Spring Cleaning

Spring is the season of new birth and rejuvenation. The flowers begin to grow again, the air becomes fresher, and the sunshine in nice and bright. One popular pastime that many engage in is Spring cleaning. It often consists of ridding clutter from your home, cleaning out your closet and donating things you don’t wear, and cleaning all corners of your home. However, we don’t really consider an internal cleanse, ridding ourselves of the clutter in our lives and the negative energy. Maybe it’s time to restructure our understanding of Spring Cleaning and use it as an opportunity to regenerate our lives and our outlooks. Here are some tips and suggestions for trying to organize your life, inside and out.

Stop punishing yourself for indulging over the holidays

Image via Cross Fit Wilmette

Thanksgiving and Christmas often have us overeating and enjoying various sweets and baking. When we’re surrounded by our family and friends, we are often having so much fun that we don’t pay attention to eating healthily. This is common, and it’s okay. While it’s important to live a healthy life, it’s difficult to maintain that type of lifestyle when our thoughts are so unhealthy. Stop making yourself feel guilty for what you ate or indulged in in the past, and remember instead that you had a wonderful time celebrating with the ones you love. You can lose those holiday pounds if you choose to by exercising and trying to eat healthier, but it’s important not to tell yourself negative things because of it. You’re still beautiful!

Consider others when throwing out material things

Image via CCS4U

Making a positive difference in someone’s life is one of the best ways we can boost our self-worth. When we’re cleaning our closets during Spring Cleaning, we often take our unused or old items to a thrift store. While this is a wonderful thing because it helps people, think about getting creative with where you bring your gently used items. Do you have some bras that don’t fit you anymore? Consider taking them to a local women’s shelter. Do you have some work clothes that you don’t like anymore? Find a halfway house or local organization that helps people get back into the workforce. Do you have some old maternity clothes or even kid’s clothing you want to get rid of? See if there’s a shelter in your community that houses young pregnant women that have faced adversity in their lives. It takes a little bit of research, but organizations such as these are often in desperate need of these types of items.

Start truly believing you have what it takes

Image via Benaisha Kharas

Many of us have created a bucket list, or have even come up with some New Year’s Resolutions to follow. We tend to stick with our resolutions for a couple of weeks, and then as soon as we are tired or stressed out we let them fall to the wayside. We make excuses for our behaviors and tell ourselves, whether we realize it or not, that there’s something within us that is not good enough to achieve that goal. We don’t make the connection that we’re creating negative outcomes through our negative outlooks. This coming Spring, consider making the choice to reinforce what you want in your mind with positive thinking, and telling yourself that you are worthy, even if you don’t feel like you are every now and then. You don’t have to believe in the idea of manifesting destiny, but what’s the worst that can happen by encouraging yourself and telling yourself positive things about yourself and your abilities? You’ll feel amazing about yourself!

What are some tips & techniques you have for Spring Cleaning?

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