Meditate on garbage

One night I left out my garbage and the raccoons made a real mess of it. See the photos. I had to collect all the garbage piece by piece and put it back in the bins again. I was so upset and angry and I decided never to keep garbage out on the night previous to the garbage collection day. It ruined my entire morning.

But it happened again.

I forgot to close the garage door last night. I think my “mind was full” instead of being mindful :). Raccoons has had a great feast on the garbage and it was all over the garage floor.

I had two choices. Just to get upset and complain like last time or clean it with mindfulness as an exercise. I decided to go with the second option. I collected each piece of garbage with complete mindfulness. To my surprise I did a great cleaning job without creating any “suffering” to me. It is amazing how you can meditate, even on garbage!

Buddha expalined how to be mindful in evrything you do. It is very hard but you can try and train yourself. This is how:

"Furthermore, when going forward & returning, he makes himself fully alert; when looking toward & looking away... when bending & extending his limbs... when carrying his outer cloak, his upper robe & his bowl... when eating, drinking, chewing, & savoring... when urinating & defecating... when walking, standing, sitting, falling asleep, waking up, talking, & remaining silent, he makes himself fully alert.

To read the full sutta:

Sathipattana Sutta