What Spring Cleaning Taught Me About My Soul

When you hear “spring cleaning,” you may think of deep cleaning your home. The idea is normally that the change of season calls for a change in environment — a healthier space with less clutter — which can only be achieved by a deep, intentionally cleaning effort that calls for storing or getting rid of what no longer serves you. Maybe you need to swap out your coats for your dresses or maybe you need to get rid of some clothing that doesn’t fit you anymore.

Spring cleaning is just as therapeutic as it is practical. This is why I’m advocating for a mental/ spiritual spring cleaning. This can be done at anytime, not just in the spring.

I don’t know about you, but my mind and my spirit have been cluttered lately. So many of us are living on autopilot, prioritizing everything else above our self-care needs and holding onto things that won’t serve us in this new season, accumulating junk that only weighs us down. As summer approaches, I’ve been yearning to lighten my mental load.

With all this in mind (and my birthday being last month), while I was cleaning out Psalm and I’s closets and gathering clothes we don’t use anymore for those in need, I decided that I will work on an intentional mental/spiritual spring cleaning. I wanted to let you in on my plans + how it all went in case you wanted inspiration for your own spring cleaning!

Here are the 3 main things I focused on: 

1. Negative thoughts cleanse:

At the top of May, I did what I call a negative thoughts cleanse. I sat with my journal and purged *every* single negative thought that had been swirling in my mind recently. No, things didn’t get magically better after I wrote them all down. In fact, ironically, I was physically sick shortly after (caught my daughter’s strep throat). Not sure if me being sick was connected to my cleanse or not BUT one thing I am sure of: in some way, I had to mentally contend with each and every one of those negative thoughts throughout the course of the month. Instead of these thoughts swirling in my mind and fleeting in and out of my headspace intermittently, I tackled each head on. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t easy, BUT I was able to process these thoughts, de-claw them and even pose solutions for some of the problems behind these thoughts. Now, these thoughts don’t have the same amount of bite they once did, and I am grateful for it!

2. Gratitude:

Speaking of being grateful, I feel like you can never go wrong with a gratitude practice. It takes your mind off of your stress, it shows you how far you’ve come and most importantly, it shows God you love and appreciate all that He has done for you. My gratitude practice is very simple: I either 1. list what I’m grateful for in my prayer journal or 2. sit and visualize everything I am grateful for, one by one. The visualization practice is particularly powerful to me. They say if you can see it, you can have it. For me, visualizing all that I have been blessed with in my life makes it so an even more blessed life actualizes and becomes reality. This has given me a new perspective on my life, especially when I’m feeling down or stuck. 

3. Happiness + peace everyday: 

The stressors in my life and in my friends’ and family members’ lives last month and before have had me thinking a lot about self-preservation. We go through the ebbs and flows of life but how do we maintain ourselves in the midst of it? How do we preserve ourselves mentally so that we can keep on keeping on with mothering, work, school, our relationships and more even when things are hard? Thinking about all of this has led me to try intentionally doing at least one thing that makes me happy and one thing that brings me peace each and EVERY day, no matter the day and no matter how big or small the act. Sometimes, the act of happiness is playing outside with my daughter, sometimes it’s watching a funny clip on Instagram. Sometimes, the act of peace is as simple as a cup of hot tea with lemon and ginger. Intentionally focusing on what makes me happy and what brings me peace has served as a protective barrier between my soul and my stress. 

Spring cleaning taught me that investing in myself does not cost much.

Spring cleaning also taught me that I have the power within myself to nurture my spirit, protect my peace and cleanse my mind.

Now more than ever, I am fully invested in myself and ready for a great summer. I also have even more space to be there for my loved ones.

I hope my spring cleaning experience inspires you to take inventory and do a little cleaning yourself!