Spring has me hopping! I’ve been cleaning and clearing for the whole month.  It’s taken me the whole month to clear the house. However I have a handicap – my husband. He loves his “things”, especially when it comes to media.  We have a reel-to-reel player that doesn’t work. Very useful. Every garage should have one. 

I even found Neil Diamond on 8-track. That should be worth something. 

I’ve been banned from further cleaning in the garage. Too many things found their way to Goodwill.  I’ve decided to control what I can control and this week I started cleaning on the inside starting with a little detoxification using a far infared sauna and a bit of juicing.

It’s been interesting drinking green pond water every morning. Proponents of juicing tell me when the benefits start appearing I won’t even think twice about the taste or the color. That time can’t come too soon.

Here are five things to keep in mind when doing your spring clearing:

1) Try a holistic approach.

Think broadly when you think about fresh starts. When we think of spring cleaning we think of “shaking the house clean” – clearing closets, drawers, files, dusting those places even your mother-in-law will never see. But don’t stop there. What can you do to address your physical, emotional and spiritual rejuvenation? Perhaps its time for some deep tissue body work or time to carve out extended periods for meditation or self-hypnosis. Purify your body with a steam, hot sauna or a far infared suana. Cleanse your digestive system with a nutritional cleanse or perhaps some colon hydrotherapy, and then revitalize it with a solid nutritional program.

Most of us find it so difficult to treat ourselves to exquisite self-care, and yet this is precisely the gift that infuses us with the energy we need to handle a demanding life, regardless of whether the demands come from the business or personal world or both.

2) Secure some support.

If going through 20 years of junk seems a little daunting, then hire a professional organizer. Can’t afford them for the whole house? Pick the most challenging space and begin there. You can invite a friend or two to help you with the rest of the house, if needed, teaching them what you learned in the first go-round with the professional organizer. When you teach what you learn, you deepen your learning. Just like the old-fashioned barn raisings, when you’re done with one house, rotate the workers to the next house!

Bring a group of friends together and start your cleanse together. You don’t have to travel to a world class spa to undergo a cleanse. Many local day spas offer great packages and access to saunas, massage, and yoga classes to get the group going. Depending upon the level of toxicity in your body, you may consider many cleansing options. It may be as simple as the group hiring a good nutritionalist to consult on a cleansing program, or arranging times at local spa or wellness facilities to fit everyone’s schedule. There is nothing that says spring cleaning is a solo effort.

3) Nourish Your Soul.

Now that you have sorted through the clutter and you’re revitalizing your system turn your attention inward. Feeding your spirit is a very individual experience. We live in two worlds: the world of things and the world of thoughts. The thoughts we sow reap the things we experience. Take time to explore your thoughts. They are busy creating whether you intend for them to or not. Are there some that need weeding?

What does your soul want? Is it a walk in nature? Revisiting the practice of daily journal writing? An afternoon at the park? Tea with good friends? A less toxic body in which to reside?

Create the time to connect with yourself, to plan, to imagine, to dream. Whatever activities you choose to engage in spend some time seeding them with expectancy to clear the way for new opportunities that can be planted now and harvested later.

4) Weed Out Your Tolerations.

In coach training there’s a focus on how to get clients to eliminate things that  zap energy. Yes, the clutter on the dinning room table may be one thing you can clearly see. You have a visual reminder every time you walk through the door. Or how about the lock that needs adjusting so it takes the key more effectively? The leaves in the gutter from last fall? Emails from people whose ezines and announcements you no longer read?

And how about the more subtle items that slowly drain the energy reserves and resources? I’m talking about the co-worker who keeps taking the pens off your desk. The promise to serve on the neighborhood beautification committee that now is taking more time than you want to give. The lawn service not being as expected.

Notice, none of these things by themselves seem to be a big deal. Combined, they are leeches of time and energy, slowly draining you of effectiveness and happiness. After you’ve made your list tackle the “Opossums” first. Opossums are tolerations you can address and it will actually wipe out other tasks that are hanging in the process. For instance, it may be a better investment to hire a college student as a personal assistant for a few dollars a week than to take your time and energy to go to the dry cleaners, the post office, walk the dog, shuttle kids and stop for little items at the grocery store.

5) Allow for the new to seek expression.

Growth is the way of nature. It is impossible to not grow. Ever lifted a pot that has been sitting in the garden and found that even there in the dark, sprouts of plants struggled to reach the light? I often wonder if it is painful for them to try so hard to grow? (There’s an example of those “unusual thoughts” again!) I marvel at their drive to strive to do what they are here to do: grow and be and play the part of its Purpose in the garden. Despite where the seed is sown it still seeks to express its destiny. It can do no less.

Spring cleaning is about removing those obstacles that are hindering your ability to express fully who you are here to be. It’s all related energetically. Take time now to create the ideal conditions that will allow you to blossom into the amazing talents that you are here to express.