Spring Cleaning Your Mind – Uncluttering Your Emotional Closet!
1. Clean out your Mental Cobwebs – Along with cleaning out the closets, Spring is a great time to focus on “Spring cleaning” your mind. Clean out the cobwebs of old, tired ways of thinking that lead to negative self-talk, self-doubt, and the inner critic within. It has been estimated that the average person thinks about 50,000 thoughts per day. If even 10% are negative thoughts, which is an understatement for most people, that comes to up to 5000 negative thoughts a day on average!
2. Emotionally Unpack – As you pack up your cold weather clothing, and bring in the springtime wardrobe, use this as a time to “emotionally unpack.” What old thoughts and memories keep you stuck in old ways of thinking and feeling, and take out those thoughts, memories and feelings, perhaps give them a good cleaning, and repack them in a different way. Do you just need to get them out, dust off them off as although they lay dormant, they still stick around like musty old clothes needing to get aired. As you re-evaluate your wardrobe, re-evaluate your thoughts and keep what works for you and repack old ways of thinking in a way that helps you spring into spring and not stay in the dark days of winter – in your mind.
3. Do an Inventory of your Mental Media – Examine the tapes and recordings that are constantly going through your mind. Do you keep playing tapes that are not even true? Do you have mental tapes that are negative and critical, both of yourself or others? Are there people that you can’t forgive, do you tell yourself stories about why they are bad, or do you tell stories about yourself that are not true, such as you are not thin or smart enough, or worse yet, that you one of life’s losers? Where do those tapes come from? Upgrade those old tapes to digital recordings that are present focused and show new ways of thinking!
4. Springtime can be a state of Mind all Year Long – So when you Spring Clean your Mind, realize that Spring is a state of mind any time of the year. Whether you live in Boston or L.A., the weather on the outside matters less than the season of your mind. Is it often cloudy or rainy in your head? This spring, give yourself the gift of cleaning out that bad weather between your ears. Keep in mind one of our favorite sayings, think straight-feel great!
5. Spring is a Time for Rebirth! – All around us we see change, as flowers bloom, and nature evolves. This Spring, let yourself see the wonders of creation reflected also inside of you. Use this as a time for reinventing yourself and trying new things. By committing yourself to personal renewal, you can re-evaluate what in your life no longer works for you, and how you can grow, change and transform to become the best “YOU.”
6. Spring offers You a Fresh Start – With the freshness of Spring around you, use this time of mental spring cleaning to give yourself the gift of a “fresh start.” This spring is the most important spring of your life, as only the present gives you the opportunity to renew yourself. Build on the winters of your disappointments and regrets to breathe new life into old issues. Perhaps there are no do-overs-but there are second chances!
I wish you a wonderful season of new beginnings and fresh starts!