Spring Cleaning Our Hearts and Mind

Being this is Easter week and Passover will be next month; both rich in symbolism and religious connotation, I wanted to highlight another theme along mental heath lines. Regardless of our faith, it is the season of liberation and rebirth.

From despair to hope eternal, and from darkness into light.   We are all familiar with spring cleaning our homes, but it is also a  time to do some mental house cleansing in order to make room for newness.

This is to bring about new beginnings in so far as new way of seeing things, especially ourselves.  A time for liberating yourselves from negative thoughts and emotions, or from our self-imposed limitations, which most of us have accumulated over time.

Spring is a magical time when the sun shines longer every day and in doing so awakens nature from her dormancy.   The energy of spring is re energizing and recharging for us humans too.

As I walk in the park, I notice the buds of the tree swelling ready to burst into flowers and the first yellow daffodils nodding their heads in the winds.  On my balcony, plants I thoughts I had lost to the  winter gel, have sprouted a few green leaves, amongst shriveled brown branches and leaves.

The dark cold days of winter are slowly becoming the past and the air seems to smell even sweeter. Even our birdie friends seem to be chirping more gleeful and spirited.

This morning I awoke with a full sun illuminating my face, evoking a sense of goodness and excitement for spring. I am what I believe myself to be my friends!

Time to go through your mental attic and heart to clean out all those old negative thoughts and feelings that hold you back and limit your image and direction in life.   How much longer are you going to carry them around?

Remember that is why most plants, like grape vines, need to be pruned.  Getting rid of useless old branches.   Some buds, in order to become flowers and fruit   need new branches to sprout forth.

We are a part of nature too in that we are also cyclic and in still many undiscovered ways, influenced by the moon and planets.  Lengthening days of sunshine invite us to awake from our dormancy of the darkness of winter and sprout new feelings and directions.

The energy of the sun is masculine, therefore activity and implementation is to replace winter’s hibernation of thoughts and plans.  Now is the time to till the soil, breaking up the clumps of fear that would bind us.

Our hopes and longings are like seeds in need of being planted in fertile soil.  That is why weeding out and pruning away is essential to favor growth.

Toxic thoughts of anger, revenge, self denigration, unforgivess, including not forgiving yourself, all need to go.   If not ,they will contaminate and poison any new beginnings.

I love the saying of Jesus stating that you do not put new wine in old wine bags.  Especially if they are contaminated with toxic feelings and thoughts.

Self limiting thoughts such as unfounded fears, and self-imposed limitations such as I am too old, too untalented, too scared, too set in my ways, ect must go.  That would be like setting out new plants with very limited sunshine or fertilizer, guaranteed to stunt their growth.

For those of you who like lists, then write out whatever toxic thoughts, feelings and or self-limiting thoughts  you find within yourself.  Then, go buy yourself a white and green candle.

Those of you who know me, or have been in my practice know how much I love and use candles on a daily basis.  A lot of my patients have been asked to use candles as  part of healing rituals for themselves.

White is for cleansing and purity and green is symbolic of new growth and beginnings.  Saint Hildegard von Bingen, the Christian mystic and abbess who lived in the 1100’s on the river Rhine, wrote a lot on “viriditas” which is Latin meaning greening.  She saw viriditas or greening as holding the moisture and dew of springtime, invoking fecundity and fruitfulness.

Since it is easter time, surely you must have thought of colored eggs too.  Even if you do not have any red dye, better yet, you can use  beet or raspberry juice, hibiscus leaves or red wine to color an egg red.

Red eggs in orthodox Christianity grace the top of Easter breads and are symbols of rebirth and fertility.   Red is the color of passion and Love.

Now for the ritual!   Place your red colored egg between or next to your white and green candles.  First light your white candle, saying: “I like this candle in prayer of cleansing all toxic feelings and self-limiting thoughts from my heart”.

Next light the green candle saying “with this light I pray that my new positive feelings(you can mention them now) will take root and grow in my heart”.  Amen.

Rituals are powerful in using candles that we light.  In doing so we are calling forth God’s Holy Spirit and his attention to focus on our invocation and prayer. That is why almost all religious ceremonies start with lighting of candles and or incense, or both, for this very reason.

Cleansing and then planting new seeds of thoughts, feeling and images of ourselves will lead us hopefully to harvest in due time our new plans, and directions.  Now is the time my friends to align yourself with the forces of nature.

It is all a part of self love and care that only you can do for yourself.  Rebirthing a new you is liberating and revitalizing and will bring more light and love into your soul!