Washing the Dishes

“To my mind, the idea that doing dishes is unpleasant can occur only when you aren’t doing them. Once you are standing in front of the sink with your sleeves rolled up and your hands in the warm water, it is really quite pleasant. I enjoy taking my time with each dish, being fully aware of the dish, the water, and each movement of my hands. I know that if I hurry in order to eat dessert sooner, the time of washing dishes will be unpleasant and not worth living. That would be a pity for each minute, each second, of life is a miracle. The dishes themselves and that fact that I am here washing them are miracles!” – Thich Nhat Hanh

“While washing the dishes one should only be washing the dishes.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Commercial Free: While writing I will only be writing. No purpose other than to exercise the writing “muscles”. There will be no advertisements or any other form of monetization.

Intended Audience:  Mindfulness of the writing does not necessarily require an audience. While writing to the intended audience is the best practice in professional endeavors, writing with complete mindfulness of the writing itself requires no audience. I will only be writing.

If someone finds joy, amusement, enlightenment, anger, emptiness, or anything else in my writing, then I have realized. If these writings touch even one person, in any way, and evoke any internal or external response, then I have realized. Even if they don’t, I will have practiced.

Likewise, my photographs are only photography. They will not be captioned or explained unless they happen to be the subject of the written entry.

Goals: Whether you come here and love what you find, words or images, and then come back often or come here once and find the words or images “challenging” and decide never to return, I have realized my intent. Only if the words and images evoke no response whatsoever have I failed. Evoking emptiness would be the ultimate.

Next up will actually be some thoughts on the “tree project”.

Posted in: zen