Cleanliness Begins in the Mind

The saying that our actions are shaped by our thoughts is indeed true. So also is our mindset shaped by our thoughts and beliefs. To define it more clearly, mindset involves our attitudes, beliefs, and thought patterns that shape how we perceive things and react to the world. Mindset influences our behaviour.

Cleanliness is an act of being clean, and it cuts across many areas, ranging from the physical, moral and spiritual aspects. It can also be linked to our choice of words, but for this prompt, we will discuss our appearances, environment and habits.

Cleanliness doesn't depend on how much money one has or not. A rich person may not be as hygienic (neat) as someone poor and vice versa. This is because cleanliness has to do with the mindset.

If you believe in good hygiene, you will take it seriously and if you think being neat takes a lot of energy and is stressful, you can never be clean even if you have billions of naira.

I have met different kinds of people who look neat on the outside but put on dirty pants and bras, as a lady. They look unkempt, especially when you visit them in their homes. These are people whose rooms are always disorganised, and with their look outside, one wouldn't believe they are that way.

I have also been to some people's houses who do not have enough money and are barely living, but still maintain cleanliness because they believe in it and understand that it leads to godliness.

The Holy scriptures say, "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." The heart, that is, your thoughts, your belief brings out the action which is your attitude to things. For instance, when you have a positive mindset about how you should look, your space, environment, and habits, it will boost your motivation to tackle the cleaning task. You won't see them as daunting or overwhelming, especially when it comes to taking your bath and brushing your teeth twice a day.

Likewise, when you have a negative mindset, that is, your thoughts, that cleaning is a waste of time, it will only make you neglect or postpone them, thereby becoming messy around you. Some haven't cultivated the habit of taking care of their bodies, and you'd see them with a bad odour everywhere.

Living with my aunt, I was taught how not to leave dirty plates in the sink overnight, even if you are very tired. She hates the idea of keeping them till the next day, and you will always see her home arranged and neatly organised. You can't give her a surprise visit and not meet everywhere sparkling clean any day, anytime.

This wasn't something we were taught by my parents since you won't want to leave those plates when morning comes. So, I never saw the need in what my aunt took personally to her dear heart. Sometimes, I thought she was doing too much.

In her closet, you can hardly find any other colour of underwear and blankets aside from white. Holiness and cleanliness have been her watchword, and she made me understand that having money or not is not an excuse not to be clean.

She shared her story of how she had believed in cleanliness since she was very young, and that earned her a lot of respect in the home because they had identified her as the clean girl of the house. I would say her lifestyle changed me because I was always dirty, not caring about my space, very disorganised, and when I started living with her, everything changed.

Imagine not bathing for the whole day because of laziness? That was me years ago, and you'd see me all dressed up with those cheap perfumes, trying to woo the local boys in our street 😃 I was the one being referred to as beautiful outside, ugly inside because of my dirtiness. Lol. Thank God for my aunt who knocked sense into my stubborn head then.

I worked on my mindset to always look clean and my space arranged accordingly to have a safe breathing space, a focused mind, and concentration even with my simple lifestyle. This isn't like I have a lot of money, but I decided to use the little resources to take care of myself. My aunt will always say, even if you have one T-shirt and a pair of trousers and you always wash and iron them neatly, no one would notice you.

This should let us know that cleanliness is not dependent on our money, but on the mindset. A poor man will always look neat even with the little he has, while a rich man with every resource and tips to ensure cleanliness will still look unclean, untidy, smelly, unhygienic, etc. It is how they perceive things. It's the mindset!

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