Bradley Bit

This weeks Bradley tidbit isn't just one quote, it's one of the concepts I'm supposed to practice this week.  It's called "The Miracle of Mindfulness."  The exercises are to promote awareness and to get you in touch with all five senses as well as practice focusing, blocking out unwanted clutter from your brain.

I'm supposed to be "mindful" while making a cup of tea, while washing dishes, while cleaning the house and while taking a slow-motion bath.

I can do the tea... maybe.  I'm supposed to be mindful and aware of my hand gripping the pot or cup, the weight, feel and color of it, the smell of the tea, the heat from the liquid etc.  

On to washing the dishes.  Can I just say, that WOULD be a miracle!? First of all, anyone who has a toddler knows that this is no easy task. Maybe I assume too much.  All I can really say is that with MY toddler, washing the dishes is no easy task.  She doesn't really take well to standing around in the kitchen doing nothing.  She's either trying to take things out of the dishwasher, climbing onto the open dishwasher door, asking to eat or drink, or wandering into another room where her toys are and I can't see her anymore.  I don't do dishes during naps because they clatter too much and naps are too important to disturb.  So.... dishes get done, if at all, in 2-3 minute spurts.  I do NOT have time to be mindful of anything but Eden, which might explain the crusty food that we find even after something's run through the dishwasher.  My instructions say,

"Wash the dishes relaxingly,"  (nice thought) "as though each bowl is an object of contemplation."  (I can just see me, lost in the depths of my cereal bowl as Eden runs willy-nilly with a knife from the dishwasher.) "Follow your breath to prevent your mind from straying. Do not try to hurry to get the job over with."  (HA!) "Consider washing dishes the most important thing in your life right now.  If you cannot wash the dishes in mindfulness, then neither can you meditate while sitting in silence."  

Hey, no fair!  I could TOO sit and meditate in silence without my toddler in the room.  I could meditate in silence while sitting on an overstuffed pillow in my comfiest knitwear in a room with four walls of floor-to-ceiling windows surrounded by a tranquil pool filled with lotus blossoms and water lilies overlooking the lush greenery of a secluded hillside where birds merrily sang and there was a subtle constant breeze that smelled of jasmine and... 

well... 

you catch my drift.  I could TOO meditate.

I won't even bother to go into detail about cleaning the house or taking a bath.  I do like the last thing on the page; practicing mindfulness with your kids.

"If I can take a breath and focus on them, on their entire being, on the smell of their head, on what they are saying and doing and just absorb them with every pore in my body, I find that time somehow slows down so that I can see what is essential.  And my kids pick up on it too, they calm down and really seem to appreciate my focus on them."

That's very nice.  I do want to try that one.  :) 

p.s. after reading this through again, I decided that someone stroking my hair and soft classical music needed to be included in my meditation room.  thank you.