Yogi Wisdom: Spring Cleaning to Clean Your Mind
In Yoga there are the eight limbs of yoga, which yogis can follow in order to achieve a more enlightened life. Of course, enlightenment can be nearly impossible to get for us mortal people, however it is a good rule to follow to simply have a a more peaceful and productive life.
The one rule to follow that I will discuss here is Saucha, defined as the purity of the mind and of the body. More simply said, it means that to declutter your life, will declutter your mind. I’m sure many of you have even felt this before; you’re cleaning and throwing things out or even simply vacuuming your bedroom. You finally finish and can enjoy the peace and calm that comes with a clean place.
Here are some easy tips to follow in order to have this feeling more regularly and how to keep your space more tidy:
Put away something as soon as you use it. Did you just grab a scissor from a drawer to cut a new clothing tag? Put away the scissor right away and you will have less laying around that will take up more time to put away at a later date.
Clean your kitchen every night. Put away your dishes, and wipe all countertops. This way you will wake up to a tidy kitchen that won’t take away your energy or time when getting ready in the morning.
Try to vacuum at least once a week in order to keep dust from piling so you won’t have to do a huge deep clean every time.
As tempting as it is, try not to make a “used” clothing pile in the chair in your bedroom or closet. If you take off your clothes, either hang it back up, or toss it in the laundry. This will save you lots of time of sorting through the chair clothes at a later date, and makes getting dressed easier as well.
Do a weekly check of the contents of your fridge. Try to use up what might be going bad first, and toss out anything that has already gone bad.
If you have kids, try to get them to help do any of the cleaning things with you. This will help them understand the importance and value of caring for things and putting them away and can help you, the parent, with perhaps a bit of tidying.
Doing just a few or all of these tips will help take up less mental space of stuff you need to do, as well as keep a tidier home for a better peace of mind.