Toilet Bowl Cleaner or Inner Peace: What’s More Important?

(A personal story from Jordan—trust me, it’s worth the read!)

So, I show up at Burning Wheel around 6:30 am, like I do most mornings. I put my earbuds in and start my little routine—bag down, vacuum out, carpets looking sharp. Then, I head down the hallway to clean the bathroom.

And that’s when it happens.

I look next to the toilet for the toilet bowl cleaner—gone. Spray cleaner? Sure, sitting right there. But the toilet bowl cleaner? Nowhere.

Weird, I think. I just bought a full bottle last week. So, I start searching. Looked around the toilet. Checked the cabinet. Nope. Checked all the other bathrooms. Nothing. I checked under the front desk, the back room, and the laundry room—nope, nope, nope.

And at that point, I’m thinking: Someone stole the toilet bowl cleaner. Like, who steals a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner? Honestly!

Now, if you’ve practiced with me, you’ve probably heard me say thoughts cause emotions. Well, let me tell you, this was a textbook example. The more I thought about it, the grumpier I got. I’m muttering to myself while cleaning, “People suck. Why am I even doing this? Maybe I should just go live in a cave and be a monk.” You know, spiraling.

So by the time I sat down to meditate, I was in full-on toilet bowl cleaner rage. Sitting there, trying to chant my mantra, but mostly thinking, "Ugh, people are the worst."

But then, something shifted. I caught myself in the middle of that storm of thoughts and realized: "Jordan, you’re human. And humans do human things. And you’ve done some questionable things, too."

That softened me a bit. I remembered some moments in my own life when maybe I wasn’t at my best. I took a deep breath. And that breath gave me just enough space to flip the script of my thoughts.

Instead of “People suck,” I started thinking, “If someone did take the toilet bowl cleaner, what would make them do that?”

Maybe they really needed it. Maybe money was tight, and this felt like a small way to meet a need. And honestly? If that’s true, I would have gladly given it to them if they’d asked. So, in that moment, I was able to let it go. The anger, the frustration—they eased up.

And that’s where Santosa, or contentment—one of the 5 Niyamas of yoga. Radically accepting what is, even if it’s not what you want. Santosa doesn’t mean complacency. It means choosing to stop wasting energy on wishing things were different and instead making peace with what’s here, now.

Because the truth is, holding onto anger wouldn’t make that toilet bowl cleaner magically reappear. And all my stories about “how awful people are” were only going to keep me stuck in suffering.

That leads to another yogic teaching—Aparigraha, or non-attachment. At the end of the day, I had to ask myself: What’s more important, the toilet bowl cleaner or my inner peace?

This is the heart of what I mean when I say: “We practice yoga not to get better at yoga, but to get better at being human.”

Every single day gives us a chance to practice—not just on the mat, but when life hands us missing toilet bowl cleaner, difficult conversations, or unexpected challenges. Our goal? To get so steady in our hearts that nothing—not even a stolen bottle of cleaner—can knock us off center.

One of my favorite parables from the Zen tradition illustrates this teaching beautifully:

Two Zen monks walked a muddy road and met a woman struggling to cross a puddle. The elder monk calmly lifted her and carried her across, then continued on his way. Hours later, the younger monk, still brooding, finally blurted out, “We’re monks! We don’t touch women! Why did you carry her?”
The elder monk smiled and responded, “ My dear young brother, you have such heavy thoughts! I left that woman alongside the road hours ago. Why are YOU still carrying her?”

Ultimately, we are both monks—learning what to hold onto and what to let go. That’s the work, right? We all carry stuff longer than we need to. But what if we didn’t?

So, here’s what I’ll leave you with: What’s more important—the toilet bowl cleaner, or your inner peace? For me, I’m choosing peace. And I hope you do, too.

P.S. If you want the soundtrack to this lesson, this song sums it up beautifully. 👉 Spotify Link

See you on the mat (and yes, the bathroom’s clean now, I promise!)

— Jordan Lashley