- (photo by the lovely, Matty Mason).
I've cleansed my home of excessive toys, decoration, nic-nacs, clothes. I vacumned the car & was totally on top of the washing & housework - when I turned around & found all the mess looking at me again, frown. It is a typical scenario in any home, ashram, hospital ... Then I remembered that all these things require constant effort & struggle much like the spiritual path (in fact it is all the same thing). I love watching those things - the life lessons. As soon as I think, 'Yeah, I've got that! I understand the concept of impermanence - nothing lasts forever. Great, I know what I'm doing.' Moments later - the universe proves otherwise - I thought my home was going to stay lovely & clean, aarrgg I'm attached! Bang! Another lesson in humility, 'ity' number eleven.
I've come up with a few ideas.
My daily simplicity strategies are;
~ Practise sadhana first - I think this statement means before you do anything else, not just in the morning, but with every moment - in otherwords be mindful. Really the only thing I do in the morning is mantra & prayer - I know possibly the most beneficial practice. (With humans being 70% + water & mantra chanted into water looks like this it makes me start to think). Often for me, mantra & prayer is not a formal process but just whilst I'm getting out of bed, making the breakfast & oh yes, like every other mother during that time of the morning, on my hands & knees wiping food off the floor. I would like to say that my first thought on waking is rememberance of God's name but when the baby is crying the mantra usually sounds like this, 'grr' & my prayer goes, 'Oh God, please, make him go back to sleep.'
But I absolutely love Sivananda's morning quote - "Awaken, arise early, make each moment Divine."
It is known that one saint, I think it was Sivananda or maybe Muktananda used to take a very long time in the bathroom in the morning because he would sing praise to Ganga ma (the water) each time he came into contact with her, washing hands, his face, brushing his teeth, taking a bath. His devotees would listen to him from the other side of the door, giggling & awaiting their directions for the day.
~ Simplified asana comes just before morning tea. I 'genuis' the ipod to play some funky tunes & move to the music with the children. Some pawanmuktasana (awakening the joints), forward bends, inversions, 2 surya namaskar & savasana (license for the children to lie on top of me). This session goes for 15 minutes maximum. I always thought that asana had to be a very serious, formal process. Most of the time it is for me - except with the children who love asana this way & so do I. Far less serious! Today we focused on vyaghrasana (tiger pose).
~ Saucha (cleanliness - body, mind, soul). Clean house (inc. cupboards) = clean mind. This takes all week & immediately starts the next week & if not the next moment. There is a Zen saying,
"Before Enlightenment chop wood carry water, after Enlightenment, chop wood carry water."
In my latest favourite book, "After the Ecstacy, the Laundry" Jack Kornfield writes about a woman who wanted to work in Mother Theresa's mission in Kolkata (Calcutta). Before she could go her mother became extremely ill. She was very disappointed & somewhat resentful. She stayed with her mother constantly to care for her for manny years. One day in the midst of this, standing at the kitchen sink she realised that she would have been doing the same repetitive work at the mission. At this moment of enlightenment she was able to see, change her attitude, appreciate & accept her situation, be in the present moment & love & perhaps even worship her mother as Devi, God.
I do try to focus my mind on higher things. Simplifying the mind is often so much harder than the material things, like cleaning out my art cupboard (no, Nicole, I still haven't done it!). Some days & evenings particularly when I try to get to sleep, my 'monkey mind' is so loud! Many saints, seers & sages for centuries have said to use japa - constant repetition of God's name. So simply replace the thoughts with God's name. Aahh, I'm liking simplicity.
"Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success." Swami Sivananda
