Today we will explore why we should not use our phones in the toilet or bathroom. In most Vietnamese homes, the toilet and bathroom are in the same room.
Previously, I had a habit of working efficiently, so time was very important to me. I could create a great deal of value for others through my phone, so why not use the time spent in the bathroom to use my smartphone and create even more value? With just a phone, I could manage several businesses wherever I was across the country. Wonderful — so what could possibly be wrong with it?
If I am not using my phone, I can read while sitting and ‘letting my troubles float away,’ making use of every moment to gain more knowledge. How interesting.
Although this is quite cool and very convenient, I no longer do it now. Why?
Do you think the bathroom or toilet is a very important place? Japanese people attach great importance to the toilet, regarding it as the “heart” or “feng shui” of the house.
A bathroom can tell us much about its owner.
First example: when entering an eatery displaying slogans such as ‘food hygiene and safety’ or ‘super-clean food,’ I often make a habit of visiting its toilet. Whether it is clean or filthy and crawling with cockroaches tells me whether the eatery truly respects ‘food hygiene and safety.’ That is a restaurant's ‘moment of truth.’ It helps me decide whether I will return. I do not believe a restaurant with a filthy toilet truly cares about hygiene for its customers. Because the toilet and the food are both reflections of the owner's mind. And this is usually true.
Example 2: When I entered a friend's bathroom, water was everywhere and leaking. I could tell this person was experiencing emotional problems and could not manage or control their emotions. Because everything within always leads to some outward signs. In symbolic language, water represents emotions. And when I spoke with that friend, this was indeed the issue.
Being 100% present in the toilet or bathroom is quite important. Buddhism calls this “Mindfulness.” But I would like us to go a little deeper and understand it together.
The bathroom represents the capacity to clean the body and purify the soul. We wash ourselves and cleanse energies, including negative ones from work, thinking, relationships, and daily interactions. Our bodies are like ‘sponges,’ unintentionally absorbing all energies, including pressure, stress, fatigue, tension, sadness, disappointment, anxiety, and fear. In the bathroom, we draw on the power of that space to ‘wash away’ and transform them. It helps renew us and our inner soul. It is private, allowing us to return and explore our inner world. Using a phone there directs us toward outside ‘connections’ while in a very private space, potentially making us so outward-facing that we neglect inner care. Our inner world may be very messy, and this can also show in the room where we live.
Of course, we can occasionally use our phones to read news or look at something. But we should not text or interact socially on our phones in the bathroom. It creates confusion in energy. When we spend too much time directed outward, we inevitably lack time to care for what is within. The toilet or bathroom is a space for the inner self, the inner world, and time there should be devoted to this as much as possible. That is truly quality time in the bathroom.
So this is a wonderful time to relax, reflect, observe yourself and your surroundings, or… do nothing at all. Would you like to explore how many wonderful ideas have arisen in the bathroom? Or how many great people have had great insights in this ‘place of inner reflection’? Use the power of that moment, spend truly quality time with yourself, renew yourself, and you will feel fresh vitality flowing within immediately afterward, helping you continue developing other necessary qualities and complete your journey.
May you have much quality time with your toilet or bathroom from now on throughout your life.
