A consistent restlessness threads my days together. Unable to embrace stillness, I am in constant movement. Although several studies demonstrate that multitasking is ineffective, my propensity is to cling to the familiar. For me that translates to attempting several tasks simultaneously: talking on the phone as I cook, typing on the computer while trying to help my daughter with her homework, and reaching for my phone almost all the time while I am in the middle of something. This behavior fuels the cycle. A constant need to do all the time, I am aware that the presence of real quiet often eludes me.
In the last few years, because this quest for quiet is a place where I would like to eventually land, I noticed there is one place where silence is automatic. Paradoxically, it involves movement and quiet working together. Vacuuming my office, folding my daughter’s pajamas, dusting an old frame that showcases my father and my mother, and fluffing the pillows in our bedroom are details that are part of my every week. A rhythm follows as I complete each task. As I embrace the ordinary details of my life, tranquility eases my core. I realize that these wholly mundane actions creates a meditative state that is not abstract, but a texture that I feel. Order is created every time I straighten up, wash, and clean my immediate environment.
For years, my haphazard attempts to meditate in the traditional sense failed. I tried to sit in a room with my eyes closed, wishing my mind found a place of silence, but instead the to-do lists screamed in my head. Not ready for meditation in this context, I shifted my focus to what offered quiet in my daily life. These everyday, ordinary instances is where I am able to quantify certainty.
Tidying my home is where I find comfort. It is where I choose to practice my peace.
Welcome! I am a lawyer turned freelance writer, essayist, and editor. On staff at Literary Mama and the co-founder and co-editor of the literary journal, The Sunlight Press, my essays and reported work have appeared in The Washington Post, The Lily, Saveur, Civil Eats, Brain, Child, ESPN and elsewhere. I am currently at work on a memoir on grief and culture and how it provides perspective on life’s ordinary graces. I invite you to appreciate the ordinary with me. I hope my daily practice of seeing the magic in the mundane helps you celebrate and find more of these moments in your life too.
That’s great, Rudri. I too have tried to meditate in the traditional sense and so far have found it very difficult for the reasons you cite. I think it’s wise that you found a way that works for you and, who knows, this could be your transition step to one day meditating. Or, this could be it. But the important thing is that you found it. I also find it rather therapeutic to do some house chores, and thinking about housework in this way may give me further incentive to do more of it!
As a fellow clinger of familiarity, I also was in constant movement. I’e learned through time and age to embrace the stillness. I still prefer to be productive….at least by calling it that it makes me feel better!
Well, Rudri, I say embrace it where you find it. And I know what you mean, there is something calming and centering about the rhythmic repetition of ordinary tasks, not to mention the positivity of keeping our environment clean.
I actually love vacuuming very much. My husband used to tell me he loved doing the dishes. I thought he was crazy. Over time, I’ve come to love the rhythm and the sounds. In fact, we barely use our dishwasher because we both enjoy doing the dishes.
Would you come practice at my house? P-L-E-A-S-E ???
🙂
Being home is comforting and I am not surprised that that’s where you find peace. I find peace at home as well. … There is something very serene about taking care of our home .