Epiphanies aren’t always a “bolt from the blue”. Sometimes it’s a voice in your ear quietly saying “Told you so.”

I received one of those today. I was reading a post in Forbes from one of my favorite business authors. She went on about the time she was able to serve the Dalai Lama by cleaning toilets.  At a spiritual retreat. For 12 hours a day. It was only two days but still…who cleans toilets at a spiritual retreat?

Her point was this: Be Still.

When you’re cleaning toilets you’re not exactly sedentary. You’re moving around a lot, especially when you have to clean a lot of toilets. And when you’re doing it by yourself you have no one to talk to. Spiritual exercises (cleaning toilets?) aren’t designed for team-building . They’re intended to get you to be still mentally, to reflect and perhaps lose some of the clutter that has built up in your life. Finding humility and solitude in cleaning toilets…what a concept. In my Navy days I had plenty of opportunities to reflect in toilets but I never thought about it like this.

This experience of cleaning toilets (by a very successful businesswoman) brought home a lesson that I had not fully learned (or even considered) until now. When I was inducted into the Order of the Arrow (that’s the BSA’s Honor Society) I had to complete what is called the “Ordeal”. The 2-day Ordeal requires an inductee to sleep on the ground (pine straw and a poncho liner are only so comfortable), perform service projects, receive little food, and maintain a vow of silence throughout. I never really thought about the “Why?” behind it. It’s introspection and self-revelation. It’s about finding the answer and if you’ll be still long enough, maybe even the question. 27 years later I’ve gotten the message: Be Still.

And that little voice said “Told you so.”

be still