Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
— proverb
I think some resourceful parent must have invented that saying to shame children into taking a bath, because I've known some less-than-clean folk who seemed well in tune with the divine.
If this saying were indeed and literally true, we would be a very godly nation, for God knows, we're a clean one. And yet, the saying lasts; it must have truth.
However, whether you take a bath or a shower, whether it's in the morning or in the evening, the moments of cleaning oneself are wonderful for a Stillpoint. Most often bathing is a very personal, intimate, and solitary ritual and thus is a natural time to become more awake and call to mind what you need for the day ahead. It might go something like this:
Close your eyes and take some time just to feel the water on your body. Note its temperature, just how it feels. Notice what else you're feeling.
Breathe deeply one, two, three times slowly.
As your physical energy is aware of the water, at the same time allow your spiritual energy to turn inward. Both movements are part of the same you, and happen in the same moment.
Let the unwelcome effects of the past day wash off your soul just as its physical residue washes off your body.
Let your spirit be refreshed with the cool, clean water of grace just as the warm, clean water brings relaxation and rejuvenation to your body.
You bring to mind those whom you will likely encounter today, and you recall from the past those who would be your models.
Maybe that saying is truer than I thought.
— David Kundtz in Quiet Mind