Ten Tips for a Mindful Home, by Karen Maezen Miller

The current edition of Shambhala Sun is devoted to mindful living, and highlights interviews and articles by Thich Naht Hanh, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Edward Espe Brown, Daniel Siegel, and others. The topics include Mindful Cooking, Relationships, Shopping, and Mindfulness at Work.

Karen Maezen Miller, a priest at the Hazy Moon Zen Center in Los Angeles, offers these ten tips for a mindful home from her article, "Do Dishes, Rake Leaves (And Don't Forget the Endless Loads of Laundry):

Wake with the sun

There is no purer light than what we see when we open our eyes first thing in the morning.

Sit

Mindfulness without meditation is just a word.

Make your bed

The state of your bed is the state of your head. Enfold your day in dignity.

Empty the hampers

Do the laundry without resentment or commentary and have an intimate encounter with the very fabric of life.

Wash your bowl

Rinse away self-importance and clean up your own mess. If you leave it undone, it will get sticky.

Set a timer

If you're distracted by the weight of what's undone, set a kitchen timer and, like a monk in a monastery, devote yourself wholeheartedly to the task at hand until the bell rings.

Rake the leaves

Rake, weed, or sweep. You'll never finish for good, but you'll learn the point of pointlessness.

Eat when hungry

Align your inexhaustible desires with the one true appetite.

Let the darkness come

Set a curfew on the internet and TV and discover the natural balance between daylight and darkness, work and rest.

Sleep when tired

Nothing more to it.

(Copyright 2010 by Karen Maezen Miller. Used by permission.)

To see more of the current issue of Shambhala Sun, visit:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=114 

Blessings,
Roger

P.S. Here's a link to Karen's book, Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood:
Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood   [MOMMA ZEN] [Paperback]