Monday, August 24, 2020

Doing Laundry can Bring a Meditative State

Image by Alison Krejci from Pixabay 

You step into the laundromat and the smell of detergent tickles your nose. The heat generated from the machines warms your skin. You gently throw dirty clothes into the good washing machines. The one that cost a dollar more because that washes your clothes twice, and with a boy who doesn’t mind sitting or rolling around in the dirt, its the best choice. You have no quarters so you walk over to the change machine and insert your ten dollars. The quarters fall, each dropping with a clink into the metal bowl. You deposit your quarters one by one and watch as the money amount drops until it displays “press start.” You like that you can see your clothes spinning, submerged in bubbly water.

I use to live in a small apartment that had a pair of laundry machines just outside my door. I thought it was great. I could drop my clothes in and go back to do some cleaning or continue planning for work. I was multitasking.

Then, I moved into a small house and had no immediate access to laundry machines, and the house was not equipped for adding any. I would walk a block to the nearest laundromat. Which is not bad at all, but I felt inconvenience having to stay and watch my clothes. I also disliked that there were so many people doing laundry.

Now I moved on to another laundromat and must still watch my clothes. However, my thoughts on laundry day have changed.

I enjoy doing laundry. I enjoy checking to see if the clothes are dry or if more quarters need to be added. What I enjoy the most though, is folding clothes. If there are not many people there that need to use the tables then I’ll go ahead and fold my clothes the KonMari way, and take my time.

I don’t usually look forward to laundry day, but once the day comes I'm glad it's here. Why? I don’t think about all the things I have to do for that day or week. I am fully present. I have found doing laundry and folding it as a form of meditation. I don’t simply grab all my clothes and toss them in. I hold each one at a time, feel the texture of it, and decide in which of the four dryers it’ll be placed in. Or if it’ll by placed in one at all. I focus on each piece of clothing. The reasons why I chose a particular piece comes to mind as I fold it. Perhaps it was the print, the cut, or the material. I guess it does seem a little silly to consider it as a form of meditation. But it truly is once you immerse yourself into that moment.

Are there any household chores that you find help you be in a meditative state?

2 comments:

  1. I enjoy doing laundry, too. I love hanging the clothes to dry out in the sunshine. Vacuuming is my favorite chore. I love to vacuum.

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