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Spring Cleaning

 

THIS TIME OF YEAR MANY OF US THINK ABOUT SPRING CLEANING.  (SOME PEOPLE EVEN DO IT!)

It feels good to open the windows, clean out the clutter, dust out the corners and wash the windows to let the bright spring sun flood our rooms with its warm light.  But, did you know you can also do some spring cleaning in your emotional life?  You can rid your life of emotional clutter with one simple tool. 

But, first...what do we mean by emotional clutter?

THE GRUDGE

A grudge is the result of an inability or unwillingness to forgive.  It may be the result of something someone said to which you took offense.  It is an insult hurled your way that you caught and never released.  It may even be a result of a serious offense done to you by someone you loved and then could not forgive.  Whatever its cause, a grudge is clutter which you cannot afford to have in the rooms of you mind.  It takes up space and emotional energy and must be swept out so that your mind can be clear enough to receive good feelings waiting to come in.

THE GUILT

Guilt is clutter you bring your life through an inability to forgive yourself.  Guilt is not always an unhealthy emotion.  It can be that niggling feeling in the back of your mind that suggests you might want to re-think an action or word that may not be moral or appropriate.  But when internalized and embraced long-term, it becomes a sort of self-abuse...a way of punishing yourself for something you have done or said.  And that's not useful.  Holding onto guilt long-term will not absolve you of it.  On the contrary, unresolved guilt will only grow until it too ends up cluttering your mind so that good feelings have no room there.

THE TOOL

Forgiveness is the best tool for sweeping grudges and guilt from your life.

Forgiveness allows you to release your grudges and sweep them out of your mind.  Forgiveness may not make the cause of the grudge disappear; rather it is a conscious decision to move on and not be controlled by that particular emotional clutter anymore.  More important, like spring house cleaning, it makes room in your mind and heart for good feelings to replace those old feelings of hurt and resentment.

It's the same with guilt.  Ask for forgiveness of the person you've hurt, of God and finally of yourself, then sweep the guilt out the door.  Let it go and open the windows to new possibilities and more positive thoughts of yourself and your relationships.

What's past is past.  You cannot go back and live you life over again.  You can only determine to clean house every once in awhile, rid it of those things you don't need and open the windows to what you've made room to welcome into your life.