Washing Dishes

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November 5, 2020

I’m gonna put it out there.  This Covid 19 quarantine has changed me.  I publically confess that I enjoy handwashing the dishes.  I do!  It helps me locate solitude and inner peace.  A total disconnection from the world.  Then I mess them up cuz I’ve gotten into cooking crazy dinners that don’t go together but man it’s fun to try anything!  Handwashing the dishes is nothing more than my very strict father sternly saying, “Put your toys away!”  It’s very difficult to be present in this place of Now.  I’m a daily writer and damn if it’s not tough as nails to be the keeper of a mind that’s flooded by the events of the outside situations.  The worst part?  There’s nothing we can do except to make ourselves and others aware.  We can offer ideas but you know how that plays out.  In all things that come to us as great reasons to build up a thought there’s always going to be confrontation.  People are willing to help out but there has to be a benefit for them.  Therefore our noticeable difference during this present walk is a situation called clustering.  We cluster things together so that we aren’t wasting time or energy during the journey to bring them forward.  A good example.  I won’t hit the drugstore unless I have other errands to put with escape from the house.  So I wait and wait until there’s enough to do out there or I’m staying in here.  Another example of clustering.  I won’t rake the leaves off the lawn until every leaf has fallen off the trees.  I’m not coming back here to do it again in three days.  I’m guilty of not fully cleaning the house until I’ve clustered every room together and it’ll get done in one big swoop.  Only to complain about having too much work to do.  Rather than evenly pacing out our days and nights we want to pull everything into the picture.  One problem though.  We’re forgetting to do the little things.  Maybe it’s because we’re tired or consumed with other clusters.  I’m truly shocked that we don’t have breakfast lunch and dinner at the same time.  And if we did would it be in the name of saving time or feeding this wild new monster named Cluster.  Breaking the habit of clustering requires the heart to let go of the idea that a victory comes in a big box.  The more you have to do the better you feel about yourself.  I can say this because you already know I’m weird but each time I pass the bathroom mirror I tell that image looking back how glad I am that he’s there.  Recognizing your new self and accepting the moment as being an uncharted trial and trail allows your inner core to be peaceful to the outside person wanting to break free of all things murky and unexplained.  Rather than clustering bill paying with deck blowing and taking the kids to soccer.  Make a map.  Today is Thursday.  This is your expectation.  Nothing else can come into play.  Turn it into a discipline.  Create even flow.  You don’t have to stuff all your fun into a single Saturday.  Remove the cluster.  Do one thing fun.  Then talk about it.  Dream about another like it.  Give yourself enough room to digest the season.  The same is true at your job.  I totally get that bosses are demanding more work out of you with lesser pay.  I hear about it every day.  Instead of competing with the boss give yourself permission to take the cluster out of the equation.  No matter how long my line is at the grocery store and no matter how much they can’t stand to be in that line.  It’s one customer at a time and each and every one of them get quality service.  The very second I turn off my smile and warm conversation it serves as a reason to shop somewhere else because disconnected service is found everywhere.  Be in control of you.  You know where your heart is and how beautiful it performs when there’s harmony inside your soul.  Be you at all costs.  Then share you with the rest of the world.