Wednesday, July 29, 2015

mowing as meditation

Before we built our house, Will and I had many, many conversations about where we wanted to live. We always knew we wanted a few acres of land to call our own but didn't want to be secluded on a back country road that would take us far away from school and church and grocery stores and friends. As we looked in town for something with a decent backyard and the few "must-have" house items that were on our list (mudroom...front porch...) we realized that we would probably have to sacrifice our outside space in favor of the inside things we were looking for. So we moved our search a little further outside of town and found exactly what we were looking for. The best of both worlds really:  a three acre lot - half woods, half grass - in a neighborhood. We scooped up the lot as quickly as possible and then pinched ourselves to make sure it was really true. Such a fortunate discovery and the perfect place for us to call home for a long time to come. 

Our property is shaped sort of like a triangle with most of the left side in grass and most of the right side in trees. So every week, we spend a fair amount of time outside cutting grass. Last summer, since we had just moved in, we spent over three hours every week cutting with our push mower since we didn't want to spend the extra money on a tractor right after all the house expenses. But we saved up and made the switch to a tractor this past spring and now I look forward to spending an hour and a half cutting grass every weekend. Do you like to mow? I love it. Although I love the tractor for the ease and convenience, not to mention the FUN, I even like cutting grass with a push mower. I know that probably sounds kinda crazy, but it's oddly true. 

When I worked for the landscaping company years ago, I started out shearing bushes (which gave me the most amazing biceps of my life thus far...win!) and planting flowers and was eventually given a regular mowing rotation. That may sound mundane to you, but I actually loved every second of it. Since I have a little bit of an instant gratification complex (I'm working on it) and a brain that never shuts off (working on this one, too) cutting grass is a pretty perfect activity for me. Not only do I get to see a project getting done immediately before my eyes, I also get to completely zone out if I want to. I can stare down at the beautifully straight lines I'm following and think about everything or nothing. I can tune into the noise of the mower and tell my brain to shut up, or I can follow whatever random thoughts pop into my head, or I can come up with a brand new idea and see where it takes me. Do you know anybody who can take a problem or situation and think of every single possible solution and scenario before they even become relevant or necessary? That's me. The noise of the mower helps calm that crazy. So when we got the new tractor a couple months ago, I claimed it as my own and have mowed the grass every week since. I love it and look forward to driving that thing around and around the yard, making lines, and using my mowing time as meditation. 








We're still working on filling in the bare patches left from construction but aside from that, our yard looks pretty good right after it's been mowed. Instant gratification - check! And I always feel so much more calm when I step off the tractor. An hour and a half of "quiet" time spent praying or thinking about nothing or brainstorming a new idea makes this weekly chore time well spent. Quiet brain - check! Thank goodness for mowing and the fact that it needs to be done week after week. Now if only I could think about cleaning in the same way......hmmm. Still working on that one. I'll let you know if I come up with anything.

Thanks for stopping by today. See you back here on Friday!

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