No wonder why I enjoy washing dishes. I know that there are not many people who enjoy washing dishes or cleaning, but I love it and know it all makes sense why.
According to a study at Florida State University, washing dishes "mindfully" can significantly lower your stress level. The trick or the easy step is to do it mindfully. The problem these days is that we are always in a hurry and we think of doing the dishes as a chore and we do not enjoy the moment, the now presence.
Mindfulness is often associated with a peaceful state of mind, or meditation and reflection. But when it comes to household chores, mindfulness is not exactly what comes to our minds, but..... you can encourage your state of mindfulness with a simple act of washing the dishes.
So when you wash the dishes, this is all you are doing and this is what you are concentrating on. You are living the moment. You are in the present moment. You are completely yourself, following our breath, conscious of your thoughts and actions and conscious of your presence.
When you focus on the activity (or any activity at the moment), you can feel the warm water flowing down over your hands and you concentrate on each dish of its shape or color as you make it clean, that is when your mind begins to relax and settle and your stress level goes down.
Everything we do from the start of the day, like making your bed, sets the tone for the day. When you clean all clutter from your home, you create clear space in your mind, and when we see the clear space, we really start to appreciate the space, and then we find the beauty of it all.
It is simply "Taking Notice" of our surroundings and our awareness of ourselves. What is taking place in the present and being aware of it is what enhances our sense of wellness. Living in the moment, in the present, promotes appreciation and we make the most of everything that we have.
What about you? Do you drag doing the dishes?
How about trying the Mindfulness approach the next time you do the dishes or any chores or even just start your day with the Mindfulness approach?
Remember... live in the moment. Enjoy the moment.
Hope this was helpful and maybe inspiring in a way.
Love @joalvarez
God Bless!
It does work. I always feel better after doing the dishes :)
That's great to hear. I thought I was the only one so thank you for commenting, it makes me feel better now.
I found that out when I was a busboy in restaurant when I was a teenager! Sometimes when it wasn't very busy they would send the dishwasher home and they had me do the dishes. At first I was bummed then I realised I loved that when the dishes came out of the washer they were clean and done. Done! Haha. It was quick and oddly satisfying. :)
For me personally, It does increase my stresslevel quite a bit. I guess the problem is in the way I approach it, just wanting to get it done as fast as possible. Next time I will try thinking of the process differently and see if I can reach a State of mindfulness.
And I bet most people are the same.
You should give a try and I guess it probably takes daily practice too, but would love to hear your feedbacks😁
Nice
Thank you.