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!