Living a Passionate Life - How to Learn from Mundane Tasks

Designing a passionate life becomes a process of self reflection. In order to get to where you want to go, it is helpful to reflect on the past, learn from it, and appreciate the richness of mundane tasks. I did this in a recent writing class that I took and found the experience absolutely fascinating and revealing.

The process is about writing in detail about a mundane task that you do everyday in your life. I would like to share this process with you so you can discover where it takes you. You will be surprised. You don’t have to be a writer to do this. This is an exercise simply for self discovery and self reflection.

The mundane task that I chose to write about in depth in the workshop, was the process of choosing my clothes to wear for the day. When I first chose this topic, I thought that it would be impossible to write about it for 30 minutes let alone a whole hour. I gave myself permission and just let go and started writing and it was easy to do.

I was simply amazed at what showed up for me when writing about what appeared to be a mundane task. By doing this exercise I discovered the life skills I learned from my mother that I use to this day. We created a common bond that we share to this day. I learned that at times, I really enjoy being seen and affirmed. All of these are insights that help me to see and understand how I function in the world and affect how I design my passionate life.

This exercise takes about three hours to complete. Give yourself the gift of time, space, and silence to do this. You will enjoy the process and may be surprised by what shows up in your writing.

Here are the process steps:

1. Take five minutes and write a list of the 10 most mundane tasks that you do in a day. For example, brushing your teeth, driving to work, getting ready for work, getting ready for bed, cleaning the house, doing the dishes, making the bed or brushing your hair.
2. Take five minutes and list 10 more mundane tasks.
3. Take five minutes and list 10 more mundane tasks.
4. Pick one of the mundane tasks on your list of 30 and take 10 minutes to write about every detail of that mundane task. You can’t include too many details. Go through every step that you take to perform the task. Include any thoughts that go through your head as you do the task.
5. Pick another mundane task on your list and take another 10 minutes to write about it in detail.
6. Take 10 minutes to write about an ordinary day in your life.
7. Take 10 minutes and write about an ordinary day in your life when something out of the ordinary happened.
8. Take 10 minutes to write out your internal dialog during an ordinary day. For example, write about the things that you either say to yourself or that go through your head during the course of the day, your self talk.
9. Pick one mundane task from your list and spend 30 minutes writing about it. Write about the details; don’t worry about the art of writing. This is for you to see what shows up. Include any thoughts or feelings that come up as you write. Include everything.
10. Read what you wrote out loud to yourself without any judgment or excuses. Just accept it for what it is.
11. Continue to write for 30 more minutes about the same mundane task. Pick up where you left off.
12. Read what you wrote out loud to yourself.

After you complete this process, notice what came up in your writing. Are your mundane tasks really mundane? What feelings came up in your writing? What thoughts did you include in your writing? What was revealed to you about yourself that you didn’t know before? What was the gift that showed up for you?