Spring Cleaning for the Soul

This is a wonderful time of year for me. It's almost summer, but not quite, and there's a promise in the air of good times ahead and outdoor fun breathing fresh air.

I love Spring Cleaning and try to do it every year for my house.

Have you ever tried to do it for your mind?

Banish the negative thoughts you've been hanging onto about the people around you.

Tell yourself that the little things that seem to annoy you and make your day unpleasant (the passenger behind you who kicks your seat on the plane, your husband's socks on the floor, the way your teenager has to slap the stairwell as he/she comes downstairs and dirty the wall) just don't really matter enough to spoil your mood. In 50 years, who will care. The plane trip is only 2 hours - you can stand that. Ignore the socks - your husband more than makes up for them in other ways. And remember, in a few years, you'll be fondly remembering how your long-gone teen slapped the wall.

Life is too short to spend it in a bad mood.

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New Year's Resolutions

I make New Year's Resolutions every year, and like many people, I don't quite follow through - all the way. But that doesn't stop me from making my Resolutions the next year...and the next.. and you know what? I think that it's a good thing to do anyway.

Making New Year's Resolutions means that you consciously think of ways that you could improve your life (and we hope, others' also), and that is a positive act in itself. Then, even if you only succeed in doing 20% of what you resolved to accomplish, you're still 20% better off than you were last year.

The only thing I warn against is feeling as though you failed if you did not live up to your resolutions. If nothing else, realize the optimistic outlook it takes to make resolutions in the first place. It is an acknowledgement that life can be improved upon, that you can improve yourself, that progress is always possible.

And progress is what it's all about, right?

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