I have been doing a lot of cleaning lately. We sold our house, and that in itself is a ton of work. But I have also been cleaning a friend’s place every other week.
The fact that this blog is called Zen of Vacuuming is your first clue that cleaning is not a chore for me; it is the thing I do when I need to zone out, get out of my head, and stop thinking about all the junk that swirls around.
Today, as I was cleaning my friend’s place, a thought occurred to me. I was on my hands and knees, wiping the bathroom floor with a clean rag (my preferred floor-cleaning method). The best way to do this is to hold the cloth lightly and let it do the work. Gripping too tightly compresses the cloth and less of it can touch the floor as you swipe it around. So my thought was this: loosen the grip.
Once those words entered my head, my mind took off! What a concept! I recall a song from my teenage years called “Hold on Loosely” and that is what I am talking about here.
If you hang on to anything too tightly, (according to .38 Special) you are gonna lose control.
This is EVERYTHING. No matter what you are doing, consciously loosen your grip when it occurs to you, and you will find that everything goes more smoothly. Tension is lessened, and you are able to move more freely.
I think I will make this my new inner mantra. Lately I have been saying “it’s just the ego” whenever a worrisome thought has occurred unbidden.
Now, I will repeat “loosen the grip” and see where that takes me.
It definitely helps when you are cleaning…I wonder how beneficial it will be when bigger messes occur.
zen of vacuuming© 