I was out late at a birthday party last night, and I wasn’t expecting to get up right away to do tai chi. But, of course, my body roused me a little after five a.m. for a bathroom break — and once that was done, tai chi seemed like the obvious choice. It’s amazing how much the need — the genuine need — to do tai chi has taken over my morning routine. It’s kind of like the Force from Star Wars: “it controls my actions but it also obeys my thoughts.” If I serve it, it serves me.

I can’t say it was my best practice. In fact, the whole week has been kind of crappy in terms of quality of performance. However, I spoke with a friend of mine who’s a Kali practitioner, which is a Philippino martial art. She said, “yeah I’ve made a commitment to a daily practice, but sometimes if it’s been an 18-hour day at the hospital, I come home, and I do five minutes with the knives, and I’m done for the day. Sometimes it has to be that.” And this is a person who actually conducts trainings for other serious practitioners, a master in the art.

So far, I’ve always done more than that. Even this morning. Which meant that I was able I go back to bed without even writing my entry for the day. And I felt like my early-to-late morning post-tai-chi snooze was the sleep of the just.

We do the work, and then we go on. And all is well in the world.