Every year there are tons of articles and guides about spring cleaning. It is a time of year to declutter, organize, and prepare to plant new seeds. We often embark on decluttering our physical space and forget about our emotional and mental space. So, in this post, can we talk about spring cleaning for our hearts?

The whole point of spring cleaning is to organize your environment in order to prepare for both the literal and figurative growth that is quickly approaching during the spring and summer seasons. Some people declutter old clothes, deep clean their homes, dust behind furniture, purchase brightly colored accessories and accent pieces, and prepare to plant new flowers and vegetables. The other way people use spring cleaning is like a symbolic refresh button. This might look like transitioning out the winter wardrobe in preparation for warmer weather.

Spring cleaning is our yearly detox of all the things that are no longer necessary. It is a time of reflection and a time of hope and anticipation of something different, new, re-purposed, or renewed.

Why Declutter Your Heart

Studies have shown that your physical space can affect you emotionally and mentally. Therefore, we can imagine the same is true for our internal space. Clutter creates confusion and a lack of clarity. At first, my thought was that I simply just need to work toward keeping my environment and heart clean at all times in order to maintain my overall internal-external balance. But then, I thought about the reality that life always ebbs and flows with ups and downs; therefore, a permanently clean internal heart space is virtually impossible.

Dust simply accumulates whether you like it or not. Therefore, our hearts are the same. It needs maintenance. It needs self-care, love, and attention.

Here are a few tips to get you started with spring cleaning your heart:

• Throw away the old stuff you have stored away in your heart. This can look like hurt, disappointment, unforgiveness, and more. Ever wonder why sometimes you feel there is less room for new thoughts, new happiness, new habits, and new love? You may have forgotten about that old stuff, but it’s still there contributing to the clutter. Go through it and decide what you need to keep and what needs to go. Obviously, it is very difficult to forget the things that have happened in our past, but we can decide which of those things we need to release for our mental health.

• Deep Clean. Once you have decided what stays and where it goes, it is time to freshen the space up. This is the time to renew your mind and recommit to the positive aspects of your life. Write out some affirmations and read them out loud to yourself. Look in the mirror and speak positively about your life. Spend some time to re-energize your heart and mind in whichever way works for you (spa day, new haircut, exercise, vacation, read a positive book, meditate, etc.)

• Repair. One last important step. There are some things in our hearts that are essential but are also a little worn-out, cracked, and broken. No need to worry, they just need a little sprucing up. These are things like good habits that have weakened a bit, great friendships and relationships that have been a bit neglected, compromised sleep or health (yes, sleep affects our heart and emotions), or even diminished passion for life. You can use inspiration, meditation, a good heart-to-heart, therapy session, a relevant book, or quality time to help with this step. Once this step is done your heart will feel a little brighter and lighter.

So, whether you are starting a new phase of life or working on refreshing the present space, take some time to do a mental and emotional inventory and spring-clean your heart.

I am wishing you all a happy and healthy heart! Let me know how it goes.