TIME SAVING DEVICES

We are surrounded by time-saving devices and yet, more than any other period in history, we never seem to have any time. Dish-washers, washing machines, kettles, toasters, bicycles, microwaves, cars, aeroplanes and all the other time-saving devices at our disposal were designed to reduce the amount of time it takes for us to do certain tasks so that we would have more free time. More free time to do what exactly?

The very existence of a time-saving device indicates there is a division between what we like to do and what we do not like to do. Because there are certain things we enjoy doing and certain things we do not enjoy doing, we seek to decrease the amount of time we spend on the things we don't like doing so that we have more free time to do the things we like to do. 

But what exactly is it about any particular task that we do not like that makes it so insufferable? 

For example, doing the laundry would definitely feature prominently in a top ten household-chores-we-least-like-to-do chart. But what exactly is it that makes this job so unpleasant? Is it impossible to enjoy it?

Even before we begin, our attitude is inflicting wounds upon us. The very thought of doing the laundry fills us with a kind of stale, distasteful slothfulness that muddies are mood. While we are preparing our dirty washing to be put in the washing machine (buttoning shirts, emptying pockets, un-scrumpling socks etc.) we are further deflated by the fact that this is merely stage one of several inexorable stages.

Clearly this job is an obstacle to our happiness. It feels as if it is by nature an unpleasant task that is preventing us from doing something much more pleasurable. And herein lies the problem: inner conflict is created because of our denomination that some things are by nature pleasant and other things are by nature unpleasant.

For example, how does this conflict manifest when we are engaged in the stage of hanging out our freshly washed laundry? The notion that hanging out the laundry is by nature unpleasant, and is preventing us from doing something that we believe is by nature pleasant, (like having beautiful food in a top restaurant with our friends) creates a kind of split in our consciousness. As we hang out our clothes it is as if our consciousness is stretching itself out of the present moment into the future. We feel agitated and only half-present because we are reaching for the future.

In reality, there is nothing inherently unpleasant about the present, even if we are doing the laundry! With a calm, clear and focused mind, rooted in the moment, unsullied by the idea that the present is somehow lacking, we can experience contentment no matter what we are doing.

In summary. It is the very idea that the future will be better than the present that stops us from enjoying the present. Our mind is pulling us out of the moment and making it almost impossible to enjoy it for the unique thing that it is.  

It is strange that we can enjoy the experience of putting on clean, freshly laundered clothes but are unable to enjoy any of the processes leading up to that experience. Is it not possible to appreciate each stage equally, recognising that each is an indispensable part of the whole? It is clear that without the individual stages it is impossible to produce the final product.

Rather than feeling impatient, frustrated and averse to the task in hand we can instead watch our mind while we are hanging our clothes; we can engage in the task with self-awareness. Self-awareness becomes the context in which we perform the task of hanging our clothes.

It is not so difficult to engage in simple manual tasks in a state of silent awareness. Of course, if we are not accustomed to watching our mind in this fashion, it will initially seem very difficult indeed. This is normal. With perseverance it is possible to create a reservoir of space.

In this state of awareness we can catch ourself when we start to move, dis-satisfied out of the present and into the future. We can use our wisdom to pacify our mind by understanding that each stage of doing the laundry is a thing in itself while also being part of a bigger picture, like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle. We treasure and appreciate each individual piece of a jigsaw puzzle because we know that without it we cannot get the feeling of satisfaction that arises when we complete the puzzle. If we have created some inner space we can hold onto this feeling of appreciation moment by moment.

In the same way this feeling of appreciation can permeate each stage of doing the laundry; we can treasure the process knowing that without it, we would never get that special, cosy, clean 'aaaaahhhh' feeling that we get when we don a freshly washed and dried item of clothing.

If we can experience an equanimity of feeling in the things we do in our lives, then we can actually start to enjoy everything. For as long as we designate some things as really, really pleasant and others as unpleasant then we will forever swing between the two extremes. This designation creates attachment towards the things we like and aversion towards the things we dislike.

When we don't get the things we are strongly attached to we become upset to the degree to which we are attached to them. When we get the things we are strongly averse to we become upset to the degree to which we are averse to them.

If we learn how to cultivate an inner calm that facilitates our enjoying everything, then we begin to weaken our attachment to certain things because that attachment is based in the idea that the thing itself is mainly responsible for our enjoyment. When we know this is not true then attachment and aversion will definitely decrease and, as these are obstacles to our happiness, our happiness will increase.

This is not to say we should not have time-saving devices and go back to a time where washing things by hand took about three weeks, but hey that doesn't matter because nothing is inherently more enjoyable than anything else so let's really go to town and just keep washing on rotation until we die. No. We are humans.

All of us have a natural preference towards certain activities; certain things really light our fire, while others merely put out our fire. The point is, not to seek some high, idealised goal whereby we love everything and experience it all as equally blissful, but to simply get to a point when we actually quite like doing the things that we used to have a real aversion to, and to arrive at this point through an increase in our awareness and wisdom.