Ahimsa.

I am in Asheville. And today I saved a spider. I find this very interesting because it was the small jumpy kind that looks like it could bite. I've saved a spider once before but that time I knew I could pick it up (with a cup and piece of paper) and take it outside. Today, I just grabbed a piece of toilet paper...(this was in the bathroom) and laid it down in the sink so that it could climb out and go where it pleased. 

I'm getting weird. 

Seriously, that makes me laugh out loud but I now, later in the day, have no idea where the spider went and I seem to be just fine with it. Maybe it's one too many trips to countries that have no solid way to keep out what I feel should be out (such as lizards, cockroaches, cats with fleas, etc...such as I have encountered in Bali and Mexico in the last year) but I am starting to really practice ahimsa (nonviolence) with what I would normally refer to as "pests." 

Maybe it's all of this yoga philosophy I'm studying seeping down into my bones. Call me what you will, spider lover, hippy, whatever. I just couldn't kill it. I did recently give the okay to have a hornets nest exterminated that was right outside our window at home. So, I'm not some total bug angel or anything. However, that was only after I checked into having them sucked out and transported elsewhere. They only do that with honeybees, apparently. But after I okayed it, I felt horrible seeing their dead little bodies outside my window. What can one do? Hornets are apparently very nasty and angry little guys and I've already been attacked by a bee hive when I was 12.

So, I'll do what I can when I can. I can't imagine that I'm not on the road to vegetarianism with these types of actions. I hardly eat meat as it is...but when I do, I really enjoy it.  Who knows? 

Thoughts, comments on bug killing, vegetarianism or yoga? Feel free to leave them below.

xox~ Erin

My very crafty little spider friend blending into the shower curtain.