Chores or Blessings
How do we go from seeing housekeeping tasks as something we ‘have’ to do to seeing them as something we ‘get’ to do?
Here’s another goodie from slow-good summer repost series.*
Happy clearing!
Ahhh…🏡
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 housekeeping 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?
*A word about reposts
In my experience with clearing journeys, there are benefits to circling back around: revisiting a concept, idea, or tool that may have inspired (or even mystified) us. As we change, so does our outlook and our ability to take in information in a new way. May that be so with this mini-series of reposts.
If you’re enjoying these visual recaps, please share, like, restack… and help us grow this spacious energy.
In case you missed it…
I like Fly Lady's philosophy about Chores: I see my daily chores as Thanksgiving and Gratitude to God (or a Higher Power) for His/Her provision, care, protection, guidance, mercy, and love. It's definitely something I get to do!
I was just telling our girls last night how laundry is such a delight for me. I guess it’s the folding quietly and the fact that I get to have clean clothes and them out them away lovingly.
I wish I felt that way about doing online banking or replyingto companies requests online. Grrr.. I am not sure how to make my body feel good doing those chores. But I do try to remember to take it one simple small step at a time. Like not trying to sit down and bang out all the replies!
So good to be reminded at seeing the beauty and wondering how I can do things differently. We truly all need each other. Any ideas fellow space makers on what others do to make online tasks feel better?