I am at Kripalu Yoga Institute teaching with Krishna Das, and of course it is April Fools Day. The only prank played on me was by my friend Jerry, whom I mentioned briefly in Real Happiness – he was a fireman at the World Trade center on Sept 11. He went this morning to get me a cup of coffee, and returned with one, saying “They only had decaf.” Then he laughed and said “April Fools.”

It felt wonderful to celebrate normality, even cheesiness, a great contrast to commemorating trauma. I find myself emphasizing here, as I did so often on the book tour, bringing meditation into ordinary life, being present and grounded with what is, having a tool that isn’t exotic or esoteric, that can accompany us anywhere, into any situation or feeling. And so we have awareness of the breath, and the body, and our emotions and thoughts. Very plain. Very transformative.

And here, like so many places, people come up t me and say, “I did the challenge,” or “When will you do another one?” It was really a great experience and I’m delighted to meet so many people I hadn’t known were doing it, and to hear that it helped so many get a different sense of practice. Someone here told me, “I have meditated every single day since!” and was so happy. I was so happy too.