Spring Cleaning

What do you think of when you hear the term spring cleaning? Does it bring to mind cleaning out closets, deep cleaning your kitchen and bathrooms, or purging your home of clutter? What about your mind and soul? Do you ever consider spring cleaning your life?

While I believe that cleaning our houses, closets, etc.. can be cathartic, I think a spring cleaning of the mind and soul could be tremendously helpful also.

I've been giving this a lot of thought and I have come up with a few ideas for cleansing your life.

• Prayer - How's your prayer life? Does it need a revamp? I personally believe that prayer is a very important part of a personal relationship with Christ. I sometimes get into a rut and need to reevaluate. It's simple really. Like talking to a friend, just be honest and speak from your heart. I believe that God understands that we are human and sometimes need a fresh start. 
• Mind Dump - Do you have a lot of negative thoughts or clutter in your mind? I know I have days where I am overwhelmed by the negativity that seems to surround me. Some simple things to try to purge those thoughts: praying, meditating, deep breathing, exercising, listening to music, reading a good book, starting a list of all the things that you are grateful for; try one or all of these the next time you get overwhelmed by your own thoughts.
• Health/Diet - This one is a top priority for me. I recently had weight loss surgery and my diet has changed radically. I concentrate on getting a lot of protein in my diet, staying hydrated, and eating little to no carbs and sugar. I feel like if we take care of ourselves physically then the mental and spiritual will follow. Let's face it, we just feel better overall if we take care of our physical health. Just remember, garbage in, garbage out.

I think we need to be intentional if we want to live a healthy and fulfilling life. I'm working on me, in every area. It's a daily commitment to create and maintain new, healthier habits. I pick one thing to work on and when I've mastered that, I move on to the next. Trying to change everything all at once is a set up for failure. 

It's not easy to live a life free of negativity, but we can take small steps everyday to bring some balance by engaging in activities to relieve the stress that life brings. 

My challenge to you this week is to choose one area of your life to spring clean. It may be a different area than what I've mentioned. Just focus on decluttering or developing new habits in that area. We only get one life to live and it really is a beautiful life.