Can I Enjoy This?

Try out this four word question for yourself

Photo by Superkitina on Unsplash

Whilst performing my ablutions¹ this morning, I was conscious of how many times I had repeated these mundane tasks.

Take hairbrush from drawer. Brush hair. Replace in drawer. Take glasses off before washing my face, placing them in the usual spot so I don’t knock them onto the floor and break them like I did last year. Wash face. Put glasses back on. Etc.

So many physical movements, carried out over and over and over. The thought arose - ‘what a waste of time’.

I caught this wriggly thought, like a spider in my cupped hands. Is it? If it really is, then what a shame. So much of our lives consist of these necessary-for-the-running-of-things tasks - the shopping and cleaning, the care of others, the constant flood of emails…

I paused. A new thought rose up like a cork in water. Might it be possible to enjoy more of these ‘blank’ tasks? It crystallised around four words: Can I enjoy this?

Photo by Virginia Marinova via Unsplash+

I tested it out.

Can I enjoy this? As I swept the brush through my hair I noticed the bobbles on the end of the nylon pins creating tiny pressure points all over my scalp. A mini-head massage!

Can I enjoy this? I pulled on my socks, noticing the stretch in the muscles of my calves and the releasing tension in the base of my spine. My toes rejoiced in the cozy warmth of the socks as they slid in.

Can I enjoy this? As I wiped the sink I noticed the sensation of the sponge against my skin and I properly tasted the satisfaction of leaving something clean.

After a while I realised (with a wry smile - I am a Buddhist teacher after all) that I had rediscovered mindfulness. This four word question had ushered me back into the same state I sink into when we do slow walking meditation around the temple garden. As I slow down, placing each foot mindfully on the grass, I begin to notice things: the birdsong, the vivid blue alkanet blossoms, my own settling breath.

I am so much happier when I’m in this state, so what gets in the way of it?

Well - everything!

But let me try and narrow it down a little, to help me to find it more often, and maybe to help you find it more often too.

⭐ The first thing that comes to mind is: RUSH. This is the disease of our era. Our systems support it and exacerbate it in every moment - the pressures of capitalism, the encouragements towards ‘success’, praise and fame, the raging-river cacophony of social media, the normalisation of extreme busyness. Can we step aside?

⭐ The second thing is: PUSH. I’m mostly talking about those parts of us that push other parts of us around. Anything that involves strain takes us away from a natural pace, takes us away from a way of being that respects limits, fallibility, and good slowness. Push can come from outside of us too, and often does.

⭐ The third thing is: WISH. This is wanting-things-to-be-otherwise. Pushing stuff away, pulling other stuff towards us, or being in denial (Buddhists will recognise the three poisons here). Avoiding reality means that we also have to disconnect from all the good stuff.

How do we peel away the layers of rush, push and wish to reveal the calm loveliness underneath?

I could write a lot about this but for now I will share what I would say is the important thing: NOTICING.

Noticing when we are disconnecting, skipping over things, resisting or straining.

Noticing when we are doing anything other than opening, meeting, befriending, resting or relaxing.

Noticing, and then allowing a gentle shift to happen by itself.

This is what I did when I caught my spider of a thought about wasting time. This is what I do when I take a breath and look away from my computer screen to the sweeping view of the blue hills. It sometimes happens during Buddhist practice, or dog walks, or journaling, or washing up, or fights.

There are things I can do to make it more likely. It’s not easy. It’s an ongoing project. It’s a work in progress. That’s okay. Each time I find my way back to this ground of enjoyment, I feel grateful.

I’ll be exploring noticing, rush, push & wish during May for ‘Mindful May’. This series of pieces will include an invitation to choose a daily mindful practice - watch out for the invite in a few weeks time 🌼

Photo by Will on Unsplash

Later I get another test when I go outside to look for dog poo. Our two dogs go out without us sometimes and they always find new corners of the acre-big temple garden to poo in. Can I enjoy it?!

Well - here’s the satisfaction of a completed job again as I find the poos and whisk them away. Is there more? I would usually go straight back inside to my laptop, but today I linger. I notice magnolia blossoms bursting extravagantly from next door’s tree. I tune into the singing of the birds which is always there. On my way back inside I stop to gaze at the clusters of pale yellow primroses. Such a delicious colour. What’s the word for it? ‘Creamy’. I could eat them up.

Here’s to enJOYment, crowding in on us from all sides.

Go gently,
Satya <3

A picture of Aiko and Ralph, rather than their poo

You could say, 'I’m giving attention to my breath,' or 'I’m giving attention to painting the windows,' but it’s equally, 'I’m learning how to love this in-breath, learning how to love this brushstroke.' The practice of attention is learning how to love.

~ Martin Aylward

1. Such a beautiful phrase!