Mindfulness and Housework: Vacuum This
As a guest on a local television show recently, I decided to bring along my vacuum cleaner. No, it wasn't for a segment on household hints. I wasn't there to share secrets for deep-cleaning a carpet. Instead, I was using my vacuum cleaner as a memorable visual (aural?) aid to talk about mindfulness. My host, Roland, gamely turned it on during my bit, and we attempted to shout over the roar of the machine.
After a few seconds, we gave up, and as he turned it off, the ensuing silence was a welcome relief. I used the vacuum cleaner to talk about how we have this noise in our heads all the time. Our thoughts are creating a swirl of sound, and it can be exhausting to try to concentrate, relax or get creative with all that racket going on. This mental vacuum sucks our energy and makes it difficult to gain clarity, let alone peace of mind. We need to turn it off in order to have the quiet space we need to truly pay attention.
The surprising part of this is that turning on a REAL vacuum cleaner and running it across your floor provides an excellent opportunity to quiet the noise in your head. You can use your power switch to make an intentional shift toward mindfulness, and let this housecleaning task become your chance to watch your thoughts. Any slow repetitive physical task lends itself beautifully to mindfulness practice, and the back-and-forth motion of your vacuuming can give a soothing rhythm to your thought-watching. Set your body on auto-pilot and focus on the thought parade in your head. Or, you can choose to use your dust-sucking time to focus on the physical activity required.
Feel the muscles as you move. Focus on your shoulders and arms as you stretch and retract, stretch and retract. Switch arms and watch how it feels to relax that one side while flexing the other. The point here is to make use of the task as a trigger for mindfulness, but remember this: fun is a huge motivator in all things. So, if you can't get too excited about vacuuming in general or thought/body-watching in particular, I heartily recommend Option #3--the "Mrs.
Doubtfire" approach to mindfulness. You remember the scene in the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire, when Robin Williams, dressed as the matronly nanny, rocks out while vacuuming to Aerosmith's "(Dude) Looks Like A Lady," right? This must be the greatest housework scene ever. It makes me want to go to my cleaning closet and dance with the vacuum wand myself. That's what I'm talking about.
If you've ever been stressed about something and gone on a cleaning binge, you know how good it feels to scrub the floor and wipe away your frustration at the same time. You might as well get something done while you've got that adrenaline pumping, right? So, if a meditative vacuuming session doesn't inspire you, you can still use this time to be mindful by focusing on your air guitar moves. Pay attention to your sense of fun as well as your sense of perspective. Exercise your concentration. Focus on what it feels like to cut a rug while cleaning it.
Mindfulness doesn't require stillness, and it certainly doesn't have to be serious. Turn on your vacuum, and let the focusing begin. Suck it up..
Maya Talisman Frost is a mind masseuse in Portland, Oregon. Through her company, Real-World Mindfulness Training, she teaches eyes-wide-open ways to get calm, clear and creative. To subscribe to her free weekly ezine, the Friday Mind Massage, please visit http://www.Massageyourmind.com.maya@mindmasseuse.comVacuum Configurations
Vacuum cleaners are devices that use an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dirt and dust, normally from carpeted loors.
Most homes that have carpet floors have a vacuum for cleaning.
The dirt that is pulled up from the carpet is collected by a filtering system or even a cyclone for later disposal.
There are several type of configurations possible for vacuum cleaners.
Upright vacuums have the pump mounted directly above the suction intake, with the bag mounted directly on the handle, which will rise to waist height or so. The upright type designs normally employ mechanical beaters which often rotate brushes, to help disturb dust enough to be vacuumed up.
These beaters are normally driven by a belt that is attached to the vacuum motor.
Also known as cylinder vacuums, the canister type designs have the motor and bag in a seperate canister unit that connects to the vacuum head by a flexible hose.
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Vacuum Configurations
Vacuum cleaners > Vacuum Configurations
Oreck Vacuum Cleaners ? Can You Believe the Hype?
Oreck vacuum cleaners can't help but inspire confidence with a tagline like ?if you don't love it, you don't keep it'. In a consumer world where sales people try to palm off their wares, whether they are vacuum cleaners or other items, before you have a chance to think about your purchase, Oreck vacuum cleaners provide a breath of fresh air. Offering customers the chance to try Oreck vacuum cleaners in their own homes for a thirty-day period, you have to believe that the company are selling a quality vacuum of which they are mightily confident.
The manufacturer of Oreck vacuum cleaners is, of course, bound to say good things about their product, but what do Oreck vacuum cleaner reviews have to say? Many ordinary consumers, it seems, are actually put off a little by the in-your-face advertising of Oreck vacuum cleaners but find that once a purchase is made, the cleaners turn out to be easy to use and efficient.
In fact the only real down side that Oreck...
Vacuum cleaners > Oreck Vacuum Cleaners ? Can You Believe the Hype?
Health Care Facilities: A Profitable Niche for Your Cleaning Business
Copyright 2006 The Janitorial Store
A growing area that offers plenty of opportunity and potential profit for building service contractors is cleaning health care facilities.
Besides hospitals, there are nursing homes, doctor's offices, clinics, hospices, and dental offices that all need cleaning.
With the aging baby boomer population, the number of medical facilities will continue to increase in the next few years. Most hospitals employ in-house cleaning crews, but there is a growing trend towards outsourcing cleaning services. Even if a hospital or medical facility has their own in-house cleaning crew, they will sometimes hire a cleaning service for offices, public areas or specialty cleaning (carpets, floors, windows).
This presents an opportunity for janitorial cleaning companies who are willing to invest some time and effort into learning the ins and outs of cleaning medical facilities.
Begin by realizing that cleaning in the medical...
Vacuum cleaners > Health Care Facilities: A Profitable Niche for Your Cleaning Business
V.I.P. Cleaners Launches Franchise in Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County, NJ (ContentDesk) September 19, 2005 -- V.I.P. Cleaners, one of the country's fastest-growing service franchises, today announced the opening of their Bergen County, New Jersey franchise.
Now people in the tri-state areas' most heavily populated county can make their lives a bit easier by having their dry cleaning picked up from their homes and delivered ? all for the same price or even less ? than if they were to take it there
themselves.
Saving customer's time is a key business driver in the V.I.P. Cleaners creed of service.Randy Zeno, V.I.P.
Cleaners latest franchisee, has secured Bergen County and will begin operations on September 19 with an initial roll-out of five towns: Teaneck, Bergenfield, Paramus, River Edge and Maywood.
In the next few months, Zeno plans to expand to serve other towns throughout Bergen County and increase his full-time fleet from two to 10 vans to cover the expansive territory. Bergen County has a population...
Vacuum cleaners > V.I.P. Cleaners Launches Franchise in Bergen County, New Jersey
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