A Moment In Life

An alternate intro... ▼

 

I love mindfulness. I didn’t know it was called that when I first started doing it, I just wanted to quiet my mind. I needed a break from the stress life can throw at all of us – and, I found it in the kitchen – washing dishes!

What? Did you read that correctly? Did I just tell you that there is rest, relaxation and refreshment to be found at the kitchen sink – even when there is a stack of dirty dishes? Yes, that is exactly what I am telling you.

So, how do you find this calgon moment in the midst of a mundane task?

A Moment In Life

         How do we find a refreshing moment away from the daily stresses of life? Washing dishes can be good for the soul. By focusing on my physical senses during this routine task, a spa experience is available right in my own kitchen.

         As the sink is filling, what do I hear? I listen to the splash of the water from the faucet. First, it strikes the surface of the sink. It pings a bit like rain on a tin roof. A pool collects below with a whoosh and gurgle. I put my hand under the stream of water coming from the faucet. The water sprays and splatters across the sudsy surface.

         The warmth of the water detected by my sense of touch instantly brings a feeling of relaxation. The hot water running over my hand is just a beginning of this sensation. By submersing my hands into the sinkful of sudsy water, I bathe them in that soothing warmth, a bubble bath in my kitchen sink.

         The bubbles themselves tantalize. Each tiny bubble contains a rainbow. Mounds of them together appear as snow-covered mountains. Mountains that can be picked up and blown away by a gentle breath or piled higher and higher until they topple over. I am easily transformed into a child at play.

         Attending to sound, touch, and sight births a transformation. Dishwashing is changed into a soothing spa moment. I quiet my mind by tuning-in to my physical senses as I wash a sinkful of dishes.