Last week, my attachment that I chose to give up was my obsessive cleanliness. I always need to put everything back in it's spot, wash dishes immediately after I use them, not wear my hair the same way every day... the list goes on. Last week, I decided that I was going to just do the minimum cleaning that I needed to, and found myself getting really frustrated and angry. I think that the thought that I knew I could only clean so much really took a toll on my feelings about the challenge. It was difficult for me not to clean literally everything in sight and make sure my clothes were neatly folded in the colored stacks within my drawers and there were no wrinkles in my sheets. This was hard. All week I was struggling with not cleaning and organizing, which defines the CHALLENGE aspect of this week. I realized that there was much less time spent mopping and vacuuming, and more time that I spent doing some homework that needed to be in. I think that this was an extremely important lesson for me because sometimes I am overwhelmed with work, and I know that now I can relax a little.
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In observing nature, I chose to watch the water drip from the gutter and travel on and between the rocks on the ground below. In the beginning, I thought this was boring, but I learned to focus a little more on Taoism and the similarities that this experience has with the Tao Te Ching. I realized that if I had decided to observe anything else of nature, I would quickly be distracted because of all the surrounding sounds. I learned that observing this aspect of nature allowed me to focus and meditate on the sounds and beauty of the water splashing on the rocks. It was easy for me to think and control my angry thoughts and my frustrated feelings. I think that this was one of my favorite aspects of the challenges yet.
Alissa Doiron
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