Spring Cleaning Our Homes and Minds

Spring cleaning has religious and cultural origins. Three hundred million people around the world celebrate Nowruz (New Day) on the first day of spring. It’s preceded by the ritual translated as “shaking the house,” which involves cleaning to make room for something new. 

Maybe that’s why today we hear, “Out with the old and in with the new.” In preparation for Passover, the Jewish culture calls for removing yeast particles from the house, which requires deep cleaning. Spring cleaning became a term still used today. However, these annual rituals deal with external things. What about decluttering your mind, and what are the benefits?

To illustrate, I’ll share a personal experience. On the first day of orientation when becoming a life and health coach, the instructor talked about decluttering. It wasn’t what I expected for the start of an intensive six-month program. It took me nine months to finally understand that decluttering my environment was the first step in letting go of clutter in my mind, which was holding me back in my personal and professional life.

When you hear the word decluttering, what comes to mind? Personally, I find it hard to get rid of things that no longer serve me. During my certification process, I learned to trade in judgment for curiosity. Once I stopped judging myself for not being able to accomplish this simple task of decluttering, this allowed exploration and innovation in my right brain to help me work it out. 

For me, I realized that I had an emotional attachment to much of the clutter. Each item that wound up cluttering my world had brought me joy at one point in my life. But it was time to make room for something new.

“How we do one thing is how we do everything.” I’ve seen this phrase from many sources. Once I processed how to let go of something I no longer needed, I realized I also could apply that approach to other things that were no longer serving me — like emotional baggage. This lowered my stress levels and gave me a better outlook with circumstances and people in my life.

WebMD lists several health reasons for decluttering. “Untidy environments often increase stress for most people. In one study, women who described their homes with positive language had a lower level of the stress hormone cortisol than women who described their homes as cluttered or unfinished.”

Benefits of decluttering your environment

• Better focus 
• Higher self-esteem 
• Better relationships 
• Lower risk of allergies 
• Improved lifestyle and wellbeing

Tips to get started

• Start small and build momentum.
• Schedule people to visit your home to help motivate you.
• Stay positive and believe you can do it.
• Look for a service that specializes in decluttering and organizing. Unbiased outside help from an expert or life coach schooled in the Habit Change Coaching Method can kickstart the effort.

CONNECT:
Johnny Lascha
Beachside Health & Life Coaching Services
CC Video Productions
321-693-1681
ccvideo.net

Thought Leader Bio

Owner of Beachside Health & Life Coaching, LLC, Johnny Lascha is a certified life coach and health coach, trained in the Habit Change Coaching Method. His niches include relationships, increasing energy, lowering stress, rebuilding self-esteem, weight loss and reducing the habit of self-sabotage.  He’s also a group facilitator of the Gottman Institute’s ‘Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work.' BeachsideHealthAndLifeCoaching.net