Karen Maezen Miller offers 10 simple tips for a mindful home. How simple? Well, as Karen says, “If you can do the first one, the next nine take care of themselves.”
Wake with the sun
There is no purer light than what we see when we open our eyes first thing in the morning.
Sit
Mindfulness without meditation is just a word.
Make your bed
The state of your bed is the state of your head. Enfold your day in dignity.
Empty the hampers
Do the laundry without resentment or commentary and have an intimate encounter with the very fabric of life.
Wash your bowl
Rinse away self-importance and clean up your own mess. If you leave it undone, it will get sticky.
Set a timer
If you’re distracted by the weight of what’s undone, set a kitchen timer and, like a monk in a monastery, devote yourself wholeheartedly to the task at hand before the bell rings.
Rake the leaves
Rake, weed, or sweep. You’ll never finish for good, but you’ll learn the point of pointlessness.
Eat when hungry
Align your inexhaustible desires with the one true appetite.
Let the darkness come
Set a curfew on the internet and TV and discover the natural balance between daylight and darkness, work and rest.
Sleep when tired
Nothing more to it.
Image:
This list also appears on Karen Maezen Miller’s blog, Cheerio Road.
SIGN UP FOR LION’S ROAR NEWSLETTERS
Get even more Buddhist wisdom delivered straight to your inbox! Sign up for Lion’s Roar free email newsletters.
