It is the first truly glorious day of Spring here in the UK. Today has dawned as clear and blue and hot as a summer's day, yet made even more beautiful by the fresh green grass springing up alongside sunshine bursts of daffodils.
It is also the first time this year that it's been warm enough to hang out the washing.
Is it endearing or slightly concerning how much I delight in my washing line?
There is nothing like it on a clear, sunny day standing outside in your garden with a basket of freshly smelling laundry and pegging it up neatly on a perfectly white straight line.
Is it the orderliness of it? Or the gratification of a measurable task? Or that it's saving the planet and thriftier than using a dryer? Probably all of the above.
But I think what I love about it the most is that it gives me a reason to stand in my sunny garden for twenty minutes in the middle of the day without any guilt. I'm doing something. It just so happens I get to do it in my garden.
It also gives me the opportunity to focus on the process of Today. It's such an ordinary task, hanging up the washing. And perhaps that's what makes it so beautiful - how blessed am I to be able to do this very ordinary thing?
I've been spending my time these last few months investing in a marketing strategy for my business. One of the phrases the coaches use all the time is this:
Marry the process
Divorce the result
Have fun with it
They're talking about growing your business but it's also such a great strategy for life. Isn't it? Because the process is actually where we live and breathe. Results will come and go and - hopefully - come again. But process is constant.
If we don't commit to the process of life as an end in itself, what are we missing every day? What are we failing to notice simply because it's not attached to a recognised result?
There is beauty and gift everywhere if we defocus from the result, refocus on the process -- and have fun with it.
It's the stand-and-stare moment. The smell-the-roses of it all.
It's the washing line.
jsg/march 2021
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