The Zen of Housework

Can doing the laundry be meditative? Where's the Om in doing the dishes? I've been reading and thinking alot about this recently. An article in Body and Soul magazine (April '10) got me started.  Then came all the rain last week. And if you were anywhere in lower New England you know what I'm talking about. Our basement flooded, 1 foot more or less of standing water. My parents basement same. Randomly, some friends around town were dry, some were wet. We all traded sump pumps, wet/dry vac's and helping hands to bail, sweep and haul wet stuff out on our lawns. Luckily we had 4 great days of sunshine to help dry things out a bit. Oh and lots of trips to the dump. Remember all the stuff you thought you couldn't live without or didn't know maybe someday I might need that, well....now you don't. It's wet, it's gone. Mother Nature cleaning house.
Back to the thread of can chores be restorative? Can they relieve stress instead of giving you stress. Next time I see a stack of dishes on the counter (yes I do not have an automatic dishwasher) I will try to see the act of washing the dishes, and cups, and spoons as a gift. A gift that I'm lucky to have these things, lucky to have eatten off them and my belly is full. Lucky to stop for a half hour or so and this is all I need to do right now. Not multi-task into 10 other things. Just this. These dishes. Now if I could only make my husband feel the same way!

The Three Rules of Home

'm going to take this quote from Einstein and see how to apply it to my home, or my personal space and life in general.
1. Out of clutter, find simplicity. I love that one. I'm all for being simple. I find clutter at my desk, work or home, to be distracting. I find that I am more focused if my area is clean and orderly. If I see too many piles, even if they are organized piles, it makes me want to deal with them instead of what I should be doing some where else. Out of sight, out of mind. But better yet is to not have them at all. Whatever it may be. Stuff weighs you down mentally.
2. From discord, find harmony. Okay, if you have no control over the clutter or someone else in your environment keeps creating more as soon as you get rid of it, you have one of two options. First leave it, let it flow over you like a river and say to yourself, "I can leave that half full cup of milk on the table, or that used tissue on the floor, or that dirty sock on the couch. It is not important to stress about it if whoever put or left it there is not stressed." OR....you could look at life around you as the fabric in a memory quilt of sense images... what? ...memory marks my mom would say. For example, don't get mad about the tracks of ballpoint pen on the leather couch, smile and think about how artistic your two year old is and how lucky he is to have ample use of his arms and hands. Smile, breath...relax.
3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. This could apply to a lot of situations right now. In this down-turn of the economy it makes people get creative, grow or die I hear all the time now. Difficult times makes one re-think alot of things that we may have become too comfortable with. It shakes things up a bit.

great prefab article

http://www.dwell.com/articles/plan-of-steel.html

Does your home make you happy?

Do you smile when you walk in the door? Chances are no, or maybe sometimes. Wouldn't it be great to love coming home for more than just the typical reasons? I love coming home becasue it means I will shortly join my husband and son for dinner and a few hours of play time and relaxing before going to bed. I don't necessarily love coming home because of my "home". I'm intriqued by this fairly new field of design I read about last year that mixes science and art: neuroarchitecture. It seems like a no-brainer, but why aren't we doing it more? Why aren't we happy in our homes? Why do we put up with the most basic of comforts being so-so when they could be great. And good for our well-being as well. It's basically how elements of light, space and room layout can affect your mind and body's health. Right now my family rents a house, so maybe I feel deep down it's not worth my time and effort to do anything that's not considered permanent or mine for the long term. I know some people though who own their homes that still have moving boxes around and haven't hung pictures on the walls years later. Why don't we take care of our inner well-being as much as our outward appearance to the world? What steps do we need to take?

Rich in Time?

Are you rich in time? I've been thinking alot about money I guess lately. Maybe it's paying the bills from the last two months of holiday spending or looming taxes to do. But have you ever thought about what real wealth means. Feeling secure, knowing there's food in the frig., knowing you can pay the pharmacy bill if you go to the doctor. But there's another kind of wealth that I feel goes with the live lightly idea. What if how you lived your life allowed you to have more free time to do whatever you really enjoyed doing? Would you consider yourself rich? How can living lightly give you more time? How can your environment affect your feeling of security? Just alot of food for thought this morning, not alot of answers...

Average House Size

The average house size in the United States has continued to grow and grow. According to National Association of Home Builders from 1750 square feet in the late 1970's to currently 2479 square feet. And yet it seems to me the average family size is decreasing. No longer do extended families live together in the same household, kids, parents and grandparents, uncles or aunts. (Although if this economy continues, it may turn back that way.) How much room does a family of four need? How about just a couple of empty-nesters? Big houses need more heating and cooling, more lights, more furniture, more stuff. More stuff to clean, more stuff store or throw away. What do you really need? What would you rather do with your free time? Less house means more living. I would want to see good design, higher quality and less quantity homes.

Home defined

I started this blog with the Dickens quote. It is something I cut out of a Real Simple magazine and pinned above my desk. I look and read it often. It reminds me that the idea of home is more than just a building, the structure, what it looks like, the stuff inside it. Home (and any other built environment that means something to you) is more about the people you share it with and the atmosphere you create.


Live lightly is a term I like to use to define how I would like to live, now and in the future. It's more than just being "green". It's about living simply. Only having and using that which you truly need to get by and make you happy. It is about your "stuff". Trying to balance how much stuff makes your life easier; giving you more time to enjoy the good things in life, and how much time your stuff takes away from you. There's a great quote from Wanda Urbanska, a PBS regular, about living simply: "People are starting to feel there is so much more to life. Everything you bring into your house becomes a responsibility. You have to care for it, clean it, and ultimately dispose of it." Too much of the wrong stuff and it can take away from the quality of your life. More to think about for later...
Ms. Urbanska's website:
http://www.simplelivingtv.net/