Spring is finally here! It is a huge relief to see specks of green popping up everywhere and to know that warmer days are around the corner.
If you are like me, this transition has you feeling the urge to embrace this change with a clean slate. For some people a deep clean of your living space or office is enough to give you that fresh springtime feeling. For others this is a perfect time to do a major overhaul in all areas of life.
As a yoga practitioner you already know that the external and internal tend to reflect one another. Have you noticed it is easier to be productive if you work in a clean and tidy office? On the other hand, do you feel stressed out after spending time with negative or unsupportive people?
While you can't orchestrate the perfect circumstances to be happy and thriving at all times, you certainly can give yourself a head start. Spring brings a beautiful energy of growth, possibility and new perspectives. That makes it a perfect time to clear out any residual mental, physical or emotional clutter and make space for the good things ahead.
This week, I am going to share some of the major areas you might consider refreshing in order to start the season off right. Let's dive in!
Organizing Your Living & Working Space
The most obvious place to begin to tidy up is at home and in your office. Spring is the perfect season to get rid of things you don't need and love. Recently, Steve and I went on a book run and picked up The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. We bought it half-jokingly, both expecting we wouldn't have the discipline of this Japanese tidying master to actually follow through with some of the more extreme reccommendations.
However, the overarching theme of this book is one I love. Marie Kondo firmly instills that you shouldn't keep anything that doesn't spark joy within you. She encourages the reader to touch every item in a specific order in each category to determine whether or not the object currently provides joy.
Tuned in yoga practitioners will be hooked with this technique since the idea is to create an environment that is not only functional but feels good to be in.
If holding objects one at a time to see how they make you feel is a little too "woo" for you, a classic method for organization is Getting Things Done. This technique will help you to get your lists and reminders out of your head and on to a more reliable medium like a good list or calendar reminder. David Allen's book is a sacred tome for many business people I know who have learned how to process the constant stream of incoming scheduling demands, emails, phone calls and mountains of paper.
Even if you don't use his entire system, the book is a great reminder to keep the mind clear for important ideas instead of wasting its power trying to remember to pick up kale from the market.
After a major de-cluttering session, put the finishing touches on by doing a deep clean. Personally, after spending a lot of time getting rid of unwanted artifacts from my past the last thing I feel like doing is a deep clean (actually I don't get joy out of cleaning anytime). Instead, hire someone to come and clean my home a day or two after the planned tidying session. Coming home to a professionally cleaned space usually leads to me dancing around my apartment for a few minutes. If you have never paid for this service, give yourself this reward after a major tidy.
For more ways to freshen up for spring, check out this simple nutritional clean up, a negativity detox and self-care inside and out and out!
For all my Hamilton friends, I will be leading 4-week meditation course at De La Sol Yoga beginning April 15 and co-hosting a Spring retreat at Zee Float on April 30. If you are interested, I would love to see you!