Laugh at yourself first before anyone else can. ~ Elsa Maxwell

This is a simple habit but easy to forget in the thick of day-to-day.

1. Just turn on your favorite mix of music.

2. Turn it up loud.

3. Everybody dance while clearing the table and rinsing dishes.

Even arthritic mamas can do a low impact version. Watch the smiles light up all around. You’ll be surprised at how your early-evening attitude lightens too.

You are also accomplishing:

1. Exercise. Flylady recommends 15 minutes of loving movement. This certainly qualifies. Just 15 minutes making a dull task delightful.

2. Worship. If it’s praise music you have the volume turned up on.

3. And dishes are done lickety split!

Daily drudgery turns to delightful dancing.

Or maybe you’d rather apply the following from A Kiss Makes It All Better

…Just a little tip my husband and I have discovered.

Imagine the scene. Supper is finished but the dishes need to be done. One child is in a crying heap, melting away on the floor for a reason unknown. Another is happily blowing the train whistle at an adult-irritating pitch. The eldest makes herself heard from upstairs, her voice carrying loudly from the foyer. One child quietly watches the scene. The last is wondering where in the fridge the shredded cheese goes.

How do you handle the sensory overload? Sometimes I grip the sink and do a silent scream. Hodgepodgedad has been known to, with a smile, quote Jimmy Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life. “Why’d we have to have all these kids anyway?”

Lately though, we pause for a kiss. Right in the middle of the craziness – we just plant one on each other. It’s a blessed stress reliever.

Try it. You’ll like it.

Whole-hearted, ready laughter heals, encourages, relaxes anyone within hearing distance. The laughter that springs from love makes wide the space around – gives room for the loved one to enter in. ~ Eugenia Price

How about you? Have you danced with the dishes? Raise your hand via the comment box. Share your beat the drudgery tips.