3 Tips for an Emotional Spring Cleaning to have a Glowing Year

Spring is a great time to get ready for a beautiful year. Nature gets ready to sprout and blossom, and so should we, because we are nature as well (yes, it’s true, but we often seem to forget!).

When we accumulate a lot of “stuff”, our energy might feel cluttered and heavy at times. With “stuff”, I am referring to clothes, books, skin care and makeup products, and other things we think we need or will use one day. This might result in you feeling overwhelmed, mentally cluttered, distracted and uninspired, fatigued, or even lazy to get anything done at times.

With „stuff“, I am also referring to emotional clutter, such as holding a grudge against someone from a past conflict, spending too much time with Debby Downers and energy vampires, or continuing to be hard on yourself when you don’t achieve your goals as expected. This might leave you feeling energetically drained and exhausted, easily irritable and frustrated for no reason, or angry with yourself on a regular basis. Holding on to these intense emotions can directly affect your relationships, the quality of your sleep, your overall feeling of wellbeing and contentment, and your performance at work.

The reason why cluttered and low vibrational emotions, such as anger, sadness, and frustration, affect us is because of the universal law that says “as within, so without”, which means that your inside world and how you feel affects your outside world, your work, your loved ones. And vice versa: a cluttered home makes you feel mentally cluttered just by looking at it.

So what can we do to rid ourselves of emotional baggage and get ready to get out of the cocoon this spring like a colorful butterfly? Here are 3 ways to spring-clean your emotions:

Emotional Spring Cleaning Tip #1: Allow yourself to feel what’s there

In today’s busy world as successful individuals, we’re so consumed by our work, mobile phones, and other screens, and heavy thinking that it’s so easy to push away our emotions. In our high performing society, it is often believed that having and showing emotions is “bad”, and that we should always be happy. We have yet to create a world and a workspace where it is safe for women to fully show how we feel emotionally. We can only really experience true happiness when we allow ourselves to feel – which includes the entire spectrum of emotions.

TO DO: Here’s a simple journaling exercise to tune into your heart and connect to your emotions (especially if you feel you’re a little disconnected). Every morning, before you start your day, or in the evening, before you go to bed, write this question in your journal:

How am I feeling today?

Then answer this question without logically analyzing your words and keep writing whatever thoughts come to your mind without judgment. There is no end result or perfect answer to this, the goal is to give your emotions space. The practice is the goal.

Emotional Spring Cleaning Tip #2: Write an angry letter

If you can think of a situation or a person that you’re still holding onto emotionally that lets anger, frustration, or sadness rise every time you think about it, it’s time to close that chapter and release that emotional baggage.

TO DO: Take a piece of paper and a pen, and write a letter to the person that triggers these feelings in you. Don’t leave anything out, and write down everything you want to say to this person (they will not receive your letter, so I really mean everything!), so that the anger can energetically get from your body onto the piece of paper. If emotions come up, let them be there without judgment. This is part of the cleansing process. When you’re done, go outside and burn the letter in a safe place, so that you can release it from your life.

Emotional Spring Cleaning Tip #3: Set clear boundaries in your relationships

It’s often when our boundaries are loose that we find ourselves in emotionally difficult and draining situations over and over again, because we are afraid we might lose people if we said „no“ to an invitation or cancelled last minute to prioritize ourselves. People pleasing is one of the most low vibration activities you can do for yourself – you put everyone else before you, and suffer as a result, because your cup of love, energy, and compassion is empty after giving to everyone else first. It’s time to switch things around and make sure your own cup is full to the brim first, and you give to others only after you’ve taken care of yourself.

TO DO:Make a list of the people you spend the most time with (including people at work). From 1-10, rate each of them based on how much energy, love, and support they give you, 1 meaning they only drain you and suck the life out of you, and 10 meaning they’re you’re all time best friends you can trust and talk to about anything.

Based on your results, decide where you need to have stronger boundaries to preserve your own wellbeing and happiness, and where needed, have a loving conversation this spring. 

Saying “no” to others means saying “yes” to yourself. Happy Spring Cleaning, beautiful!