Chores
Mundane things in life are boring or are they? At the time of this writing I had to mow the lawn before heading off for a month holiday in Malaysia. Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment chop wood, carry water. Big difference – different context.
In my 16 years or more at Crown Casino Melbourne I’ve gone through some love hate relationships. These days I only am in the “relating” mode as every moment is always different and never consistent. The last few years of morning shift was great. Having the afternoons off I developed a pattern and taste for routine to fit in gym, martial arts and self-study.
Its not so much the groundhog day that matters. It’s the attitude towards boredom and routine. I could space out and not be there mentally if I wanted to but through self-study into alertness, awareness and self-realization I learn to let go of my boredom and my attitude toward the mundaneness of life, work and routine.
I took a special interest in people. As I took interest in discovering myself I discovered others are in the same dilemma as I was (probably still am). Noticing and identifying my personal issues as non-attentiveness and even bringing my personal values to the Signature Club emphasis in Crown eg: the quality of Welcoming, Engaging, Personalising, Attentiveness, Professionalism and Empathy. Only thing is I turn it inside out. Applying these qualities inwardly and internalising it so I’m always mindful to watch myself using these values on myself, mentally, emotionally and physically. It’s not a corporate or company consciousness but a personal one turned impersonal naturally in due course.
When it gets too much to handle I back of the mental aspect of it. I stop all internal dialogs and mind chatter. Meditation regularly even in short intervals throughout the day helps tremendously. When I meditate, I let go gently of all thoughts, good or bad. Just not thinking, resting and being in the moment.
In every current moment of my life I find the restfulness and the calmness of easing back totally the mental activity (at least the non-conducive thoughts). I find every moment now, ever new and ever refreshing through the help of active meditative state of mind. I look at the work, however busy or boring as exciting and always something new to discover. There is always something or someone new to discover anyway as life is never the same moment twice. The thrust is inner and outer harmony at all times.
Alertness, being in the moment, in the zone and on the ball at all times. If I’m not then I bring my attention back to what is happening now. Between the doer and the task there is doing. Remove the doer and the task at all times and you have only the doing. This doing is contagious. “Doing” can just be “being”or living. Just be here and now. Even if I am really doing nothing I’m still aware of what’s happening to my body-mind. That awareness is still there even when I sleep although my memory fail to recall what happens during deep sleep or memory lapses. Awareness always is. It is the background or the immovable among the ever changing impermanence of all real or unreal worlds.
Find yourself fascinating. Discover the secrets of yourself by digging deep into the darkest closets of your being. Address all hurt, fear and disabilities with watchfulness and understanding. Be there for those intimidating emotions or experience and they will lose grip on you slowly and surely.
Plough on!
