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Seeds for Change Wellness
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The Journey of 1000 Buckets
The Journey of 1000 Buckets: The Spiritual Struggles of a Reluctant Housekeeper
Author: Bea Kleen Started: July 2009
Bucket Entry: #1 July 2009
Making the Bucket Connection
9 AM
Here I go again, filled with momentary ambition, desire and resolve. I open the kitchen window and yell out to the
world, or at least to the weeds on the back porch. "This time is IT! This time I am going to succeed! This time I
am going to conquer the lifelong pattern of disorganization." With that profound statement, spiraling out into the
universe, I begin my contemplation. My life is a mess, cluttered with objects, papers, dust bunnies and STUFF.
7 AM
My mind wanders back a few paces, to this early hour of the day. It is a challenge to get out of bed and find a
path downstairs. "Oh, let me get back under those covers and hide. Let me melt away into a deep slumber to
forget about the muddled day that awaits me."
Suddenly, I hear a looming scream from below, MMMM-OOO-MMMM!. Rushing to the stairs, worried that one
of the kids has hurt themselves, in a panic I yell, "What's the matter?" My 19 year old daughter, responds,
"What's for breakfast? Can you make me something?"
I try to remind myself I am on a spiritual journey, but my human-ness gets in the way. Isn't this the 19 year old
daughter who just returned for the summer from her first year of college? Isn't she the one who can travel the
world by herself? Figure out complicated directions? Resolve problems? Juggle and multi-task while in the
collegiate world? And yet, with over an hour before needing to leave for work, it becomes an impossible feat to
get dressed, dry her hair and make something to eat.
Spiritual Lesson #1:
I am a spiritual being sent here to encounter all aspects of the human experience.
Parenting fulfills much of this requirement, so let out a sigh of joy and relief,
I AM on the right track!
9:15 AM
Oops, got side tracked already! Note to self: Distraction a big piece of the puzzle. Now back to contemplation.
QUESTION: How does one accomplish something that is creating a big challenge in their life, yet they go kicking
and screaming with exhaustive resistance, all the while knowing at the deepest level that it will make their life so
much better?
ANSWER: Make it fun!
So as I look around the house, becoming drained by all the clutter, longing for the Zen-type lifestyle, yet with
tight gripped knuckles unable to let go of the material world, I come to a crossroad. Get off this hamster wheel
for good. Do something about it. No--not wish you could do something about it. No-- not hope something
miraculous happens, like Oprah wanting to do a show on your mess and sends a cleaning crew into the house.
Rather, grab a mop, and begin the journey of a 1000 buckets.
Ok, maybe it won't take a 1000 buckets, but it does sound better than 100. Actually, I should really qualify the
statement. It won't take that many buckets to clean the house, but it would easily exceed that amount to empty
out and clear the collections of stuff from the homestead here.
Let me begin this journey by telling you something about myself. I have always been disorganized, but able to
navigate this road easily, usually getting lost when my life gets too orderly. Puts me in a state of panic. It is the
other people around me, whose messes tend to bother me....you know the ones of the kids and my husband.
Why? 'Cause my messes are invisible to me, whereas theirs flash out like an annoying neon sign screaming...
CHAOS MESS PANDEMONIUM
Angelic Visit
So today I figure what I need to do is really begin to tackle this situation, and somehow
hold myself accountable. There is no Housecleaning Police patrolling the
neighborhood, my family doesn't usually complain (they are used to it), and I can
quickly distract myself into doing other projects. So that is when the idea floated down
from the heavens. Suddenly sounds of a trumpet filled the air, followed by an angelic
voice suggesting "Write about your experiences. Publish them and pretend the whole
world is sitting on the edge of their seats, tuning in to As the Bucket Turns soap
opera, waiting to see if Bea is able to accomplish this Herculean task and maybe, just
maybe, inspire some others to go grab their brooms and mops and buckets, and start a spiritual journey
themselves."
WOW! I have waited forever for an angel to appear to me in person, who would have thought that a messy
house would have inspired such a visit.
Let the Journal Begin!
Here is my bucket. At least the one I will start with. I had to dig it out of its hiding place in my bedroom closet.
Why you might ask? Because somehow when
a bucket is kept out in the open in the laundry
room, it has the magical ability to disappear.
Only later to be found filled with used motor oil
or something similar.
I hug my bucket and say, "We are going to be
good friends. Together we will accomplish what
neither could do alone. I believe this is the
beginning of a beautiful relationship. Welcome
to my world"
Although my bucket didn't respond, I know, it too
is excited to be doing something meaningful in its
life. So today as we step on this road of a 1000
buckets, we will record our experiences into this web journal and add some pictures too showing the
progression of the adventure. I hope you will join us for this trip and even send in some of your
comments, ideas, or suggestions if you decide to tag along.
Spiritual Lesson #2
Everything has purpose. Even if I have to dig into my bucket of
life experiences to discover its meaning.
First Bucket Stop: Kitchen
The hub of our house, like most others, I assume, is the kitchen. Therefore it also is the messiest. My
conclusion is when the house was built, the construction crew played a cruel joke and put a huge magnet
beneath the floor. As things are brought into the home, they get sucked into the kitchen forming piles, taking
a muscle man to dislodge them from their magnetic attraction to one another.
.....Mail...dishes...papers...groceries...plants.....clothes....recycling...boxes...more papers...cookbooks...
You get the idea. Sometimes it is difficult to even find a small space to prepare a meal. Hey, No problem! Go
out to dinner, issue resolved. Ugh! What a way to live.
And the floor! Yikes! Who in their right mind picked out a white floor for the kitchen? "Not so easy Bea! Don't
go all memory loss now", my friendly bucket reminds me through telepathic communication.
"Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot about that, guess I wasn't thinking clearly during that selection moment." Bea replied.
Plan of Attack Checklist:
1. Sift through the paper mess: sort, file, toss and mail. Whoa! Who would have guessed, there is a counter top
underneath it all...and the best part---it is really clean because it has been covered with papers.
2 Unload the dishwasher, so it can be filled again with all the dishes waiting patiently in line to be given a bath.
3. Empty the overflowing recycling bin. Ah, how good it feels to be conscious about the environment.
Telepathic Bucket Communication:
Stop buying water in bottles and then maybe I'll pay attention to that comment.
4. Organize the OTHER STUFF to help it find a home out of eyesight. Later come back and work on Phase
2: Reducing and Elimination.
5. Sweep floor. OMG, where did this mountain of dirt come from?
6. Prepare Bucket for first job: handwashing the floor.
"Fill Me Up!"
" I am ready to begin! Yeah! Wha Who! Yipee! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself."
And so ends the first stop on our journey. After an excruciatingly painful crawl on all fours, the floor was
complete. Here is the after picture of the work we accomplished!
Spiritual Lesson #3
When your life bucket gets dirty, empty it and start over again.
UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE
Until Next Month...Bea Kleen!
Author: Bea Kleen Started: July 2009
Bucket Entry: #1 July 2009
Making the Bucket Connection
9 AM
Here I go again, filled with momentary ambition, desire and resolve. I open the kitchen window and yell out to the
world, or at least to the weeds on the back porch. "This time is IT! This time I am going to succeed! This time I
am going to conquer the lifelong pattern of disorganization." With that profound statement, spiraling out into the
universe, I begin my contemplation. My life is a mess, cluttered with objects, papers, dust bunnies and STUFF.
7 AM
My mind wanders back a few paces, to this early hour of the day. It is a challenge to get out of bed and find a
path downstairs. "Oh, let me get back under those covers and hide. Let me melt away into a deep slumber to
forget about the muddled day that awaits me."
Suddenly, I hear a looming scream from below, MMMM-OOO-MMMM!. Rushing to the stairs, worried that one
of the kids has hurt themselves, in a panic I yell, "What's the matter?" My 19 year old daughter, responds,
"What's for breakfast? Can you make me something?"
I try to remind myself I am on a spiritual journey, but my human-ness gets in the way. Isn't this the 19 year old
daughter who just returned for the summer from her first year of college? Isn't she the one who can travel the
world by herself? Figure out complicated directions? Resolve problems? Juggle and multi-task while in the
collegiate world? And yet, with over an hour before needing to leave for work, it becomes an impossible feat to
get dressed, dry her hair and make something to eat.
Spiritual Lesson #1:
I am a spiritual being sent here to encounter all aspects of the human experience.
Parenting fulfills much of this requirement, so let out a sigh of joy and relief,
I AM on the right track!
9:15 AM
Oops, got side tracked already! Note to self: Distraction a big piece of the puzzle. Now back to contemplation.
QUESTION: How does one accomplish something that is creating a big challenge in their life, yet they go kicking
and screaming with exhaustive resistance, all the while knowing at the deepest level that it will make their life so
much better?
ANSWER: Make it fun!
So as I look around the house, becoming drained by all the clutter, longing for the Zen-type lifestyle, yet with
tight gripped knuckles unable to let go of the material world, I come to a crossroad. Get off this hamster wheel
for good. Do something about it. No--not wish you could do something about it. No-- not hope something
miraculous happens, like Oprah wanting to do a show on your mess and sends a cleaning crew into the house.
Rather, grab a mop, and begin the journey of a 1000 buckets.
Ok, maybe it won't take a 1000 buckets, but it does sound better than 100. Actually, I should really qualify the
statement. It won't take that many buckets to clean the house, but it would easily exceed that amount to empty
out and clear the collections of stuff from the homestead here.
Let me begin this journey by telling you something about myself. I have always been disorganized, but able to
navigate this road easily, usually getting lost when my life gets too orderly. Puts me in a state of panic. It is the
other people around me, whose messes tend to bother me....you know the ones of the kids and my husband.
Why? 'Cause my messes are invisible to me, whereas theirs flash out like an annoying neon sign screaming...
CHAOS MESS PANDEMONIUM
Angelic Visit
So today I figure what I need to do is really begin to tackle this situation, and somehow
hold myself accountable. There is no Housecleaning Police patrolling the
neighborhood, my family doesn't usually complain (they are used to it), and I can
quickly distract myself into doing other projects. So that is when the idea floated down
from the heavens. Suddenly sounds of a trumpet filled the air, followed by an angelic
voice suggesting "Write about your experiences. Publish them and pretend the whole
world is sitting on the edge of their seats, tuning in to As the Bucket Turns soap
opera, waiting to see if Bea is able to accomplish this Herculean task and maybe, just
maybe, inspire some others to go grab their brooms and mops and buckets, and start a spiritual journey
themselves."
WOW! I have waited forever for an angel to appear to me in person, who would have thought that a messy
house would have inspired such a visit.
Let the Journal Begin!
Here is my bucket. At least the one I will start with. I had to dig it out of its hiding place in my bedroom closet.
Why you might ask? Because somehow when
a bucket is kept out in the open in the laundry
room, it has the magical ability to disappear.
Only later to be found filled with used motor oil
or something similar.
I hug my bucket and say, "We are going to be
good friends. Together we will accomplish what
neither could do alone. I believe this is the
beginning of a beautiful relationship. Welcome
to my world"
Although my bucket didn't respond, I know, it too
is excited to be doing something meaningful in its
life. So today as we step on this road of a 1000
buckets, we will record our experiences into this web journal and add some pictures too showing the
progression of the adventure. I hope you will join us for this trip and even send in some of your
comments, ideas, or suggestions if you decide to tag along.
Spiritual Lesson #2
Everything has purpose. Even if I have to dig into my bucket of
life experiences to discover its meaning.
First Bucket Stop: Kitchen
The hub of our house, like most others, I assume, is the kitchen. Therefore it also is the messiest. My
conclusion is when the house was built, the construction crew played a cruel joke and put a huge magnet
beneath the floor. As things are brought into the home, they get sucked into the kitchen forming piles, taking
a muscle man to dislodge them from their magnetic attraction to one another.
.....Mail...dishes...papers...groceries...plants.....clothes....recycling...boxes...more papers...cookbooks...
You get the idea. Sometimes it is difficult to even find a small space to prepare a meal. Hey, No problem! Go
out to dinner, issue resolved. Ugh! What a way to live.
And the floor! Yikes! Who in their right mind picked out a white floor for the kitchen? "Not so easy Bea! Don't
go all memory loss now", my friendly bucket reminds me through telepathic communication.
"Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot about that, guess I wasn't thinking clearly during that selection moment." Bea replied.
Plan of Attack Checklist:
1. Sift through the paper mess: sort, file, toss and mail. Whoa! Who would have guessed, there is a counter top
underneath it all...and the best part---it is really clean because it has been covered with papers.
2 Unload the dishwasher, so it can be filled again with all the dishes waiting patiently in line to be given a bath.
3. Empty the overflowing recycling bin. Ah, how good it feels to be conscious about the environment.
Telepathic Bucket Communication:
Stop buying water in bottles and then maybe I'll pay attention to that comment.
4. Organize the OTHER STUFF to help it find a home out of eyesight. Later come back and work on Phase
2: Reducing and Elimination.
5. Sweep floor. OMG, where did this mountain of dirt come from?
6. Prepare Bucket for first job: handwashing the floor.
"Fill Me Up!"
" I am ready to begin! Yeah! Wha Who! Yipee! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself."
And so ends the first stop on our journey. After an excruciatingly painful crawl on all fours, the floor was
complete. Here is the after picture of the work we accomplished!
Spiritual Lesson #3
When your life bucket gets dirty, empty it and start over again.
UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE: UPDATE
Until Next Month...Bea Kleen!
19 yr. Old College Daughter,
Ann T Kleen
Decides to Cook Dinner.
Ann T Kleen
Decides to Cook Dinner.
Creative Juices
Drip
Drop
Drool
All Over the Kitchen
Drip
Drop
Drool
All Over the Kitchen
Spiritual Lesson #4
No Matter How Hard I Try, My Bucket Work Is Never Done
It is the journey, not the destination
that brings about true spiritual growth
No Matter How Hard I Try, My Bucket Work Is Never Done
It is the journey, not the destination
that brings about true spiritual growth