Spring Cleanse…a new perspective
As the days get longer and the weather warmer, we are naturally inspired to “lighten up” our lives. The colors we wear tend to match the blooming flowers in the garden, the vegetables that ripen are more green and detoxifying to our body.
We begin opening the windows in our home and sweeping up the pine needles that collected over winter. We even look deep in our closets and garage at the piles of stuff that feel too heavy now or grown out of in ways.
In Ayurveda, Spring is the season of Kapha. Kapha elements are Earth and Water. Together they make a wonderful mud, perfect for planting, but also when not in balance, easy to get stuck in or feel sluggish. As individuals, we are in constant flux and flow, moving with the seasons of the solar year as well as moving through the seasons of our lives.
When we think of Spring Cleaning we mostly think of the two main areas in our lives…our home and our body.
But what about something less visible but with even more weight?
What if we were to Spring Clean our thoughts and non serving beliefs?
I was recently on a meditative walk and listening to a particular teacher I love, and she was describing a process for helping us clean up our beliefs.
If we consider that beliefs, are just thoughts we have continued to think repetitively over time, and that these beliefs may have well served us in the past, they may not be particularly necessary in our current and future best selves.
For example: I may have believed as a child that my parents were always right. That’s what they told me, and I believed them. But now, as an adult and parent myself, that belief is limiting. It may have served me as a child to look to my parents for advice and guidance, but I’m different now…and so are they.
We all hold beliefs that we live by, they guide us to show up on time, or obey laws, or tip a certain percent. Some beliefs will serve us and be a guiding source throughout our entire life. But we also hold beliefs that limit us, take our power away, keep us from trying something new.
In the Spring Cleanse exercise - we need 2 things.
A box - shoebox, basket, any container we can toss small paper
A questioning mind.
The Cleanse is easy…and enlightening.
When you have a thought that causes an emotion - good or bad according to your gut reaction and sensation in your body…ask yourself,
“What was I thinking?
Do I think that thought often?
Does the thought stem from a belief about myself or the world?
Is my belief really true?”
Years ago I read almost all of Wayne Dyer’s books and one of my favorite’s was “Excuses Begone!” in which Dr. Dyer would ask the guest, “Are you 100 % certain that is true?”…and of course no one could ever agree. So his lesson was, if even there could be 1% chance that this statement/ belief/ thought is different - then what would it be?
For example: If I believe I am not smart, and much of my life I base decisions and choices from that belief, this is of course a limiting thought where sure, I prove to make dumb choices over and over. But what’s the 1%? “I am smart”. So, if there is a chance THAT is true, how would this new and improved belief change your choices?
Grab your box. Keep it available. Decorate it if you want!
When you find yourself digging up an old non serving belief, make a note. Describe it to yourself. State, “I am putting this away for now, because it does not serve me”.
Just like our closets, we may find many things we no longer want or need. Just clean it out and put it away. Honor your thoughts and beliefs for bringing you to this Springtime in your life, and honor your new beliefs that will carry you through the next lighter seasons.
