As spring time drags its feet getting to most of the country, our power animal of the month yawns and stretches. Say "Good morning!" (around lunch time) to Sloth. "Sloth is a power animal??" You stop your rushing around for a moment and wonder.
But they are so ... slothful!
In our busy, action-oriented society, creatures that nap all day as they hang from the tree tops like furry hammocks are often misunderstood, just as humans are when we try to preserve our energies. Yet Sloth may be the Taoist Master of the animal word. Instead of rushing into the future, they know how to "be" in the present. "Emptiness is fullness" says Lao Tzu Sloth. (Reference: Dr. Gary Toub, Jungian Analyst.)
Sloths rarely let their feet touch the ground. Instead, they escape their fastest predators, like the jaguar, by being perfectly still and letting their bodies blend into the tree-bark. What they lack in muscle-tone they make up in brain matter.
They also have long lives because they honor their slow metabolism. August is known as "the dog days", because man's because man's best friend also knows how silly it is to rush around when it is hot and humid out. If we dub March as "the sloth days" we might give ourselves permission to store up our energies for the exciting and fun summer months, and actually be more productive when all is said and done.
If you don't really have to move quickly or do extra work, address those guilty or fearful feelings, and give yourself some permission to be like our meditative mammal pals: and go stretch out on the beach, laze on the couch, or hang upside down from your palm trees.
