I LOVE spring, and for so many reasons! One of them is that spring makes everything new again. A new beginning, a renewal, a rejuvenation, and an amazing time to take a deep dive into the ocean of YOU and see what you find.

Spring also reminds of my childhood and I was thinking about that this weekend. When I was a kid, my mother would do a huge Spring Cleaning. She’d open all the windows, wash the drapes, and do a total top to bottom clean and de-cluttering of the house. There was something about getting rid of all the clutter accumulated over the winter that felt so freeing, and the house felt so much bigger, brighter and open.

The same applies to your life and your ability to think clearly.

I have clients who tell me that they cannot think straight because of the clutter in their lives – both mental and physical. When you are surrounded by clutter, it robs you of your creativity. Think about that – I know if I have a ton of things on my mind like I have lately with the sale of my father’s home, I find it hard to generate new ideas, or be in my creative power.

It drives me nuts! But I have the solution – so keep reading baby!

I’m now in the process of packing everything up because the sale of the house went through. Have you done this? Going through the contents and packing takes a ton of time and effort. I feel like I’m surrounded by clutter and its making me craaaaazy!! HELP!!!

So while I was sorting through a plethora of things, I found a box full of papers from when I was in grade school all the way through my first year of college. I didn’t want to toss anything without first going through it, but after I looked at everything and deciding there was nothing there to keep, it felt SO GOOD to toss the box and LET IT GO!!!

Energetically, when we keep things from the past, it keeps us in the past. That’s not always bad –Memories of a great trip, or your kids, or your wedding. I’m specifically talking about keeping things that don’t serve us, or that have bad associations with them. (Like that picture of your ex you are holding onto?! Ahem!).

In addition, one of my mentors mentioned that we are capable of holding 7 things in our brain -so if you look around your home and see piles of stuff everywhere your mind is full up with stagnant clutter and has no space for creative new thoughts. Also, if you are looking for new things to come into your life, you will have to clear away the old to make space/room for them.

We hold onto ALL THIS STUFF because going through it and tossing it out takes a chunk of time and it can feel seriously overwhelming. You look at the piles of stuff and you know its going to take you the whole weekend to get through, so you leave it, you walk away and guess what – the PILE OF STUFF GETS BIGGER!

Sister, I hear you, but I also have the solution. So keep reading, this is good.

This is what I tell my clients, and trust me, I say it with love but I also say it very firmly.

I want you to get out a timer (I use the timer app on my phone) and set it to 15 minutes. Then devote those 15 minutes to de-cluttering your physical space. It’s a baby step but TRUST ME, it works.

15 minutes a day adds up to almost 2 hours a week, but because its spread out its not overwhelming like if I said spend 2 hours tonight on it.

See what I mean?

Now stay committed to the 15 minutes a day and it will get easier and easier to de-clutter – you might actually enjoy it!!! If you do this every day for a week you will feel good because your building your self-trust and your confidence, and sister, it makes you FEEL GOOD!

Here are two suggestions for de-cluttering:

1) Take some time to walk around your home. Open the history page on your computer or your TiVo recording schedule. Look at the pictures on your walls, shelves, the DVD’s in your collection. Get rid of anything that does not give you a positive memory or that you no longer need.

2) Is there anything in your home that is a potential corrupting influence? Is there anything in your personal life that is a corrupting influence (clutter can be relationships that don’t serve you too:)) If so pray about those things and ask God/Universe/Source for guidance in how to deal with them and then take action!

When you clear away the clutter you are seriously changing the energy in that space, (mental or physical, it doesn’t matter!) you are re-energizing yourself and the space and you will really feel more open and expansive to new ideas, and self purpose. Viva la de-cluttering!!!