How important is it to have a clean house? How do you juggle a demanding job and a family and still have the time for basic chores like cleaning? My sister Martha, a hospice nurse and mom to a possé of adorable dogs and cats weighs in:
I used to clean my house as a way to manage my shame and anxiety. Now I have no shame and anxiety so my house is out of control. If I think about getting a maid or dying before it is clean, the anxiety returns, so I just don’t think about that and go about the business of my very full life.
I don’t know how to care for the dying drive all over town, sit down with a computer program as swift as a VW bus from the 60’s to put in my documentation after the day is done, practice my beloved piano, my beloved astrology, play with my beloved animals, take care of my body, mind and spirit, sleep and dream … AND CLEAN THE HOUSE.
So if I die and people have to discover my wreckage, piles, laundry, etc, know that my life was full and happy!
p.s. And now, having written that I am inspired to clean! That will feel good!
–Martha Bennett
Me again: As I see it the last line says it all.
Name it, feel it, let it go…
And maybe a little opening will reveal the spaciousness, energy, and inspiration needed to pick up the broom.
Reactions? Thoughts? Comments? How do you manage your life and still have time for basic chores like clearing and cleaning? What’s your juggling secret? I’d love to hear from you!
Photo Credits: Bing Images: “Clean House”; Google Images: “I dreamed my whole house was clean” by Anne Taintor
Actually, I love to clean, but the mood has to be right, then I can move right into it and it becomes almost a working meditation. Some times, I just have to start somewhere, and like pulling on a thread to unravel something, one thing leads to another and soon I’m full of new ideas of how to organize stuff and the sorting thru process has already begun. Basic regular cleaning, well that’s just something you don’t put off when your home is where you work and you have people coming in frequently.Part of the business up keep.
Amen, sister!