For the second year in a row, Spring has arrived early, which makes the topic I want to share, quite timely. Are you feeling the urge to Spring Clean?

My retreat partner and I chose the theme of Spring Clean for our most recent sack lunch mini yoga retreat held last Friday. A small gathering of five women arrived in the yoga studio space to focus on what most needed their attention. Of course that is personal. A decision only the one doing the “cleaning” can make. In order for it to be meaningful and change inducing, it absolutely must be personal. Something I say all the time, in my book, to my clients, and to myself, “Drop should and replace it with must.” Doing so places an urgency, a meaningful urgency on the decision of what must be cleaned, cleared away to make room for new, to make space for what is ready to merge. Dropping “should” also gets you out of your head and into your body and spirit.

At the retreat through ritual, movement, play, sharing, honoring our emotions, poetry, journaling, guided meditation and more I asked the circle, “What three areas in your life need a Spring Clean?” (Stop. Pause. Right in the Now, Go. Channel Love Embrace Alignment and Nourish.)

The question can be taken physically and applied to a room in your house, or it can be taken to another level–spiritually, mentally, or emotionally. This was an opportunity to reflect and commit to what thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and relationships need to be adjusted, purged, cleansed, purified or changed.

As the leader I am focused on supporting the circle and co-facilitating five and a half hours of their receiving and refilling. As a deep processor myself, I take my time putting personal meaning to what I have offered for my clients and retreat attendees. Every coach and teacher must turn back to themselves what they propose to others, otherwise we’re shooting the shit, spewing nonsense. I am not able to do the work and reflection on myself that day as together with my co-facilitator, we are holding space for others to reflect, question, and grow. That said, it doesn’t mean I am not thinking about my own spaces, relationships, and attitudes that need purging to make space for what is next.

I carried the retreat experience in my pocket and heart and over the weekend, I got out the metaphorical bucket examining my relationships with time, writing and my phone. My relationship with writing is being set aside because of my relationships with the other two, phone and time. I have been working with my own coach on these very topics. 

Where do I waste time and where do I use it well? How much am I allowing my attachment to my phone to dominate and dictate my attention, focus and mood? Questions only I can answer. Questions that if I am willing can cleanse, purify, readjust and recommit more time and energy to my writing. The relationship of those three that means the most to me. 

What relationships, remember not only with people, of yours, need updating, clearing, and some reflection? Where are you not showing up which translates to what must be left behind and reexamined? Ultimately, where do you want to show up and where are you not putting in the energy, effort and time because you are pulled back by the obligations you are ready to release?

Where can you get out the mop and bucket and wipe away to make space for the next thing? As I set down the phone, create loving boundaries and guidelines, I make room for new seeds to be planted. As I clear away time wasters, I make room for more writing, the thing that is important to me. As I wipe away the attachments that keep me stuck, I pick up my pen instead.

What will you cleanse space for resulting in making room for your own seeds to be planted? You don’t even have to know yet what the new thing is that wants to emerge. Simply start getting clear about what is not working. Get clear about what must be set down or removed and omitted entirely. Honestly, this is where the fun comes in, the mystery of what seeds will sprout all because you cleared a path for them to arise. Be surprised, notice. Be proud of yourself for taking that first step of recognizing what must be moved aside. 

We hall off the boxes of what we don’t need anymore. We remove, recycle and readjust to make space for what wants our attention and for ultimately what our soul is calling us toward. Without knowing what you will make room for, are you willing to start clearing away, get rid of the things blocking your path, or that are holding you back and blocking your view?

Happy Cleaning.

Cheers, Jenny