Today’s Soul Report: Scrubbing the Toilet

I was making rather merry this weekend celebrating my 13-year anniversary. So, today back to Soul Reports.

Last night, some of us were on the red carpet (and if you were, and reading this, I want to say, hey—–(shout-out)) while others of us were scrubbing toilets (and if you were, and reading this, I want to say, hey—-). Yeah, you are just as special as those glowing beauties at the Globes. At least these were my thoughts as I scrubbed my toilet, folded laundry, and cleaned the sink during commercial breaks.

I used to feel inferior. Let down. Dismayed. Why aren’t I on the red carpet? Why aren’t I important? Well, back then it seemed like a perfectly rational thought. Today, however it makes me laugh. Ummm- I am not an actor. I don’t make movies. Why the hell would I be on the red carpet? They are where they are because they did the work to be where they are. Simple, therefore no need for pity and drama and cry baby fits of, why me? 

So, as I scrubbed my toilet I thought~ I am cleaning and santizing and beautifying my home for my family. A worthy, worthy purpose. Seriously, I said this. Wasn’t it Mother Teresa who said, “We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” This, my soul searching friends, is a great leap for me. And here is why….

The last few days, I’ve been saying these simple words to myself- I want my life. I want me. It is like, duh. Of course, I want me. I want my life. That’s all I got, but that’s not how I’ve been living. Like many of us, I imagine, are busy looking at other people’s lives and because we are inundated with the glamorous lives of others, it’s easy to think ours is obviously not that great, and that somehow we must be failing.

For some crazy ass reason, I watched two episodes this weekend of Kim & Kourtney. What I saw were these people, although beautiful (well, in my opinion Kim), wealthy and going around making appearances, had drama and instability in their relationships and their character failed to charm. To expand on this “reality”/celebrity hyped-culture, I will share a little poem I wrote as part of a “contest” my daughter got me in as she kept posting her quirky little poems on my Facebook wall (warning- by posting this, you might have changed your entire opinion of me, for it is a little weird):

You’re listening to Martin Luther King. Smeagol found a ring. It’s the darndest thing. You think it’s all about lemons and love, but really its about fishnets and gloves.         The shallow shall prosper. The weak will intensify. The spirit is petrified. God (and Martin Luther King) are mortified. And your mom’s rhyme can’t help but be philosophized. 

The point is- our spirits are petrified (and thankfully can never die). It appears the shallow are prospering, and the weak are intensifying. I am not one to give God a personality so I don’t actually mean he is mortified (it was said for the art). But—-if you are like me, thoughtful of the soul, and more than fishnets and gloves- then take heed. We are the ones to settle this greed.

Okay- enough of the poetry. But really. And maybe that is not your call to heed, but whatever it is- when I began this post what I really wanted to say to you (and also to me, as I do) WANT YOUR LIFE. Want you. There is no one like you. No one- in all that you can do. Okay, I can’t seem to stop rhyming. 

And here’s why it is important to declare that you want you. That you want your life. Because if we do not, we miss what is sitting right at our nose, maybe closer. There are opportunities right where we are at, but if our eyes are on the red carpet and we aren’t even there, or on Kim Kardashian, and we aren’t even her, then how can we be us? How can we see what’s in our life, right now? How will we ever know what we are capable of? How many lives we can change, whether it’s only our own, or our families, or even the world?

This declaration seems like such common sense, but as we know common sense is not so common, so today I thought I’d share this very common sense. Say to yourself, I want me. I want my life and watch what unfolds (even if it’s scrubbing a toilet).

Namaste,

The Soul Reporter