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Heartwings Love Notes 966 - Labor of Love

Heartwings says, "Work goes smoothly and well when it is done with a loving heart."

Once long ago when my husband's son was a teenager, his chore as a fellow apartment dweller was to vacuum our shared rooms weekly. One Saturday I watched him prepare for his task. He began by scowling and muttering under his breath. He continued by stomping his feet as he muttered. He appeared to be getting angry. I was about to ask him what was the matter when he went off, got the vacuum and plugged it in.

Soon he was slamming the length of the long wand around the furniture. He continued to mutter and to appear angry. The cats fled his wrath and I decided to get something done in the kitchen. Eventually he put the vacuum away and went whistling cheerfully out the back door. When I had the opportunity, I asked him what he had been angry about. He grinned at me and said, "Nothing." He then went on to explain that he hated vacuuming, and that was how he worked himself up to get the chore done.

I thought about this recently as I was putting the clean pillow cases onto our bed pillows. I laid one on the bed, smoothed out the wrinkles and began to insert the end of a pillow into the case. As usual, this wasn't easy to do and I had to go at it slowly and carefully in order to make any progress. Finally, though it seemed to take a lot of time, I managed to get all my pillows into their cases. As I did this, I thought about the choice I had between doing my small chore with resentment or doing it with love. Because I figured it would feel better than resentment, I decided on love.

The attitude with which a task is done is actually quite important. It can help to make a task go more quickly as well as more efficiently. I've noticed that when I act with impatience, I often make foolish errors or mess things up and have to go back to fix them. When I focus my mind on seeing what I do as an act of love, and most especially when I project a sense of love and satisfaction into the doing of it, the results are much better. It is not always easy to catch oneself in the act, so to speak, and it does require a sense of mindfulness. However, with practice it is quite possible to think of the small chores one does as a labor of love, and to give that to one's loved ones.

May your chores go smoothly and your heart feel warm as you do them.

PS How do you handle doing what you'd rather not be doing while you are doing it? I love it when my readers share their stories with me. Please write me at tashahal@gmail.com or tashahal@aol.om. For more love notes please visit my web pages at www.heartwingsandfriends.com.
 

I love to hear from readers and would be honored if you would comment and let me know any suggestions or thoughts. If a friend sent you this, you can sign up at my web site, www.heartwingslovenotes.com, where more love notes can be found in the archives.

Blessings and Best Regards,
Tasha Halpert
 

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