Mindful Home-Keeping

Let's face it.  It is difficult to push aside a tennis shoe, dog bone and laundry basket then sit down and try to achieve nirvana.  It just doesn't happen.  It requires discipline, diligence and grace to nurture our meditation practice, the same is required to nurture a peaceful home.  

Yes, it's all related.  To some extent, the condition of your physical world mirrors that of your inner world.  Also, in clearing space and cleaning out your physical space, you can help grow a more peaceful and expansive inner space.

I was raised is a loving but chaotic home.  My husband, in response to one of many of the disastrous messes he came home to, asked if I was feral.  My point is, if I can manage a tidy, peaceful home, anyone can.

I didn't do it alone.  I learned, in part, by watching my husband and mother-in-law, who seem to have been born organized.  I also tried and abandoned LOTS of systems.  The most gentle and easy to follow was from a little Internet icon named Flylady.  Flylady and her website have helped me stay centered and given me a place to start when I was just too overwhelmed to figure it out on my own.  

Top 7 Take-Aways From My MIL and Flylady:

1. Do it now - You might say "duh" but haven't you ever left a dish in the sink and returned to find the oatmeal transformed to concrete?  When I want to flit away from a mess and onto the next thing I ask myself "Is this something I'm going to excited to come back and handle?"  If not, I take 2 extra minutes and finish the job.
2. Create Routines - When you automate the mundane, you can accomplish much with little energy.  The same way we up the survival odds of our meditation practice by setting aside a specific time, place and process for our practice, we can also keep our days running smoothly when we make daily to-do's into habits.
3. Have a Master Plan for the week - By setting aside a specific day to handle bills, another for planning menus and making appointments, one for errands, etc I don't have to feel like EVERYTHING has to be done today.  I can set bills aside and know that they will get paid on Wednesday.
4. Clear Hotspots several times a day - Hotspots are places where clutter gathers.  Have you ever noticed when you put down one piece of paper it's like a magnet for more clutter?  
5. Shine your sink - I know this one sounds crazy, but it is amazing what a happy place it makes your kitchen.  Likewise for a made bed, it just makes the whole room smile.
6. Declutter Every Day - This goes for you, too, my neatnik friends.  I have worked as a professional organizer and seen the most immaculate homes with perfectly categorized and organized clutter choking the homes energy and gathering dust.  Keep a box for charity into which you can toss outgrown clothes, old books and knick knaks you no longer love.  Those items will bless someone and you will have the benefit of more space.  Eventually, you'll realize it's more efficient to just not bring the clutter into your home in the first place.  Bonus!  More money to save/share/enjoy and less stuff to store!
7. Set Your Timer for 15 Minutes - You'll be amazed at how much you can accomplish in that short amount of time.  At least once a day I use a 20 minute segment as a working meditation.  In that time, I go about my chores, but instead of being distracted by music or busy brain, I focus on my breath and pay particular attention to what I am doing.  Instead of wishing my son wore fewer socks or that the dog's was a hairless, I just focus on my deliberate actions and hold them in the light.  

Maybe the most important thing, though, is to be gracious and not take any of this too seriously.  I wrote this earlier in the day.  I had been doing a LOT of noodling about mindful home-keeping   This evening, just after I pulled supper from the oven, I walked my sister outside and a car pulled up with a dear friend from SPAIN!!  It was a complete surprise and we were thrilled to see her.  I invited her in--we stepped over a flyer for a tree service on the entry floor, and another for the school carnival, then passed a pair of shoes on the sofa table.  I invited her to sit at the kitchen island where I pushed aside a pair of socks (clean!), a set of sheets, a smoking hot glue gun and a Coke factory made of construction paper and Popsicle sticks.  We had a drink and shared news about life and our families. Eventually I didn't even see the dishes in the sink. She asked about the blog.  I silently considered scrapping this post based on the embarrassing condition of our house, but life is messy and unpredictable and precious.  I am just happy to have a home and friends with whom I can share it.

(Island and Coke Factory "after")