MEDITATION MADE Easy

MADONNA GAUDING, author of The Meditation Bible, gives you a beginner’s guide to serenity. This week, a meditation to try during the housework:

BENEFITS: This meditation will transform ordinary house-cleaning into a spiritual practice, providing powerful visualisation for clearing negativity and strengthening spiritual resolve.

TO START: Think of any past negativity you would like to purify, or any mental debris you would like to clear.

STEP 1: Pick up your broom — this meditation is better when sweeping than when using a vacuum — and stand in the area you plan to clean. It can be inside or outside your house. Kitchen or garage floors work well, as would your path or front step.

STEP 2: Examine the area to be cleaned for dust or dirt. It may be quite noticeable or somewhat subtle. See this noticeable or subtle dirt as negativity residing in your own mind and heart.

Imagine that, as you sweep, the negativity will be swept away, too.

If you have been unkind to your partner, or hurt a friend, or been drinking too much lately, see the dirt as these past actions.

STEP 3: Start sweeping. Focus only on the dirt, the broom and the area to be cleaned. See and feel your negativity leaving your mind and heart.

Sweep away both your potential future negative acts, and your present doubts and fears.

STEP 4: End your meditation by throwing the dirt away into the bin. See your negativity go with it.