WARNING: If discussions about going to the toilet offend your sensibilities, this article is not for you, in which case I recommend that you stop reading now and wait next week’s article.
Image:Sorry… Got to go now! courtesy of Michel Filion
Scatological: From the greek skat (excrement, dung) and logos (study) – related to the study of excrement
Before we get to the heart of the matter, let me reminisce for a while. Over ten years ago, as I was studying Industrial Engineering, I was offered a course in systems theory, which is “an interdisciplinary field of science and the study of the nature of complex systems in nature, society, and science” (from wikipedia). According to systems theory, our world can be seen in terms of ’systems’, where each system is ‘a whole’ that is more than the sum of its parts. As such, system can be studied from the perspective of its inputs; the processes that happen within the system; and its outputs.
And so we can look at ourselves – our bodies – as complex systems which take things (inputs) from its environment; process these inputs, and then return some outputs to the environment. It is in the last part of this equation – our outputs – that I want to focus today.
First, I’d like to ask you to reflect where do you focus your attention wile you go to the toilet: Are you reading? Are you paying intimate attention to what’s happening in your body? Are you tuned out?
If you’re over 35, a health professional might have already told you that paying attention to your faeces can be of critical importance. Many illnesses can be detected by simple visual examination of your faeces:from diarrhea to worms to cancer. Do you take a quick peek before you flush it all down? If you do, has it ever told you something about your health? About your eating habits? Perhaps you remember that one time when you thougt again about asking for that extra portion of hot-chilli with your burrito during your weekly visit to the Mexican restaurant. Or perhaps you were too distracted to even notice.
Paying attention can be important not only to what ends in the toilet bowl, but also to the process of going to the toilet. Is your attention focused on what you’re doing, or are you distracting yourself with some reading? Perhaps you have decided to meditate and ‘be present’ in the experience? Some people choose to repeat affirmations during this special time, or to think about their goals and recent achievements. Yes, toilet time represents an opportunity to do some of those things that you want to do but for which you can never find some alone-time. And if this concept sounds alien to you, take a look at Google’s approach to employee health with the poster they placed in the toilet cubicles:
Image: Google toilet stretching courtesy of loiclemeur
Ok, I agree wirh you – exercising whilst you’re at this inner sanctum may be taking things too far. But I urge you to rethink how you spend time in the restroom, and to experiment with different approaches to it. Your life might be better for it.
