As usual, another great post by Zen Habits.  It’s called “12 essential rules to live more like a Zen monk.”  Some of the rules include:

• Do Less
• Develop rituals
• Devote time for certain things

But the one that hit home, especially today was:

• Make cleaning and cooking become meditation. Aside from the zazen mentioned above, cooking and cleaning are to of the most exalted parts of a Zen monk’s day. They are both great ways to practice mindfulness, and can be great rituals performed each day. If cooking and cleaning seem like boring chores to you, try doing them as a form of meditation. Put your entire mind into those tasks, concentrate, and do them slowly and completely. It could change your entire day (as well as leave you with a cleaner house).

I cleaned under my bathroom sink, under my kitchen sink and in and around my dishwasher today.  I found that while doing so, I was in a zone.  Another world.  Time stood still for the hour or so I spent on whatever project I was working on.  I got into the nitty gritty of it, even taking out the old toothbrush to get into the cracks in the dishwasher.  I even broke the knob on my dishwasher trying to pry it off, but that’s another story.

I think if I can get into that zone, that other world while cleaning (and to a lesser extent cooking) then it will make it all that much easier and less of a chore.

Tags: cleaning, meditation, the zone, zen

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.