In the undertaking of any endeavor, it is said that attitude
is the number one determining factor for success. There is no denying it, the minute you tie on
an apron, roll up your sleeves to wash the dishes, drag out the vacuum cleaner
or pour disinfectant into the toilet, you’ve entered the realm of servile
labor. It doesn’t matter who you are,
even if you’ve earned your Ph.D., no one is exempt. So in order to be truly effective, you must
develop the right attitude. Attitude
counts for ninety percent of the success factor in life! For that reason alone some inner inventory
must be done. In order to get anything
accomplished, resistance to your work must be examined, reckoned with and
removed.
To be a worthwhile servant, one must develop a certain degree
of humility and a willingness to acquiesce.
This may sound complex, but it isn’t.
If you look up the word “humble” in the dictionary it says:
“Humble: humulus, low, akin to earth,” (according to Webster’s
Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary).
In looking at the nature of the word humble in connection to
housework, I see it like this. We live on the soil of the earth and depend on
it for our survival. Yet, housecleaning
is a constant and deliberate endeavor to keep wayward dirt under control. We are perpetually working to combat it. Essentially, we are either pushing it around
with brooms and dust mops, inventing deadly chemicals to melt it, disintegrate
it, wipe it away. We have devised
machines that suck it up into little bags, which we later throw away. We have shampoos to wash it out of our
hair. We shake it out of our clothes and
throw them into machines to agitate and rinse the dirt down the drain. Where does all this dirt go? It goes back to the earth from whence it
came. Do you remember the old “ashes to
ashes” saying? Isn’t this our very
essence? . . . and so it goes. We begin as dust, we end up as dust, and we
do a whole lot of dusting in between. Now, doesn’t that make you feel humble?
This is similar to the concept of Aikido in that you become
one with the enemy, but in this case, potentially, you already are. Once you have accepted your role as a humble
servant, you can work freely, without resistance always bearing in mind that
dirt is inevitable. Isn’t there a bumper
sticker that says, “Dirt happens?"
In order to have a servant, there must also be a
master. In this case you are both the
servant and the master and your labors are primarily for your own enjoyment,
discipline, exercise and focus. Through
this means, you can enjoy the fruits of your own labor, not to mention the
added benefit of being able to find anything you own in total darkness. You can and will be the creator of your own
environment, which by the way, you already are, possibly without realizing
it. However, this time it will be
deliberate, with purpose and on purpose.
Like a corporate magnate, you will always be on the lookout
for more quality, better efficiency, greater cost effectiveness and a higher
level of productivity.
As a spiritual being unfolding, you will always be directing
energy in a positive and creative direction.
Breathing life into both your home and your spiritual
self, having a focus, an intention, and an ongoing project. This is essentially being at the helm of your
life, fully in charge of the control panel of your innermost workings.
It would be helpful if you were to think of yourself as
having multiple identities, numerous facets within the one personality, each
one of these possessing its separate and individual distinction, all equally
important in comprising the whole.
If you give this concept some serious thought, you will see
that in a sense you already do possess multiple selves. Consider for a moment the number of
identities you presently carry around in your personality. For example, who is it that your mother
expected you to be? What were the modes
of behavior she demanded of you? What
kinds of words did she most often use towards you? What perceptions of yourself did you decode
in her overall message? When were you considered
“good” in her eyes? When were you
considered “bad?” Our mother, in most
cases, was the first female authority figure and we have absorbed her
teachings, role modeling and behavior into our personalities in our most tender
years.