I have noticed that cats love fresh linen. Whenever I put fresh sheets on the bed, they are sure to plonk themselves on it, stretch to their fullest and within minutes are in deep slumber.
They also love sitting on laptops, especially when the screen is in open position. Sometimes, I feel they are trying to tell me that they have had enough of being being stuck to my gadget and now its their gadget time.
Today I cleaned up my house. I cleaned the fans, the cobwebs, a few cabinets and tables. I changed the sheets on the beds and added table cloth to my study table. I spent the entire morning doing so and stopped only when I had swept and mopped the whole house. After completing my self assigned job, I walked through all the rooms feeling happy with my hard work. During my house tour, I found each of my cat either curled up or all stretched out sleeping peacefully on fresh sheets of their choice. My cookie (the youngest cat) decided to conquer my study table and woke up only when I turned on my laptop.
Sometime ago before we started unschooling, cleaning the house used to become a much hated chore for everyone in my family. Now, I realize that they hated it not because of the work involved, it was due to my demand for perfection and my expectation that everyone had to help. I forced tasks on everyone without giving them a choice and expected impeccable results. I was blind to the fact that they were different individuals and had different abilities and all that they wanted was a choice. I wanted them accomplish an impossible task of viewing things from my lens.
We are now in our third year of unschooling. Slowly and steadily, as we lived our life, the unschooling way, I changed. I started viewing things differently. I realized that my needs weren't necessarily the needs of my family. The assessment parameters I set for myself couldn't be transferred to them. I learnt to do things for my joy. Today, after a long time, I experienced this joy while cleaning the house. I was completely immersed in my activity. I didn't even notice what the others were doing until I realised that lunch also had to be made. And I was sure happy with the end product. This exercise proved to be meditative as it made me feel calm and peaceful.
Also now that I focus on my joy and my happiness and don't throw my needs and my expectations on my family, I see my children and 'c' surprising me with engaging in household chores out of their own free will. Last evening, they all tidied up the house when I was standing in a line waiting to buy vegetables. Today, my oldest son washed the dishes inspite of having cut his hand and put the clothes to dry. My second son has surprised me many a times by washing dishes at night so that I wake up to a clean sink. They fix their own snacks and offer their creations to me too. They take care of our non human family members. There are times when I wake up to see that my daughter has tidied up her play area and I feel so blessed. Thus with Freedom does comes Responsibility.
PS - Before I end this note, I must share that I finally was able to click a photo of this magnificent bird that lives outside my window. It is called 'Bharadwaj' and is known to bring in good omens. I see it everyday...and just a glimpse of this bird makes my day!
Originally posted on Facebook on April 12, 2020
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