Spring Cleaning with A Spiritual Twist
In the world of professional minimizing and organizing, spring is a very practical time to minimize and organize. I don’t know if it is biological, or just the way I see things, but as the Earth begins to wake up from the winter, I feel the urge to set up my world in a new way, and it happens every year. Just the mere fact that the term “Spring Cleaning” even exists, makes me believe that this is true for others.
For me it starts with….
THE COATS. ALL. THE. COATS.
One of the areas of my home that I spend a lot of time on in the spring is my mud “room” or entry way — where we store all of our coats and gear. I am so happy to put the away.
And then comes the….
FLIP FLOPS & TOYS!
I begin taking out all the playground toys and flip fops. And I am so excited for the transfer from coats to flip flops. It makes me look forward to the fun of the summer and spring. This year, for the first time in a long time, I have big trip planned.
This spring, in addition to the usual reset, it is marked by a historic convergence — Easter, Passover, and Ramadan all fell in the same time this Spring. This only happens every thirty years or so.
While those of us in the organizing world mark Spring in a very practical sense, this year, with three of the world’s major religions celebrating at once, I want to honor it from a spiritual perspective as well:
Christians celebrate a re-brith.
Jews commemorate liberation.
Muslims reflect.
Personally, I know these traditions from a historical perspective more than from a spiritual perspective, but when I consider these words — re-brith, reflection, and liberation - I am in awe of what the spring brings. In addition to the natural opportunity to minimize and organize, it brings the opportunity for re-brith, liberation, and reflection. That is an incredible convergence.
And it gives me a newfound perspective on why we in the organizing world take spring cleaning so seriously. Perhaps, as this convergence of spirituality has shown me, spring is more than just a practically smart time to minimize and organize.
It seems that there is something more innately human about Spring cleaning. For me, spring cleaning does give me a sense of rebirth, liberation and reflection.
