Spring Clean Your Life
Spring is here and this month we’re going to look at the traditional spring clean concept in a different way.
It’s time to take a detailed look at our past routines, our regular ways of doing things and give everything a deep review and a good shake up.
First, let me explain the concept of a Spring Clean. This way, you can start to apply it, practicing it in your daily lives, in a way that you will start to have your energy increasing.
When you have more energy, you feel more alive, more vibrant and this helps us to cope with everything going on just a little better and do things with a little more vitality.
To help you look into everything in more depth, I’m dividing the Spring Clean concept into four parts:
- Spring clean your house
- Spring clean your plate
- Spring clean your mind
- Spring clean your habits
Spring Clean your House
We start with the traditional concept of the Spring Clean which involves going around the house, cleaning, dusting, polishing and putting all the wintery stuff away.
You can start with just one room, rather than thinking it has to be the entire house, but I want you to do this spring clean in a different way. Instead of thinking just about cleaning, I want you to focus on ‘energy’.
When we have things in the house that we don’t really need anymore or we haven’t really moved things around or we haven’t cleaned stuff up, the energy becomes stagnant. As such, we might not realise this, but this saps our own energy, making us feel flat & drained.
Also, if you have something that you don’t like anymore or isn’t really serving a purpose or it’s broken, then it’s kind of taking part of you away. To quote Marie Kondo; “It’s not sparking joy” (from her book ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ and I do recommend reading it).
There is energy that we have in our objects and in our belongings. So, go around, see what you want, see whether it’s serving you. If not, go donate it, or throw it away if it’s broken, and start to move the energy within your house as you start your Spring Clean. See how that energy flows into you and see how it starts to energize you as well.
Spring Clean your Plate
Next I want you to start thinking around food. In itself, food is an amazing thing as we need it to survive but I want you to start to observe the kind of items you are eating.
Over the winter months, we tend to eat food that’s heavier, for example big stews, soups, lots of carbs. It’s like we retreat into ourselves and we use this heavy food to warm ourselves up.
As the season’s brightening up, we want to start to look at lightening up our food because as we start to change what we eat, we begin increasing our energy.
We want to get more fired up and ready to feel great for summer. So, I want you to start to look at your food. What is it that you’re eating? What is bringing you down? What is too heavy? How can you lighten it up?
Maybe you need to go through and physically clear things out of the fridge and out of your cupboards that are a little bit junky. Get rid of things that are really not going to serve you and then, you can start pondering on what foods you can bring in.
It’s Spring, so let’s bring some of that green colour into the vegetables and your fruits. Maybe make fresh juices or smoothies, and get some more beautiful fruit into it. Let’s start to lighten and freshen things up.
Obviously, I’m going to say try a little bit of raw food and explore how you can bring some more raw food into your diet as well. My recipe book ‘Fresh & Sophisticated’ is full of delicious, simple dishes.
So, let’s begin to play-around with our meals, see what you could bring in, and again, notice how it makes you feel and what energy it’s bringing into your body.
Spring Clean your Mind
Next, I want you to start to think about your mind and in particular, your thoughts. I don’t think many of us really realise what we think can have a very detrimental effect on our energy and that it can drain us down.
What I mean by this is that if you’re full of self-doubt, self-criticism, judging yourself against others, feeling worried or guilty, lacking in confidence or any of these type of things, you’re going to be taking away your energy from whatever else you might be wanting to do.
You might want to get a project finished, enjoy time with your family, re-connect with friends you haven’t spoken to for a while . It could be anything that you’re actually really wanting to do but you’re stopping yourself through these thoughts, and these negative thoughts and worries are sapping your energy. As such, you then don’t have the drive to do whatever it is you really want to do.
However, if you start to change your thinking so that you’re not getting yourself so anxious, full of guilt or self-doubt and you start to move your mind and shift it into the more positive, you can then look at things in a different way and your energy is going to start to increase. Also, you’re going to be able to focus more, have greater clarity, vision more, see your future in a better way and actually become more present.
I want you to really pay attention, very literally, to these thoughts in your mind and start to note how often your mind spirals downwards and how that affects your vitality. Then, shift them into a more positive way of thinking and start to see how that brings your energy back up.
Take your time with this one and really start to become observant.
Spring Clean your Habits
The last thing we’re going to do is to look into your habits, especially the way you look after yourself.
When we start going into self-care and we look at our habits, we often find we have lots of negative habitual behaviours.
You might realise that when you’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed or anxious, you have the habit of eating a big bag of crisps and drinking a bottle of wine. You’re not really taking care of yourself properly but you’re justifying that because you’re saying “this is what I need”.
What we really want to do is to replace these negative reactions with different habits that are going to support you in a much better way.
Perhaps look at how can you move your body more to help get some positive energy flowing? How can you do some meditation so that you can create a pause in the day? How can you focus on your breath and try some energizing breathing techniques? Maybe just go for a walk taking in some fresh air.
Also, ask yourself, how can I pamper myself? Plan a time to enjoy a calming bath or schedule 30 minutes in your diary to call a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while or sneak away to a quiet spot to read in peace and quiet.
You’re trying to find something that is really supportive for you so that you increase your energy levels and your attitude changes to become positive.
So, take some time and look at your habits, see which ones are not serving you and exchange them for some better ones that are going to make you feel great.
In Summary – Spring Clean Your Life
The focus on this overall spring clean is about freshening up our energy and getting us revitalized.
First, we looked at spring cleaning a room in the traditional sense of tidying up and changing the energy around you by getting the things that you no longer need out of the house.
We then examined our food and how we can make better meal choices that will refresh and revive us.
Next, we looked into the mind and how we’re going to remove negative thoughts that take away our energy. By replacing these with a more positive way of thinking, we can recharge our energy to be more productive.
Finally, we examined our habits and how bad habits drain our energy levels. By swapping these with new positive behaviours, such as including some self-care, we notice how energized and confident we start to feel.
That’s our full spring clean of everything! Now go and enjoy the whole process and start feeling rejuvenated and optimistic for the coming months.