Spring is here! For many, Spring always feels like a time of renewal, hope, and new opportunity. It’s a time where the darkness – and sometimes gloom – of winter is washed away, in preparation of brighter days ahead.
Furthermore, spring cleaning offers us a chance to take stock and get rid of the “stuff” bogging us down—keeping our house cluttered and messy. When we take out the old, it leaves room for a few new, bright, shiny, things too!
Have you ever stopped to think that this might be exactly what our soul needs too? A little Spring cleaning?
Since we have a month until the “real Spring cleaning” time begins, why not start some personal Spring cleaning now?
What is holding you back from having the life you want, need, dream of, and desire? What “clutter” are you holding on to inside that is just sitting there, not being useful in any way, gathering dust?
Below are 3 simple steps you can take to clean out those ideas, concepts, beliefs, and practices that are no longer serving you so that you have room for new, positive ones that do!
Step One – Sweep Out the Old Beliefs that Make You Act or Behave a Certain Way
Ask yourself, “Are there things I believe about the way I live my life that no longer feel “right” for me?”
Do you have things you do based on what you believe to be true just because that’s what you’ve been told? Or maybe simply because that is what you have always done? Yet, maybe they aren’t genuinely resonating with you? These are subjective beliefs about what – or who – is “right” and “wrong” – and they impact how you act and react on a regular basis.
Of course, we are not talking about legality or morality “beliefs” as those aren’t beliefs. The types of beliefs you want to consider may include things seemingly-trivial (but time-intensive) things like having to mop all floors every time you clean or every week, to more serious things like, “It’s selfish for me to want time to myself.”
Take a day or two and write down a list of everything you “believe” to be true but not bound by moral or legal absolutes. Then, create two columns. In the first, list why you feel this way. In the second, write down what would happen – worst-case scenario – if you let go of this belief.
After you’ve done this, put the list away. Come back to it in a few days and determine if there are any of these beliefs you now find silly, a waste of time, or just incompatible with your life currently. If there are, go ahead—sweep them away! Literally… take a marker and line through them or if you wrote in pencil, clean them off your list with your eraser. Boom! One “personal Spring cleaning” item… off the list!
Step Two – Wipe Away Any Limiting Beliefs You Have About Yourself
Stop and consider… Are there certain beliefs you have about yourself – about who you really “are” – that you inherited from others? Or that have become outdated and might no longer be accurate?
As you did with the above exercise, take out a piece of paper or notebook and start making a list. But this time you’re going to write negative and positive things you believe about yourself.
Why positive in addition to the negative? It’s time to be brutally honest as there may be “good” things you have always believed about yourself that are holding you back just as much as “bad” beliefs. As evolving human beings, we are always changing. Thus, there might even be positive ideas you have held about yourself that are now causing you conscious or unconscious stress as you put forth extraordinary effort just to TRY and live up to those beliefs.
Think about it – This is the mental version of that little black dress you don’t want to throw out, even though it’s four sizes too small, because you might be able to wear it again someday. Sure, if a real goal is getting back in shape enough to wear the dress, great! But if you aren’t throwing it out just because it feels like “defeat” – even though it’s not even reasonable for you to be your 20-year-old, pre-babies, size 2 again – it needs to go!
After you’ve made the list of ALL the things you believe about yourself, in the second column, briefly describe WHY you believe those things. In the third column, write what else is possible?
As with the first list, put it away and come back to it in a few days. Look through each belief, the reason it exists, and what else is possible. Consider how you feel about each one. Pay careful attention to those feelings to decide which beliefs are ready for the trash pile. Again, wipe away those no longer true for you and vow to erase them for good!
Step Three – DECIDE Your Future
For every item you deleted from your beliefs about what is, who and what others are, and who you are, vow to replace it with something different. What beliefs can you adopt that will better serve you both now and into the future? Have some fun here! This is the exciting part. Now that you have cleaned out the old, your spiritual “space” is primed for the shiny and new. Have a blast “shopping” for those new ideas and beliefs and enjoy decorating your spirit for the YOU that you are TODAY!
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