Most of us keep so busy, there aren't enough opportunities to notice that we are indeed seizing the day. If you're like me, you've heard yourself proclaim that there are simply not enough hours in the day. You also want to slap silly the people who say they're bored. (I always want to assign those people tasks.) When I worked at McDonalds in the '90s, I learned a valuable work ethic: if you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean!
I often feel like I don't have enough time to get my house clean. Before I became a parent, I took for granted how much time I had available to me. Once during my pregnancy six years ago, I showed my mom my latest toy: a Buddha Board, which is a paper board that you paint on with water so the painting disappears within a minute or two. When I told my mom the purpose of it was to learn about impermanence, she laughed and said that if she needed to learn about impermanence she would just clean her house!
The truth is, no matter how much energy you spend cleaning your house, it will become messy again before too long.
Now, I have no problem admitting to my long-standing preference for sloth and procrastination. Housework, for me, seems to depend on my mood, as I am ruled by the Sun, the Moon and my DVR. Even when I am not on top of the tidying and scrubbing and things are disorderly or hairy, if I know I'm having company soon, my house will get power-tidied and flash-cleaned. Either way I win, because I also count those cleanings as moderate 'work-outs'.
We never regret doing things that benefit us and make us feel better, especially if we had been dreading doing those things. You don't usually regret vacuuming your house, doing your dishes, cleaning your car, going for a walk or eating a salad, do you? Who would ever regret becoming a parent, writing a novel or composing a symphony? Who could regret having taken the time to breathe?
Personally, I have no regrets. I like to focus on the lessons found within each mistake. If mistakes are learning tools, then regret is the residual substance of an experience from which the inherent lessons were not learned. So why kick ourselves for something we did out of ignorance, passion or selfishness? Why not just learn from our experiences and see the stupid things we have done as practice for becoming who we are meant to be?
If you're going to regret anything, regret spending any amount of time feeling guilty. Guilt does not serve you or anyone in the world, whatsoever. What really serves is embracing the moment. Now is all we have.
This is not just a philosophical diatribe. The moment is absolutely essential to our well-being. Rapid aging, panic and anxiety are caused by not living in the moment nor taking the time to breathe. Energy spent mulling over the past or anticipating the future always creates chaos within the body, manifesting as stress and disease. The only cure for NOW-lessness is to be aware of your breath and remind yourself to Be Here Now. Remember, deep-breathing is therapeutic and benefits any given situation. In with the new and out with the old.
Interestingly, exhalations are responsible for 70% of the body's natural detoxification. We can have the cleanest house in town but if our bodies are dirty, what is the point? Most of what makes us toxic, ironically, is the chemicals found in our body care products and cleaning supplies. We can do ourselves a favour by improving the air quality within our homes, especially considering how many more gallons of air we breathe each day (approximately 9,000 L) compared to how many gallons of water we drink (which is recommended to be 2 L), for example. Our home has air purifiers that feature negative ion technology.
You never regret investing in your health. Living in an unhealthy body is like living in a messy house. You could die tripping over all the stuff you didn't pick up when you had the chance.
So breathe and seize each moment and remember: the way you do anything is the way you do everything. Do everything with more of yourself and you'll never regret it!
