I love a thorough house cleaning. I find it very therapeutic. But maybe more than the cleaning itself, I love a good purge, which I have written about in the Zen of Decluttering. I feel like spring just amplifies the energy of a cleaning and purge, but when spring aligns with a new moon, you have a powerful energetic boost.
Cleaning has stress and anxiety-reducing benefits. Cleaning is also physically activity, and of course physical activity helps release stress too. But it is so much more than that. A 2010 study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, shows a correlation between living spaces that were “cluttered” or full of “unfinished projects” were more likely to be depressed or fatigued. And it makes sense, if everything you are looking around is just serving of a reminder of what you need to do (pick-up, clean, etc.) or what you need to finish (projects, etc.), it adds to the mental clutter in your mind. Clutter is a constant reminder of the endless to-do lists and your lack of time and energy to do it.
It’s no wonder that people feel depressed or exhausted when in a cluttered environment. It is stressful, which is also why this study also showed that those in cluttered homes expressed higher levels of cortisol.
Immediately, there is an improvement just from cleaning up the clutter. But cleaning is also a great way to practice mindfulness. Doing dishes is usually a great example of mindfulness and cleaning in action. It is kind of mindless, repetitive task washing each pots or pans or for me, wine glasses. The activity is also tactile in that it uses your hands, and there are sensations that get engaged via the water, the suds and scents of the dish wash. It gives you an opportunity to be fully present in the moment, washing the dishes, which believe me, I need when it comes to washing my wine glasses. The time that the wine glasses slip, fall and break is when I am distracted while washing.
Similarly, wit any of the cleaning activities, it’s the tactile, repetitive movements of dusting or vacuuming that can help become a sort of cleaning meditation, which also reduces stress and anxiety and is why I find cleaning therapeutic. Additionally, you add the benefit of taking back control through cleaning.
For me a good purge just adds to that. I wrote about the power of purge in that post on the Zen of Decluttering getting rid of junk that no longer serves you or the life you want. Whether it is old clothes that you no longer wear or no longer fit, so again, it’s mental clutter to look into a closet and see these things. But there is also mental junk that you can purge while cleaning – what thoughts and emotions are no longer serving you? Clear those out.
These are just some of the general benefits of cleaning and purging, but spring is a very special time. We all have heard the expression of “spring cleaning”, so mentally there is a just a psychological association with spring and cleaning. Spring is also a bit if a ritual. If winter is about hibernation and practicing Hygge, then as the temperatures warm up, we are naturally motivated to get the fresh air in – literally and figuratively. So there is just good energy underlying spring-cleaning.
But the power of the new moon is really impactful. I wrote about the Spirit of the New Moon service at Mii Amo. The new moon is about bringing in the things you want. If you think about purging clearing out and making room for the new, and you think about cleaning as bring in fresh new energy, and then using the new energy to manifest and bring in the things you want. And given that spring is a powerful time for planting and renewal, it is just an especially powerful time to be planting the seeds of what you want.
I spent the days leading up to the first day of spring doing a detailed spring-cleaning. I mean detailed! I also really went through all the things in my life, and since I have made a few major life changes recently, I wanted to make sure that everything reflected the life I am building now. As I cleaned each room, I considered whether it reflects how I live, and my lifestyle. Did I need to do anything different?
For instance, in the kitchen, not only did I clean the cabinets, and taking each item out and wiping down, inside and out, going through each of the items, and throwing out expired items. But I also reflected whether the items I was stocking in my cabinets and refrigerator reflect the types of food I want to eat and how I want to nourish my body. I use glass storage containers whenever possible, because I want to avoid plastics, even the BPA-free kind. It is just how I want to live. I don’t want diet products because I don’t want a diet mentality and I don’t want processed food, because I ultimately want foods that are nourishing.
But as I purged these unwanted or unnecessary items, I felt lighter and freer and most importantly more aligned with the life I want. I hauled the physical junk out to the trash, recycling or donating to Goodwill. But I also purged the mental junk, again, sometimes that was represented by the physical action of getting rid of diet related items or processed food. But I also would write down some of the mental junk on cards and throw those out. And of course, as part of my detailed clean, I tried to finish any unfinished project in that room, such as the light bulb over the stove that needed to be replaced, or the batteries for faucet sensor. So again, some of that mental clutter got tackled.
So now that I had all of this old energy and junk out, and it was the perfect clan state to start new. So taking a page out of the New Moon ritual, I wrote down all the things I wanted to bring into my life, the seeds that I am looking to plant, things such as clarity about my direction, and passion and purpose, or new love, or more vitality.
During the new moon, I read that list out loud, and invoked the power of that new moon energy. I literally planted this list in a planter I had on my patio. It will stay there until the full moon, in which case I will burn up the list, and return the ashes to the soil. As spring continues, the seeds will sow.
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