to be eyeing people. I don't care too much about where the jelly goes -- jelly goes where it wants, and trying to control it is like trying to reign in a feral animal.

A couple of lines from the Tao Te Ching seem relevant. From the Feng-English translation: "Better stop short than fill to the brim. Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt." (Ch. 9) "Do you think you can take over the universe and improve it? I do not believe it can be done. The universe is sacred. You cannot improve it. If you try to change it, you will ruin it. If you try to hold it, you will lose it." (Ch. 29)