Chores or Blessings
When mundane housekeeping tasks become exercises in gratitude
One of my favorite housekeeping tasks is hanging up the wash the old fashioned way — on a line — and breathing in its fresh, sun-kissed fragrance when I take it down.
Then comes the folding into compact little bundles (a la Marie Kondo) and putting it away.
Perhaps because I find the whole thing so sensory, and calming, and meditative, doing laundry in this way never feels like a chore.
Or maybe it’s a dance of perception, a theme that Mark Nepo explores in his poem, “Pirouettes,” (below), and this larger question it inspires:
How do we go from seeing tasks as something we have to do to seeing them as something we get to do?
Let’s open up the conversation, shall we?
Tell us about a housekeeping task you love doing, and a task that feels like a burden. What makes one more enjoyable and nourishing than the other?
Ahhh…🏡
Pirouettes
Poem and “question to walk with” by Mark Nepo 1
Some days, the simplest tasks seem weighty and endless: make the bed, tuck in the sheet, make the coffee, stir, and drink, find the bills, pay the bills. Some weeks, the days blur: get on the plane, get off the plane, get in the car, get out of the car, sign in here, sign out there. Then, I got your email saying: Isn’t this all a blessing? We get to make the bed and tuck in the sheet. We get to make the coffee and stir it and drink. I emailed you back: What’s the difference? You called me up and said: “Oh my friend, if we can just keep falling down and getting up, it all becomes a dance.” A Question to Walk With: Describe a task that has been at one time a chore and at another time a blessing. How do you understand the difference?
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I can't think of any housekeeping tasks I like! I took off next week for "spring cleaning." I hate housekeeping. And so does my husband. I've let it get so out of control I don't know if it will ever be clean again. We are both having physical issues that are going to limit what we can do next week. But I digress. This morning I've been recalling people calling it a "house blessing" instead of housekeeping, so I'm trying to get in that mindset to call it that. House Blessing Week. Thank for confirming and reinforcing. And I *love* the "it all becomes a dance".
I love sweeping, especially outside. The motions and the slight scratchy sound have always been calming to me