Soaking It Up
“Problems are what makes us grow and sculpts our soul.”
Every one of us at some time or another has had the opportunity to wash a sink full of dishes - whether we wanted to or not.
During the aftermath of recent party we hosted, the dishes were over the top – literally - and my main goal as hostess was to be with my guests and just make sure the food got put away and the dishes were “soaking” in the sink.
As I thought through this whole idea of letting dishes soak, I realized I had learned the most important part of washing dishes at the young age of 10 when my dish washing days began. Soaking was and is such an easier way to wash dishes. It made my mother crazy back then and my husband crazy today because technically the task is not complete.
However I have found that if you soak, especially pans with lots of food stuck to it, the process of washing becomes so much easier. And wouldn’t we much rather spend our time doing something more fulfilling even if the task isn’t complete in the moment? It gives us more time to do what we actually want to do.
Now I realize that there are some people who can soak too much. It can be a procrastination of the inevitable action of completing the task at hand. There are times when the item at hand we are thinking about is so big that the thought of it alone can cause us to pause and soak. Like a large pan we assume that because of its size needs to soak no matter what is actually inside of it.
The act of thinking can also allow ideas or problems that are festering from our unique journey to sit and soak in our heads for a while before we act on them.
Sometimes in a society filled with so many to do lists and the go, go, go mentality all around us - soaking can get lost in all the action. That’s why in fact it’s so hard for many people to meditate because it requires just sitting and soaking while letting the thoughts in your head go wherever they need to go in the moment.
Are you up to do an experiment together? I hope that you are and then I will check in with you next week to see how it’s going for you.
Take your greatest problem right now – the one that seems insurmountable in resolving. Yep, that one. Every morning between now and next Monday take a minimum of 5 to 15 minutes to meditate on letting that problem or challenge be there in your mind. Think of the potential resolutions in your mind. You don’t need to act on it in this moment of awareness because you are just letting it soak.
The resolutions could be as small as simply moving past an annoyance of someone’s behavior. Perhaps these resolutions could be bigger for some of you needing to change the current path of your life.
To assist you I have created a Podcast this week on the Power of Accurate Thinking in which I share some of what works for me in the art of meditation and brain soaking.
It’s a short audio clip and I hope it assists you in taking your thinking and soaking to the next level.
While washing dishes may not be your favorite thing to do, sometimes with the right attitude and approach it can be soothing.
In regards to my sink full of dishes from the party, the next morning when I arrived back in the kitchen it was not the most pleasant sight. However, in 20 minutes I had the sink emptied. As I cleaned each dish it reminded me of the good time spent with my guests at the party.
Wishing you a week of challenges that you take on head one when you need to and let soak when you can as well.
