Years ago, in a time known as the early 1990's I was an assistant to a woman who was Buddhist. I asked her so many questions about her altar, her rituals, how often you changed the fruit in front of the Buddha, I'm sure she got tired of it pretty quickly, but she always gave the information I wanted to know about.
The ritual I liked a great deal, was the big cleaning binge at the beginning of the new year. Everything was given a good scrubbing to make a new, clean, welcoming place for what was to come.
As much as I'd like to dedicate a week to only cleaning my house, it's not something I can make happen, especially with two kids under the age of 10.
But I do the best I can. I clean the bathrooms, do a vinegar/baking soda/boiling water treatment in all drains, open the windows to change the air and make things smell as nice as I can.
It's the one time a year I find cleaning house to be a spiritual exercise, which appeals to my groovy, new-age, hippie part of myself. Getting everything sparkling and fresh to greet the new year with optimism is an idea that I like.
Since I'm not into New Year's Resolutions, which I find to be a list of how a person will fail in the next twelve months, I make an effort to be happy and excited about what will be coming my way.
That will be my big, exciting time this last day of 2010 and the first day of 2011, cleaning! I'm going to start off the new decade feeling like I have control of my life and that I'm good at taking care of my household.
Now, once more into the mop bucket!
Amanda's beauty tip of the day: Don't drink and drive! Banging one's head into the steering wheel will cause scarring on the face. Hitting another car and killing someone will cause severe scarring to the soul.
Happy new year!
Sometimes, you have to give life some lipstick and tell it to kiss your ass.
1 comment:
Hear hear. Every year RIGHT after Christmas I purge all the old toys...make room for new and clean clean clean. Granted I follow the Buddhist philosophy as well but I have been doing that before I truly learned about Buddhism. I'm still learning but it is a ritual that I will always continue doing even if my views change. Its an awesome way to start a new year. Clean and organized!
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