Whimsy

Among the 1000 gratitudes, I’m grateful for whimsy in all the ways it shows up in our lives – especially in the things we use every day, like mixing bowls.

There’s a beautiful quotation by Thich Nhat Hanh:

If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not “washing the dishes to wash the dishes.” What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink.

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation

I am pretty sure that I have never washed the dishes to “wash the dishes.” Sometimes I don’t mind doing the dishes, but when faced with dishes that spill out of the sink and onto the countertop, my first thought is never, “oooh, yay, opportunity for mindfulness and meditation.”

Most of the time, my first thought is, “wow, we use a LOT of dishes.”

But at least sometimes, when I’m in the middle of a pile of dishes, one of the forest animal mixing bowls or little rice bowls we use for meals appears in the pile. And picking up that dish, I remember what a gift it is to have sweetness and whimsy at our table and in our lives.

And if that’s not the “full miracle of life,” surely it’s at least little taste.