324 thoughts on “Breaking the Consciousness of Working as a Cleaner”

1. Beautiful Janina. It’s true, our body loves moving in harmony with its divine essence. No matter what we do, it loves being ready and purposeful. As long as we are present, whatever we do feels complete. Every action nurtures the next and we have access to experience the joy of being in this space. Why did we separate and labeled jobs position as less or more important? Simply because we separated from the simplicity of being in our natural flow.

2. Janina it was lovely to read your sharing about work, not only from the titles perspective we become identified or attached to status wise, but how it is accepted by people around us too. We are bought up by many beliefs and these being passed on by generations are more harming than anything else, because we carry out these from our bodies and attitudes too. Who cares what your title is, except the care we give to the title itself – something worth pondering over.

   I loved this statement too, “what truly counts is not what I do but how I do it”, leaves such a marker for others to feel too. I’m learning this in everything I am involved in, not just related to work too.

   Thank you for in my current work environment, it isn’t about what I’m doing, it is how I am doing it in is the key, and that’s what matters for everyone.

3. There’s a couple of statements that stood out for me, “Was raised with the belief that you are what you do”, and that is a belief that tarnishes us for life. Always about the doing and the status that’s attached to it can be harming as we grow.

   And, ‘what truly counts is not what I do but how I do it’, is spot on. When we do anything with an attitude, then that comes laced with something that becomes a chore.

   Choosing love brings a whole new way of living and there is much for us to learn to live from this way. It is only a matter of time, when this plays an important part in our lives and Janina, you have proved that it is possible if we choose to do so.

   1. Reading my own statement from a few months ago and how I am today makes me realise how far I have come with “how I do it” is continually refined. Then God offers another way to be as that, that is laced is still within and needs to be exposed and revealed for us to see and without judgment, out from our bodies, for that is not of service but of a slave to something that is not God….

4. Bringing love to all we do, transforming energies is always valuable.

5. Spot on Doug – we all work together as a community and society and without one part working we cannot operate properly. No different to the physical body – each organ has its role which we could not be without. Just because the Urinary tract or lower bowels deal with much of the body’s waste products, we cannot see it as a less important organ or value it less – in fact if anything we would be in BIG trouble if the waste and cleaning services of our body shut down! The same goes for our society too with cleaning services as only one example!

6. Janina, you are correct in saying that in our society we do not seem to give the same value to jobs such as cleaning or dustbin truck drivers etc etc. compared to say office jobs which require university degrees etc. However, as you and I know, each job is equally important. Where would we all be in this world without someone to support with cleaning and dustbins and bus driving etc etc. It is super important to value what we each bring.

   1. I agree Henrietta, every job is an important aspect of life. After all it is only a title, it’s how we receive this title that makes the difference.

7. Cleaning is more than physical – there is of course the physical act of cleaning up a mess, but there is so much more that is happening than we realise. Very often when we clean a space especially one that has not been looked after, what you can feel is the disregard as a heavy blanket of dust all over the place. It is this disregard that can make us also feel a little ‘grumpy’ if we are not careful to be aware of how it can affect us.

8. “What is truly exhausting is to live and express without love because this is not natural to our divine essence.” – It is not what we do but how we do things that can make us tired!

   1. So simple and yet so revealing – thank you Janina!

9. “If I choose to be love, I feel joyful and loving. I then clean with this love and joy for the house and the families I work in and for.” This is so gorgeous Janina. Every single member of a team is equally important, be it in a home, an office or institution etc. Without cleaners and cleaning the world would soon fall apart. I remember years ago in UK when cleaners and bin men went on strike. Businesses were soon in trouble. Cleaners are the unsung heroes of modern day society. What can be more valuable than reimprinting every corner of a home or office with love and light?

10. When refuse collectors stop working everywhere rapidly becomes chaotic, piles of rubbish and the threat of disease and disorder. Suddenly everyone appreciates how essential it is to keep our environment clean. Cleaning is the foundation of every well functioning home, office and public space. Cleaning with love of who you are shines a light wherever you go.

11. What ever the work we do if it comes packaged with Love and being of service to everyone then our job satisfaction is guarantied, and what a way to make a living as we can feel that our place of work is always a joy to be at.

12. For me, the bit I find difficult when it comes to cleaning the public place is seeing how people do not care and filling myself with judgement. There’s a big part of me that wants things to be different.

13. Janina this is such a big one for many of us this belief that you are what you do, which is all about being identified and receiving recognition via a job title. I have not come across any other organisation that starts off with the premise that we are enough just as we are other than Universal Medicine the support that is given to everyone so that they are enabled to feel this is amazing.

    1. It is great how once you accepted yourself and what you do that those around you equally changed to accept it, ‘I told my parents that I was working as a cleaner, they reacted strongly, which didn’t make it pleasant for me. I continued, but the more I started to accept that it is fine to work as a cleaner, the more my parents also accepted it… which was great!’

14. Working as a cleaner it’s seen as a low cathegory job and we have built a society that is so indentified with the things done and achievements. How would look like this world if we all would value ourselves for the preciousness we are and what uniquely bring instead of measuring our value depending of we can or can’t do? The picture changes completely.

15. Janina feels very beautiful to read about a woman like you who brings a totally different quality in to her workplace and that doesn’t feel less or more because what she does. It’s very honouring to appreciate the preciousness you can bring in all you do in life and inspires me very much. Beyond the labels from this society that dictates what’s important and what’s not we can enjoy by bringing a new way of being with ourselves and others, which is really exquisite, deeply loving and caring.

16. We can’t lose love but we can fight it and deny it.’ And we do or have done it. I wanted to change jobs because it was physically too much for me and named it an abusive working environment but a wise woman said to me it is not that the job is abusive it is you bringing a body that is abused to your work. I felt the truth of her words and deepened my level of self care, supporting my body with gentle exercises and honoured its signals more. I still work in a similar workplace and it is great to feel how my body loves it.

17. If our movements are aligned to love and truth we bring this quality to everything we do.

18. Janina this is a great blog to support the consciousness that is around cleaning, especially here in the UK where it seem to be seen as something uneducated people do because that’s the only job they are fit for so are lesser by inference. But cleaning a building is hugely important because as you say everything is energy so what energy is the building cleaned in? Imagine an office building that was cleaned with care, love and attention when the people came into work would they feel the difference and may be act differently with one another? Surely to have the power to change people through cleaning with love, care and attention is something to aspire too?

    1. Well said Mary. Cleaners get paid very little for what they bring to a workplace too. The cleaners at the hospital where I volunteer often seem surprised when I greet them on entering the ward. Its almost like they are invisible to every one.

19. Our marker needs to be our body and not our mind and this exposes so clearly where we’ve gotten lost with ourselves in how we live, for we live from the mind alone, and the pictures we have there, and do not consider and feel how our body, so in effect we are living with a small portion of who we are and not the whole.

20. I volunteer in a hospital and always make a point of connecting with the cleaners – they are so valued because if they don’t do their work well the wards get filthy and become a breeding ground for germs. Yet they have become almost invisible. Noone interacts with them it seems. Without them the doctors and nurses cant work efficiently. The consciousness of cleaning needs to change.

21. “If I choose to be love, I feel joyful and loving. I then clean with this love and joy for the house and the families I work in and for. ” So true Janina. Whatever we turn our hands to – if done with love then we make a difference.

22. The resistance to clean the floor comes from the familiarity we have with living a polluted life and the denial of the extent to which this attracts us.

23. We have two wonderful cleaners and always feel our house has been blessed after their visit. They are greatly valued and an important part of our team.

24. I used to be really passionately hate cleaning but this has changed in me in the last few years – all that changed was simply a shift in values, and beginning to understand that the small details in life actually massively count, and that each imprint left from cleaning lasts much longer than we could imagine.

25. We live in a society where cleaners are deemed as the bottom of the pyramid, the unskilled, unable to perform. Perhaps, this is a reflection of how we are in our homes, if we don’t value a clean space and a person who’s job is to ensure the space is clean, what does that tell us about ourselves?

26. I have always done cleaning jobs and loved especially how different a house would feel afterwards. Now when I come home from work and the woman who cleans the house has been I can always feel who she was when she did the cleaning and in what quality that leaves my house. The imprint and foundation cleaning lays gives the opportunity to live and work based on love and connection or the opposite.

27. I feel there is always an opportunity to appreciate what each of us brings to a job, so the simplest task can have the most ginormous affect as we leave behind the imprints of our beautiful selves in everything that we do.

28. Cleaning is imprinting a place and how it is done makes a huge difference, and it feels to be a part of completion we should all naturally be responsible for and not just dumped on designated ‘cleaners’.

29. Everything does matter, not in terms of what we do for a job but the quality in which we move through life.

30. I spent sometime cleaning and de-cluttering my bedroom yesterday, afterwards I couldn’t believe the difference I felt in my body, more expansive and spacious and the whole home received this blessing as well. The quality in the way we work no matter what job we do leaves an imprint that has a powerful flow on effect to others around us.

31. “…our marker needs to be our body – not our mind.” And this is the key. If we focus on how our body feels when doing a job it is so very different to functioning from our head. Gone are all the beliefs and judgments, and we are left with the joy of the moment.

32. This is a powerful shift in the old consciousness that binds most human beings – to be acceptable, we are under the greatest illusion and big fat lie that we have to measure up in what we do, rather than simply be fully in the harmonious quality we actually do it in..
    “Through studying with Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon I have learned that what truly counts is not what I do but how I do it, and in which energy am I working. For example, if I am miserable and angry then this quality can be felt in the work I do”.

33. I have really been resenting cleaning lately but your blog Janina has reminded me of the opportunity to let go and expand as we clean and clear away the old to make way for the sparkly new.

    1. Yes, there is always so much more that we bring.

34. Disconnecting from the mind and connecting with the heart has been a back and forth process for me. Today I am going to clean my home and it was great to again be reminded of the responsibility I have with what quality I will be in when cleaning my home, there are only two choices, today i choose a loving presence when cleaning my home.

35. I love the awareness that when we do things in the energy of love, we are energised by our movements. What a wonderful marker this is.

36. When success in life is identified with the doing part, we are trapped by what we do. There is no space between what we do and us. This is not surprising in a world where people are driven by images and aspire to become them.

37. The way we move and the connection we have to our inner-most love is dusted over all the space we clean for ourselves or for anyone else.

38. The care of self for working in whatever role it is we do is super important. If working requires a strong physical body, then that must be built, if working requires complete mental clarity then the body must be nurtured to provide that.

39. I appreciate so much the cleaners that support my working place and home to be the welcoming and loving places to be. It is a joy when someone does their job with care for people.

    1. I find cleaners who work like this are just as much clearers as cleaners and I too deeply appreciate them.

    2. Yes, the energy the cleaner works in can be felt, ‘I have learned that what truly counts is not what I do but how I do it, and in which energy am I working. For example, if I am miserable and angry then this quality can be felt in the work I do.’

40. The last paragraph is very powerful. I notice I tend to ignore things that I think no one will know about, but make sure I cover all the other things that people see. This is draining because it ends up being about keeping up appearances rather than honouring and accepting I’m worth the same care as I offer others.

41. When we live by the truth that everything matters, we know then that it is not what we do but our movements within it.

42. This is amazing, so many people are constantly feeling exhausted these days, ‘I have found that my body loves to move when I clean and I end up having more energy than I can imagine, especially if I am working in a way that fully considers and is loving to my body.’ It is important to listen to and honour what our body tells us.

43. Janina no matter how many times I read this it is a source of healing for me. I also have found through studying the work of Serge Benhayon that I can now feel that quality of love, joy and stillness in my body as I clean and this becomes an imprint in my house, and also nurtures and nourishes my body. Learning to live this consistently is what my focus is currently and probably will be my whole life, who would not want to be love 24/7? Thanks for this line too “As soon as I do not look after my clothes or tidy the kitchen after me, then that reflects to me that I am not in harmony and am not consciously present with myself.” This was really helpful to read.

44. I agree with “everything matters” and also can see how we view certain professions as being better then others. Where would we be without people to clean? How would our houses, our streets, our parks and beaches look? Are we all supposed to be highly educated lawyers or are we to be truly ourselves and whatever the physical outplay of that looks like is just more of that same truth and therefore equally appreciated. As the article is saying what we do isn’t the truth of who we are, it’s just a part of it and therefore we shouldn’t see it as the everything. The next time we see someone greater then another from what they do maybe we should consider the person or see the person first and see if this consideration or possibility brings a different view.

45. I love cleaning and feel it to be a great joy to see the finished work shining back at me. Cleaning brings everything alive again. It is like a magic wand.

46. Wow this blog made me feel differently about my corporate job. You have made it clear that every move we make can be expansive if that is the energy that we choose. Imagine if we were taught that cleaning was a great joy and an opportunity to feel amazing and truly support others. You wouldn’t have to pay kids to do chores, the task itself would be the reward.

47. Being in harmony and bringing harmony to all you do is such amazing service, ‘ I discovered that if I feel harmonious in my body and I stay with that quality then it is wonderful to move my body and clean a house.’

48. When Love is what we make every choice about how freeing is that for our spirit. So it can clean out all the ideals and believes it has about life and the illusion of how we are actually affects everything we do. Could it be with the way we do anything even our most humble tasks it can have Loving imprints?

49. I have just remembered that when I was a child, the rubbish collection workers went on strike. Our household rubbish was piled up on the streets in unsightly smelly heaps for weeks. It was not pleasant and I remember thinking then how we take things like our rubbish collection for granted or look down on workers who do jobs like that.

50. I hear young people talk about certain jobs as being beneath them. I used to think that way especially in my teens and twenties, but I too ‘have learned that what truly counts is not what I do but how I do it.’

51. The body will want to communicate more than we typically want to hear, but learning to listen to it, and then learning to honour what is being said will bring a new way of living that is caring and loving.

    1. Heather so true, its is understanding what the body is communicating and then responding to it, by honouring it and taking it to another level of care.

52. Great point – the marker has to be our body and not the mind which will come up with whatever explanation and reasoning suits and can be made to fit into how we think we want it to be.

53. Thank you Janina for sharing your experience, there is so much in what you have shared and I love the way you have outed the ‘judgements’ that can be carried over and acted on regarding the valuing of different jobs. The quality can be felt clearly in everything we do and to be able to leave this divine imprint that you have alerted us to is gorgeous.

54. An amazing testimonial that the success in life is not about what we do, but how we do it. Do we do our jobs and anything for that matter being in the fullness and joy of ourselves? Or do we do life being in the misery and complication which is not who we are in truth at all? It is always our choice and our consequence to experience. Life is deeply empowering knowing we have the power to change what we do not like.

55. Jobs are a service to people, whether it’s as a cleaner or a CEO, every thing is relevant and particularly the quality in which we bring ourselves to each and every job as that is the reflection and the imprint that is left, for example a company where the cleaner isn’t valued, and doesn’t value themselves either, leaves no foundation for the company to work in, whereas if you have a cleaner who is valued and values themselves, it sets a beautiful platform for others to bring their own quality to the next step, and so on.

56. “The belief you are what you do” – this blog is super interesting, I’ve discovered in myself recently part of my confidence in myself comes from knowing what I’m doing, so in situations where I don’t know what I’m doing my confidence rapidly disappears, so instead of holding onto the sense of who I am and taking it to whatever needs to be learnt, I don’t make a clear distinction between me and and work, or what I’m doing.

57. ‘What is truly exhausting is to live and express without love because this is not natural to our divine essence.’

    Fabulous Janina, I love it. Not only have you broken the consciousness of job status for yourself but what you have shared here does it for us all. And you’ve given us the recipe for true harmony and vitality. There is no merit in any activity no matter how impressive it seems unless it is conducted in the quality that moving from and with love naturally confers.

58. This is pure revelation in a world predominantly based upon ‘more’ and ‘less’… We are considered ‘more’ if we work in particular professions, and ‘less’ in others – it runs insanely deep and does take a willingness to be deeply aware, and a level of lived truth, to extricate ourselves from this… The truth being as you’ve shared here Janina – that it’s not about what we do, but the quality of our all that we bring to it.
    The world is turned on its head as we restore this true energetic value to all of our ‘work’ and every footprint that we leave, over the kudos given to skills, abilities, and the number of letters after one’s name…

59. I also was raised with the belief that our worth is calculated on what we ‘do’; thanks to the teachings of Serge Benhayon I now know better. I love cleaning also Janina and I am fully aware that it is the quality of what I bring to cleaning; in fact anything we do; is the key.

60. One job being better than another is a massive consciousness that many are held under. It has been a way that humanity have created separation and inequality between us. Truth being that we are all equal and all come from the same source than it’s energetically impossible to be better than another.

61. Still one of my favourite blogs! Many gems of wisdom here about love and presented so simply and joyfully – thank you Janina! This is so true and succinctly expressed “What is truly exhausting is to live and express without love…”. We can so easily attribute our woes to any one problem in life yet underneath it all is the ache of our own lovelessness.

62. The simplest jobs I do are often the jobs I love the most. I work as a store manager but one of my favourite things to do is sweep the outside of the shop. There is no job too small or not truly rewarding when done with a bit of care and a bit of magic.

    1. I know what you mean Meg, its like when I have to serve breakfast in the morning, it is simple and very magical as i flow around the room taking orders and serving breakfast.

       1. True, and thinking about it this simplicity can be brought to all jobs and everything we do.

63. How many people can say that they have jobs that allow them to connect to harmony and love while doing it? Not many. People always complain about their jobs. So, jobs have to be seen not just in terms of social prestige but also in terms of service and service is not just to others but also to ourselves.

    1. I agree if jobs were seen in terms of service rather than social prestige we’d have a very different set of values when it came to how we saw all the different roles available.

    2. And valuing everyone’s contribution equally. We may see a CEO as more important but remove the cleaners for a few weeks and working well would become more difficult! Everyone contributes to the whole.

64. I agree, Janina – judging/valuing ourselves according to what we do takes away the joy we actually feel in doing that activity. There may be a societal belief held by many, and I know for myself that I have fought very hard against it. It is not about ‘recovering’ self-worth, or swapping the belief with a more agreeable one – deeper still within us we know the truth, that we are what we are regardless and that can never be changed.

65. We think we can get away with things we used to do, even without concerning how it feels but in truth we never can. In myself I notice there can be a sense of ‘this should be possible’ when my whole body is telling me the opposite. And yes, I am allowing myself to be more honest nowadays because my body knows that “everything matters”.

66. I love cleaning too Janina and what a joy it is to bring our connection from our bodies and hearts to do the task at hand. Yesterday I cleaned out our storeroom at work and I took my time to make sure that everything was placed in order and easily accessible for everyone in our team. It felt so lovely once completed and it really allowed me to appreciate just how much our quality and way of being can truly change the feel in any environment we are in.

67. I have a lovely memory from a trip to China some years ago. Walking down one of the very busy streets I came across a group of people who appeared to be sweeping the footpaths, but what took my attention was that they were dressed in matching uniforms; it was red, with epaulets with gold tassels and a matching hat. Yes they looked so distinguished in their uniforms but it was the way they worked that felt amazing; they were worked so quietly and with such focus that you could feel that they actually liked their work, that they were honoured for it, and that was brought to every stroke of their broom.

68. Every job is as important and as you share so beautiful Janina, it is also honouring our being as everything we bring to life is an expression of that divine love that lives within, thus as important as all the other work people do.

69. And even when we feel to talk and do something which may seem trivial or not important to another, it is important to do what feels true to us. I have found myself in this situation recently where I felt to make changes and am making those changes but also felt that by making the changes it would disturb and cause a reaction in others. Whenever we choose self love there is always a possibility that it may cause another to feel uncomfortable.

70. I love that in honouring the movements of the body you have been able to let go of any beliefs that cleaning is a job of any less importance than another… for not matter what you do…it is all about the quality you are with yourself which is then imprinted in everything you then touch, allowing another to feel and live the love you offer.

71. It is a great honour to be accepted into people’s homes. I cleaned for many years and loved that people let me in and trusted me in their homes. It would feel like they were family even if I didn’t know them previously. Cleaning being viewed as an inferior job is a great consciousness to break. Think of it this way, would you let just anyone into your home? In my experience most people really feel out a cleaner and when they find one who they feel they can trust they really appreciate them.

72. ‘What truly counts is not what I do but how I do it’. Well said Janina for we can choose to bring quality and integrity to anything that we do, or not.

73. Coming from sociology myself too (and having met a good crowd), I have the feeling that sociology and lack of commitment to life have some elective affinities…..

74. It’s easy to look down on jobs but ultimately every single job in the world counts and can make a huge difference. I love the stories about some of the wisest people in the world sweeping the streets because they understand the impact they’re having.

75. Many of us are so identified with what we do and think that is who we are and it often leads to the misuse of power. ‘Being in a position of power’ means just that, and doesn’t mean an entitlement to abuse others.

76. ‘We can’t lose love but we can fight it and deny it’. A great gift to give ourselves is to remember that we are the ones that move away from love.

77. I loved your blog Janina, you have described beautifully the foundation of a true cleaner. One who brings all of them and in this all of God with every clean. Being a cleaner myself I can feel how things reconfigure around me as I clean and place things at a certain angle. I’ve had many moments when I turn around and feel if the room is complete, only to go back in and move an object ever so slightly and then it feels complete. My greatest appreciation about this job is feeling how I am a vessel for energy, and when I move in this knowing how incredibly beautiful being a cleaner is. I often feel the support that this job offers, and feel incredibly blessed and honored that many open up their homes for me to care for.

78. The buildings we occupy be they homes, offices, libraries, schools, prisons, temples, shops etc. all record the imprint of the way we have moved within them as well as collect physical debris. A true cleaner is responsible for tending to the orderliness of these spaces making sure that they are clear in both the physical and energetic sense. If we allow ourselves to feel the truth in this then we can never hold anyone lesser who is helping to serve us all in this way.

79. Understanding that everything is energy, as Serge Benhayon has presented so often over the years l’ve known him, brings a completely different view to all jobs including cleaning. I understand exactly what you’re saying Janina about the negative attitude that pervades society generally about ‘being a cleaner’, but when we understand that this is about energy first, then it suddenly becomes a very important job in so many places. If you are cleaning my place in the way you describe, I can only imagine the lightness and clarity with which I would be greeted when I walk in at the end of the day.

80. Cleaning is one of the most beautiful things I can bring to my day!

81. There is no such thing as ‘just’ a cleaner, or just anything. The truth is we are equal participants in and to society no matter what we do or what qualifications we have. Such a pity that this is not generally reflected by society!

82. It’s interesting the perceptions we have about the status of jobs and from where these arise. As a teenager I recall getting a summer job in the kitchen of a hospital which required me to go to work super early in the morning when it was still dark. Somehow this felt demeaning to me, a thought that felt strange to me even then. On reflection I feel I was influenced by the divide between white collar and blue collar workers, and felt embarrassed about being an unskilled physical worker. I now really appreciate all workers, especially when people love what they do.

83. Brilliant blog Janina, a great one for me to read. I have had huge resistance to cleaning, I noticed how my behaviour and mood changes after cleaning. I get very cranky and snappy at my family members, this happens soon after I’ve been cleaning. This has been going on for years but it was only recently I became aware of this link between cleaning and my moods. I asked myself some questions and took note of how I clean and what feelings came up for me while I was cleaning. It was very interesting to observe, and what I found was I felt resentment, frustration and hardness. Once I was aware of this I tried to change how I was cleaning but often I would start off being gentle and aware of my body and then shortly after I would resort back to my old ways again. So, I started to look at this in more detail and realised when I was cleaning I was cleaning because I felt I had to or that I should. I decided to change this recently and started to practice cleaning for me, as in cleaning because I love things being orderly and clean, because I love to walk in and around a space that has been loved and cared for. So, every morning I have been spending time to cleaning areas I feel would support me the most and keep going from there. Now, it feels amazing every time I clean, I feel more energised, lighter and more aware of how I feel in my body.

84. As a cleaner there is the opportunity to completely reimprint the whole energy and quality of a space, building, office, bathroom, wherever. So with that understanding the responsibility to move and clean with grace and love becomes paramount. How we clean is the energy that the next person/people who use the space will walk into so do we leave behind our distracting thoughts, our fight with our partner, our worries and concerns, our frustration and anger……or do we leave behind love?

85. Having done cleaning myself also for work, it taught me a lot about the responsibility of preparing space for other people. And so the more I was able to move myself out of the way and simply clean, the brighter and more beautiful a space would feel when I left it. These valuable and precious lessons I am now living with everyday, as I sit on the bus, as I push the trolley around the supermarket, how the trolley is left when I am finished using it. Everything we do leaves a mark for the next person to come who will also use that object or that space. Which shows me that we are never without a deep responsibility towards each other with the way we move through space and time.

86. I also worked as a cleaner for many years and it was something I struggled with. Why as a society do we view cleaners as “lesser”? It’s a job that needs to be done, that feels amazing when done, and if we are not willing or able to do it ourselves, why do we make it a lesser role when someone else does it for us?

87. Ultimately we are all cleaners, whether that is of our houses, offices, client files, construction site, car, or just washing and tidying up after ourselves in the evening. I’ve always loved the process, the feeling of completeness that comes with it, and how it feels when you are greeted by that space the next time you enter.

88. The understanding that everything matters and the quality of energy we are in is super crucial to the quality of the outcome can be applied to any job and anything we do. It makes me wonder why we are not taught this basic understanding when we grow up and it significantly defines the quality of how we live.

89. When we live the fact that Everything matters, the responsibility which we re-awaken to is a very sobering concept indeed

90. Your amazing blog is so inspiring Janina. The only thing I want to do after reading your blog is to clean my flat with all the love I am as I could feel that it will be an absolute joy to return home to be welcome by all this love – WOW!

91. We live in a world that places a hierarchical upon certain job types. A doctor and lawyer have a certain societal standing, with a cleaner and labourer at the other end of the spectrum. The funny thing is even when that labourer ends up making the same money as a doctor, which can happen today with unions, the social standing is not the same. This is a little crazy, if not from the simple viewpoint that we need cleaners. We need labourers. And the world would not function without them. This simple fact in itself should arouse us out of our blind acceptance of the class structure that so dominates society.

92. “If I choose to be love, I feel joyful and loving. I then clean with this love and joy for the house and the families I work in and for.” This is so beautiful Janina. Whatever we do in our work if we bring all of us to it and with love and presence then that is the most important thing. I recall Serge Benhayon saying once that a cleaner is the most important person in an office, as they touch every surface….If the cleaning is done with love this is so powerful.

93. Janina reading this I thought of how when we are young we are asked a lot “what are you going to do when you grow up?” Now, most the time this question is tainted with a picture the person, often a parent, has for you and your life…. looking at this now it feels like a setup…. and I’ve heard and even said myself to my own children “Is that what you really want to do?”.

    How often do you hear children say “I want to be a cleaner”? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a child say this myself… it’s usually big, so called in our society ‘impressive’ or ‘important’ jobs, like a policemen, firefighter, builder, accountant etc. And we sense the pride or feedback as good or bad from the person we are saying this too. What if though, as children we watched those around us who moved and expressed in a way that was true, loving, honouring and committed? Would we then see that no matter what we do it is all about our expression in how we do it that really makes an impact on the house, building, office and people we work with?

94. Cleaning and cleaners are so important. Working in a hospital I loved our domestic staff. The meticulous way they attended their work, but also how they delicately worked with people – staff, patient’s relatives. The great care they take in making sure everyone is safe as they mop, dust and vacuum, day in and day out.

95. Lovely to come to the conclusion ‘how’ we work/act/move is more important than ‘what’. All parts of life do matter and how we do them, how we live lead us to a deeper connection/awareness or to more separation. So I can ask myself by anything I do/move, ‘is this done in love & appreciation?’. If I do not honor what I do, I do not honor me and at the end how could I honor anyone if I do not start with me? To honor and appreciate me and what I bring to this world is very much empowering, it is claiming my power. By avoiding doing so we just hold ourselves in a powerless, lesser worth state of being (which is untruth), but with the result of not taking responsibility. This brings no joy to our life – neither to the world.

96. Dear Janina,
    I am reading again your blog and it has brought to my awareness how little I valued myself when I cleaned a school. Even scarier is the fact that I did this job for 7 years and not a single moment of it did I enjoy. So sad to say for in reality the job of cleaning a school holds so much responsibility for holding the space into which so many children and adults come into each day. Once the responsibility is presented it completely changes how we do anything in life, but in particular cleaning, for how we leave a space, is what we come back to when we return to it.

97. Cleaning with love and the house gets a cleaning and a clearing for all who live there.

98. It is remarkable how our clarity of thought increases in a clean and well cared for environment, compared to one that is surrounded in chaos.

99. It is so true that everything matters and it does not matter what job we do it is the quality that we do it in that matters. I too have had to learn this. Once we understand that it is about the quality we do things in then our work becomes so much more enjoyable and purposeful.

100. I have always liked cleaning and the feeling once something has been cleaned – it feels super supportive to be in an environment which has been cleaned with care.

101. In the messy world of today cleaners can literally make the world shine by tidying up the untidy and clearing away the old to make way for the new.

102. It is truly inspiring to read about cleaning from an awareness of how it is an act of love and spreading that embodied love with the broom, mop, duster and vacuum cleaner is a service as great if not greater than any other. I can really appreciate what you say Janina about how when you work physically like this, the body enjoys it and never becomes exhausted, because our bodies are a vehicle for love and so when working in this way, it is like a puppy dog wagging its tail!

103. To value ones self no matter what the job we do is so important to our wellbeing and the love we hold ourselves and others in . I agree that when we start to support the view that we are all equal and worthy no matter the so called status of our position in a company or work place we will see the world in a very different light.

104. I always enjoy reading this blog, thankyou Janina. I have found recently that moving connected to my essence, in the quality of harmony, grace and stillness, is much more rejuvenating for my body than laying down to rest. We have much to learn from the work of Serge Benhayon on movement, and listening in each moment to what our body is showing us.

105. The existing consciousness about work has to be broken. Not only are jobs in wider society valued differently, but so are people according to the jobs they do: those who earn low wages, cleaners, carers, shop assistants, roadsweepers often considered to be less worthy than those who earn more. I found that people in his group of workers often feel they are more lowly because of the work they do. This has to change with every person supported to value themselves and the work they do, regardless of what it is.

106. Serge Benhayon has led the way in breaking the consciousness around all types of work, Through his presentations and teachings of Ageless Wisdom all jobs are of equal value, with none better than another. Bringing worth to every job, removes, stigma. resentment, feelings of being less, and opens up a willingness to work with love and dedication what ever the role. And knowing that everything is energy, everything we do comes with the quality of energy we bring to it, either loving or harming. We’re never just cleaning, but clearing stale or stagnant energy and re-imprinting with love and tenderness. And when we do, this is the quality we leave behind for all who use the building.

107. I know someone who cleans people’s homes and the way she works is a joy to behold. I love that she values her work. She comes once a week, knows what she has to do, does it with love, care and attention, nothing is never too much to ask, When she leaves, the house sparkles from the care she’s given it.

108. Do what you love and everything else will follow. It makes sense that everyone has different talents, why not do what you are good at rather the what society says you should do. When you do what you love it shows in the results. Thank you Serge Benhayon for presenting what makes sense.

109. I agree that cleaning is a job that creates foundations for people. It feels amazing to find ways to support people with cleaning. It feels incredbile when we can see the way a place feels after it’s been cleaned with love.

110. How liberating and fun to stay focused on having fun and bring that into your cleaning job.

111. Pingback: Every Job Matters – The Truth about Serge Benhayon

112. I love what you are sharing with us Janina – ‘What is truly exhausting is to live and express without love because this is not natural to our divine essence. ‘ Very true and how beautifully life changes when we begin to live this truth everyday.

113. This is really great Janina, there is no difference in jobs such a s cleaning or office jobs or even being a CEO. We tend to give precedence one job over the other while in fact they are equally important to make life harmonious for all to. This difference though is also seen in how we value these jobs money wise. As the CEO can earn copious amount of money, the cleaner has to be content with a minimum wage most of the time and in truth we should all earn the same as our jobs are all equally important.

     1. I love what you are saying here Nico. We are so caught up in what is better and make huge differences in the importance or rather value of things/jobs/tasks that we fail to see that everything is equally important. And it is simple to understand and very common sense, as one thing cannot go without another, a CEO would not be able to do what he/she does without everybody in the company doing there job of what needs to be done and vice versa. Everybody is part of the whole and has a part to play, of equal importance, so our focus should be more on whether each and every one of us holds the responsibility there is.

114. It is strange how often the first question someone will ask you is ‘what work do you do?’ I have never felt comfortable with this, not because of what I do but the fact I am so much more than what I do, and as soon as we are identified by a role it diminishes who we are in truth.

115. The cleaning of a space lays the foundation energetically that everyone will walk upon. This is huge, as the quality with which it is done will impact all those who then work within it.

116. This is a great consciousness to break Janina. Our job tittle does not identify us, we are all equal in essence before we do anything. I can relate to having had these same beliefs that some positions were far more important or worthwhile that others. It is great to stop and feel how we can allow outside influences to determine our own sense of worth, and this is simply not true.

117. Cleaning is a job of total foundation. It holds the atmosphere for a space and without it so many spaces would be horrible to be in. Cleaning is like our foundation of love and I know it is heavily undervalued in our society however the more we change our attitude and value everything and the energy we do things in the more appreciation for cleaning people will have.

118. Cleaning is very therapeutic. Depending with which energy it is done.

119. Janina absolutely “‘everything matters’: we can not ignore anymore things which do not feel right for us. “. How we keep our kitchen and home, will show up in our body and harmony in our day. I know if my kitchen and house is not clean, I feel completely disorientated and out of balance in myself, which then leads to tiredness and eating the wrong food.

120. Thank you Janina for this great consciousness breaking blog about attitudes to cleaning as a job. We are all cleaners and if we avoid doing the necessary tasks in our own homes this is reflected in the quality of our lives because as Serge Benhayon presents ‘everything matters’. I am recognising this more and more that it is not what I do but how I do it and my commitment to consistently undertake whatever task is required in full presence that brings quality to whatever I am doing and to my life.

121. Commitment to what we do is key here; I know for me if I go to work with a lack of commitment or do anything at all really without being fully present with myself and committed to the task at hand I feel drained by the end of the day. When I am committed, focussed and present with myself I leave work at the end of the day with as much energy and vitality as I started my day with.

122. I can relate to so much of what you say in your blog Janina I worked for many years cleaning people’s homes 20 odd years ago when my children were young at first because of the flexible hours around the kids schooling and other needs. I love cleaning but I hated being asked what work I did because of the reactions and judgement of others. What it really came down to was that I always felt less than others and although most people were judging me for just being a cleaner I was my biggest critic. I felt less as a person because all I was doing was cleaning to start with so that is what I emanated I identified myself as just a cleaner and a lesser person because of it. When I was cleaning I loved it and put my heart and soul into it and could feel change in the home as I worked my way through it. I no longer clean homes but I can feel the way I clean my own home has changed over the years as I deepen my connection with myself ad learn to love and nurture myself more and more I naturally love and nurture my home more.

123. To identify with what we do is such a strong consciousness in our society. But it can only exist as long as we are in separation from our divine essence. Once we start living and connecting to this source we will understand that it is not about being a boss of a huge company or earning a lot of money even all of this is very possible, but there is more to life than just ticking the boxes or living an ideal life where we have “everything” in the material sense but lacking to feel the love pounding in our heart and to feel the love with our fellow brothers. Only once we connect to this love life starts making sense and than everything we do makes sense too. no matter what that
     might be.

124. It matters not what we do. It’s the quality we do it in and the taking of ourselves fully into the task, the job, the situation that matters. But you expose an ugly consciousness about cleaning and cleaner status that is profoundly embedded in society, going back centuries, and how so many of us take our identification, our self-worth, from the work we do, the title we’re given, the brand name on the business card. Yet we overlook the critical nature of cleaning our space, our environment and maintaining the quality of the places in which we work, sleep, cook, drive. If cleanliness is next to godliness as the saying goes, then it sounds like cleaning should be a priority for us all.

     1. To identify with what we do is such a strong consciousness in our society. But it can only exist as long as we are in separation from our divine essence. Once we start living and connecting to this source we will understand that it is not about being a boss of a huge company or earning a lot of money even all of this is very possible, but there is more to life than just ticking the boxes or living an ideal life where we have “everything” in the material sense but lacking to feel the love pounding in our heart and to feel the love with our fellow brothers. Only once we connect to this love life starts making sense and than everything we do makes sense too. no matter what that
        might be.

125. Thank Janina, I loved reading your blog again, realising that the times when I do clean and feel tired and exhausted I have left myself and gone in to the doing, the doing to get done. It is the quality of love expressed in everything we do that brings joy and completeness.

     1. I recently heard an audio by Serge Benhayon were he talked about commitment. If we are not committed to what we do for example like cleaning we shut off our kidney energy and our heart and than we get drained and tired because our natural kidney energy doesn’t give us the fuel and we have to get the energy from somewhere else for example nervous energy and therefore depleting our body. This brings a new understanding to the wide spread phenomena of exhaustion.

126. This is amazing as it touches on so many hidden ideals and beliefs we tend to hold around cleaning and it being a low valued job. In-truth there is no job that is not of value when we bring our love to it as all we do is then a blessing for others.

127. This is a great blog to re-visit and be reminded that it doesn’t matter what we do it is always about the quality of our movements and the joy that is felt in this.

     1. I agree Anna we constantly need to remind ourselves that everything is of equal importance there are not parts in our life which are more or less important. There is no job more or less important and only the quality and intention counts.

     2. Yes Anna, this is something we need to be aware of and focus on to bring equal commitment to all areas of our life. Everything is of equal imortance and what only counts is the quality and intention we are doing everything in.

128. This is still one of my favourite blogs, thankyou Janina. It contains many gems of wisdom on how to live simply and connected to the love we each are. The world we live in has so many tiers of judgment, including around work positions, yet regardless of career we can actually bring the quality of love to all we do by living as Sons of God. Now, that’s true purpose!

129. I agree Amita we have a responsibility how we bring ourselves to work and into our team. As our state of being affects everybody and is felt by everybody. So self care and self love is so crucial for everybody to live so we can bring these qualities also to our workplaces and everywhere else.

130. “Through studying with Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon I have learned that what truly counts is not what I do but how I do it, and in which energy am I working.” This is true for me too, each and everyday I can see that the way I work and do my job affects everyone around me. If I am my joyful self, that is felt my all my staff working with me that day. If I am miserable or feeling low that day, that is also felt by all my staff. No matter what quality I do my work in it is felt, so it is important in how I do my job, no matter what it is.

131. “I have really connected to this recently – that “everything matters“: we can not ignore anymore things which do not feel right for us. And our marker needs to be our body – not our mind”. What you have expressed here Janina is so vital for us all. We cannot ignore anything that does not feel right, if we do it is at our, and our “brothers”, peril.
     This is such a powerful message.

     1. And this needs to be applied to all areas of our lives, to personal choices like how much do i need to eat or speaking up and expressing in a team meeting where somebody doesn’t talk respectful with another which does not feel “right”. “Everything matters” means to take full responsibility in all areas of our live! Wow something i am learning…

132. Thank you Janina, I loved reading your blog, so simple to come back to conscious presence and bring love and joy into every moment of my day. This is something I lose quite often, but, if I don’t beat myself up, in the next moment when I am aware, I can then come back to me.

133. Serge Benhayon presented just recently in a seminar how important cleaning is for the whole company as the quality of the cleaning sets the energetic foundation for all others who are working in the company.

     1. Absolutely Janina and therefore it’s important for businesses and companies to realise the value of and appreciate their cleaners and see them as much a part of the team as other employees.

134. I’ve started doing alot more cleaning at home for various reasons, and I’m struck by both the massive ideal I have about not valuing cleaning and resenting the idea of it, compared to the way it makes me feel when I am doing it and also the way things feel after it. Its a menial, day to day activity that has the potential to re-connect us to how we feel in our bodies, and how the family is living in our space. These are not small things, but more the fundamentals for a life that is connected… all the way through to our connection with God. Truly ‘cleanliness sits next to Godliness’.

     1. As the home where we live represents our own body. If we don’t want to take care of our home in a loving way, through tidying and cleaning then we don’t want to take loving care of ourselves and others that live in the home.

        1. Thankyou Janina for this insight, if the home is the symbol of the body then it most certainly would reflect the disregard we treat our body with.

135. Cleaning is certainly a wonderful way to bring a quality to your home and your workplace. I have also observed how cleaning in a rush or with an intention to get it done feels terrible – whereas cleaning to support the body that cleans and the home or work place feels amazing and like a brand new room or office.

136. ‘We can’t lose love but we can fight it and deny it.’ “everything matters“: we can not ignore anymore things which do not feel right for us. Beautiful lines and important for me to read right now. A lot of the time the chores in my house feel too much for me to take on and I can’t seem to keep up because there is always more to do. Reading your blog I felt I can pick up one chore at a time and do that as lovingly as I can and see how it goes from there. Every little thing matters.

     1. Yes absolutely iljakleintjes I agree ‘every little thing’ does matter. I am also aware now that every little thing is energetically felt. No sweeping under the carpet and thinking we have got away with it.

137. Everything is equally important that is what i am learning. There is no task, no job or position of more or less value. The only “value” there is is the quality/energy we do everything in, not what we do.

     1. No matter what we do, if we are connected to and moving with the love we naturally are, then we are all actually cleaners! This is because the quality of energy we bring clears what is not supposed to be there, replacing it with the stillness and love we all come from. It’s a pretty big job, though done in humility and surrender, because we are actually cleaning the Universe of what does not belong. 🙂

138. Janina I love when someone cleans my house in that expanded loving energy – it is a difference that can be felt. All jobs done in this loving energy are equally valuable, be they be a surgeon or a street cleaner because it is the energy that makes the difference.

     1. Absolutely – you can always tell how a room has been cleaned by how it feels. Cleaning in harmony is a joyful experience and also brings order on a much deeper level which is truly supportive to those using that space afterwards. My girlfriend likes this too and is full of encouragement!

139. Today I was doing the simplest of jobs – cleaning windows. The joy I felt on completing this job just sparkled on each glass panel for all to see and feel. It does not matter how mundane the job appears to be – the energy we work in is what makes all the difference.

140. The point you have raised in your blog is very much called for Janina, I feel there is so much emphasis on job titles in society and a lot of people rely on their profession for identification. We are all equal regardless of what we are employed as and its not what we do but what energy we do it in

141. Yes Linda, and not how much we do, if we forget about the quality.

142. Today i don’t work as a cleaner anymore. But i have learned a lot from the several years working as cleaner.
     Each job offers us to get to know ourselves better, what qualities we bring and about our strength and weekness. As long as we let go of ideals and beliefs around certain jobs and allow ourselves to express who we are.

143. Janina, your awareness bring so much love as you work. Your clients will be receiving so much from their home just by the presence you bring as you clean. Your blog warms my heart. Thank you.

144. Thank you Janina. It’s amazing how we get so identified with our profession and judge ourselves and each other. When I was at high school, there was a lot of pressure to study many hours to get into University, and we were told that that would guarantee a ‘good’ job therefore a good life forever after – I got pretty good at that, then eventually I realised that I had no idea what I wanted to do as my profession. So when we consider how our society has kept on manufacturing a bunch of well-educated children who can recall so many things and get high marks at exams, but have no idea about who they are and how they want to be a part of the world – it’s not surprising we fail to appreciate and value what everyone brings into the world through their lived way of being.

     1. I agree Fumiyo there is is a lot of pressure already starting in primary school and it increases throughout the whole education system. We focus so much of learning and recalling, getting it right. And suffer all as a consequence when we don’t learn to self care and self love as children and to listen to our bodies and to appreciate who we are and what we bring each of us.

145. You have shared so many amazing points in this blog, Janina, but what really resonated with me was your statement: “What is truly exhausting is to live and express without love because this is not natural to our divine essence”. It is not about what we do but the energy we are in when we do what we do! Thank you.

146. Wow Janina I love how you have broken down the stigma that we attach to cleaning and cleaning as a work choice. That when we are in connection to ourselves, our essence, our love, the joy we feel in our bodies is immense and not in any way diminished by what task we may be doing. This love and joy is not selective or determined by anything from the outside of ourselves and neither does it care what kind of work you do. It is naturally within us all, and as you say already there. And I love how you end with – ‘And our marker needs to be our body – not our mind.’ – beautifully said and so true.

147. That is an absolute powerful blog Janina! We need breaking consciousness like this because they keep us trapped and do not allow us to be who we truly are. I love what you share because it makes it so obvious that we do not care in a depth what is actually possible. To be responsible in how we do things is for me the missing link – did we learn this at the kindergarten or at school – no. It would be great if we could learn it there or even at home – imagine how we all would see and be with each other . . .

     1. Well said Ester. We have a greater responsibility of teaching our children not only to read, write and count but also the energetic laws of life.

148. Thank you Janina. It is absolutely all about our connection with ourselves as we go about our daily activities. As I develop this more and more deeply my life is embed with more and more joy. Eradicating the idea that who I am is made up of what I do has been enormous – understanding it is the quality of how I am in my activity has been life changing. I love cleaning and how it makes me and my surroundings feel and I have also been a cleaner many times in my life and found it deeply rewarding.

     1. When we build this into our everyday lives, it forms a foundation for everything else we express…. so the same quality starts to overflow into our work, our relationships – anything and everything.

149. I feel cleaning is a very important job because you are actually going everywhere in a space and the energy that you are in imprints wherever you have been. How gorgeous then to have this care and love spread throughout a house or workspace.
     It is also important that we let go of the identification in what we do, bringing ourselves back to the importance of how we are when we do something and the energy we are in when we do it.

     1. You bring a great awareness to us Amanda. A cleaner goes into every part of the room they clean, so when a room, a house, a toilet block is cleaned with presence, grace and integrity, everyone who enters the space is blessed by it. I think maybe society could take a moment and stop to fully appreciate the role of a cleaner, to hold and value this job as one of the most important jobs in the world, for this it is. (I know I would not like to go to a public toilet that was not cleaned daily).

150. Its so easy to feel the joy in the way you clean Janina. I love that you did not let other people’s perceptions prevent you from feeling this too. Your words make me consider that in our own way we are all cleaners, tidying and clearing up our life. So I am inspired to live knowing ‘everything matters’ and take true joy in cleaning my life.

151. I love what you share in this blog Janina, there are many gems you have written to reflect on, this is one of my favourite’s -‘ That “everything matters“: we can not ignore anymore things which do not feel right for us. And our marker needs to be our body – not our mind.” – Beautifully expressed and very true.

     1. I recently reminded myself of the “everything matters” and that
        everything i do within a job is equally important. There is no more and no less important task within a job. I caught myself putting more value or presence into leading a singing group than being in a team meeting. And I need to crack this belief. My presence and commitment is needed in every moment, no matter what task do.
        Wow!!!

152. Changing the way that we think about those little jobs that seem less appealing than others – the way we approach them makes a huge difference to the end results. Knowing that the energy we work in is felt by all those who follow behind us has completely transformed the way I work now. Janina this is such an inspirational article that you share with us – thank you.

153. I have been a doing person and identifying myself with what I was doing not giving any thought to how it was being done , just wanting to get it done and on with the next task. I have come to understand about energy, and that it is not what I do but the how. It has been, and is an on going coming back to my body, feeling what energy I am doing it in. What a beautiful experience you have shared with us thank you Janina.

     1. Yes Jill Steiner, I still get caught at times in the doing mode were i only want to tick of the next task and move on, but there is no joy in doing that because i am not really there anymore. And it is more a way of checking out (busy doing so much) and overriding with that how i feel and what i need to deal with at the time. This doing mode is very draining and harming for the body.

154. Coming from the spiritual new age I used to spend a lot of time trying to find out what my ‘purpose’ was or what job I was ‘supposed to do’. This came from me needing my job to define me or give me recognition so that I could feel good about myself.
     I have truly come to understand that it is not nor has it ever been about what we do but how we do it and that is we choose love first then every job has purpose.

     1. I was caught in that too Penny looking for what i was “supposed to do”. This came out of an emptiness and and a lack of connection and understand of who i am.
        And through the support of Universal Medicine i got to know and learning to express me. I have worked in many different jobs and was never content because i wasn’t content with myself.
        This is changing now . I still have several jobs next to each other like working as practitioner, giving massage. Leading Singing and meditation groups. Looking after a lady with dementia and supporting 2 children to learn to speak, write, count. If we stop holding back we get to know and bring us to the world.
        Everybody has skills and it is great to use them to serve humanity.

        1. Janina what you share is so lovely. If we hold an ideal of what we should be doing and how working should look then we miss the true ways in which we are here to connect and support. By you allowing yourself to be open to whatever may unfold with working you have given yourself the opportunity to work with many people and touch their lives in untold ways rather than confine yourself to the idea that it is only one job that we are to have and miss those opportunities.

        2. This is true Penny. I had to let go of the idea i need to commit to one full time job. Now i see how much i can bring in all the different areas and places i work and the inspiration i am for other people.

155. I agree Luke and it is important to start sharing with people about the experience you make being a male nurse and that for you this is just the perfect job how beautiful. To stop the segregation of male and female jobs which as you well describe might stop somebody choosing a career in a different field they actually feel drawn to. Not everybody has the strength to choose what feels right to them and not the be influenced by existing ideals and believes.

156. No matter what line of work we are in, if we bring loving care, integrity and attention to detail to it from our lived quality, every job has equal value.

     1. Absolutely well said, every job has equal value.

157. I’ve had the belief of some jobs were more respectable than others. In my mind cleaning had always been low on the list, even though compared to jobs in similar categories the pay isn’t that bad. Its great to highlight how ideals and beliefs can taint ‘everything’. Imagine if someone really felt and wanted to be a cleaner and they decided to be something else because of the stigma associated with that profession. What a loss.

     I can share a similar experience with myself becoming a nurse. There is a stigma around a male becoming nurse however if I let that override my decision to become a nurse that wouldn’t be a good thing.

     1. the nursing profession would miss an awesome addition to the work force
     2. a person would be doing a profession they aren’t really fitted for (think of the carry on complications)

     What does it come down to…. Don’t listen to ideals or beliefs listen to your own feeling which are strongly felt in your body.

     1. As a side note to this comment, and the same thing comes through in the blog… its very interesting how we can fall for a trick that the amount we are paid for a job in some way measures its importance. Its a very common perception, and can guide decisions about education, training, careers without ever really being talked about. Of course its baloney, as some miserable very highly paid professional might tell you, or some very joyful, fully connected person doing something menial could share (and of course you can have the reverse as well!).

        1. Very true, the day we measure our wealth by the richness of our hearts is the day the Earth will cease to be upside down.

158. Dear Janina,
     I too have spent part of my life working as a cleaner. I live in a small country town and jobs are scarce, so when the cleaning job came up at the local school I applied for it and there I was a school cleaner. During this time I felt much discontentment and that I was not good enough to do any thing else, I always felt I was wasting my life. Then I thought it was about the job. I have since realised that I was wasting my life, but not because I was working as a cleaner. It was because I was living without connecting to the love and beauty I hold inside.

     1. Such a great point you are making here Leigh, we are wasting our lives because of a lack of connection with love, a true purpose and the deep care for all, not because we are holding a job that is under valued in society.

     2. It makes sense Leigh that from that place of inner emptiness we strive for flashy titles and are unable to find the simplicity of contentment that can only come from our inner connection. Beautifully shared, thankyou.

159. Loved reading this article, there is an attitude towards cleaning as being an unskilled and lower job, and really all jobs are equally valuable because they all go hand in hand with one another, no one can work and perform well in an office that is not clean. Therefore everyone who works in that building is equal, from the cleaner who keeps things clean, the concierge who welcomes you at the door, the post person who makes sure the post is delivered and sent out, right through to the CEO and chairman of the company. Without each other it would never function as well as it does.

     1. Beautiful described Sally how everybody in a company is equally important and “without each other it would never function as well as it does.” It wouldn’t function at all.

        1. Janina absolutely, without everyone in a company the company would not function, it is the people that make the company, everyone’s role is as important as each other.

     2. I absolutely agree with you, Sally and Janina. It is about working together in a harmonious way, each doing our thing with full attention and acceptance that make it work. We have made 1 thing (person, job, activity) more important than another, where it is equally important. And we need each and every one.

160. “But love is available now – We can’t lose love but we can fight it and deny it.” Love it, thank you Janina for sharing your wisdom!!

161. That’s a great article on a topic that normally does not get lots of attention but is very important to everybody’s life. We live in a world where everything that is related to care is devalued and this has a reason. If we don’t care for ourselves we don’t connect to our body that is the marker of truth and connects us to our divine origins. To not care about caring keeps us in the merry go round for recognition and identification. This is also why the decades of struggle for equality have been always a struggle with little true results because everybody’s focus is only on the doing and never on the being. We started to bring women into the productive work trying to give value to women in an area where they were undervalued, but we never even thought about bringing value to care and the livingness from love. Today we have more equalness in the doing of certain tasks, but we did not achieve value of care, even worse we are loosing it more and more and nobody ever wants to do the care taking, not even of themselves. Thats an absolute involution.

     1. Beautifully said Rachel, this is so evident in society. So much so that when one begins to rock the norm and care for one self that others around us scoff and try to pull us away from our choice to do so. We have a lot of work to do to in this arena, the only way to change this ‘who cares’ mentality is to very lovingly commit to loving ourselves first. In my experience in doing this I find I have a deep love for all and this love is what propels me to continue to care deeply for myself and my environment every day.

     2. This is a great point you are raising here Rachel how we are not giving any value to care and it is a terribly sad reality that needs to change if we ever want to come back into balance in our society and with each other as human beings.

     3. Thankyou Rachel, you have highlighted for me the lack of value I place on care and why, especially self care.

162. This is such a great blog so I am writing a second comment. Funny how we value recall and mental work so much more whereas our bodies hold the true wisdom. Also interesting that I pay my cleaner much more than many junior lawyers, in this region its difficult to get and people doing physical work as people in the mines also earn a lot – so often physical work can be well paid but still some people look down on it or are snobby. There are a lot of inconsistencies in how we operate as a society and at the end of the day it is as you say not about what we do but which energy we do it in. It is about people not titles

163. I just LOVE what you have written here – so gorgeous. I feel cleaning is an incredibly important and valuable job and done with love makes a huge difference. I agree that we often have attitudes towards cleaning and I was just pondering why as I read this. It occurred to me that perhaps one of several reasons is a metaphor as often we don’t take responsibility and clean up after our mess ie non-loving choices. I completely agree that in the end it is all about the energy we do things in that whatever we do with love is joyful.

164. The value of the work we do is often reflected in the amount of money we earn. Whereas the true value lies in what we energetically do.

     1. Yes, Felix exactly that is the case in our society. A society which is based on competition and comparison and not on equalness and appreciation. It is fine that people earn more than others but it is not ok if the person who earns more things he/she is better than somebody who earns less. To bring it back to the importance of the energetic quality of our expression in what ever job we are doing.

165. “everything matters“ — this says it all… EVERYTHING… the cleaner, the doctor, the chef, the nanny, the truck driver…the love we all carry determines the quality of the EVERYTHING. Thanks Janina for sharing your experience of this truth.

166. Awesome blog. This sentence stood out ”So it was about identification with what I do and getting recognition and identification through a job title, or if I was earning a lot of money. I defined this as being ‘successful’.” This resonates with me and it is wonderful to expose it! Thank you Janina for sharing.

167. Thank you Janina a brilliant sharing with us all – what a blessing each and everyone you work for receives.

168. There is nothing such as less important and more important…or doesn’t matter…

169. Yes, Thomas “everything matters”….

170. Its so true Janina that ‘everything matters in our life’, even the small details like leaving a pile of unfolded cloths in my bedroom. It’s a message saying to myself that I’m not important and a son of god in all my divinity.

171. Your blog is on a subject that I have been pondering lately, why it is that we have the idea that a physical job is in some way less than an office job? I love cleaning, I’m thorough and feel lifted by the end result but I can relate to the feeling you describe of a cleaning role, I worked as a housekeeper many years ago and felt that the role was viewed as somehow less important than the work of others in the hotel and yet without clean rooms and a clean hotel the guests would run a mile.

172. Your blog is on a subject that I have been pondering lately, why it is that we have the idea that a physical job is in some way less than an office job? I love cleaning, I’m thorough and feel lifted by the end result but I can relate to the feeling you describe of a cleaning role, I worked as a housekeeper many years ago and felt that the role was viewed as somehow less important than the work of others in the hotel and yet without clean rooms and a clean hotel the guests would run a mile.

173. I can feel how much ideals and beliefs stop us from simply enjoying any work we do no matter what it is. And no matter what the job, we can bring the love and joy we are. To get caught in comparing my job with another job, brings in an energy which is harming for all.

174. I can relate to having been brought up with the belief that it is important what you do and I used to look down on cleaners (even though I have been a cleaner and enjoyed it) and at that time I thought a office worker would be more fitting for me physically. The best bit now is, I have an office job and part of my job description is ‘office beautification’, so I get to do the cleaning along with the administration.

175. There has always been a division amongst workers and quite often physical jobs such as cleaning are not seen as important. Every job has an important role to play and quite often we cannot reach our full potential without the support of others doing their jobs.

176. Like many people, I have been identified by the jobs that I have done. My job is not the most interesting, but I am not bothered by that as much anymore since I am being me and that is the coolest job ever.

177. Thanks Janina. There is absolutely a social belief that being a cleaner is a ‘less than’ job. Which, when we really look at it is crazy. Imagine if we didn’t clean, imagine the filth we would be living amongst. Whilst society as a whole is not yet prepared to take responsibility for their own mess, thank god for you. It’s because of you that people benefit from walking into a room cleaned lovingly by you. They may not be present to the fact that that room has been imprinted by your quality, but I bet they would have something to say if it was left unattended. The knock on effect of not cleaning is enormous, and I think we all need to appreciate what is done behind the scenes a lot more than we do.

178. Thank you for sharing the awarenesses you have discovered about cleaning. Your connection to yourself and the quality you choose to work in is the key ingredient to everything you do and can make any job a absolute joy regardless of the ill-perceived status.

179. Hi Janina, I love the way you let go of your beliefs about cleaning and not really love it, and even feel you expand in your body as you do it,
     I love how the more you accepted yourself , the more your parents were also able to accept you and the work you do for now.
     I wish all cleaners knew how truely unashamedly valuable their work is, imagine the joy they could all feel potentially.
     Also, the cleaners of the world truely deserve to be appreciated for what they do, especially when they develop apppreciation within themselves of what it is they bring when they clean with love.
     Without cleaners, no one could function, no business could operate.

180. Cleaning is one of the most important jobs in the home, office or venue as it leaves an imprint of the energy that the person was in at the time. Cleaning is often one of those things that people put off as a miserable job, and I used to be one of them! Now I love to clean and leave things feeling beautiful not just for myself but for those who will come after me. I read a blog about someone who was watching as the entrance to the Universal Medicine Clinic being swept and how wonderful it felt, and I really took this to heart. When I sweep now it is with the awareness of all who will walk over that area and I can simply do it with all the love that I am. Cleaning can be gorgeous!

     1. Inspiring to read about your relationship to cleaning Jo!

181. You can say I am a cleaner and explain that you do it to make your living. This is fine. Alternatively, you can say that you work as a cleaner because cleaning inspire you to connect to love and this allows you to leave imprints of love everywhere so people can connect to it. The first explanation may not carry too much social weight in terms of prestige. Yet, if the second is also true, you are providing a service that money cannot buy.

182. Such a beautiful phrase; “everything matters”; so true and powerful.
     Thank you Janina for the gentle reminder that there are only 2 energies; the choice is simple really but how easy it is to get sucked into the harmful energy!

     1. Yes Shirl, this was a timely reminder for me today as it really is that simple, love or not.

183. It’s so true Janina. The energy we are in when we do anything is vitally important. I used to think that cleaning was the most lowly job, and I was a cleaner for a while too. I had a combination of super pride in my work and I was punishing myself at the same time. I was not coming from love and I felt at the time I had to stop because I could feel the trail of lovelessness I was leaving behind. Now when I see someone cleaning I want to thank them. I know how important this job is because every job is important and without this foundation job, we would all suffer. Cleaning is about self care, an amazing foundation for our day, and an opportunity to lay the foundation of true presence.

184. I do some cleaning work and recently I needed to go back and retrieve something I had left behind. When I went back it felt like a gentle breeze had been through and cleared out all the corners letting the light shine through everywhere. This was a beautiful experience and one where I felt a true appreciation of myself and of what I can bring and imprint when I leave. I agree Janina it’s not what you do but the energy in which you do it – love or not love.

     1. Ahhh beautifully shared Deidre – We choose love or not love. Simple.

185. Thank you Janina for exposing the ideals and beliefs about the recognition of being a cleaner. It truly is a reminder that it is the quality of energy that we are in and brought to the activity in which we work at, is the truth of what matters. Needless to say, this loving way of being is truly required in every work place or work-station.

186. Funny how our body can feel so so gorgeous and absolutely love doing what we do yet our mind can say things like “I am just a cleaner!” The quality and love you bring to it though is saying you are far far greater than that thought!

187. Thank you Janina for sharing your blog. It is so true that expression is everything and that includes how we do everything in life including cleaning. It was such a joy to read how you appreciated what quality you brought to your work.

188. Once we start appreciating ourselves and the quality we bring and we understand that every job is equally important we cannot but appreciate and love what we are doing.

     1. Absolutely agree 100% Janina

189. What a great and interesting post Janina, yes working in Recruitment I get to experience that as a working population, we do have so many issues surrounding the type of job, profession, salary, and also level of post we operate at, which all have such huge bearing on our sense of worth, respect, value and therefore employability.

     What you share here with your words, is universal for any career, and not just the profession of cleaning : “If I choose to be love, I feel joyful and loving. I then clean with this love and joy for the house and the families I work in and for” – when there is no love on the inside, we look for it in the outside, for example through another/multi jobs, or career changes. Your words here show us that when we have love, it is possible to do any job – because we love first, and by default cannot help but love our job!

     1. Beautfuly said Zofia. I do not work any longer as a cleaner but bring the love and joy even more into my new job.

190. It’s gorgeous how you have embraced your role as a cleaner and do not see it as any less. I mean, how could it be any less!? imagine if we didn’t have cleaners in this world!? That would be terrible. Everyone plays a part in their role and all contribute to a different aspect of what we need, so no job should be seen as any less, it’s just a different piece of the puzzle.

191. It’s super apparent with jobs that it doesn’t matter what you do, but how you do it that counts… You could have the seemingly ‘good’ job yet everything within your life could be completely disharmonious equalling a poor lifestyle and discontentment. Yet if you completely love what you do, no matter what it is, your life is more inclined to be at ease and harmonious, I love what you have presented here Janina. I also find that when I’m not myself, my room gets a mess ! Possibly that’s why people don’t like cleaning. Because it highlights the lack of responsibility people live in and how ‘dirty’ people leave life to get.

192. Janina, a beautiful reminder that it is not about what we do but how we are whilst we are doing what we do. Thank you.

     1. I love the way you have said that Karen

193. Yes Kristy, this is the evil force of jealousy and comparing which leads to competition and separation.

194. Lovely, Janina, what a breakthrough for you and what a breakthrough for society. To honour those who clean the floors we walk on and the offices we work in those who leave their imprint everywhere… if those that clean felt this great responsibility, as you do , then people all around the world would be working ‘in love’ as it would be reflected all around them

195. Well said Janina! ‘Our marker needs to be our body – not our mind.’ Being held captive by the mind is an exhausting existence, building connection with God is truly living!

196. Great article.

197. Yes Leigh, this is a great question : Why would i not enjoy cleaning my own house with love?

198. Hi Janina, I can totally relate to that expansive feeling that comes from cleaning something while with myself. What reading this blog got me wondering was if that feeling of expansion is so great – then in the moments when I don’t feel to clean or can’t be bothered or ‘will do on the weekend/tomorrow/later’ does that mean I am am saying ‘I am comfortable putting off expansion?’ or ‘I choose to fight the love on my doorstep’. And thank you for the confirmation that the best place to find the answer to this question is already within me and typing this comment – my body!

199. I love the feeling that is left behind when I have cleaned an area. It feels so full and alive, it inspires me to feel there is more than just me.

200. Very inspiring, and as I have experienced, cleaning is something I didn’t want to start with but when started it is always an amazing experience.

201. Beautiful blog Janina, your writing makes me look closer at the harmony or otherwise that I create in my own home. I loved your honesty about why you floated from job to job, something I can relate strongly to in my life as I lacked the commitment to stay in one place. It is so refreshing to read of your approach to cleaning, especially considering how important the job of cleaning is to every company in the world.

202. Somebody earlier in the comments have shared what Serge Benhayon said about cleaning, that is is one of the oldest healing techniques.
     This is a message which has dropped deeper within me and how much we can support our own home when we approach cleaning in this way and what an important part we bring to the workplaces when we work as a cleaner. So I do want to thank and express a deep appreciation for all cleaners in this world!

     1. Beautiful Janina, thank you for sharing this.

203. Great to expose how we judge people by the jobs that they do, and that we judge the jobs themselves. In effect we have a hierarchy in our minds as to which job is greater or lesser, and this is deeply engrained. I have got to observe the legal working environment, and have seen how the belief that somehow being a lawyer is a more important or prestigious role is equally harmful to thinking that any role is not so important. The belief is harmful to those that work in the field, who think that they are somehow this ‘elevated’ role, and have to then behave in a certain way, and to those who do not work in the field, but see those that do as being somehow ‘elevated’. In both cases we are kept very far from the truth of who we are, and to the love that binds us.

     1. This is so prevalent in our society Catherine, that certain fields are more important than others. It adds to the lie that we are different because of skin colour or race. It adds to lack of self esteem and feelings of worthlessness. People strive for something greater by delving into certain professions thinking it will make them feel better unaware of the fact that it will do no such thing. Sometimes a beautifully cleaned house by someone who cares about themselves is all that one needs to be inspired to just be themselves.

204. This is a great article Janina. I too have had that feeling that because I do not have a degree or formal qualifications that I judged myself as being less. For many years I dismissed the work I was doing as ‘I am only a volunteer’ as if this made it of less value and importance. Serge Benhayon has shown so clearly that it is not what we do but how we do it that matters and everything matters.

     1. Yes Mary, how important it is that we start to learn to appreciate and confirm the beautiful qualities each of us are bringing to what ever work and task we are doing. And to let go of this strong consciousness of comparison that some job or qualification is better than another, or that if somebody has many qualifications they are better.
        There is not better or worse. We are all equal. Keep it simple and make it about energy. Bring a loving and joyful quality to everything we do..

        1. I love what you both share here Mary and Janina. It is so true that beyond the roles, titles, skin colour or culture we are in essence all the same. It is strange how often we get stuck on the outer rather than truly connecting to the inner truth of who we are.

205. Great article Janina – it is so interesting that most of us want to be in a clean and tidy environment yet see the maintaining of this around us as ‘beneath us’ or ‘not what we should be doing!’ I have had this belief too throughout my life and have managed to shift that thinking – the whole of me can be taken to any task as long as I remain connected and in my body – it matters not what I do but as you point out the energy we bring to each task and doing. Keeping things clean and tidy is now an opportunity for me to gauge where I am at – connected or not? Both are opportunities to accept, appreciate and allow.

206. I fully agree with “what truly counts is not what I do but how I do it and in which energy am I working”. This so important. Thank you Janina for writing this.

207. Love this Janina, as I too have felt that it is the quality that we bring to whatever we do that has such a massive impact to our experience of it and the effect it has on others. Cleaning is a beautiful example of this as it feels amazing to clean with presence and the difference in how the space feels afterwards is huge. I always know if I have cleaned a space with love as I feel that love reflected back to me.

208. Thank you Janina I love what you write. Everything does matter – everything!
     I too understand that the quality you do things in is enjoyable like Janina says it does not matter what you do. I now set in my rhythm cleaning my house once a week, and I do not feel I can do anything more until I have. If I try and do something else cause I “need” it to be done it either fails or I’m not in my true quality.

209. Janina what you have presented here is so powerful. Everything matters and that comes from knowing it is not about what we do but how we do it. The quality we bring to everything thing we do is what counts and from that everything we do including our jobs is equally important.

210. “What is truly exhausting is to live and express without love because this is not natural to our divine essence”.
     Janina I love your wise and clear understanding of energy and the fact that it’s not what we do but the quality we are in when we do it. When we clean with love the whole place feels still and spacious and the blessing is received by all those that enter the room. 😊

211. Thank you, Janina, for your confirming article. I’ve been doing cleaning for the last fourteen years. Before it I was doing laboratory job. I noticed how the majority of people treat you differently depending on WHAT you do not HOW you do it. It is profound that we can change this way of being by bringing love and joy in what we do by connecting to our body and to ourselves.

212. Hi Janina, your willingness to go deeper and feel into the message your body was sending you, when you were initially cleaning the floor while staying with others, did expose so much to you. Hidden beliefs and ideals can bring unspoken pressure about ‘being good enough’. Through your honesty with self, everything you are and everything you do is different now – how fantastic.

213. Thanks Janina for open sharing. No matter what we do ,all we have to do is be our self and take that in full to all we do, no matter what it is. Then life is joyful and work is play.

214. “What is truly exhausting is to live and express without love because this is not natural to our divine essence.” This is so true Janina, I will be 60 next year and what used to exhaust me no longer does as I also work as a cleaner. I can also relate to … “If I choose to be love, I feel joyful and loving. I then clean with this love and joy for the house and the families I work in and for.” Thank you very much for sharing such simple truths.

215. Hello Janina and thank you for this wonderful story. Where would we be without people that clean? We would be very dirty. As you say there is more to cleaning than meets the eye and your quality can be felt. Too often we overlook these type of jobs and overlook these people. We are all equally as important and I would think that the person cleaning my home or office is actually more important at times because they set the tone for the whole environment or space. It shows me not to ever discount anyone, you never know who they actually are and what effect they can have. If we look at the world through a belief of ‘what you do is who you are’ well then you will miss out on a lot. Open up to everyone and everything and life is more balanced… and as you say Janina, “everything matters”.

216. Yes its not what you do but how you do it! So true..I work as a cleaner part time, and love every minute of it. I clean a medical clinic and loving prepare the space for the next lot of people coming in to see the Dr. I get so much joy in doing it.

     1. This is awesome Natalie the quality you can bring to the medical clinic!

217. This is lovely Janina. In the next few weeks I will be making a shift from a very physical and active job to an office based one, in this process I am discovering that I have a lot of judgment about office work. Your article has reminded me that we are all valid in whatever job we do. There is no need for harsh judgment of ourselves or of each other for the jobs we choose.

218. What a profound experience and piece of writing. Thank you Janina. I was really moved by what you wrote and had to stop and cry a few times! Especially when I read “I have found that the activity of cleaning is absolutely neutral”….because that is so so true. So many of our activities are neutral – it is just what we load it with that either brings us joy or brings ‘us down’. And I also loved the simplicity in which you shared about the 2 energies – one that connects us to us/god/life/people and one that separates us from that. And when we connect to love – and then do whatever job/activity in that – what an amazing blessing it is for us and the world. I loved what you shared, thank you.

219. “Our marker needs to be our body – not our mind.” This was a perfect reminder for me Janina thank you.

220. I love the simplicity and truth of; “there are only 2 energies to be in; you’re either choosing love, or you’re not choosing love, and how all else comes from this choice. It is that simple.”

221. “I have learned that what truly counts is not what I do but how I do it, and in which energy am I working” This is so true Janina, the quality in which we work and participate in life is what expands and evolves us and thus humanity. Thank you for your beautiful words of wisdom.

222. There is such a focus on the details of jobs, the title and the perceived associated value, or the status it imparts. Your story has showed me that when we let this go, it can become simply about having an experience, and how important this experience can be to our learning in life. You’ve taken your role from being a “job”, to being about service by being connected to love. I love how everything was equal in this job; the care you gave yourself and your body, the care you gave to the work, and the care you gave to the people who were employing you. You showed the power of love and what it looks like in work. It feels to me that you evolved yourself and the job!

223. I really enjoyed revisiting this blog Janina, keep up that great work – and keep cleaning with love, the world needs it!

224. Really beautiful blog Janina, so amazing to read how you have brought all of you to what you do in your work. You can apply what you have to any job and I have taken inspiration from what you have shared. Thank you!

225. Great blog Janina, I too work as a cleaner, and have also worked through the beliefs I had about cleaning and the fear I had about what others think of a cleaner. I have come to an amazing space of appreciation for myself and what I have to offer in people’s homes. Serge Benhayon once said that cleaning is one of the oldest healing techniques. I now feel what healing I bring to a house as I express with all of me as I clean. I feel how touching everything I clean with a gentle quality clears it’s past imprints and creates space for my clients to re-imprint. When people ask me what I do for a job, I now express in my fullness how I feel about cleaning, how amazing it feels being able to offer such a great service and what that service is. I can feel their beliefs about cleaning and cleaners break down allowing more space for cleaners to feel how amazing they truly are.

     1. Thank you so much for sharing Kim! “Serge Benhayon once said that cleaning is one of the oldest healing techniques.” This brings deep appreciation into the field of cleaning which is indeed true service for humanity.

226. When I had a job as a cleaner in a hotel, I was glad to be doing something very simple. It allowed me to build up a routine after spending a long time out of work. With this, I was able to develop a sense of pride in the things I was doing which helped me enormously in understanding that cleaning is ‘not too low’ for anyone.

227. Wonderful Blog Janina. Beautiful to feel you bring all of you to your work. A blessing for all to feel no matter what type of work we do.

228. Great article and so much in here. It was beautifull to read “but the more I started to accept that it is fine to work as a cleaner, the more my parents also accepted it… which was great!” it showed to me the importance of acceptance and instead of waiting for others to accept us, if we accept ourselves first it is a game changer for everything .. and so your parents could accept you more, and the job you were doing, that you started to love 🙂 gorgeous.

     1. I agree Vicky we need to accept ourselves first only then can we let in the acceptance of others. The deeper I appreciate and accept myself the more others feel it and reflect it back.

229. A great blog, Janina. I work as a cleaner as well and recognise the responsibility we have in walking into people’s private homes, or any other place for that matter, and leaving an imprint. And everything really does add up and get reflected. And there seems to be a tendency that people want to clean/tidy up their home for a special occasion, or a guest – but not so much for their own everyday selves.

230. In my late teens I was working in a factory that made cardboard boxes. When I started my supervisor told me he would never ask me or any one that worked for him to do something that he could not, or has not done… that was 40 years ago. We are only as strong as our weakest link.

231. My family came from coal miners, pottery factory workers and the army, all were hard workers and I did not get frowned upon for having a physical job as long as I had a job – that was the most important thing. But then something unexpected happened, I got a job in the civil service and my parents reacted differently, as though I had achieved something great – that’s when I started to look at jobs differently and realised that people are seen as less if they do cleaning or what is considered a menial job.
     Later in life I too became a cleaner but I could feel that I preferred telling people I worked for the civil service than being a cleaner, as though I had let myself down in some way.
     I look at cleaning now in a new way and enjoy doing it at work even though it isn’t my job and I clean the extra bits the cleaners aren’t paid to do and what I have noticed is that it inspires others to take care of their surroundings also.

232. There is definitely a resistance in me to the act of cleaning, yet when I do clean I most often enjoy it and the feelings it gives me. So the resistance to cleaning may come in the perceived idea of it being hard work, or of being somehow lesser to some status that I may have dreamed up that I must have.

233. Absolutely beautiful blog Janina ! For me cleaning and tidying up is such an important part of living. I find that the way we keep our houses says a lot about our level of self-respect and self-love. I have always liked cleaning for myself and also for others as I find that it is a lovely thing to do for another. I remember carefully cleaning the house I sold in England before moving back to France. The next owners found a spotlessly clean house when they moved in and they were very touched by this gesture.

     1. Yes Maryline, “the way we keep our houses says a lot about our level of self-respect and self-love” these are two important aspects to consider as the house/home represents our own body-if we don’t take loving care of our home we don’t take care of ourselves. Something worth reminding myself in busy times i often tend to neglect/ignore cleaning my house…

234. I feel that these distinctions about jobs are still prevalent in our society and it is great that you are bringing this subject up for review. There is an opportunity here to ponder more deeply on how different jobs have impacted us and our relationships, especially the relationship with ourselves.

235. I grew up with strong beliefs that all that mattered was getting a good job and I totally gave away my power to the school’s belief system and that too of my family. When I was raising children, I remember someone who had a hard time accepting that I was the major caregiver for my children. I am so glad that I chose to do that, even though it was not honored as normal in our society at the time.

     Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine has supported me to understand that it is not what we do but how we do it that matters.

236. Top blog Janina, from a cleaner to a CEO, whatever your position is in the company, the service that is provided should be seen and valued as equally as anyone else’s. Until that time there will always be people who see cleaning as a menial task and is beneath them.

     1. Absolutely Tim. In a company, when we work in service, there is no menial task and all jobs have their equal use.

237. Thank you Janina for your blog – I found it really helpful to understanding how I have approached life and working. I hadn’t realised before that the way I approached life reflected my commitment to the life I lived. I have tended to find work to pay bills and to exist in the world and had not seen that by becoming committed work can become truly beautiful and of service to humanity. In my late sixties I have been caring for a wonderful elderly man whose love of life has inspired me. It has supported me to realise that by working in a way that is loving and serving and joy-full we can become fully integrated with the world by moving out of our own comfort and exploring different ways to serve in life. I now feel a sense of equality whatever the task.

     1. Very inspiring to read Sue:
        “It has supported me to realise that by working in a way that is loving and serving and joy-full we can become fully integrated with the world by moving out of our own comfort and exploring different ways to serve in life.”

238. Every night after dinner, I have a little ritual of scrubbing the whole sink and many times when I do this after feeling tired from the work day, I all of a sudden get a beautiful boost of energy and the same feeling of expansion that you mentioned, Janina. It’s like honoring the cleaning and enjoying how it is supportive of the family is reflecting back to me. Also, it feels great to just do what is needed at work, not just the more glamorous jobs.
     The other day I cleaned out a kitchen drawer that a mouse had got into, taking care to scrub and wash all the utensils and the drawer itself. This does not really fit into my job description of an aircraft engineer, but it had been like that for weeks and had been ignored. It felt wonderful to do that, without anyone knowing I did it.

239. Thank you for sharing Janina – everything does indeed matter. I was also brought up with similar belief about job roles being more more important than who I am – the identification with doing a certain thing has been huge. It has been great to dismantle the belief structure and see that it is not what I am doing but the quality of how I am when I am working that is important.

240. Awesome Janina. I too was brought up with the “you are what you do” scenario and to let go of that belief is amazing.
     “If I choose to be love, I feel joyful and loving. I then clean with this love and joy for the house and the families I work in and for.”
     Exactly, our true expression is love, whether it be in work or walking in the park.

241. Wow, Janina. Thank you. I find this so inspiring. I often find it difficult to maintain my love in the things I do, particularly when I am tired which in itself is only a reflection that I am not truly being loving and accepting where I am. I feel uplifted by what you have shared – what a great way to start the day.

242. A super reminder for me about ‘how’ I do things. I can still see cleaning as a chore and will often rush through it just to get it over with. This usually results in me getting aches and pains in my body. When you wrote ‘I have found that the activity of cleaning is absolutely neutral but we have tainted it with something negative,’ I remembered there is another way to approach these daily activities. Its my attitude to them that makes them feel hard. Thank you for a beautiful sharing Janina.

243. My husband of 28 years was and is a bus driver and at the time I felt the shame of telling my parents at the start because I feel I had failed them because he had a low paid job and to them it was the same as being a cleaner. You are so right, once I started to Accept his job things changed with them.
     I have also done cleaning work and whilst doing a great job which I loved, I could not value it at the time because it was not ‘up there’ with other jobs. Then I came to understand that the floor I clean and the toilets I wash with the true energy you mention in your article, I do make a huge difference. The top people in the building and everyone else get to use the toilet and walk on the floor I have cleaned.
     Now that is a blessing and Equal to what they offer. I no longer feel less when I do clean and I still offer my cleaning services as and when needed. I feel honoured to clean and in no way do I feel less because of my duties that I choose to do.

     1. I agree Bina, I always feel extremely privileged to be invited to clean a person’s home as there is usually an appreciation as well as a certain amount of trust that comes with allowing anyone into one’s personal space. With the clients I have there is so much respect that I never feel less than them in any way. In fact in most cases I feel like family.

244. “So I discovered that if I feel harmonious in my body and I stay with that quality then it is wonderful to move my body and clean a house.”………This is so true Janina and I would add how beautifully supportive it is to enter and be in a room,house or building that has been cleaned in love, thank you for a great article

245. Thank you Janina, for your article which exposes that it is how we are in everything we do, not what we are doing that matters. I too have done cleaning and it is a very underrated job, not least to begin with because I made it so and felt ashamed, but then as I understood energy and how I can have an effect on the surroundings, I was no longer just cleaning the dirt away. I realised it is a super important role and then felt it was no different to being a practitioner working on a body and at times especially when cleaning a bathroom I felt it was the same as massaging a body! The responsibility then of how I approached and touched everything became an important focus.

246. Thank you Janina. What a beautiful blog. You have made something mundane, alive on so many levels. Thank you.

247. I grew up with expectations – from my mom, from school and society. Everybody saying you should do this!
     I have worked doing carpentry, farming, as a house husband and other hands on jobs, never really pleasing my mom or wife. I love to create things!
     Universal Medicine has helped me understand that it is not what you do, but how you do it. I don’t have to do anything to be Ok, just be me in everything that I do! ken elmer

248. So true Janina, we have a general attitude that to work as a cleaner is very subservient role yet we can, as you so obviously do, imbue a home or work place with grace and lightness by simply cleaning it. I truly value cleaning work, the work I do myself and the work others do – because of HOW its done, not what is done. And yes, thanks to Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon, I have transformed my whole understanding of ‘menial’ work and now hold it in the place of true value that it richly deserves.

249. Thank you Janina. I work as a cleaner in one of my jobs and I get so much joy in cleaning away the previous day and preparing the room and building for the next day – it’s very important work!

250. Thank you Janina – I too loved reading and feeling how everything we do is important. We can’t have a whole without all the parts and we all make up the whole in all our actions, feelings, intention, and of course this is determined by the energy we choose. A great reminder.

251. Thank you for your blog Janina. I can relate to all that you have written even though I have not been a ‘cleaner’ by trade. I am in administration, in a busy office! But I like to clean our office. If/when I happen to mention to people something about cleaning the office, they often act surprised and say things like “Surely, you don’t have to clean the office and do all your other work”. I used to be embarrassed about cleaning, even though I liked to do it, because of the judgement people have about it somehow being a lowly job. However, the last couple of years, I explain with enthusiasm how much I enjoy cleaning the office. If you are present in what you are doing, almost anything can become enJOYable and cleaning is no exception.

     1. Yes I agree Gayle, if you are present in your body and feeling your loveliness, you can do anything with joy and love. The task becomes wonderful, in line with what we are feeling internally. One day perhaps this phenomena will be studied and lauded and given credibility. Then perhaps it will no longer be about what job we do, it will be about how we feel when we do any job or task.

252. A beautiful article which shows the Love and true care that is possible in what is usually seen as a mundane task. There is a lot being revealed each time I read this – so thank you for sharing.

253. What an awesome article, I love how you describe it being about the quality of how we do things not what we do, and that it’s always a choice what energy we choose to do things in. When we choose love, nothing we do is a chore, and it truly doesn’t matter what we do, if we’re doing it from the love we are and as you so beautifully put it, it’s always there – we just have to choose it. Truly lovely.

254. Hi Janina, thank you for your wonderful post. I particularly love the part where you say that “’everything matters’… And our marker needs to be our body – not our mind”.

     Oh so often the mind has been the marker and decision maker with disregard to the body. I love tuning into my body and how it feels now… it is so honest, whereas my mind can be easily distracted by rubbish chatter which distracts me from really feeling what is going on in my body.

255. Beautiful blog. Cleaning is such an important, interesting, avoided, sub-estimated, unwanted activity and subject. The belief about “what you do is what you are”, “you should be doing something better than being a cleaner, looking after kids, being a mother” etc. is huge. I can feel how beliefs like this weigh down on me and the way I undertake my daily tasks, making me prone to disregard, feeling resentful, exhausted and less… Like many important things/tasks/jobs in life, the consciousness around cleaning is a BIG one to break. It is so beautiful how you honour yourself and what you do. I have come to feel that cleaning gives us infinite possibilities of new starts every single moment; it is an activity that gives us the blessing of repetition and getting it right; it offers us the possibility to connect back to us in simple ways; a great exercise to make the body work in synch with the mind; a great way to learn and practice about responsibility. What a great way to Evolve. It is awesome. Your blog is very inspiring and totally beautiful. Tomorrow I will clean in Love. Thank you.

     1. Great comment Luz. I can very much relate to the beliefs and ideals that I have taken on around cleaning the house. I can feel the resentment and especially the feeling of less than another in the role I have chosen to look after the children and the home. I absolutely agree, it is huge! Becoming more aware of the beliefs around cleaning while beginning to appreciate myself in what I bring to the home, is certainly a step in the right direction… there is much to ponder on here.

256. Thank you for this article – I agree, it’s not what we do, it’s how we do it. I work in midwifery and the days that are the most magnificent are when I am completely present and being love. It doesn’t matter if that day is a paperwork day or a birthing day, the love is the only thing that matters.

     I too have at times considered working as a cleaner, as I appreciate how valuable a dedicated loving cleaner is. I know how it feels to walk into a room where a cleaner has been working with deep care and respect for the space and the people who will be using that room.

     Everything we do is important and never more so than when we choose to do it in a loving way, whether it be cleaning or operating or building or writing etc. The quality with which any task is done has an enormous impact which I am appreciating more and more. Perhaps one day we will see our different roles in this light.

     I love your observation that cleaning is not tiring when done with love and gentleness. That comment alone has the potential to lift the drudgery associated with household chores. I know that when I work at home or in my job with love and gentleness, my productivity increases and there seems to be plenty of time to do all that I need to do. In the chronic, rushed, shortcut world, how revolutionary is that?

257. What a great article, and it is so true it is all the attention on the outside doing that gets us in such a mess! I could feel when you wrote about cleaning the sink how truly joyful this was. It is wonderful to clean without the idea that it is handwork, miserable, a CHORE, but to do it because it is another loving expression of you. Awesome.

258. Oh I so love this – I worked as a cleaner for two years recently and my mother had a similar reaction to your parents – she would never tell anybody what I did for a living (My degree is in Electronic Engineering). A wise lady once told me that it didn’t matter what I do because all of me is there – and she was right. Now I work in a supermarket on the tills and in the bakery, and I am learning so much about HOW to BE in a very busy environment, especially how to lovingly support myself so I don’t go into overwhelm. I’m taking things gently in my own rhythm and simply having fun being me.

259. A great article Janina that breaks through the attitudes of judging a person for what they do, rather than who they are. I like your sentence: “What is truly exhausting is to live and express without love because this is not natural to our divine essence.” Something for me to recall when I feel drained or overwhelmed.

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