No – I’m not saying you smell. 

I’m asking when did you last take a bath – you know:  hot water, steamy bathroom, bubbles, good book or just lay back and relax, large towel, aromatic oil afterwards.

Can you remember the last time?

I just realized I can’t.

(Well, except the champagne jacuzzi in the Poconos, but that doesn’t count because you’re supposed to do things like that in the Poconos.  I’m talking about in your day-to-day, real-life world).

Nowadays, the morning shower has become nearly a universal ritual, with most american showering seven or more times a week.  (The Art of the Bath).

So no problems for Americans and odor. 

But what about Americans and leisure.  Especially American women.  We have all this wonderful technology that allows us not to beat rugs but to vacuum, not to scrub clothes in the creek/wring them out/dry them in the grass but to throw them in one machine to wash and then another to dry.  We have dishwashers for dishes and cars that take the place of walking.  What happened to all that extra time those machines were making for us?

I suggest that we need to step back a moment and look at the stories we are telling ourselves around “no time” “hurry hurry” “must add to my todo list.”  We get so busy doing we have no time for being – and I know that this is not the first time you have heard “we are human be-ings, not human do-ings.”  Clever but did it stop you long enough for that bath?

Do you fill up your day with busy so that you don’t have to think about all you are givin up because you don’t have time to live the authentic life you came here for?  Do you work hard to buy more things to make up for what your soul is craving?  Have you bought in to the story that you can’t make enough money doing what you love?  Do you make enough money doing what you don’t love?  Tama Kieves says, “If you make that much money doing what you don’t love, imagine what might happen if you do something you do love!”

My challenge to you is to put a bath on your calendar as soon as you stop reading this post.  Better yet, stop reading right now and put “BATH!” on your calendar sometime in the next week.  Don’t delay – you’ll forget or make excuses.

Plan it out as you would plan a tryst with your lover.  Think of the five senses: something that smells good for the bath or for oiling up afterwards; something that feels wonderful against your skin – hot water, line-dried towel (which will also fill in for smells as in fresh and outdoorsy); something that tastes good – a refreshing drink; something soothing to look at – a pretty candle or seven; soft music in the background.

Make this a late Valentine to the most important person in your life – you!

Recipes for the Bath*

1. Use a mesh ball infuser or place ingrediants in a mesh bag and hang under the fowing water.
2. A handful of pine needles, 3 broken cinnamon sticks, 10 or so whole cloves, 3 thick slices of fresh ginger.
3. 2 springs of pineapple mint, 2 sprigs of sage, peel of one orange, peel of one lime, handful of lemon verbena leaves

Recipes for You*

1. 1/2 small honeydew, 1/2 cucumber peeled and sliced, small handful of mint leaves, juice from one lime, 1 lime sliced for garnish.  Scoop honeydew from rind and place it in a blender.  Puree until smooth.  Place cucumber, mint and lime juice in blender and puree mixture for 10 – 15 seconds mor.  Serve in tall frozen glass with lime slice (2 – 4 glasses)
2. 2 ripe mangos, peeled and seeded, 1 passion fruit, 3/4 cup water, 1 jicama peeled.  Roughly cop the mango.  Cut the passion fruit in half and scoop out the soft pulp inside.  Place the fruit and water in a blender and puree until frothy.  Pour over frozen jicama cubes – cut the jicama into 1-inch squares and freeze for at least 20 minutes  (2 glasses)(when the juice is gone, the jicama makes a fragrant and hydrating snack).

*  from the art of the bath by Sara Slavin and Karl Petzke

Jennifer Louden suggests we all practice a bit of Creative selfishness, behavior that allows us to care for ourselves without feeling guilty.  “Creative selfishness sends a clear message to everyone in your life:  I love you or value you or respect you), but I am a separate person with needs of my own.  By practicing creative selfishness, not only will you gain the time to care for yourself, you  will…amass an overflow of love that will allow you to care for others from your abundance.”

When you’ve met the challenge, be sure to come back and let us know how it went!

** A note on the  “Bayou Shower.”  I bought this lovely little piece in Bay St Louis Mississippi, mainly because of the story on the back of it (have I mentioned how I love stories?): “Inspired by incident of partying and drinking for days in Morksville Bayou.  Girls were left behind by bf’s for 4 days – needs boat to get out – Bayou water rancid.  Took advante of rain…

Wylde Women’s Wisdom:

With a turn of the wrist, you open the tap, and it gushes forth, coming up through the pipes, humming with elemental vitality; it’s a soun you’d know anywhere, rushing into the tub – merely itself, purely itself…The steam rises, now fragrant and soothing; this clarity into which you have added a handful of salts and lavender and sage now reflects the sky through the open windows and the aquamarine of the 19302 tiles.  ‘The seat of the soul,’ said Novalis, ‘is where the inner world and the outer world meet.  Where they overlap, it is in every point of the overlap.’  You press a cool glass of it against your temple – water.