Vacuuming as Spiritual Practice?
Yes. Hear me out.
I mean, you probably already know that daily manual labor duties are part and parcel of living in monasteries, sabbaticals in spiritual retreat centers, and the like.
And I’m sure you’ve heard the saying: “Before enlightenment, the laundry. After enlightenment, the laundry.” And the Zen saying: “While doing the dishes, do the dishes.”
So yes, I’ve made vacuuming something of a spiritual practice.
And I don’t know about you, but I’m still working on full Zen-presence when doing the dishes. Not there yet. I daydream, mind wander, sometimes even huff and puff a little. But hey, it gets done. Sometimes, that’s enough.
But I have noticed something about my vacuuming responsibility that’s pretty interesting though. Something that, in the age of all things mindfulness, I felt worth sharing.
dog hairs in my craw
Since closing my office and moving my practice my home (something I never thought would happen) mid way through the pandemic (yet another thing I never thought would happen in my lifetime) my home-based duties have increased. I mean, I’m the one there most out of all of us now, so, only fair.
Here’s the thing. We have two mid-size dogs that shed like M*&%$#ers. And one, shall we say, overstuffed orange tabby cat. And a house full of women (minus yours truly), two out of three with long hair.
Needless to say, it gets hairy (in more ways than one :) fast. Like, almost immediately after vacuuming.
We all kind of all silently conspired to let the vacuuming go in our last house. It would happen maybe once a week. Upon moving 2 yrs ago, we committed to doing better. Enter my working from home, in an abode I love as much as one can love any inanimate structure.
Seeing how bad the hair situation gets on dark floors that never let you ignore it, and seeing how quickly it turns into literal tumbleweeds, I committed to vacuuming every day. The main living level at least, every day.
LA Resistance
Being out of the habit, vacuuming predictably started off feeling like a chore. And a bore at that.
I would want to avoid it, sometimes kind of rush it, *space out, and occasionally allow myself to become sidetracked, unnecessarily extending the responsibility. Once or twice I even completely “forgot” to finish it.
What I’m describing here is classic resistance. Something I talk a lot about, and work with daily in helping people to begin to see, accept, understand (contextualize), commit to noticing it in action (non-judgmentally learning and anticipating the signs), and ultimately, figure out how to outsmart, transmute and integrate their resistance.
Or rather, the part of them doing the resistance.
Regardless of what strategy or work-around we find and apply to beating our particular resistance, or what Steven Pressfield calls ‘The War of Art” in regard to creative resistance (writes block, perfectionism, etc), what’s critical—once we’ve gotten past the total avoidance stage if that’s the initial problem— is the noticing; the learning resistance’s game so well that we can’t not spot it’s warning signs, and signals of a shift.
spring in the step
Lately, a shift has taken place in my spiritual…I mean vacuuming journey.
Here’s how I knew…
First, a minor poke of actual anticipation (around the time to begin the task). Followed by the beginning of a feeling of dare I say accomplishment. Internal, apart from any “Hey, thanks for keeping up the vacuuming” reinforcement that would come over me subtly while mid-task.
That feeling was a direct result, I believe, of keeping the commitment, pushing through my resistance, starting to actually “show up” more for it, and noticing the benefit—followed by noticing a palpable reduction of resistance in exchange for actual enjoyment.
I wouldn’t say I started to love it or anything, but, as resistance lessened, as the part of me wanting to resist could see it was losing control, I noticed something else.
good *trance or bad?
In hypnotherapy circles, *dissociation (an innate, protective mental detaching capacity, or ‘spacing out’ ability, and often a trauma response) is essentially considered bad trance. Likewise, a condition like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) whereby one compulsively ruminates on a certain thought forms, and/or feels driven to perform specific acts in an automatic, trance-like state, would be a concrete example of bad trance.
Good trance being the ability to decidedly enter into or be guided into a trance state where the purpose is therapeutic— to adaptively reframe, identify and ratify our inner resources, and overcome said problems.
With my vacuuming, this is essentially what’s happened. Only without hypnotherapeutic intervention. With steady commitment and increased mindfulness (showing up + increased attention) I’ve slowly turned the bad trance (avoiding, resisting, rushing, “forgetting,”) into good trance.
Now, once I get started, I’m pretty quickly there. I’m in it. I’m with it. It’s working. Before I know it, it’s done. I sometimes even grieve how fast it went, and start looking forward to hitting it again the next day.
What’s that about!?
the “zone”
You’ve heard of getting in “the zone. The “peak performance” state we’ve hopefully all experienced at least once. Where we’ve pushed through the pain (resistance in psychological form, physical form, or both) to reach a state of action that flows (why they also call it flow state). That’s where an endeavor feels effortless, guided by something “other” than our conscious attention, and where we tend to loose a sense of linear time and feel like we’re operating outside of the trance of spacetime we’re accustomed to.
So with each passing day, with less resistance, increased ownership and pride in my vacuuming, I noticed something else resulting from reaching this flow state.
I’ve starting involuntarily making a game of it. Creating rituals and patterns of vacuum movements, which not only make the job more efficient, but more interesting.
And no doubt I’m creating new neural pathways with this shift and the daily reinforcement, which due to advances in neuroscience (neuroplasticity, neurogenesis), we now know is entirely possible. More than we ever knew when we thought the brain fully formed by 25 or whatever, and done full stop.
It’s largely about having learned more specifically about how we learn, how we absorb and retain new information, and change habits (behavior) in ways that stick. And it’s so much about non-conscious mindbody processes, which I find endlessly fascinating.
do you have to “want to?”
The old “but don’t want to do it” is the most classic, age old “out.” Everyone’s favorite procrastination trip, and the arch enemy of self-discipline for children, teens, and adults alike. If we don’t figure out a work around for the not wanting to as a child or adolescent (I was masterful at this, myself), unless we’re naturally wired for action, and blessed with low internal resistance, we’ll undoubtedly have to learn it the hard way as an adult. Where the consequences of avoidance and resistance only increase.
“Forgetting” to pay a bill is a classic adult foil.
The truth, and we all know this, is that the decision to simply begin a task has nothing to do with wanting to begin it. Nothing. Rather, it has everything to do with how much value we place on making a commitment, on strengthening our self-discipline muscle, and achieving the outcome we desire as correctly, efficiently, and painlessly as possible.
The straight line shortest route between two points.
It’s also about understanding the value of exchanging feel bad chemicals of shame and guilt that follow the immediate short term pleasure of avoiding a task with the truly feel good chemicals that come from making and keeping our commitment, demonstrating courage (in the face of resistance), proving our capability (to ourselves mainly) and arriving at true, earned confidence via consistent accomplishment (i.e. The Dan Sullivan 4Cs).
Since I mostly found my way around my own avoidance patterns and learned to get out of my way (one of my earliest Heroes Journey rites of passage) by my late 20s, refining it ever since, with most things I can turn my ship around pretty fast once I notice sneaky old resistance patterns trying to creep in.
And it really is in the noticing. The mindfulness.
I’ll be honest though. The fucking dishes might always get the best of me. I have yet to find my Zen at the sink. But, they get done. Again, sometimes that’s all we can ask.
Not everything, I contend, must be embarked on with love, or perfectionism. Sometimes, just getting something out of the way, in ‘good enough’ fashion is enough.
“Be the ball”
If YOU could use a jump start overriding old neural pathways of avoidance, resistance, rationalizing, and/or you’re someone with a stubborn “but I don’t want to” complex, I can help you identify, declare, and get fully aligned with who you really want to be in relationship with the things that must get done.
Yes, with who you want to be. Because making changes that last is ultimately about identity.
As Jim Fortin says, “You cannot do what you are not.”
Or in the immortal words of Chevy Chase’s character in Caddy Shack: “Be the ball, Danny.”
And so the operating question becomes “What would be the identity of someone who clearly has/does what I want (to have or do)?
Using the Somatic and Energy Healing approach I call Subconscious Heal and Release, we would help you answer this question, turn it into a positive, future-present identity based statement (i.e. “I am someone who…”) and use the kinesiological/Higher Self-guided process to show us exactly what’s subconsciously blocking you from being in full mind body spirit alignment with your goal, gently dissolve those blocks (i.e. traumas, limiting beliefs, stuck emotional energies) until you’re fully, measurably aligned with who you want to be.
If you’ve been looking for a Nashville Therapist or a Therapist in Franklin, visit me at: Therapy Outside the Box for more information about this and my other specialties, and about how you can consult with me from virtually anywhere in the world via Telehealth/Video.
Or call me directly at 615.430.2778, or email me at chris@therapyoutsidethebox.com
Peace, Love, and Zen Vacuuming,
Chris Hancock, LCSW, ACMHP
Nashville, TN