I have joined a Mindfulness Practice through Lisa Wilson’s website lifeunity.com based on the teachings of the book How to Train a Wild Elephant and Other Adventures in Mindfulness by Jan Chozen Bays

The First week’s practice was to use my non-dominant hand. Here is how it went:

• I kept forgetting… but then would remember, mid-task; sometimes I would switch.

• Sometimes, I found myself being aware of making the conscious choice not to use my “other” hand for many tasks that I could have because I felt like using it would have been more distracting, or less stilling, to my mind due to frustration with the awkwardness.

• I consider myself right-handed, generally, but then found myself doing many things quite naturally with my left, without even choosing to: threading a needle, putting mascara on, driving, using the TV remote or my phone; and chopsticks – they ONLY work in my left hand! 

       Interesting: sometimes my non-dominant hand is my dominant hand.

I find peace in little gaps like these throughout my day, and I relish them.


It’s not that I don’t do a thorough job… I do! All plaque is removed from my teeth; the bed covers are smooth and straight; all oatmeal is scrubbed away ~ I pay attention to all that. Doing simple tasks like these provide a much needed pause in the intensity with which I typically function, from the perpetual mental spinning and the chatter asking “what else? what’s next? what’s on the to do list?” It is a space for my mind to rest and let go…

When I wash my pot, I’m washing my pot. It doesn’t matter which hand I am using; it’s one of the few times during the day that my mind is not crowded with thought ~ only the pot and the water and the soapy sponge exist and that, for those few minutes, is enough.