On Spring Cleaning

Well, March is here. Here in Israel we are getting some Spring fever as the warm days increase in number. I know many of you are still under mounds of snow. But warmth is (soon?) around the corner…

In any case, with March, comes Spring cleaning!

Some of you get excited at the thought of decluttering, cleaning out the closets, polishing the kitchen cabinet doors, and washing windows. Being able to open the windows and doors to let the clean crisp Spring air in…ahhhh. Others of you cringe at the thought. Here is a twist on the cleaning craze that may make you go hmmm instead of arghhh...

OK, so you remember that we talked about Fall and Winter a few months back? I mentioned that Fall is a good time to figure out what you want to let go of before the Winter months. Get rid of old baggage that will use up hibernating energy over the darker cold days of Winter. Take stock and keep that which furthers you in life, and keeps you happy and energized.

Well, now we are on the other side of Winter, nearing the Spring solstice, a time when the energy we have been storing, and the contemplating we have been doing over the Winter days and nights, starts to take form. Over Winter we have been thinking: What are our goals? Where do we want to be in life? What do we want to accomplish this year? Now we are nearing Spring, a time for the seeds of thought to take root, grab hold, and begin to grow. Spring is a time of flourishing. Of taking the seed that slept over Winter and nourishing and nurturing it into Growth. It is a time for unfoldment of potential energy that has been lying dormant, waiting for just the right time to spring forth and CREATE. Before we go full force into this creative process, we want to make sure our slate is clean and clear, so that all that comes forth can purely be advancing us on our paths.

So we ask ourselves, What has been stewing over the Winter? What bits and pieces that did not get discarded in the Fall have come to our attention as superfluous, as the result of our contemplations? What dust has built up over the Winter that we are now ready to shake off and air out? When I clean, I like to think of the soul cleansing, the character cleansing, the “baggage” cleansing that is getting done. As we clean out our drawers and pull dust bunnies out from the back of our closets, what old patterns or hindering thoughts would we like to drag out and shake off into the Spring breeze? What knee jerk reactions, thought patterns, beliefs, self-sabotaging behavior would we like to discard, replaced with clean empty spaces, to be filled this year with loving, nurturing, guiding thought patterns and beliefs? What old arguments, hurts, judgments, or grudges would we like to sweep out from the nooks and crannies of our minds to be forgiven, moved passed, and replaced with generous giving love and acceptance for all - including first and foremost ourselves?

See, I am an optimist. Combine that with love-to-be-efficient, and you get a person who likes being industrious with her time. So if there is something that needs to get done, I rather find a way to enjoy doing it – make it fulfilling in some way – than drudge through it. Hence, Spring-Soul Cleaning.

Because we are all individuals, be individual about this. Take this where you want to go with it. Feel like there is a clutter of negative words/jibes/dissonance in your house? When you declutter, make it symbolic to the negative word clutter. Clean them both out of your house simultaneously. Now, this does not mean you sweep your kids’ mouths out when they open them with an insult to their sibling or with attitude to you or your spouse. :) It means that you set an intention as you declutter. You say, or pray, whichever you are comfortable with, “As I clean these things that are of no use to this household, I cleanse this household of the words that are of no good use to those who live here.” You can hang it up on the door, set up a sign on the kitchen table, or stick a note on the bathroom mirror. “This house is rid of all words that do not serve well or nurture the people that live in it.”

Lots of cobwebs from the past? Maybe some parental judgment, family issues, old relationship problems, that seem to lurk in the corners, hover over the edge of your reality, without seeming to be a big problem? As you pull those cobwebs down, clear out the energy that is lingering from these issues. Clean those corners until they are web and dust free. We want our homes to be filled only with love, kindness, and acceptance. Clear out the old, the not positively useful, and let the Spring breeze carry in love and warmth to fill the clean empty spaces instead.

Take this where you want to. These are some suggestions. But make it personal to you, and to your cleaning experience. (Come post on FB or comment below where you took your Spring-Soul Cleansing this Spring season.) Do it for your house. Do it for yourself. Do it for your household.

Fill up with the clear, crisp, sunny Spring air. Feel the power in it. Feel the creativity. The flow. The energy. It’s all around us now. As seeds are pushing their fresh growth through the soil, they shed their outer coating, and push through layers of dirt, to clear a path for the process of the growth that takes them to their ultimate fulfillment, their greatest potential.

Clear that path. Make way for all that is positive, nurturing. Clear the way for only the energy that advances you, and promotes the best in you, in your house, and in your household.

With love and anticipation for all this Spring energy will bring,

Devorah

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