Poop is round, and I’m a lousy shot

“Poop is round & I’m a lousy shot,” me.*

We have a pet rabbit in our menagerie. He is going to be 10 soon. Even though he’s litter box trained, sometimes he, uh, makes deposits nearby and not inside the cage. So, I pick up the poop, and toss it towards the cage. I will miss approximately 17 times before picking it up and putting it either in the cage properly, or into the compost bin. You see, his droppings are spherical, and the cage is made of sort-of Erector-set-type squares all zip-tied together with wooden floors, so as not to hurt his little paws. And, my aim is positively lousy. (Ha! The most challenging thing in sports is to hit a round ball with a round bat. Right, Dad?) Said poop will bounce off a corner and come rolling back to me. (Insert creative karmic metaphor at your own risk.) 

How many of us, when vacuuming, will bend over to pick up that bit of detritus, examine it, flip it over, “huh”-ing to ourselves, and drop it back down to the floor to give that ole upright another chance, rather than just throwing it away properly? This harkens back to an earlier post of mine penned many moons ago – “how to kill a cactus”. If you recall, or if you’re new here, I tried to make one plant fit another’s watering schedule. I was essentially the mom, telling the plant when it was thirsty, instead of yours telling you you’re cold, hungry, insert Maslow here. Long story short? It died. The cactus just wanted to cactus, man! 

Sisyphus pushed that ding-dang boulder up that ding-dang hill interminably. When is it time to throw in the towel? And what on *earth* does this have to do with Yoga? This is Svadhyaya, or self-study in Sanskrit. 

Let’s examine some of those habits. Many of us practice “sleep procrastination.” This, for the uninitiated, is when you’re bone-tired, but for whatever reason putting off going to sleep. You may watch another episode, or season, scroll through your phone s’more, and force yourself to stay awake. Toothpick time! This is FOMO at its worst. Is this why kids resist naps? Hm. I myself was once a champion sleeper who’d bring home the Gold Medal if given the chance. I practice extreme napping – timer’s set for 20mn? Ha! I see your 20 and raise you two hours…or so…til Nature calls. I told you digressing was part of the deal…any hoot n’ holler… 

Why we engage in these self-sabotaging behaviors is anyone’s (or everyone’s?) guess, but theories abound. (As do arm-chair analysts, ‘natch.) Perhaps laziness. Perhaps tiredness. Perhaps busyness. Perhaps none-of-your-b-i-business-ness. Perhaps my-way-or-the-highway-ness. Perhaps the-devil-you-know-is-better-than-the-devil-you-don’t-ness. Perhaps meh, it’s-good-enough-ness. 

We owe it to ourselves to do better. To examine what’s not working, and, ahem, “never let it rest, ’til the good is better, and the better is best.” Not in a blue-ribbon, cup-winning way, but in a: how can I be a better version of me? way. 

Some random Yoga dude was quoted in an interview repeating what the Man Upstairs said (or was it Buddha?): “g-d loves you just the way you are, but too much to let you stay that way.”

Humans should be striving for growth, but understanding of their failabilitly. And my lack of spelling prowess. Leaving that typo, TYVM! 

*Yes, I quoted myself. This post has been rattling around in my head for a few days, and none of the pop songs “spoke” to me. 

If this resonated with you, please feel free to comment below or drop me an email. Until our mats unfurl again, be well.

-M