In the airport last night, on my way to South Carolina to visit my dad, I purchased the latest copies of “O” (Oprah’s magazine) and “Spa.” My chattering assumption (I could hear it loud and clear) was that in “Spa” I might find fodder for a blog item that would shed light on–and perhaps even poke fun at–how the highly affluent live. As an instinctive liberal, I struggle with all kinds of anti-Republican, anti-rich-people assumptions even though I was raised in privileged only-the-best-for-my-kid circumstances.

As we head into elections this fall, it’s important for us to identify these “thought paths,” these ways of being flat, snobby, filled with you-can’t-convince-me-otherwise assumptions (and oh, how I wish the other side would do the same thing). Even when we’re on a spiritual path, these compassion-less thoughts occur (often phrased in our heads in a babyish syntax); as I reached for “Spa” magazine, my chattering thought was “rich people are bad.” A more refined translation of what I was thinking might be: “People who have the income to habitually hang out in spas are generally self-indulgent and irresponsible.”

Well, as the divine-guide-who-always-shakes-me-into-awareness would have it, the May/June “Spa” is a really good read, and it’s not just for rich people. And if some of its readers happen to be well-manicured and superficial, this magazine seems to yearn to deepen them! (Do I still sound smug and superior? I’m trying not to be.) As I read “Spa” on the airplane, I tore out and ear-marked page after page. I noticed an ad for great sandals by Aravon, a company I’d never heard of. There’s also a wonderful interview with Buddhist authority Robert Thurman in which he expounds on how he and others are turning the Menla Mountain Retreat Center in upstate New York into the “country’s first Tibetan destination spa.”

The magazine also has resources for really good yoga clothes, as well as fine information on which sunscreens and sunglasses are best. And of course, it features glorious photographs of the world’s most peaceful places that only lucky rich people can go to regularly, but that I might dream of visiting one day, some day. While the magazine doesn’t go out of its way to tell you how to try any spa treatments at home, you do get ideas (like how hard would it be to take a bath with a few small orchids?)

I don’t know if it’s a must-subscribe, but I’m placing it on my list and will keep you posted on what lies within.

Tomorrow: Eve Ensler’s fabulous “O” essay on giving up body hatred! It will bend your world view!