During spring cleaning season, many people view household tasks as burdensome work that causes stress and should be avoided whenever possible.
However, mental health professionals and Zen monks believe that routine cleaning activities like sweeping, mopping and organizing can offer significant psychological advantages. These activities can promote mindful awareness or allow thoughts to flow freely, while creating a tangible feeling of accomplishment from completing everyday responsibilities.
A well-known Zen teaching states:
“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
Zen apprentices, known as “unsui” monks, dedicate considerable time to cleaning and organizing.
“We sweep dust to remove worldly desires. We scrub dirt to free ourselves of attachments,” Shoukei Matsumoto, a Buddhist monk living in Kyoto, Japan, wrote in his book “A Monk’s Guide to a Clean House and a Clean Mind.” “The time we spend carefully cleaning out every nook and cranny of the temple grounds is extremely fulfilling.”
Holly Schiff, a clinical psychologist based in Greenwich, Connecticut, agrees that cleaning activities can provide relaxation and meditation-like benefits.
“I definitely think there is a link between mental health and the act of cleaning,” she said.
“Repetitive, physical activities like cleaning can be regulating for the nervous system because they’re predictable, structured and give a clear sense of completion,” she says. This provides individuals with feelings of control and stability.
Additionally, the immediate visual results of cleaning efforts “which can be satisfying in a way that many cognitive or emotional tasks aren’t,” she says.
For individuals who find cleaning overwhelming or unpleasant, concentrating on the activity itself rather than a checklist can be beneficial.
Some recommendations for approaching cleaning more mindfully:
“For people who tend to see cleaning as drudgery, I think the shift is less about forcing yourself to enjoy it and more about changing how you engage with it,” says Schiff.
Avoid hurrying through the work. Focus on the body movements, their pattern, or elements like water temperature.
“If you slow it down and focus on the sensory aspects of it, it can start to function more like a mindfulness exercise,” Schiff says.
For others, cleaning activities can offer a chance to let the mind wander freely.
“By gently tending to your habitat, you allow your mind to naturally settle into a peaceful, unforced clarity,” says Matsumoto.
Matsumoto describes cleaning as a method of self-care and environmental stewardship.
“In our practice, we don’t see cleaning as a chore to control the environment. Instead, we view it as ‘Habitat Care,’” he explains. “Just as our bodies maintain a dynamic equilibrium to stay healthy, cleaning is an extension of that biological process into the space we inhabit. When we clean, we are not just fixing a room; we are tending to our expanded self. It is a way of caring for the relationship between us and the world.”
Instead of seeking flawless outcomes, says Matsumoto, accept that tasks may remain unfinished without feeling worried.
“Peace is found not in the final ‘tidy state,’” he says, “but in the humble, ongoing act of emptying the space and our minds.”
Perfection doesn’t exist.
“In nature, everything is constantly changing — leaves fall the moment you finish sweeping,” he says.
Often, feelings of being overwhelmed stem not from the cleaning task but from what it symbolizes. This might include time constraints, self-criticism or other worries, according to Schiff.
“Break the task down into very small, defined actions to reduce that barrier,” she suggests. “Just choose one surface, one task or one room for starters.”
“A lot of the overwhelm comes from anticipating the entire task rather than just engaging with that first step,” she says.
“In a clean space, even if the person who cleaned it is not there, we can feel their consideration and awareness,” says Matsumoto. “This awareness creates a sense of peace and safety, similar to why sacred spaces like temples feel different from the busy streets.”
