Photo: Stephanie Bennett Vogt
“In order to seek one’s own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life.” –Plato
How long have we been stuck at home now? Has it really been months?! Ask your home how it feels from your climbing its proverbial walls, and it may well be ready for a refresh too.
It is striking how quickly the place we could count on to escape from the world has suddenly become the world we can’t escape from. Our homes have morphed into workplace, schoolhouse, IT department, infirmary, studio space, therapist’s office, food court … and, dare I say, repository for all of our unprocessed stress and stuff.
How can we possibly find our center, recharge our batteries, and make our home feel spacious and inviting with so much going on?
Yes, it may feel like an impossible task to bring our homes and lives back into balance when everything around us feels like an unmitigated mess. But it doesn’t have to be. As long as we’re willing to slow down, stay fully present, and be compassionate with ourselves, there is a way, not just now during the pandemic, but even after it’s over.
Below is my list of favorite one-minute practices to help you do that; ways to quickly shift the energy in your home and find your center again. For them to work their magic, however, you will need to supply two things: consistency and awareness. Consistency here means daily practice. Not just on weekends or when you feel like it. Awareness means giving all of your attention to a task, as it is happening in real time, and being the compassionate observer of the experience.
As you cycle through the list, notice what these practices stir in you. Do you find yourself spacing out, growing impatient, feeling antsy, resistant, or bored, for example? Conversely, do they energize you and make you want to keep going? Are you aware of subtle shifts, insights, or creative solutions? Can you enter into the practice with a beginner’s mind and no agenda, conditions, or attachment to the outcome? This is what it means to practice with awareness.
One Minute Refresh
Give yourself at least one minute to play with these. Start at the top of the list and practice one item a day for five days. Or better yet, for an even deeper 25-day practice, choose one and repeat it for a period of five days and then switch.
And PS, if these practices seem “way too simple,” you’re right. They are designed that way on purpose to bypass fight-or-flight triggers in the brain that cause overwhelm. They are also designed to jiggle loose some invisible clutter – stuck patterns, resisting habits, unprocessed pain – in order for you to name it, feel it, and let it go once and for all.
- Wash: This takes a practice we’ve all been doing for months during the pandemic, mostly on autopilot, and elevates it. In the spirit of this Japanese saying, “Let the past drift away in the water,” take a minute to wash your hands mindfully and intentionally to release the strings, or attachments, of your day and/or to bring in cleansing energy. When you wash the dishes, take your time. Smell the soap, feel the cleansing warmth of the water on your hands, and breathe. Turn your daily shower routine into a soothing ritual of slowing down.
- Put away: Take sixty seconds to put away one thing, sort one pile, or round up one area. Push chairs in, turn off lights, make the bed, cap the toothpaste, put the toilet seat down, move the dirty clothes from the floor to the hamper. Make it into a game with your kids at the end of the day: see how many things you can put away in one minute. Expand your practice of putting away every day only if time allows and you feel moved to do so.
- Clear: Declutter a purse, a wallet, a drawer. Throw out a pencil nub, outdated bulletin board flyers, lifeless food from the freezer or refrigerator. Recycle a magazine or store catalogue. Delete a few emails, digital photos, or files. Fix or replace something that is broken. Clap, rattle, or ring a bell to clear stuck energies and/or prepare a space for something new. Make a list on a piece of paper of things or issues that weigh you down, and then burn it (or just imagine it burning) – with gratitude. Be creative. Notice what happens to your breathing as you move energy in this way.
- Sweep: Get yourself a nice broom and sweep a floor, a room, or the front steps to bring new energy into your home and life. Use it to clear cobwebs that are hard to reach, window frames, curtains, and light fixtures. Sweep your way to a solution, a fresh start, a quiet mind and notice how good it feels. Notice what new opportunities and openings this practice creates. Have fun with this.
- Do Nothing: The moment you notice yourself getting stuck, tightening up, or feeling a pang of guilt, anger, disappointment, embarrassment, or resistance, use your one minute today to consciously do nothing about it. Yes, that means no fixing, no changing, no improving, no managing… no nothing. Be the witness of the story instead of the story. Detachment is a powerful thing when done full on with awareness.
That’s it. When you’ve completed the cycle, you’ll be ready for the advanced version, which is to repeat the cycle all over again.
As you master the art of clearing in this spacious way, you may discover that it isn’t about the task at all. It is how you relate to the task that changes the game. Waking up, softening resistance, and releasing stuck energy is the work here. The cluttered closet, rat’s nest refrigerator, excess body weight, painful relationship, unsatisfying career, grinding pandemic – or whatever it is that is causing stress – is simply the vehicle for personal transformation and lasting change. In the end, where we live is our best teacher. It shows us the way home.
PS… If you find this message helpful, please share, tweet, pin, post, or forward it to someone else who could use the support. Let’s grow the clearing energy together that can change the world!
