It has never happened in my entire life.
In fact, I never thought it was a thing.
I mean, I know they do it. Every animal does, right? Even people do.
But squirrels?
A few weeks ago on a walk, I noticed a stationary squirrel. And guess what he/she was doing? Yep, pooping. It was a flash of a moment, but as it ran from its feces, I realized I’d stumbled upon something historic. Hence, the Pooping Squirrel Principle.
No, that won’t be the title of my next book, but stay with me.
It was such a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, that I realized perhaps there are other simple but interesting things happening around us every day. The question is: do we slow down enough to see them? No doubt I’ve run past pooping squirrels in the past, not taking note of them. But that day, I noticed.
How do you capitalize on the Pooping Squirrel Principle? Five Ways:
- Take a walk every day, even if it’s just around your office building. Be on the lookout for anomalies in God’s creation (like pooping squirrels).
- Dare to NOT multi-task. Case in point: I was writing this post AND cooking dinner. Guess who burned the tortillas?
- Give yourself one true day off a week (Sabbath). Give yourself permission to truly relax, preferably outdoors.
- Try new routes and ways of doing things. If you always walk a certain route, do it in reverse. Walk down an alleyway instead of a main street. Explore a part of your town you haven’t seen before. You’ll be more apt to noticing unusual things.
- Ask God to gift you with the ability to notice unusual things, then treat those new experiences as gifts from Him.
And, if by chance, you’ve ever seen a pooping squirrel, do tell all in the comments…
When driving around town, I never use the same route coming and going. I ride the same circuit on my bike, but alternate the direction each time. So, I’m good on number 5! I really need to work on number 2–and I don’t mean “pooping.” 😉
Great Mary! ☺
Hehhehehehe! What a great post! As a stay at home Mom, I have the luxury of spending time out in the garden every morning where I have my devotions and quiet time. I have a birdbath, and there are lots of Creeping Junipers and tons of trees, so I sit and pray and watch for the birds and squirrels with my camera on the ready. I have seen some funny and interesting things! Every day is a gift!
I love this. Makes me want to sit in your back yard!
You totally drew me in at “pooping squirrel.” I’ve seen a pooping rabbit outside but not a pooping squirrel. Fantastic reminder of how we so often miss the extraordinary (or hilarious) because we don’t look.
BTW I’m impressed at burning tortillas. I woild’ve burned my paper or laptop instead.
Burning Tortillas would make a great band name.
HAHA, I love it! It never ceases to amaze me how God can use the smallest and sometimes funniest things to bring us lessons. How amazing he is. You can see we get our creativity from our Father!
That’s so very true! He is the creative Creator, and we take after Him.
You had me at “poop.” 😉 I have found that I notice little/unusual things much more since I got sober a couple of years ago. Colors are more vivid, and there are flowers seemingly everywhere. Maybe just one little wildflower that is just a weed, but “weeds” have some of the prettiest flowers to me. Just down the street from where I work, there is a drainage area that was very grown up and was cleaned out late last year. It had been neglected for so long that a tree had grown around a guy wire and there are chunks of large limb where the wire is so deep in the limb they couldn’t (easily) cut the limb loose.
OK I love that picture! Nature wins! 🙂
Gah! I needed to be reminded to stop and enjoy myself on occasion!
Pooping squirrels #ftw!!! ??
I bet that squirrel didn’t know he was starting a rest-revolution!