Washing dishes.....

"Simple living is about living deliberately. Simple living is not about austerity, or frugality, or income level. It's about being fully aware of why you are living your particular life, and knowing that life is one you have chosen thoughtfully. Simple living is about designing our lives to coincide with our ideals."
- Janet Luhrs -

Thank you all for the wonderful comments left on yesterday's post, it thrills me to know that like me, there are so many out there wanting to go back to the basics too and do things more simply.

As I make the transition to a simpler life, I'll be sure to share it with you.

Now as I stood at the sink tonight with all the dinner dishes around me, I made the decision to wash them by hand instead of hurriedly popping them in the dishwasher and quickly moving on to my next task.

I began washing and as I did I wondered why it is that suddenly we stopped doing things like washing dishes by hand, rinsing and drying and talking to the family while we do it?

I understand that times are different and there are days that we're so busy we need to just get things done, but for me, I've actually stopped using the dishwasher and only do it if I am sick or have a huge amount of dishes, or am in a really big hurry and headed out the door.

It feels to me that there was a time when people used to bond, do you remember doing dishes two people at a time? Standing at the sink shoulder to shoulder, one washing, one drying and all the time talking about the day or your interests?

Just feels that people had a lot more time to bond, nowadays once we're done with the kitchen work we rush into the living room and either get on the computer or on the tv and there we stay, for hours on end, everyone engrossed in their own thing, no one talking.

So next time you go into the kitchen, instead of popping the dishes in the dishwasher, fill up your sink with warm water and bubbles, turn some music on, slide your hands into the warm water and use the time you are washing dishes to meditate, to think, to pray, to ponder, to relax.

You'll be surprised at how good it feels!