floor cleaning

Inspired by the cleaning scenes in Japanese films like Howl's moving castle, I've adopted a new approach to cleaning my floors. Instead of reaching for the mop, I get down on all fours and push a cloth along the floorboards.

This method may seem unconventional, but for me, it's a way to move my body in ways it typically doesn’t. Cleaning this way requires more energy than using a mop, but that’s precisely the point—it encourages me to embrace different movement patterns. If I break a sweat or feel my stiff back protest as I stand, it's a clear sign that I've been neglecting certain types of movement. I want to avoid reaching that stage because I know that if I don’t use certain muscles and motions, I’ll eventually lose them.

Rather than compensating for a sedentary lifestyle with intense bursts of exercise like parkour or structured movement practice, I prefer to integrate more natural movement into my daily routine. By doing this, I’m not only maintaining my environment but also nourishing my body. These habits serve both my surroundings and myself simultaneously.

This approach is just one of the small habits that make sense for me to integrate into my life. The friction I encounter when adopting such an anti-modern habit often reflects other aspects of my lifestyle. For example, if I lived in a very large house, cleaning the floors on all fours would likely be overwhelming.

However, by embracing minimalism—owning less, living in smaller spaces—this alternative method of cleaning becomes feasible. In fact, it opens up many new opportunities. Introducing slower, simpler practices into life can create friction if other aspects of your life aren't aligned with that simplicity.

In this way, our actions and lifestyle choices are interconnected, forming a stable and complex web that supports and reinforces itself. Thus nudging it into another direction might take some effort.

Ultimately, these small shifts are about more than just the physical act; they’re a way to reassess and realign with what truly matters. By paying attention to how our habits shape us, we gain the opportunity to design a life that is more intentional, balanced, and connected to our values.