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Meditation | Automation | Home Chores
Automation Has Stolen Our Societies' Mindful Moments
Pushing buttons has replaced our natural meditation time
I was visiting a friend back in Canada. As we sat around her table chatting, she suddenly got up and started sweeping her kitchen floor.
“I love sweeping.” She told me.
I took note of the Roomba (robot vacuum) charging in the corner and had wondered why she wasn’t using it to do the job for her.
“What do you love about it?” I asked.
“I love that my mind gets to go somewhere else, and I don’t have to think about anything important.”
“Yeah, I totally get that,” I said, agreeing.
I hadn’t thought about this conversation until I was hanging my laundry on my partner's mom’s laundry rack. She has a dryer, of course — 99.9% of Canadian households have a dryer. But she prefers to hang her clothing to dry. One, it saves on electrical bills, two it is good for the environment.
In the summer, of course, she hangs her clothes outside. But in the winter, it is necessary to hang them inside. We visited her in March, a time of year when it is still too cold to spend much time outside in Canada.
