8 Secrets Why Women Love to Clean

It's a Reflection of How You Take Care of Yourself

“The state of your bed is the state of your head,” says Miller who views stacks of dirty dishes and piles of laundry as emblematic of how someone is managing their life. “If you are practicing avoiding difficult things in one area of your life, you do that everywhere.”

Miller made a radical transformation in her late 30s when she left her life as a successful PR exec to become a Zen priest. One of the pivotal changes she made on that journey was doing her own housework after paying someone else to do it for 15 years. “We wake up, we produce waste and laundry and dust and messes. They are the real stuff in our lives. So the time that we spend avoiding denigrating and demeaning these fundamental [cleaning] tasks means we are rejecting our own life,” says Miller. “By turning toward what you would rather not face, you are making a profound, radical transformation in every aspect of your life. You begin to feel much more comfortable in your life, you feel competent, you feel fulfilled.”