Spring Equinox for Spring Clearing
Clear your space. Clear your mind. Clear your body. Spring Clearing time!
Monday, March 20th at 5:24PM EST is Spring or Vernal Equinox as the sun crosses the equator, rising due east, setting due west. A balance of time with equal day and night hours. Let's look at our own balance of time related to our spaces. My "full" home spaces cause me many distractions, and consume or deplete my time., causing an imbalance.
I get motivated to correct my situation with Annual Spring Cleaning traditions. These tasks are a form of Kriya in Sanskrit, meaning completed action, a discipline meant to achieve a specific result. Aparigraha, non grasping, or non-possessiveness is one of the Yamas in Patanjali's 8 Limb philosophy of yoga to find serenity and bliss. This includes not clinging to material things. Spring Clearing observes both practices!
My younger years living in cold climates we had a routine (mother induced) of spring cleaning marathons consisting of changing out our winter wardrobes to lighter clothing. I dreaded it. I would then store stuff I didn't wear all winter in hopes I would the next. Never happened. Since moving to Florida 24 years ago the tradition stopped. Now I stare at everything throughout the year, contemplate what to do with so much stuff and I struggle to release. Fear of wastefulness, thinking I may need later (rarely happens) and, I still like the items. I feel suffocated sometimes as I have accumulated too much over the years. Gifts from loved ones, bargains I couldn't resist, practical items I might use someday like the extra dishes, storage containers, and books I've already read, knick knacks, etc.
This year WILL be different. I am more motivated. Balance and peace in my space and life is necessary - the reward is guaranteed! Finding things more quickly and easily with less to clean or organize will save me future time and thought. My home will just feel lighter, a space for me to breathe more calmly.
When we clear our space and keep only what we need we make and experience less distractions. We open the pathways for new adventures. Marie Kondo, popular professional organizer and author suggests, hold the item in question and ask yourself, "does it spark joy" and "is it something I wish to take into my future". I usually pass the first, the second creates much ambivalence. The extra set of dishes and cookware certainly doesn't do either and they don't get used.
I challenged myself this month with a daily goal to make a small, then huge dent with my interior and exterior spaces before summer. I started with a minimum of one box to donate, gift, sell, trash, or keep, in that order. Any new item I bring into my home, three have to go.
Contemplate embracing a minimalist lifestyle to intentionally live with fewer possessions, enjoy only what you need to experience true abundance. Find balance, just like the Spring Equinox. Clear your space, clear your time, declutter your mind. More time for self-care like a yoga practice, be in nature, read, spend time with good energy people and special places and do whatever we wish to enjoy.
Breathe. Move. Connect. more freely.
Gina
Fusion Owner, Registered Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master Teacher, R.N.