Time for some spring cleaning?
While we’re cleaning out closets and garages, we can think about this: spring house cleaning, while worth the effort, will only last for a season.
But personal, inner, spring cleaning can have a long-lasting influence.
So we don’t just want to dust behind those books on the bookshelves. Let’s give ourselves the gift of taking our spring cleaning to the deeper level, our inner self.
Thus we can purge not just things, but unnecessary activities and outworn beliefs. It’s always amazing how much “stuff” we have accumulated.
Catherine Ponder, author, wrote the following affirmation that can help remind us.
“I now let go of outworn things, worn out relationships. Divine order is now established and maintained in my world.”
Inner cleaning, though, requires some deep cleaning. It’s housekeeping that goes beyond what others see and hear. It’s from the inside to the outside. And as we clear our hearts and minds, our language should follow.
This is not just talking about bad language, but also negative talk and pessimistic thoughts (including the challenge to stop complaining!)
Taking out the garbage is important! After all, the old computer algorithm”GiGo” (garbage in=garbage out) applies to our minds as well.We want to get rid of the old thoughts and harmful emotions.
We all know that if we squeeze a lemon, only lemon juice can come out. If we don’t want lemon juice, we need a different fruit.
Letting go, forgiving ourselves and others, is an ever-continuing process. Releasing our attachments to those negatives from our past is a gift we give ourselves.
An image I like is that of a meadow where there was a path that is now overgrown with weeds. To restore it we would not need to create anything, rather we would remove something. As the shrubs and weeds are cleared, the path appears.
We may remove the mental weeds of negative imaginations, fearful attitudes, unrealistic ideas just like Michelango chipped away all the marble that was unlike David and created a masterpiece.
So this spring, what are you clearing out and chipping away to create a fresh, sparkling and happy you?