to face is to feel or finding order in the world

Tuhan, after his mother had passed on, asked the Grandmaster, what's the secret of living, how do you keep going. And the Grandmaster in his wisdom, tells him, "well, you get up in the morning, fix your bed and wash your dishes." So, Tuhan ever the attentive student, tries to do just that, but finds it rather difficult to maintain. He returns to the Grandmaster, who is now sitting with his wife, the results of his experiment. To which, the Grandmaster's wife replies, "he told you that?! HE doesn't do any of those things. *I* make the bed. *I* wash the dishes." Suffice it to say, if you can't do it, find someone who can or at least help you in doing those things.

I didn't use to make my bed. Actually, I never made my bed on a regular basis, even as a kid. I never thought the need to, considering I lived alone and was the only one to sleep in it. But because we got a new bed and because of everything that's been going on these past couple of weeks, I've had this need and desire to fix the bed. I cannot leave the house without fixing the bed. It's a strange sensation. I think it helps with the psychic fatigue and actually quite relaxing.

Over the past few days I've figured out how far to pull each of the sheets to make sure they are even on each side, how to pull the sheets fairly taut, enough so the blanket is smooth. Then toss each of the pillows back in its place and admire my work. Then when I head to bed that evening, there's something affirming when returning to a bed that is still as orderly as I had left it in the morning.

There are lessons in making one's bed, the way there are lessons in ironing as a ritual. I can't really list them here, I'm just learning what they are myself. My instinct tells me it has something to do with discipline and taking care of oneself and things that support you, to cultivate places of rest and rejuvenation, but i'm not really sure. Right now it's just something to keep me going.