If you’re like most other people, you’re probably washing your hands a lot more frequently than you used to. Public health professionals recommend washing your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and hot water each time, and there are all sorts of recommendations to calculate how long you’ve been doing that - sing “Happy birthday” twice, or recite a verse of a favorite poem that you’ve timed, or just count slowly to 20. However you do it, you’re doing a good thing to take care of yourself and others.

Let’s take a pause from our usual here. Things have been kind of stressful and even scary lately, haven’t they? We’re feeling it, too.

But in the midst of all the hand-washing and the disinfecting and the shutdowns and the social distancing and the doom scrolling (you know, that constant checking of your social media and news apps to stay on top of the latest news, even when it’s all bad news and it just makes you feel bad), there is still space for things that are good and uplifting and joyful. 

We’ve found that all the time we spend washing our hands is an opportunity for other things, too. We’re using habit stacking, a way to build new habits by layering them on top of old ones, to turn our hand-washing time into time that nourishes us in other ways, too. A great way to build your habit list in the MyMoai app too!

Here are three of our favorite things to focus on while washing our hands and, in the process, make a habit of engaging in them regularly.

1. Mindfulness.

   Hand-washing is a great opportunity for mindfully engaging with a sensory experience. Take time to feel the cool tap handle against your hand as you turn on the water, the tickle of the water flowing over your palms, the change in temperature as it warms up. Breathe deeply and enjoy the scent of your soap, whether it’s a floral scent or a fresh scent or something that reminds you of your grandma’s cookies. Listen to the shush-shush-swish-splosh sounds of your hands rubbing against each other, and look, really look, at your hands - their shape, their nails, their freckles and veins and wrinkles and scars. Take this time to know a part of your body the way nobody else will, without judgment or plans to change it. Hand-washing can be a time to notice, experience, and savor minute details.

2. Gratitude.

   We’re big fans of maintaining daily gratitude activities here at Myrth, but sometimes it can be hard to remember to do it at the end of the day when you’re already tired and just want to crawl into bed. If a bedtime gratitude practice isn’t doing it for you, try taking a moment for gratitude during your hand-washing. As you wash, start thinking of things you’re grateful for - and those things can be supermundane and small, like the sun coming out for a little bit on a cloudy afternoon, the way your cat nuzzled your toes while waiting for breakfast, or the smell of a fresh load of laundry. Use your hand-washing time to focus on the good things that are happening around you. Don’t worry, the scary stuff will still be there when you’re done, but you don’t owe it all of your attention all of the time.

3. Love.

   When was the last time you told all your loved ones how much you loved them and listed all the things that make them loveable? We’re willing to bet it’s probably been a while. Use your hand-washing time to think about somebody special to you and make a mental list of the reasons they’re so special. When you’re done, take just a moment to send them an email or text message or heck, even give them a call, and share some of the things you were thinking about while washing up. It’s guaranteed to brighten their day along with yours, and we could all use a little of that.

Hey look, we’re realistic. None of this is going to completely fix things, and it sure can’t stop a pandemic. What it can do, though, is help you feel a little better, even if just for a little while, and feeling better can help you get through this, through bad days, through hard seasons of life, through life generally.

Have you used habit stacking to build new habits? What about to make space in your life for the things that fill you up? We’d love to hear how it went for you - drop a comment and let us know! 

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