Joy, Housework, a Devil, and a Dervish

Until last week I would have thought it strange to put the words joy and housework together. I have always considered housework as a necessity and something I wanted to do. But my desire to do the housework was all about enjoying the results. I love the feeling of a tidy clean space.

You can ask Toby about our early days together and how I would turn into a kind of reverse Tasmanian Devil spinning and sweeping though the house feverishly putting things away so I could find the floor to vacuum, often feeling quite angry about the mess (see Taz video at end of post). In recent years I have relaxed about it enough so that I can still be comfortable if the house is a bit out of sorts. I think having a child is a natural antidote for the neat-freak compulsion. It sure has made life with me easier for my not-so-neat-freak husband.

But even with my new laid-back approach to home neatness, I still reach a point where I look around at the "chaos" and I am unable to do anything else until the house has been put back in some semblance of order. I call this hitting "the mess wall." This usually happens about once a week or maybe every 5 days depending on how hectic life has been and how much has been left to fall where it may. Keep in mind I work from home, so if the house is a mess, so is my office (and vice versa I might add!). There is no escape for me!

Then this magical shift happened. It was a week ago today. I wanted to meditate, but I had hit "the mess wall" so there was no way I could sit and be still with my environment in such a state. I only had an hour and a half before I needed to get to work - not enough time to clean up and meditate. I decided I would try to make my housework the meditation. I lit some incense, put on my new favorite meditation music by Deuter, took some slow deep centering breaths, connected with the Divine, and dove in.

I began with the pile of unfolded clothes on the couch. As I folded Toby's t-shirts I thought about how much I love him. I thought of all the ways he is such an incredible person, husband, father. I focused on sending loving energy into the clothes as I touched them and envisioned him wearing them with joy and in safety. I did the same for Sophia's clothes and even my own. By the time I was done my heart was so full of love and in such an expanded state I felt like I was floating. As I moved around the house putting things away, everything I touched filled me with a sense of gratitude and joy.

I put away items given to Sophia by her grandparents and I thought of how much I love them and how grateful I am for them. I washed dishes feeling grateful I had food to eat and running water in my home. I made the beds grateful for the comfort and beauty of the beds and the bedrooms. On and on it went. I didn't want to stop.

I found myself tackling big messes, like the piles on my desk, which I had been putting off organizing for months. Every time I touched my work I felt love and gratitude for my clients. I felt intense joy that I get paid to do what I love. I was even able to make decisions about things that had been left out forever because I just didn't know what do to with them.

I was having a radically different inner dialog with myself and my surroundings. It seemed crazy to me that I would have ever touched the things in my home with anything other than love and gratitude in my heart. I was shocked when I remembered the way I would normally think and feel while putting away Toby and Sophie's things. Housecleaning had been a time for angry, resentful, victim thoughts like, "Why can't they put away their own stuff? Who am I, their maid? Why is it always me doing all the housework?"

When I felt the power of focusing on my love for them, on infusing their things with that love and joy, I knew I could never go back to the negative, angry, resentful way. I resolved to practice housecleaning as a mindfulness meditation or to not do it at all. I committed to exuding love into my home through this activity. And I went on for another hour loving my home into order. The feeling was exquisite. Several times I was moved to tears by the love I felt for my family and the gratitude I felt for the blessings in my life. The state of joy and peace I had created lasted the entire day.

Over this last week I have had the chance to put this new practice to the test. I had a few moments where the old dialog tried to come back as I put away the same things again (and again) but I had an effective tool for cutting it off - LOVE.

The reverse Tasmanian Devil has become a Whiling Dervish. Like mystical spiritual practice of the Mevlevi Order in the Sufi tradition called The Sema (see video below), I have discovered that being in motion and dancing with DIVINE LOVE while I do housework brings me great joy and deep peace.

Housework and joy are now synonymous for me - if I let them be. Wow - who'd have thunk it?

MORE ON TAZ
In case you have forgotten what TAZ, Tasmanian Devil, can be like here's the original Bugs Bunny cartoon. Enjoy :)



MORE ON THE SEMA
The Sema represents a mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to "Perfect." Turning towards the truth, the follower grows through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth and arrives at the "Perfect." He then returns from this spiritual journey as a man who has reached maturity and a greater perfection, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation. Click here for more from Wikipedia.

Here's a short video clip: