Photo Prayer 2020-40 -- Pressure Washing
My favorite spiritual exercises are physical and often repetitious. This week it’s pressure washing a wooden deck and two porches, blasting away the accumulated years of mold and mildew to reveal the hidden wood beneath, the gray giving way. Maintenance tasks like these demand continual attention. Call it mindfulness. For hours my squirrel-chasing thoughts are on a leash and cannot wander far — just the discipline my over-active imagination needs. Set the pressure to 1800 psi and I am a happy man. If the world is a better place afterwards, that’s good, too!
Photo of a pressure washer’s wand blasting a wooden deck with water.
Photo and text copyright 2020 by Danny N. Schweers.
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Comments
Hugh wrote:
Work as mediation = Zen.
Elaine wrote:
Ikigai.
Bill wrote:
Nice. Whatever floats your boat along the endless river of love and mindfulness!
Jack wrote:
Good, Danny! High-pressure soul cleansing is the wave of the future. My friend's wife did it wearing sandals and cut her foot seriously, her soul remaining uncleansed according to the verbiage used to describe the event. The squirrels could use a quick wash, by the way.
Burley wrote:
My wife and I used to enjoy those continuous chores. But now that we are living in a retirement community, we don't have to worry about them. Of course we have other worries. That's life. Isn't that so?
Jeannie wrote:
I, too, love doing that. Such satisfying work! Your picture and the words are both true and powerful. By our words and our actions we can rid our lives and our world (our nation) of the dirt that has accumulated that is both selfish, untrue, treacherous, and untrustworthy.
Jim wrote:
I find physical labor grounds me, helps my embodied soul live in the present, get out of my head and forget my anxieties. It’s a good thing!
Emma wrote:
I love pressure washing!
Teri wrote:
It must be a family trait; Jason excels at the monotonous jobs and finds them soothing. I can’t.
Christina Lee wrote:
I have worked to cultivate that kind of response - mindfulness - to things that are repetitive - I'm improving, I'm about at a 50-50 chance I'll succeed!
Warren wrote:
Good for the soul.
Nina wrote:
It is satisfying.
Wayne wrote:
The satisfaction of progress!