Do you make your bed?

[rain]

a curious thread.

i've always kept a messy bed, a messy house, a messy mind, and a messy life.

 

until recently, that is.

 

now i keep my environment neat religiously. and i do it for a very simple reason.

because everything counts.

i never rush. i breath slow, move gracefully, and handle everything with care as if everything were tender and in need of care. it's a good way to start the day and end the night. it's a good way to be.

for years i believed domestic chores to be tedious and a waste of time. but i found that wasn't the reason i was messy- it was just the belief i constructed after the fact. slowly going about the ritual of daily chores has the ability to put you right here, right now, radically present, without some approved structure labeled "spiritual" to distract you from what's at hand. because everything is spiritual. everything counts.

 

there is discomfort to be found when we submit ourselves to even the most basic daily tasks. it's that discomfort that most people are avoiding. for me at time it could be so overwhelming that i could hardly sit still, *unless, of course, i could convince myself i was doing something important, like meditating.*

 

now i make very little distinction between cleaning my house and practicing my forms. i make very little distinction between my healing work and my friendships. i endeavor to bring integrity and quality to all tasks. to all relationships. and i no longer run from my own shadows as i once did.

 

everything counts.

 

 

damn...hundun....

[Patrick Brown]

a curious thread.

i've always kept a messy bed, a messy house, a messy mind, and a messy life.

 

until recently, that is.

 

now i keep my environment neat religiously. and i do it for a very simple reason.

because everything counts.

i never rush. i breath slow, move gracefully, and handle everything with care as if everything were tender and in need of care. it's a good way to start the day and end the night. it's a good way to be.

for years i believed domestic chores to be tedious and a waste of time. but i found that wasn't the reason i was messy- it was just the belief i constructed after the fact. slowly going about the ritual of daily chores has the ability to put you right here, right now, radically present, without some approved structure labeled "spiritual" to distract you from what's at hand. because everything is spiritual. everything counts.

 

there is discomfort to be found when we submit ourselves to even the most basic daily tasks. it's that discomfort that most people are avoiding. for me at time it could be so overwhelming that i could hardly sit still, *unless, of course, i could convince myself i was doing something important, like meditating.*

 

now i make very little distinction between cleaning my house and practicing my forms. i make very little distinction between my healing work and my friendships. i endeavor to bring integrity and quality to all tasks. to all relationships. and i no longer run from my own shadows as i once did.

 

everything counts.

Fuck me a born again Taoist! They're always the worst kind.

[nightwatchdog]

Making the bed is a good way to make the moment happen consciously. I do it when it needs doing.

[Sahaj Nath]

Fuck me a born again Taoist! They're always the worst kind.

 

 

i'm not a taoist. and i wasn't alone in my take on your mindset. nor was my intention to disparage you.

 

your 'Tao Te Ching' post illustrates more of the same, but i won't comment on your thread this time.

[Patrick Brown]

i'm not a taoist. and i wasn't alone in my take on your mindset. nor was my intention to disparage you.

 

your 'Tao Te Ching' post illustrates more of the same, but i won't comment on your thread this time.

Well I do seem to annoy your kind (mindset!?), perhaps it's my depth the frightens your shallowness? Now don't forget everything counts!! Yeah right.

[Taiji Bum]

....because everything is spiritual. everything counts.

 

...now i make very little distinction between cleaning my house and practicing my forms. i make very little distinction between my healing work and my friendships. i endeavor to bring integrity and quality to all tasks. to all relationships. and i no longer run from my own shadows as i once did.

 

everything counts.

Brilliant post. I have the same philosophy about life and how we move through it. Everything counts... yeah.

[Jedi777]

Great post Hundun--thanks

[Wayfarer64]

I personally gain an actual sense of well being from a clean and neat home. ( abed with weather-appropriate layers of covers is a way to stay in tune with the world as I see it...)

 

 

but -

It isn't always so when I'm too bizzy etc... still, I do get a sense of well being from it - it feels healthier and tenders a notion of self-respect also...

 

Slovenlyness is a sign of imbalance to me... those I have known who are severly mentally-off due to chemical imbalances etc... always seem to have really messy homes...('cept a lady I knew with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder which was scary it was soo neat... The cleanest person I ever shared a home with was ex-army and extremely orderly... it was uncomfortible at times but ok for the most part...

 

so as usual I say -the middle way the middle way -not fussy just tidy...

[Jedi777]

its the principle of feng shui--energy can flow smoothly through you home as well as your body--that brings health and peace