Real Life Tao - Being Full of It

Trey Smith

This post is about one of those topics that your mother told you never to discuss in mixed company and, especially, NOT at the dinner table. It is one of those topics many longtime married couples never broach. It's the sort of topic that most people would never think to mention (even in passing) to the best of friends. Yes, this post is about one of those time-honored taboo subjects: bowel movements.

Since as far back as I can remember, I have had great difficulty with bowel movements. It wasn't until I wound up in the ER one night in my mid 20s with a bowel impaction -- I found out what enemas are for that night! -- that I came to understand that this was abnormal. Until my doctor explained otherwise, I had just assumed that everybody else grunted and strained a few times per week.

After my system was cleared -- a "fun" process I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy -- my doctor convinced me that I needed to alter my diet drastically. I became far more conscious of insuring my diet included sufficient dietary fiber and adequate amounts of liquid. For years, to aid my system, I took a fiber supplement with breakfast.

While I am happy to report that I have not incurred a subsequent flushing out at a local ER, I would be lying if I said that this problem no longer bedevils me. To be more blunt about it, constipation seems to be my life long companion! I still struggle with having more than 3 or 4 bowel movements per week.

You may be asking yourself about now, "What in the hell does this post have to do with Taoism?" That's a a fair question.

One of the key concepts of Taoism is balance and I seem to have a difficult time maintaining balance in my digestive system. I work hard to keep things as balanced as I can, but a great deal of the time it doesn't seem to make any difference. It's like my colon has a will of its own!

In the past, I had a tendency to fret about my semi-functioning lower intestinal tract. However, one of the precipitating factors of Irritable Bowel Syndrome is anxiety. The more you worry, the worse the symptoms tend to be. So, I would worry that I wasn't going enough and, because of my worry, I would insure that I would continue not to go enough!

These days I try to be more laissez-faire in my attitude. I've come to realize that my bowels have a far different definition of balance than the norm and its one that my my brain has yet to decipher. While I have not gotten to the point in which I experience no anxiety in relation to my bowel functions, I do realize that obsessing on it only makes the situation worse.

In the end (what a pun that is!), my "situation" points to the fact that the concept of balance isn't always straightforward and easy to understand. We often like to believe that balance is the mid-point between two visible poles. However, each life system and process balances differently and not always in transparent ways that are easy to wrap our rational minds around.

Sometimes, the best we can do is to say, "It is what it is" and to leave it at that.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.