Cleaning in the Corners

No one ever talks about how cleaning is part of self-care, but I have observed that they are intimately connected. Cleaning has an energetic ripple effect on everyone and everything around us. This can and does include all of the spaces we live, work and walk in. Are we therefore not caretakers of these places?

I went to help a friend who has a small hotel in Skegness, a seaside resort on the Lincolnshire coast, which is often described as ‘Bracing’. The beach was expansive and incredibly clean, the sky big and the sea added another layer of activity and rhythm in the mix. We walked down the recently re-modelled Pier, and it was very pleasant and warm in the late September sunshine.

Opening space offers new possibilities

I helped my friend with the laundry, the breakfasts and washing up, and when she went for a nap, I cleaned the kitchen, especially in the corners at each end, where bags, washing, old hoovers and brushes had been put until they could be sorted. This changed the look and feel of the whole kitchen. The next breakfast my friend prepared was a lot more calm and purposeful – she arrived from her bed earlier and took control of the task comfortably.

Previously I had gone to help this friend in her house, where she doesn’t live, because she ‘doesn’t want to live there by herself’. I wonder if that is the case, or if it is because the house is so full of ‘stuff’, that it feels uncomfortable to be there. There is really no space for her now to just be at home. I must admit I felt a little overwhelmed.  Now, I thought, perhaps we can draw a parallel with the cleaning of the corners in the kitchen in the hotel. That it is ok to ‘go there’. Nothing upsetting is going to happen. In fact, space opens up and new possibilities flood in for consideration. However, perhaps for some of us, discomfort is when new possibilities come flooding in and overwhelm takes over? Collecting items to fill up our space may be comforting in a way, symbolic of filling the emptiness inside of us.

Toolbox and corners

I was asked to go to my friend’s house to help her clean and de-clutter. Every room was filled with decorative ‘stuff’, and not much space to walk. This is a three-storey property, but it feels like there is very little space to breathe. When I arrived the lady herself was gardening, she asked me to hoover the living room, which I did, but then what to do? After a while it dawned on me – start in the corners. In the corners of the kitchen were little piles of offcuts of wood, sandpaper and two hammers, a screwdriver and a variety of different nails.  A toolbox is called for, I thought but, not being able to find one, my host brought out a ‘bag for life’ which happily accommodated it all. On cleaning this corner and removing the tools etc into the cellar, I found the Hoover fitted in quite nicely, and also a pair of steps.  This enabled me to move a small mat and to brush it clean and also the whole floor was cleanable now, just by moving the hoover and the steps. Suddenly it seemed that space had opened up in the kitchen.

Extending our reach beyond our homes

Another way I felt this is with a common area called the Embankment, where I live. This beautiful area is where the grand, sometimes furious, River Trent runs through Nottingham. I should have taken a ‘before’ photo, because last week a friend and I did a litter-pick around this area. We were very thorough. Having cleaned a good stretch of the embankment of rubbish, we came upon an out-of-the-way corner that had been used for sleeping, living, as evidenced by the items we found discarded there. We removed all the rubbish and cleaned thoroughly.

Today I felt to go back and see where we had cleaned to sense any difference. It felt completely transformed; clean, clear, the stillness was palpable and the space seemed to have expanded-no end. Amazing! This attention to detail is a joy. It is there for us all to feel and enjoy.

What an eye opener cleaning is. It is so fundamental to the rest of our lives, for example, in the office, if our keyboards and carpets were not clean when we start work, would we really want to sit at our desks and work?  If our house is cluttered and hasn’t been hoovered for a while, do we feel as if things are unfinished and we can’t get on with what we would really like to do?

Cleaning the home is a beautiful gift that we can give to ourselves.The home feels incredible, and we can then feel quite settled. If we are cleaning as we go, this is a constant gifting to ourselves.

The simplicity of cleaning and thereby making space is part of self-care.  

An everyday way of living.

Home is like our body in repose, providing an opportunity for constant deepening and a foundation to go out into the world from.  We are caretakers, energetically, within the home. It is a joy and a responsibility to maintain the property – honouring the space for ourselves and the next people who will live there.

The quality of our presence in our homes, and how we move in our home, is something we probably don’t really consider. We cannot see the energy we bring but it is there, and we can feel it. When I have finished cleaning somewhere, it is a joy to go back a few minutes later to enjoy the energy that remains.

I love that.