Spring Cleanse

Entering into Springtime is like passing through a time-warp portal.

Life is awakening, accelerating, vibrating.  

We are emerging from the hibernation of winter,

A literal and figurative sleep,

Lulled by warm stews, blankets, drinks, and snuggles.

With the lengthening daylight and strengthening sun,

The garden turns green once again,

And there’s no need to slaughter animals 

or eat only stores of last year’s bounty to sustain ourselves.

As our ancestors would have done, we eat what nature provides—

And right now, that’s a lot of greens.

Cleansing of all sorts is enticed to begin.

From the gut biome to the gut brain—

Strengthening our ability to digest not only food but also emotions

By being discerning of what we allow into our body-temple.  

Feeling grief?  Let it be felt; quelling the pain with distraction or temporary numbing from substances will only serve to weigh us down.

In a relationship that feels like it’s going in circles or stressing you out?

Shake it up.  Make a change. Create new boundaries that give you more space to love-up on yourself and do what calls to your soul and fills your spirit.  

Spend time in self-inquiry.

Dissect your patterns, thoughts, and impulses with objective, compassionate questioning.

“Is this belief serving me?”; “What lies have I been telling myself?”; 

“What agreements am I upholding in my life? Can they be reevaluated and reformed 

to better serve my Higher Purpose?” 

The book THE FOUR AGREEMENTS by Don Miguel Ruiz calls us to live by these 4:

Be Impeccable with Your Word; Don’t Make Assumptions; Don’t Take Anything Personally;

& Always Do Your Best.

As is apt to happen, a message came through my consciousness at a serendipitous and “perfect” time. Listening to a talk by Eckart Tolle while on a walk, he pointed out that Complaining is a favorite past-time of the ego.

Complaining gives the ego a sense of superiority; because if I can complain about something, that implies that I am above it, better than it, and smart enough to be aware of it. It’s also a sort of bonding tactic—“Hey, you don’t like this thing/place/situation/person either? Come join the club! Let’s all be ‘better than’ together.”

& The possibilities for complaining are seemingly infinite!

There are so many opportunities for the ego to boost itself, from the seemingly harmless, mundane complaints to the epic, global-scale dramas.

Going on a “Complaining Cleanse” is calling to me.

I am ready to take responsibility for my own happiness.

Nothing around me is responsible for my capacity to feel contentment, love, and joy.

If something I am choosing in my life is leading to complaining,

How can I make different decisions to begin to shift my reality?

Or, if there is nothing I can do about the situation—such as make it stop raining—

Where can I shift my focus to Gratitude? To Faith? To Peace?

This is not intended to belittle the scope of human suffering.

We do not want to “spiritually bypass” moments of deep emotional struggle

With condescension or shame by naming any feeling of aversion to a situation as an “ego trip.”

Rather, this is an invitation to empower ourselves to choose differently when our thoughts want to default to the negative. This is an opportunity to relate differently to our lived reality.