This morning, as I was spontaneously scrubbing down the shower walls along with my body scrub, I was reminded of this passage from the Black Madonna Diaries book:”As I ladle the homemade chai from its pot into my bright yellow mug, I notice the stove is covered in brown speckles from the simmering herbs. It needs cleaning. I turn off the flame, remove the pot and dip the small blue sponge into warm soapy water to scour the range top. While I’m at it, I may as well replenish the pot of herbs I have simmering throughout the winter season, keeping an instant cup of tea handy with pleasant warm aromas saturating the flat. I return the renewed pot of green tea, ginger, clove, cardamom, and cinnamon to the burner and relight the flame. Stepping back from the counter to survey my accomplishment, I savor a sip of the spicy warm tea.
Now, what was I doing? Oh yes, writing. I’m so scattered
these days, doing a little of this, a little of that. What’s happened to my organizational skills?
“You’re not scattered, you’re finally beginning to live in the present moment,” Madonna’s reading my thoughts again. “As you’re preparing a cup of tea, a dirty kitchen catches your attention. Rather than think ‘I should clean the kitchen’, then put it on your to-do list, you simply do it. You’re no longer living in a world of ‘shoulds’. You choose in the moment: to either clean the kitchen, or let it go. There are no ‘shoulds’. Did you get your cup of tea?”
“Yes.”
“Are you heading back to what you were doing?”
“Yes.”
“With a clear mind, no dirty kitchen looming over your present activity. Sometimes the appropriate choice is to ignore the kitchen, but then put it aside without any ‘should’ attached to it. Thus, you’re living in the present moment, free of mind clutter. You’re not scattered. Let that old curriculum go,” she says with a wink.
Now, what was I doing? Oh yes, writing. I’m so scattered
these days, doing a little of this, a little of that. What’s happened to my organizational skills?
“You’re not scattered, you’re finally beginning to live in the present moment,” Madonna’s reading my thoughts again. “As you’re preparing a cup of tea, a dirty kitchen catches your attention. Rather than think ‘I should clean the kitchen’, then put it on your to-do list, you simply do it. You’re no longer living in a world of ‘shoulds’. You choose in the moment: to either clean the kitchen, or let it go. There are no ‘shoulds’. Did you get your cup of tea?”
“Yes.”
“Are you heading back to what you were doing?”
“Yes.”
“With a clear mind, no dirty kitchen looming over your present activity. Sometimes the appropriate choice is to ignore the kitchen, but then put it aside without any ‘should’ attached to it. Thus, you’re living in the present moment, free of mind clutter. You’re not scattered. Let that old curriculum go,” she says with a wink.
~Sharon Lyn Shepard~Excerpt from “Revelations of Love” Volume I of Black Madonna Diaries series
www.sharonlynshepard.com
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