Once a month or so, my body craves red meat. That being the case, I like to have a little on hand in the freezer. Last week, however, I pulled out the wrong container to defrost. I thought it was my meat. Turned out it wasn’t. I was a few bites into my rissole before I realised that I was eating cat food.
I don’t know exactly what’s in the cat food mince that I buy. It’s mostly cow (no idea which parts) and probably some other animals as well. I kept telling myself that it’s the ‘other parts’ of the animal which are generally far more nutrient-rich than the lean cuts we normally eat. I tried to drum this home to make myself feel better about it. Regardless, over the coming days, the more I thought about it, the queasier I felt.
On Monday night, I arrived at the yoga studio to teach a class. I was feeling quite nauseous and wasn’t sure how much I had to give. Most of my attention was spent trying to control the over-salivation that comes with the feeling that you’re about to vomit.
I shared my experience with one of my yogis who found it so hilarious, that I found her uncontrollably laughing throughout class—head in hands, tears in the eyes and her whole body shaking from laughing so much.
“Are you serious?”
Apparently asking that made it even funnier.
The beautiful thing about this exchange was the fact that when I normally see this particular yogi, it’s at the end of a stressful day and she’s there because she needs yoga. It felt like I gave more to her that evening than I did in any of my prior yoga classes.
Life being the eternal education, this week I learned three things.
One: When you feel that you have nothing to give, just show up as yourself. It’s enough.
Two: The Placebo —or Nocebo, in this case— Effect is powerful. The way you perceive your external environment impacts the way you experience your internal environment. Manage your thoughts.
Three: Label your pet food.