Accidents

No use crying over spilt chrysanthemum tea

It is extremely common to accidentally spill something, or drop something (and break it), or make a mess. No matter how hard you try to keep everything within the bowl or the chopping board, or not to splash the oil when you drop the ingredients into the frying pan, things still go the way you didn't want them to. You spend so much effort to ensure that a mess wouldn't happen just so that you would have an easier time (and you spend less time) cleaning up afterwards. 

Now, I've come to adopt a perspective that gives accidents a positive spin. Accidents are opportunities to clean up! 

You know that cleaning never ends. It is a lifelong process and unless you have a live-in helper, you have to do some cleaning yourself. So accidents force you to clean because it isn't your usual dust or dirt variety. Accidents almost always involve liquid or food particles and it usually has to be resolved pronto. So when an accident happens, you can be sure that the area it happens at would be the cleanest (after the superhero you have zapped the mess, that is). And you can look on proudly at the area and wink.

Life isn't smooth and daily living isn't the easiest. You will get messes. You will get spills. You will notice that you've left a spot of oil uncleaned on the kitchen counter after you're done with the whole cleanup. GRRR.

All these are daily minor irritants - but because they happen on the daily and perhaps more than once a day - they can grow to become quite a source of unnecessary stress and unhappiness. 

For this, I would suggest adopting a wabi-sabi attitude. Wabi-sabi is a "world view centred on the acceptance of transience and imperfection" (Wikipedia), which is perfect for keeping your peace of mind (and sanity) with the mess around you. 

When I first moved into my own place, I was so enamoured with how clean and tidy it is. It is, after all, NEW. But as the days go by, dust and dirt start to appear and now that I have house guests (i.e. pests) living with me - the sheen has disappeared. I am constantly vexed thinking about how to get rid of my uninvited house guests and make dust and dirt disappear permanently. I am actually stressed about this and it is making me quite unhappy. 

Now I am learning to live with the mess - the dust, the dirt, the stains that just suddenly sprung up from who-knows-where - and not only to live with but also to appreciate them. I know that every time I make the effort to clean, it is only temporal, and that dust and dirt will invade again. Inevitable. So why fight the inevitable? Accept that cleanliness is temporal and transient - to be enjoyed for a short while (like the short-lived cherry blossoms). Accept the imperfections of your house and learn to appreciate them. A house that is clean and neat 24/7 isn't a home to live in. It is a display that you tiptoe around afraid to dirty. And no one should be living like that. 

Not that we should live in an unkempt house that is truly dirty - that would be unhygienic and definitely bad for us. But the little messes, the specks of dust and dirt, those we should let go of and not be too uptight. Clean them as and when necessary (never let them pile up). But don't do more than necessary. Enjoy life, enjoy living, enjoy your house as it is.