Let this be a time to settle.
Let your breath fill your body with life as you inhale.
Release the tension and holding as you exhale.
Welcome to a hit of hope.
And fair warning,
This one's a wee bit gross.
My new-to-me old house has original wood floors.
They're just one of the many things that made me fall in love with this place.
My house also has big grates in these wooden floors for heating and cooling.
Inhale.
Exhale.
One of those grates has some stiff cardboard about a foot beneath it.
This cardboard is stapled to the ceiling below.
Its purpose is to catch any falling debris so that it doesn't land on my basement floor.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Upon moving in,
I noticed a tiny old piece of dog doo-doo on this cardboard from the former owner's dog,
Probably.
But,
Gross as it is,
I didn't pick it up.
Here's why.
I was sure I needed to haul out a ladder,
Climb up it,
Unstable the cardboard from the floor joist,
And I could imagine all of the dust bunnies and the dog poop sliding right into my eyes.
Plus,
The thing was so old it no longer smelled.
And to be honest,
If I don't care about something,
I don't care.
So even though it's been months since I moved in,
I pretended it wasn't there.
I ignored the shriveled-up turd sitting right there in the middle of my life.
Am I proud of this fact?
Nope.
I'm a bit horrified at myself,
Actually.
But I'm gonna chalk it up to being one more way that I am totally,
Absolutely human.
Inhale.
Exhale.
This past week,
I was on a silent retreat in my home,
Struggling with what I should be doing with my life.
This uncertainty and angst was causing me plenty of tears,
And as I wrestled with my overwhelming emotions,
I sat on a cushion in front of my homemade altar,
Which is right next to that grate,
And the dog doo-doo.
It occurred to me,
How can I expect to know the way forward in my life if I can't trouble myself?
To remove the obvious turd sitting right beside me?
Inhale.
Exhale.
What makes it even worse?
It had never occurred to me to try lifting the grate.
When I did,
It easily came up and out,
And suddenly I had free and easy access to the dog poo,
Which was joined by a random lid,
A piece of broken pottery,
And more dust bunnies and cobwebs than you could possibly imagine.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Am I the only one who has obvious poo lurking in their life?
Literally?
Maybe yes.
Metaphorically,
I kinda doubt it.
I'm gonna put it plainly.
What is the shit you need to get rid of in your life?
It might be physical.
Stuff that is pressing in on you,
That overwhelms you.
It might be mental.
Something you need to clean out of your mind.
Or emotional.
Something that you need to clean out of your heart.
Take a look around.
Be honest about your shit and why you aren't removing it.
Who knows?
Cleaning the mess up and getting rid of it might be easier than you think.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Toss the turds.
Clear your space and get ready to live whatever's next.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Live light.
