Sunday, May 31, 2015

Mindful Work

Volunteered for a work session at the Buddhist Meditation Center where I attend Saturday group mediation sessions. After sessions we typically chat over tea; I’ve been bringing bread for tea time and today I brought breakfast cookies - they were a hit:). 

Following tea they served a Korean lunch for me and other volunteers; the food was great (see post on Korean food). Work consisted of helping to clean the temple; we were supposed to practice mindfulness working and blog about our experience on their website. In addition to cleaning, I had the task of filling quart containers with malt syrup from a 5 gallon bucket of syrup; the temple sells this and other food items as part of fund raising. It was a challenge to scoop the malt syrup (has the consistency of honey) into the small (about a quart each) containers without spilling but I found myself drifting back and forth between being present and not when watching this viscous liquid pour out of the dipper into the container. Later, I tried to be mindful while dusting and did for awhile but it was hard to remain present; may have had a lot to do with the newness of the task and location. After our work session was over (about 3 hours), we had watermelon; a perfect treat for this warm Maryland day:)

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