Spring has sprung and for many, it’s the perfect time to Spring clean our homes… But what about our minds? In this episode, I look at how we can use a typical Spring cleaning ritual that we’d use on our homes and turn this into something we can use for our mental wellbeing. I walk through each of the steps and we’ll be covering some of these things in more detail during the last week of 31 Days of Wellness and for April’s theme Overcoming Fear and Anxiety.
The Steps
Step 1: Get everything out and dump it on the bed = Brain dump your thoughts feelings and emotions
Using the humble brain dump to get everything out of our heads and down onto paper, just as we would pull everything out of cupboards and wardrobes when Spring cleaning the home. Get out any thoughts, feelings, emotions, fears, goals, or anything taking up space in your mind.
Step 2: Sorting through what we’ve pulled out – Does it serve me? = Organising the brain dump into things that are helpful/not helpful
Next up is some Marie Kondo magic! Take a look through your Brain Dump list and work out what isn’t any good for us to keep hold of in our minds. Remember, a little bit of fear or stress about something isn’t necessarily a bad thing so don’t be so quick to strike it off the list. Some good stresses and fears can help propel us forward and the goal here isn’t to rid ourselves of anything that can be helpful in that way. However, any irrational or unjustified fears and anxieties will go in the ‘bin pile.’
Step 3: Take the rubbish to the tip = Let go of anything that doesn’t serve us
Now you know what’s helpful and unhelpful, it’s time to take that stuff to the tip – AKA let go of it. There are many different ways you can do this:
- Imagine tying the unhelpful thoughts to balloons or little paper birds and watch them float away
- Use specific meditation or mindfulness techniques to let go
- Get physical with it – Write them down and tear them up
- Certain types of therapy that can help you dig deep, work through issues and then let them go
- Maybe even writing them on some things you’re actually going to throw away and physically take them to the tip!
Step 4: Put away and sort out what we want to do with the things we’re going to keep = Use the helpful thoughts, feelings and emotions to put a plan in place going forward
Start getting organised with your thoughts, feelings and emotions. You may want to batch some of them together if they’re on a similar theme (just like putting everything into neat and tidy storage boxes). How are you going to use these going forward? What plans, goals and intentions can you put in place to move you forward this year? I highly recommend the goal-setting workshop if you’re a member, the Anti-Burnout Journal or this post to help you with setting plans, goals and intentions for the rest of the year.
Step 5: The finishing touches = Doing something nice for yourself
This is your adding a cushion or candle to your nice new tidy home, adding the finishing touches to reward yourself for all of your hard work. Do something nice for yourself to pat yourself on the back for going through this whole process.
Your Spring cleaning routine might look a little different, but I really hope that this helps you unwind your mind in preparation for my favourite season of the year!
