Intro: Pounding bass note and a stirring fanfare of horns. Welcome to another edition of Things to Think about. Here's Stacy. The horns continue with a keyboard note held.
Relaxing piano music is in the background.
Welcome to the Things to Think About podcast, where we use fables and fairy tales to come to deeper truths about our subconscious world. I'm Stacy Casson and today's story explores self-sabotage. We know what we should do and yet, we choose to go against our self-interest. As you listen, pay attention to what comes up for you. We will delve into our stubbornness in a tale I call, “Just One More”. And now, get comfortable and relax. Take a deep breath in. And exhale. A deep breath in and exhale. A deep breath in and exhale. And if you'd like, you can slowly close your eyes.
Once upon a time, there was a very stubborn cat. It woke up each day more tired than the day before. “(Yawning sound), I should really take a nap before I go out tonight. The cat padded over to its bed and plopped itself down lying on its back. It had taken a catnip gummy and was listening to a meowditation. “Take some deep breaths,” the kitty guru was saying. It wriggled and turned this way and that trying to find a comfortable sleeping position. “Oh wait, I did not post about my awesome day on Kit Kot” it said eyes wide open. While it was posting, one of its friends shared their latest score on the daily challenge. “Since I am already up, I will just quickly do mine.” Send. The friend texted back, “I thought you were taking a nap.” The cat responded, “yes, I should be.” “Why aren’t you?” “Stubbornness?”
Sleeping was one of the cat’s favorite activities. It loved to curl up in its human’s lap and take a nap while having its back stroked. That was only fun because it stopped the human from getting things done. The cat only had nine lives and it did not want to waste a single one. It had a variety of interests and fancied itself a modern day Meownardo da Kitty. It had a mind like a sieve which allowed the thoughts to come and go with ease. “How do I build a better mousetrap? Should I even catch the mice? Is it wrong to toy with my prey?” There were butterflies to chase, ankles to swat, people to sniff. Everything and anything was fair game. Keeping the humans guessing was very exhausting. It loved the game of coming inside, and then immediately meowing to go back outside. Walking back and forth from the human to its food bowl several times before dinner also took quite a bit of energy. This is why the cat was so frustrated because it had a night of singing in the alley with its friends and needed to get some rest.
“Okay, okay,” it thought to itself. Sleep! “I will just watch my thoughts float by like sparkling specks of dust in a sunbeam.” “Wait, there is that new box to try out and my human brought in some interesting things. No no no. I am napping. This is nap time. Listen to the soothing sounds of the fan. You are so tired, you can’t keep your eyes open. See they are closed. So you are going to be asleep any mo- do I need to use the litter box? Ugh, it’s all the way on the other side of the house. I’ll be fine. I can go after my nap. If I go now, I’ll just be awake. It’s going to be a short nap. What if I oversleep? The meowditation is supposed to play bird sounds. I like birds, they taste like chicken. I’m so hungry. No no no, we are going to scrounge up some food in the alley.” Try as it might, the cat could not fall asleep.
The cat noticed that its claws were out. “This nap is stressing me out. You know what maybe I should just get up. I don’t want to start anything because I have less than an hour before I need to start grooming for my outing. I wonder what is happening in my book.” The cat had finally found a comfortable position. Carefully it used a claw to tap on the audiobook. “Wait a minute. I don’t remember this part. Tap tap tap, and then the general, no that’s not it, tap tap tap, little Remedios, too far. I’ll just restart the chapter I was on.” The cat listened to the story, enjoying little bits that it had missed because of scrolling through Kit Kot. It did not notice that the general had needed to bring platters of serving trays and make sure that every table had catnip for the VIPs. Our intrepid hero was sound asleep.
Do you fight against the things that are good for you? Is it fear of missing out? Fear of forgetting something important? How can you start to go with the flow? And now you can take a deep breath in and exhale. A deep breath in and exhale. Deep breath in and exhale. And when you're ready, wiggle your toes. Wiggle your fingers and slowly open your eyes. If you're enjoying this podcast, please tell a friend.
Closing: Closing jazzy keyboard and thrumming bass. Hope you enjoyed today's segment. Tell a friend. See you next time. Music fades.
