It’s officially spring! Though with the surprise April snow storms of Colorado, it may not look like it on any given day. But just as the seasons change, a thawing takes place transitioning from Winter to Spring. As the weather gets warmer there’s a clearing out of the old and a bringing in of the new. In nature we see signs of this as buds form on trees and plant life sprouts. The clearing to make room for new life is where the term “spring cleaning” comes from.

This has always been thought of as a cleaning out of physical aspects to our lives such as switching out sweaters for skirts or wiping off the window sills that may have collected dust over the colder months. The emotional piece to this is just as important.

Spring is the perfect time to focus on emotional cleaning. The clearing or purging of negative emotions or energy gives room for new life – new outlook, new perspective, new opportunities.

The first step to emotional spring cleaning is to become aware of your emotions.

You can’t clear out what you don’t know is there. List out all of the emotions you are feeling. And then identify what thoughts those feelings are associated with. Also, what physical reactions do those emotions create in your body.

Here is a list of negative emotions that can often be difficult to identity and connect to:

• Shame
• Anxiety
• Fear
• Disappointment
• Anger
• Jealousy
• Hostility
• Frustration
• Guilt
• Humiliation

The second step is to accept these emotions to be “ok”.

We often increase the feelings of shame and guilt because we don’t think it’s ok or acceptable to feel what we are feeling. Our emotions are our own. Once we make peace with our feelings and accept them for what they are, they can’t be held against us. Resist the impulse to criticize your emotions or try to change them. This only reinforces denial of your authentic inner self. It’s impossible to address, accept and clean out a feeling that you’re pretending doesn’t exist.

The next step is to give compassion to these emotions.

Instead of passing judgement on yourself for what you are feeling, try to offer yourself some compassion. Have the intention to be present, self-aware and centered. As you take judgement away from the feelings, you allow yourself to open up to new feelings of love and acceptance for yourself and others.

Lastly, once the other steps are complete, you can let go.

The entire process of identifying and accepting your emotions now gives you the power to let them go, releasing them and moving onto more positive emotions.

“Set fire to the broken pieces; start anew.” – Lauren DeStafano