Cleaning the House

One of the hazards of cleaning for me is that it leaves me with lots of time to think. It's not like vacuuming or dusting or mopping the kitchen floor requires a significant percentage of my brain's capacity. So, my brain gets busy on other topics.

I have a really big old Victorian house with 11 rooms and four full bathrooms. Since my husband and I now rattle around in here with some rooms rarely being used, I don't clean every room every week. But, yesterday and today, I did clean everything on the first and second floors. The third floor is a guest area, and gets cleaned when guests are coming.

If I manage to discipline my mind, I can use cleaning time productively to think about and plan out new projects. I can spend the time praying for family and friends. I can make a mental "to-do" list and hope I don't forget the items on it before I get a chance to write them down. All of that does require the input of positive mental effort...otherwise, I ruminate.

I struggle against this tendency, because it isn't productive to worry about things I can't change, to try to figure out the unexplainable, to puzzle over what seems to me to be a foolish decision by someone I know, or to wallow in self-pity over someones past offenses against me. All of these scenarios are really a reason for me to pray. The trick is in disciplining my mind to focus on my concerns in a positive way rather than a negative way.

And (she sighed) this is a lesson I have to keep relearning.