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The Zen and art of washing a car by Mike Phillips
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From the Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary
Definition of Zen
(Entry 1 of 2)
1: a Japanese sect of Mahayana Buddhism that aims at enlightenment by direct intuition through meditation.
2: or zen : a state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort.
Perhaps that is the zen of gardening—you become one with the plants, lost in the rhythm of the tasks at hand. Snip, tie, dig, pull. Actions become synchronized. The minutes tick away. Tranquility beckons. — Irene Virag
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the above definition, it's the second definition that captures what I consider to be the Zen and art of washing a car. This portion,
a state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort.
There's a HUGE difference between a Prep Wash and a Maintenance Wash.
A prep wash is where you're washing a neglected car to get it super clean before you start the paint correction process as well as all the other steps you'll perform to bring the car back to factory-new or even show car status.
A maintenance wash on the other hand is the way you wash a car AFTER all the hard work is done. When this is your own car, you pay attention to the task at hand. You insure your wash bucket and wash mitt are clean and uncontaminated. You understand it takes hours to buff out a car and only seconds to inflict scratches back into the paint. Washing your own finally detailed car is work for sure, but it's more a process of passion not the drudgery of grunt work like when you did the initial prep wash.
You can relax. You can enjoy the time. You can enjoy your car and you already know you'll enjoy the results. There's a certain amount of satisfaction that comes from a job well done. The initial prep wash and paint correction is what brought you to, a job well done, but just as important is the follow-up work, the maintenance washing of your pride and joy.
This is where washing our car be a state of mind, or Zen and the art of washing a car. Just like you invested in yourself to learn how to do the hard work, you have invested in yourself to know how to do the easy part, gently and carefully washing your perfectly polished and sealed paint as well as carefully washing, cleaning and and then drying all the other parts of your car that make it, what ever type of car it is - an expression of your personality or success or simply your preference for getting from point a to point b.
I've always like detailing cars, my own cars, other people's cars. I don't mind the hard work taking a diamond in the rough and turning it into a glistening gemstone, but what I like the most, is after all the hard work is done, I like the calm and relaxing experience of doing the easy part, washing my car and restoring it to the pristine condition hiding under the covering of dirt and road grim from the normal day-in, day-out driving during the week.
Washing a care carefully takes quality tools and just as important, a laser like focus on the task-at-hand. But when you've done this so many times, it's like a second-nature takes over. You can go through the motions without having to think about them at the same time. Your work is artistry because your practice has made your technique - perfect.
The weekends were made for washing cars, a time to escape the hectic rat race of day to day living in our hectic, ever-changing world. It's car wash time, it's the Zen and the art of washing a car.
Car Washing Zen
A state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort. When doing a maintenance wash, you are one with the wash mitt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary
Definition of Zen
(Entry 1 of 2)
1: a Japanese sect of Mahayana Buddhism that aims at enlightenment by direct intuition through meditation.
2: or zen : a state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort.
Perhaps that is the zen of gardening—you become one with the plants, lost in the rhythm of the tasks at hand. Snip, tie, dig, pull. Actions become synchronized. The minutes tick away. Tranquility beckons. — Irene Virag
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the above definition, it's the second definition that captures what I consider to be the Zen and art of washing a car. This portion,
a state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort.
There's a HUGE difference between a Prep Wash and a Maintenance Wash.
A prep wash is where you're washing a neglected car to get it super clean before you start the paint correction process as well as all the other steps you'll perform to bring the car back to factory-new or even show car status.
A maintenance wash on the other hand is the way you wash a car AFTER all the hard work is done. When this is your own car, you pay attention to the task at hand. You insure your wash bucket and wash mitt are clean and uncontaminated. You understand it takes hours to buff out a car and only seconds to inflict scratches back into the paint. Washing your own finally detailed car is work for sure, but it's more a process of passion not the drudgery of grunt work like when you did the initial prep wash.
You can relax. You can enjoy the time. You can enjoy your car and you already know you'll enjoy the results. There's a certain amount of satisfaction that comes from a job well done. The initial prep wash and paint correction is what brought you to, a job well done, but just as important is the follow-up work, the maintenance washing of your pride and joy.
This is where washing our car be a state of mind, or Zen and the art of washing a car. Just like you invested in yourself to learn how to do the hard work, you have invested in yourself to know how to do the easy part, gently and carefully washing your perfectly polished and sealed paint as well as carefully washing, cleaning and and then drying all the other parts of your car that make it, what ever type of car it is - an expression of your personality or success or simply your preference for getting from point a to point b.
I've always like detailing cars, my own cars, other people's cars. I don't mind the hard work taking a diamond in the rough and turning it into a glistening gemstone, but what I like the most, is after all the hard work is done, I like the calm and relaxing experience of doing the easy part, washing my car and restoring it to the pristine condition hiding under the covering of dirt and road grim from the normal day-in, day-out driving during the week.
Washing a care carefully takes quality tools and just as important, a laser like focus on the task-at-hand. But when you've done this so many times, it's like a second-nature takes over. You can go through the motions without having to think about them at the same time. Your work is artistry because your practice has made your technique - perfect.
The weekends were made for washing cars, a time to escape the hectic rat race of day to day living in our hectic, ever-changing world. It's car wash time, it's the Zen and the art of washing a car.
Car Washing Zen
A state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort. When doing a maintenance wash, you are one with the wash mitt.
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