“The first blooms of spring always makes my heart sing”-S. Brown
Yeah, that’s a perfectly true saying. Spring brings new hope, joy, beauty, and fresh energy all around. People let in this fresh, positive energy into their homes with a spring cleaning.
Way back in the 1800s, the major housecleaning took place in spring as the winter left, leaving all the rooms coated with a layer of grime and soot. Lamps of the time were lit with whale oil and heated with coal or wood, which left a lot of mess. So during the warmer weather, people opened the windows to let out the soot and cleaned their house spic and span.
Coming back to our times, we live in a world that’s cluttered with lots of information, activities, responsibilities, relationships, materialistic things, and even emotional clutter. We hardly find time to sort out this mess that we lose out on the essential things in life-joy, love, peace, health, and satisfaction.
Can living a clutter-free life bring about positive benefits into your life? Yeah sure! “The biggest benefit of decluttering is creating more time to spend on what’s meaningful to you,” says Maria Kondo.
Here are four easy steps to spring clean your mind, body, and soul. Curl up comfortably on your couch and read every word we have to say. Surely you’ll gain a thing or two from this blog post.
Spring clean your mind.
Detoxing your mind helps you to be a happier, healthier, and more productive person. When you clear your mind, you dish out all the negative thoughts and fill your mind with progressive, positive thoughts.
The essential step to spring clean your mind is to meditate. The Blessed Month of Ramadan is upon us. During this time, it’s vital to slow down and do an inventory of our thoughts. There is nothing more we need than the light of God, which can help detox our minds in more ways than one. During this blessed month, you can spring clean your mind by reading the Qur’an, setting healthy boundaries, and spending more time in nature.
Manage stress
Stress can create havoc in your mind. Stress can suppress your immune system, impede your memory, and make it difficult to sleep peacefully. Fortunately, you can keep your stress levels under control.
As part of your spring cleaning, chart out a spring cleaning plan. Identify your source of stress and take steps to minimize the pressure. Likewise, do some quick fixes to reduce stress, such as breathing exercises and meditation.
Do a brain dump
Spring cleaning your mind starts with a brain dump. A brain dump is transferring the accessible knowledge from your brain to another storage medium. This process helps you out of a state of confusion and overwhelm and turns your indecisiveness into action.
You can practically brain dump anything––your anxiety, fears, worry, negative emotions, and even your to-do lists. Do a brain dump for just 10 minutes every day before you go to sleep and skyrocket your productivity.
Spring cleaning relationships
Spring cleaning your relationships helps you to get rid of bonds that no longer serve you. Also, it allows you to improve those relationships that need a little work. It creates space to move forward with your life and lifts the weight of unhappy and dead relationships from your shoulders.
If you genuinely want to spring clean your relationships, imagine the life you want for yourself and evaluate all the connections in your life. Very often, we become complacent in our relationships and get stuck. But your relationships are entirely under your control.
Start with your least personal relationships. For example, start with social media to remove negative people. Then move on to your work relationships and friendships. Get rid of friendships that you’re not working hard to keep alive. Save your family relationships for the last.
Some relationships are more of a convenience. Think through before you make a significant decision. If you need to end a relationship, let go of it completely. Do whatever it needs to bring closure. Write a letter, burn a photo, or meet up to officially say goodbye.
Refreshing your relationships leads to a happier life. Being selective about who you’ll allow in your life creates room for more meaningful relations and offers more happiness and life satisfaction. Also, it gives a fresh perspective on your future relationships.
Spring cleaning toxins from your life
Removing toxins from your life includes detoxing your body in and out. Be it your skin or food.
Skin detox
Detoxing your skin is essential to have healthy, glowing skin. It makes your skin look refreshed and rejuvenated. Skin detox is what you do to your skin’s surface to protect it from outside elements. A skin detox purges your skin from congestion and dirt and anything else it can get out.
Some of the best ways to detox your skin include a healthy diet, exercise, facial treatments, double cleansing, exfoliation, hydration, toning, getting enough sleep, limiting bath time, and cutting down on sugar.
Food detox
Be careful of the junk foods you keep in your fridge. Instead, restock with less processed choices
Try to eat mindfully, as it helps you tune into your body’s hunger and satiety cues. Concentrate on what you’re eating, slow down and relish your food. Altogether avoid if not cut back on alcohol. Staying within bounds is good for your health.
Start cooking and stop buying from outside. Cooking for yourself means you’re in control of what you put inside your body. Meal prep beforehand, and you won’t be scrambling for takeout menus at the end of the day.
Women between 19 and 50 need 2.5 cups of veggies per day so try to include a huge salad. Thoughtfully fuel your body and cut back on sugar. Replace those sweetened drinks and snacks with healthier choices.
Spring cleaning your soul
As the Psalmist says, “create within me a clean heart Oh God and renew a right and steadfast spirit within me,” we need to cleanse our hearts to become spiritually healthy. If it’s physical surroundings, we can do an excellent job of cleaning it. But purifying our soul can be done only with the grace of the Almighty.
Whatever is stored up in our soul comes out when we speak. If we find ourselves gossiping, saying negative things about others, and feel bitterness towards others, it’s high time to search our soul and cleanse all the negativity that’s bothering us.
So how do you go about it? Cleaning up our spiritual closets and asking forgiveness for our sins to the Almighty will lift the heaviness from our souls.
Get rid of old baggage and practice forgiveness. Is there anyone you hadn’t forgiven in the past? Just forgive them and move on; it makes your soul a lot lighter. Holding onto a grudge not only dampens your spirit but delays all the good things that your future holds. If you forgive someone, it’s not that you’re accepting what they did was right; you’re letting go so you can have the mental energy to fulfill your purpose in life and achieve the fullness of your destiny.
Wrapping up
Cleaning up all the unwanted clutter in your immediate environment, be it your home, or office has some great benefits; clean surroundings mean clean air, less anxiety, and stress—a feeling of positivity and renewed hope.
Likewise, cleaning the mind, soul, and body makes you a healthier, happier, productive person––ready to take to new challenges, hopes, friendships, goals, and dreams. So spring clean your mind, body, and soul and enjoy all the goodness that the universe has to offer.
