My thought of the month by Lucinda Warner

In celebration of the mundane:

If I'm completely honest, I have to admit that housework is not my favourite way of occupying my time. I do it with the attitude of being a chore rather than as a part of my spiritual practice, or a great opportunity to transform my mind, or even just enjoying the fact that things will soon be clean!

It's so easy (and I am definitely guilty of this) to focus on our meditation practice, or healing or yoga or whatever it is we do, and the beautiful feelings that can arise and think 'ah yes, this is spiritual... its filled with light and love and transformational possibility', and then view the hoovering and the washing up as things that get in the way of our practice rather than being another facet of it. One of my great lessons on the path is the celebration of the mundane. Spirituality is a state of mind, or rather a space of mind, not an activity, and this can be present as much when we are dusting as when we are meditating if we use it as an opportunity to practice mindfulness. With this mentality the act of washing up becomes sacred, as does waiting for the bus, queuing in a shop or going to the launderette. Its really vital that we stop segregating our lives into compartments and labeling this one 'spiritual' and the other 'material'. Unless we can do so we will never become integrated beings and living examples of our teachings.

Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh is famous for his gatas, or short poems, that help us focus on the spiritual in everyday circumstances. Two of my favourite are:

Washing the Dishes:
Washing the dishes
is like bathing a baby Buddha.
The profane is sacred,
Everyday mind is Buddha mind.

Using the Toilet:
Neither defiled or immaculate.
Neither decreasing or increasing.
These concepts exist only in our mind.
The reality of interbeing is unsurpassed.

Now thats what I call transformational!

With love x

Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh leads a walking meditation in Plum Village

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