At the Monastery, we have been looking at our use of Scrubbies for pre-washing dishes. We love our little Scrubbies! They are such hardworking and faithful friends, yet we’re concerned that we may be adding more waste to the landfills than necessary because they keep tearing, rendering them ineffective for the task at hand. For years, we’ve been conscious to use them with care, being mindful not to snag them on knives and that sort of thing, but we find ourselves needing to replace them more regularly than we’d like. Old Scrubbies are reused for other tasks like spot cleaning the floors, but the growing backlog has drawn our attention.
As a community, we are exploring alternatives that support our sustainability values:
Available locally
Non-toxic
Packaged in cardboard rather than plastic
Effective without being too expensive
In the meantime, we are curious if the old ones might compost well. So, we are cutting them up and adding them to the compost pile. We shall see….
This can seem like a lot of energy and attention spent on such a little thing, but as we know, little things add up to big things. Perhaps even more germane for us as Awareness Practitioners is the principle that one process doesn’t lead to another. We cannot be careless with a Scrubbie and expect to be careful with anything else. Being present with the Scrubbie – and whatever information Life drops in about it – is the best practice for being present and guided for our entire life.
The Monastery models patient attentiveness to what is right in front of us, whether we are crafting an email, facilitating a group, or scrubbing a pot. After all, everything is the Buddha! From this attitude of mind, we can be eternally grateful for the Scrubbie that is calling us to pay attention and for the principles of Practice that illuminate the way Home.
Gasshō,
Rebecca