Joy in the Mundane!

This enforced time at home has brought new awareness to the mundane- and new appreciation of the same! Washing dishes, mopping and sweeping floor and even folding clothes have received more attention than i have given it in the past, and i am grateful for that. I have been blessed with family and friends who value "perfection" in ordinary every day things. Be it cleaning, adorning the temple in home, ironing clothes  or stacking them neatly into piles. The joy in cutting vegetables -each piece exactly the same - is a joy some in my family take pride in. I read recently, that there is significance in  this - a positive energy field created . Today when i read about this as energy fields the concept seems " profound" but as a growing child one only sees  " perfection" being executed, deemed  as important, but not necessarily understood as one of value- at least not necessarily when young. They say you get wiser as you age ( not sure if wisdom and age are necessarily inter connected but that topic is for another day!- However there is so much to learn and that is truly a blissful experience.) The first step in " knowing" is acknowledging that you don't know.

I am fortunate to be in a profession where i have discovered and continue to discover and celebrate joy in everyday moments, something that perhaps can be termed as mundane activities.

Wearing shoes, putting on a button, opening the lid to a box, putting something in, folding  a piece of cloth, identifying a spoon- the list is endless. But the two times i felt a change in my core was, one when i saw a child discover, stretch and count each finger out for the first time. Imagine knowing that your fingers belong to you - the fascination i saw on that face , I will never forget. That day, he taught me in ways never imagined. The second was when I watched the steadfast determination of a 3 year old learning to put on and then zipper his jacket. Through the countless tries he made with determination, I learnt lessons in patience, and new meanings to the concepts of time, effort and success. Yes he did it!, but moved on to the next in a blink of an eye! Success and celebration took on a new meaning since then.

And, just saying I was and am older to both those kids.Wiser?Hmm... they taught me and i learnt  new meaning to learning.

What is Perfection then? Arnauld Angelique expressed it beautifully when he said " perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things extra ordinarily well"-

I have come to learn that it's the simple things in one's life that makes up the bulk of it. The mundane is where we live and we end up missing most of it in pursuit of extra ordinary moments, events or experiences. However, silence and attention to every day life and it's countless moments, allows us to experience the " extra" in every ordinary moment.