Life Laundry

how re framing my attitude makes doing even the most ordinary things more profound.

The other day I was sorting laundry. I dislike the mundane task of matching socks. No matter how often I do it, I find myself week after week doing the same thing, with the same socks passing endlessly through my hands on a never ending loop of washing and drying.

Whilst I was standing there, wondering if it really mattered whether we wore matching socks, and why this was so important anyway, I caught sight of a sheet of paper I'd had taped above my desk. It had come off the wall, and was rolled up with some other papers.

As I picked it up I remembered the moment in Baarlo, standing in front of the group. Vanessa Jane had drawn, “from a place of love, everything becomes an act of service”- I had been talking about the realisation that no matter what I was doing, if I did it with love there would always be meaning to even the most mundane thing.

Looking at the pile of socks in front of me - I had to smile. Here was the perfect metaphor for being in service and harmonising my being and doing into an act of love. Rather than seeing the sock mountain as a dull task to get done as quickly as possible, I had the potential to approach it as an expression of love and caring for my family. With this in mind it transformed how I experienced the process and how I could bring my best self into the world in even the smallest of tasks.

As the weeks go by and the Baarlo experience fades, these fundamental learnings stay with me and help transform how I live my day to day life. I am faced with the practicality of getting on with things. Yet I also know that every minute brings the possibility for me to bring my fullest and best self to the moment. When I can do that in pure love even doing the laundry becomes transformational and a powerful meditation on life and matching socks.