Tag: Spring Cleaning

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Spring into You

“May days ahead be filled with light and love. Let us welcome Spring and its unique beauty with happy minds and open hearts.”

Nothing brings me more joy than to help declutter, organize, clear out, donate, purge, style someone, shop for them or even help them to create / decorate their sacred soul space. I love being in service this way. It lights me up, fills my heart with joy and allows me to spread the love.

We are 4 months into the new year and already I’ve had numerous opportunities to do just that! One of my intentions for 2022 was for more opportunities to be of service. Well, darlings, the universe has delivered and keeps on delivering…wink, wink.

The transition of winter into spring is a time of renewal and rebirth. It’s a time to plant new seeds and watch them blossom. It’s a time for refreshing all things you: whether it be your living space, closet, nutrition, beauty regimen, exercise routine or any type of mind/body wellness routine. Spring brings us renewed hope, love and light.

This time of year, I always reference a previous blog, Spring Cleaning. This is a great guide for decluttering as well as one if you are planning on moving. It’s organization to the max! It’s organization made easy so you can actually enjoy the process and celebrate afterwards. And I am all about the celebration!

As with all things in life, we have to clear out, make space- energetically and physically- for something else, or someone else, to come in. Always remember that outside clutter- for example in our home or workspace- reflects the internal clutter we have going on in our lives (and that’s a conversation for another day). Once we start creating space, the magic starts to happen!

Luckily, there are a plethora of smart storage solutions of all kinds out there that can help us to stay organized. The operative word here is “stay.” When every thing has a place, it’s a whole lot easier to maintain an organized environment, And there’s nothing like an environment that radiates love, light and creativity- regardless of how much or how little space we have.

I think that’s why I love the Netflix Series, The Home Edit, so much. There is also a beautifully curated book by the same name. If you’re a visual person like me, you’ll fall in love with the photo displays of all sorts: work, travel, kids, pets, closets, pantries , laundry rooms, garages, and more. Clea and Joanna, best friends, business partners and internet sensations show us how to contain the chaos regardless of how large or small our space is. I actually love it when they are presented with small spaces to organize….the challenge and the magic are real! I can so see myself as their third wheel!!! Oh, and I failed to mention that you’ll get a lot of laughs watching the series, which is now in its second season. Remember, laughter is the best medicine, darlings!

So…..what are some ways you can spring into you this season?

What areas of your life need to be overhauled, tidied up, refreshed, redecorated, reshaped, decluttered, purged, organized or let go of? Make it fun… Enlist the help of a friend whom you know loves these kinds of projects. Have snacks, refreshments, or even a little bubbly. Play music, dance, laugh, express gratitude for those things you have and are the ones you are letting go of… and celebrate!. Trust me, you will feel lighter, happier and filled with joy!

May this season of renewal bring us lots of opportunities to share our talents, lighten our days and our hearts, and opportunities to share our love! JTC

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Closet Ghosts vs. Closet Beauties

“Closets should be a sanctuary that calm the chaos of everyday life.” Me

Closets come in all shapes and sizes . We do not need to have an enormous walk-in closet for it to be beautiful. A closet, regardless of its size, when well-organized and appointed, should take our breath away when we open its doors.

However, this is not always the case. For many, closets are places that hold many secrets. Closets can be very telling in this way. They reveal insecurities, fears, losses, shame, betrayals, confusion, doubts and a host of other suppressed feelings and emotions.

Feelings and emotions that, when not felt and dealt with, hold us back and forever keep us in a cycle of unrest and wanting more. Cycles that rob us of our peace and serenity. As a result, we tend to store things that no longer serve us and perhaps even cause us suffering because of the sheer volume of things inside of them and the often time disorganization, mess, and clutter that accumulates as a result.

What we fail to realize many times, is that what we hide controls us. It’s heavy. It weighs us down. It cripples/ paralyzes us. It blocks energy from flowing and keeps new things from entering our lives. And if there is anything I know for sure, is that avoidance compounds a problem! In order to eliminate the problem, we must first look at its root cause.

Before doing so though, allow me to rewind for a moment. I had a blog scheduled for last week called Closet Ghosts. The title, and blog, organically evolved from conversations I was having with my Scorpio soul sister Kat, and my dear pseudo-daughter and guest blogger of long ago, Blondie. However, the blog mysteriously disappeared. I know I did not trash it or accidentally discard it. After a live chat with IT people, the culprit and root cause was probably an Internet glitch that prevented my work from being saved at that moment in time.

I exhaled deeply at this point, and came to the conclusion that the cyberspace gods didn’t want that blog to be published…. wink, wink.

What was I to do? Freak out? Stress? Allow it to ruin my day? I don’t think so… absolutely NOT! I just closed my laptop and went about my day. I didn’t even want to expend any more of my energy coming up with a new blog for I could not even remember all the details of it because, many times, I’m just in the “zone” as I write. So…..here I am, a week later, and here is a new blog… inspired by the one that is somewhere in cyberspace.

Let’s fast forward to root causes. An assumption we often make along our journey, is to think that the same mindset that created the problem will be able to fix it. Absolutely not! The root cause of an issue, that is inevitably causing us to suffer, is always buried deep inside of us. We must be willing to do the messy and painful work of going within, dusting off the cobwebs and uncovering the many levels of limited beliefs that are holding us back from moving forward with our lives. And this is one thing the ego mind is most uncomfortable doing!

That is why we must go within and connect to our hearts. Taking a look around our immediate surroundings and our personal space, especially our closets, is a good barometer of the state of our hearts. The clutter, mess, and disorganization in our personal spaces is a clear reflection of the mess, clutter and disorganization that resides deep within us.

Being aware of this is the first step. Awareness doesn’t fight, criticize or judge. It’s simply there, it’s eye-opening, and it’s transformational. And in order for us to grow, we must always be in a constant state of transformation. Our messes and our problems are opportunities knocking at our door.

In Michael Singer’s book, The Untethered Soul, there’s a chapter called Removing Your Inner Thorn. In it he talks about the spiritual journey being one of constant transformation. He goes on to say the following:

“In order to grow, you must give up the struggle to remain the same, and learn to embrace change at all times. One of the most important areas requiring change is how we solve our personal problems. We normally attempt to solve our inner disturbances by protecting ourselves. Real transformation begins when you embrace your problems as agents.

Spring cleaning is a wonderful time of year to assess the areas in our lives that need clearing, cleansing, decluttering, organizing and discarding so that vital life force energy can enter the walls that house our physical and spiritual selves. It’s the perfect time to assess and identify what we are allowing to control us and make an intentional, informed and concerted effort to change. A good place to start is our closet(s).

Once we clear away our emotional clutter, the clutter that is blocking that flow of life force energy, we will also be clearing away a lot of the issues that are blocking us in life. Once we clear out our Closet Ghosts, there will only be Closet Beauties to greet us when we open those doors.

So regardless of its size or shape, there are many organizing tools we can utilize that will maximize the space that we have. I love organizing, so I like to open a closet and feel like it’s a store display. Now mind you, I do not have huge walk-in closets. However, I do have things that allow me to maximize the space I have like skinny hangers, clear shoeboxes, matching canvas bins, decorative hooks, baskets and shelving that allow me to store as well as display some of my possessions. Hanging articles of clothing by color is also very appealing to the eyes. What can I say? Having beautiful, well-organized closets brings me joy!

And speaking of JOY, another reason that our clutter can cause us suffering and, therefore, zap our joy, is because we are no longer the same person we were when we bought all those things in the first place, nor are we looking at those things with the same level of awareness and consciousness any longer. We are in a constant and ever changing pattern of ebbing and flowing.

Once we have swept away those issues that have been blocking us in life, we will know in our hearts that we are whole perfect and complete just the way we are and that we do NOT need one more thing to add to that circle of completeness and wholeness. We have transformed to the point where we look at those external circumstances, situations, and emotions that were our Closet Ghosts and have bid them farewell.

In bidding them farewell, we swing our doors wide open for all to see the Closet Beauties that reside within… both in our closets and in our hearts.

Carry on my darlings!

Inhale Love & Light… Exhale Grace & Gratitude, JTC

PS: If you are in huge spring cleaning mode and/or are getting ready to move, check out my Spring Cleaning blog from March 2018. It contains some pointers and guidelines from one of my favorite books, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo. And in her words: “Clear your clutter and enjoy the magic of a tidy home-and the calm, motivated mind said it can inspire.”