Emotional Spring Cleaning

Things That Went Right Today:

1) Fun visit with a friend this morning.
2) Having the garage floor treated.
3) Going to see the movie "Red Riding Hood" tonight.

This coming Sunday marks the 1st day of Spring and you know what THAT means? Spring Cleaning!!! It's a lot of hard work doing the deep cleaning that we put off throughout the year, but the house feels so much nicer once it's done doesn't it? So it's worth the effort.

My friend and I were talking this morning about the various trials that people face in this life and how no one seems to escape having hardship of some kind. It's so easy to begin to feel sorry for ourselves and wallow in the problems isn't it? We can become so consumed in the difficulties of our lives that we simply get stuck and stop fully living. We go through the motions and only give our lives half effort. Only take in half of the joy, because our hearts are filled with frustration so there isn't as much room left for happiness. I was thinking that we ought to all take some time to do a little emotional Spring cleaning. While we're clearing out the clutter in our homes and storage rooms, how about we try to clear out some of the junk taking up space in our hearts and minds as well? I know I need to. Not so much to try to make all of our problems go away. I don't think that's possible. Life just doesn't work like that. But we can definitely control where we choose to aim our focus, and therefore how we feel from day to day no matter what is happening TO us. We can still choose joy!

Some questions to ponder:

1) Is there anyone we have hurt that we ought to make amends to?  It's not always easy to approach someone and say I'm sorry. Or accept possible consequences for our actions. But the peace we feel when we step up and make things right is worth the temporary discomfort. It's a terrible burden to carry around knowing we've caused another person pain. We can ease that by resolving to do all we can to heal the wounds.

2) Are there actual steps we can take to solve our problems that we have been putting off? When we do we end up compounding the issue and dragging it out. Take action today wherever you can!

3) Are we hanging onto the idea that things aren't fair? Well...they often aren't. It's a fact of life for everyone. Time to move forward anyway.

4) Do we need help? Sometimes our pride prevents us from reaching out to others to get the support we need when we are having tough times. Whether it be medical assistance in the case of addiction or clinical depression - or a friend to help us clean our homes or rake the yard when we are overwhelmed. Our lives go in cycles. Sometimes we give and at other times it is important to learn to be a gracious receiver as well. And allow others the blessings that come to them when they serve us.

5) Have we been counting our blessings? The surest way to a happy heart is to stay centered on gratitude at all times. No matter what negative things are happening, if we look hard enough we can always find something to be grateful for. Always! Sometimes we might have to dig deep to find it, but if we make the conscious choice to seek after gratitude it will flow into us like gentle rain. We will see things we had not noticed before. And feel our hearts begin to change.

Just like the physical spring cleaning we do in our homes, this emotional spring cleaning takes effort and may not always be pleasant in the process. But an uncluttered heart and spirit can fly to new heights, so it's worth it!!!