When reflecting on the season of Spring, thoughts of a fresh start, the world waking up after a long winter, and fresh breezes with blooming flowers flash into mind. Everything feels fresh and new, and the urge to declutter your life from the past year comes to fruition. This can sometimes feel overwhelming. Where do I start? Do I even have the time? Life certainly does not stop for you to take the time to clean through everything you may want to - however - it’s freeing to think about it and to begin anew. We often hear, “A clean space is a clean mind”. Springtime is a great opportunity to declutter your physical space and your soul as well. Here are five ways to cleanse your mind, body, and soul.
- Purge Negative Thoughts and Feelings
To declutter and make more space for positivity in our lives, we must first intentionally take hold of our negative thoughts and feelings and cast them out. Yes, this can be more easily said than done; however, it all starts with intention. Holding on to negativity does not serve our highest good. One way to start intentionally focusing on the positive is to start incorporating more activities, people, food, or other hobbies that ‘spark joy’ in your life. Intentionally taking the time to do these things, leaves less time to dwell on the negative. Negative moments can even sometimes look like “I can’t do this” “I am not good enough” or “This will never work”. It’s time to purge those negative thoughts during spring cleaning and swap them for positive thoughts that will breathe fresh air into your life.
- Decluttering Your Space, Declutters the Mind
Decluttering your physical space can help create a more organized and peaceful environment while decluttering your soul can bring about a sense of mental clarity and emotional calmness. A study conducted by the Princeton Neuroscience Institute found that having multiple visual stimuli results aka “clutter”, the more easily distracted you’ll be. Your brain is literally too distracted to make clear decisions. Start by setting up a daily or weekly checklist of mundane house chores to get out of the way so that you may enjoy your space in peace!
- Dust Away Old Grudges
As springtime blooms new life all around us, it’s time to breathe new life into your relationships with others and yourself. Holding on to resentment and grudges takes up unnecessary space - which can present itself physically and metaphorically. Physically, you may be distancing yourself from those who you have not forgiven. Physical space may be necessary depending on the situation; however, the mental/metaphorical space that is in your mind is taking away space for joy. Forgiveness is a powerful tool that we can oftentimes be too stubborn to utilize. Forgiveness is the tool to dust away your old grudges!
- Scrub Your Heart Clean
Continuing along the topic of forgiveness, we are now looking inwards toward ourselves. Have we forgiven ourselves? Do we love ourselves completely? Don’t just scrub scrub scrub away your problems - scrub your heart clean. Cleanliness represents a new beginning. Spring represents a new beginning. So why not have a new beginning for yourself?
- Deep Clean Your Diet
As with everything else, this can be a work in progress. Deep cleaning your diet consists of evaluating what your diet looks like now and what you want it to look like. What are your end goals? Once you establish your goals with your overall health, it will be easier to assess what is possible and where to start! Deep cleaning your diet can look like striving to eat more SOUL (Seasonal, Organic, Unprocessed, and Local) whole foods and moving farther and farther away from the standard American diet. We all start somewhere!
Spring cleaning isn't just about tidying up your physical space. It can also be a great opportunity to refresh your mind, body, and soul. By incorporating these methods into your spring cleaning routine, you can feel recharged and ready to take on the new season.
