Is it time for spring cleaning?

What does the coming of spring mean to you? Does it mean that it’s time for spring cleaning – time to tackle a lot of work that you were able to put aside over the winter? When spring comes, maybe you feel it’s time to do a thorough house cleaning and possibly even a good sweeping and reorganization in the garage.

Spring cleaning is not just about what you can do physically, it can also be about what memories you want to keep and what ones you want to throw out. Spring might bring up memories of last year and things you wanted to do over the summer but never got around to doing. Now this spring, maybe you feel that hope again to accomplish those things and add some new adventures. Spring signals new beginnings, which also means cleaning out the old and bringing in the new. There is a renewal of the senses with the return of feeling the warmth of the sun, hearing the sounds of the birds singing and frogs croaking and experiencing the earthy smells of spring in the air.

I hope that for you spring isn’t all about just physically exhausting yourself with cleaning and that spring holds some very precious memories. Maybe you remember dancing around the May pole or delivering little May baskets to neighbors’ doorsteps or other happy memories .What are those memories for you? Here are some special memories that spring brings back for me.

Doug pipes up with a poem that is connected to my memories.
“Spring has sprung
The grass has riz,
I wonder where the flowers is”

With apologies to all the English and grammar teachers out there, I will fill you in on why this little poem is meaningful to me. The flowers ‘is’ right here, I say, as I hold up a bouquet of brightly-colored paper flowers. That poem and the colored paper flowers are connected to special memories of when I was a small child. Our family lived on a farm and winters seemed cold, dark and long. At the first sign of spring, my mom would recite that poem to me. We had a ritual that went along with the poem. This ritual included making paper flowers and tying them on the bushes. There were usually a few patches of snow left on the ground and the branches of the bushes were still bare stalks. Putting those multicolored flowers on the bushes gave us a feeling of positive expectation. We celebrated that there would soon be a return to warmer weather and the reawakening of nature. So spring for me brings lots of good memories that are beneficial to keep because they have wonderful, loving feelings attached.

Doug adds, “Spring cleaning can also be beneficial if you take time to assess your business life as well as your personal life. Maybe there is something that you can do in both of those areas to kind of spruce up and ‘clean house’ a bit. What needs to be revamped, discarded or renewed? What actions do you want to do less of and what actions do you want to do more of to help life be more balanced and pleasurable?”

Here’s a challenge: Take time to recall your memories of springtime. If there are negative memories, clean them out. Then savor and enjoy your positive memories. We also invite you to take a look at your personal and professional life. What needs to be out of there? What needs to be new again? What is one thing you can do this week to move closer to the personal and work life you desire? Then let us know the results that happen in your life. Wishing you Happy Spring Cleaning!

© Lynn Nodland 2017
Chanhassen residents, Doug and Lynn Nodland are owners of The Balance Center. Doug and Lynn can be contacted at WeCare@SharingLifesLessons.com.