My name is Mindy and I am a Stuff-a-holic. That’s what I’ve come to realize over the last few months while I have been cleaning out in an effort to create a home for my new husband and me that reflects us as a couple. Widowed when we met, we came together having had very full and wonderful lives. Those full lives blessed us each with amazing children, great in-law children and spectacular grandchildren. We each have our share of wedding and baby pictures, souvenirs from travels around the world, memorabilia from bar and bat mitzvahs, sweet sixteens, college weekends, and homes filled with furniture, closets full of clothing, and the attached scentiment. Letting go of all of this has been monumental for me (I don’t think men get so attached); not just physically taxing, but emotionally and psychologically wrenching as well. Am I heartless to throw away the keepsakes, the 4 lucite cake plates, the 7 sets of glasses, tea sets and china that were closeted for 25 years but belonged to our grandparents? Is anyone really going to look at the birthday cards from 35 years ago? Then there were the letters that my daughter wrote to the toothfairy…

Something had to give. So I dug deep, allowed myself to detach and I discovered that there was freedom to be found in the detachment. Memories remain in our hearts and minds forever, but “things” do not define us. Letting go of the stuff is allowing me to bid a fond farewell to the past and welcome the new energy of a happy, healthy future.

Spring is also a great time to clean out the “house” of your physical body. Just as we accumulate stuff in the form of out-dated, out-grown clothes, furniture and keepsakes, so do our bodies accumulate old food residues and toxins that need to be cleaned out. To spring clean your body, give it a break from the complicated and processed foods by eating a diet rich in vegetables, fruits and whole grains, plant proteins and healthy fats from nuts and seeds. Commit to eating food as nature intended it to be eaten; not out of a box or artificially flavored or sweetened. Eating like this will not only improve immunity and digestion, it will sharpen your concentration, promote clarity and spiritual awareness, creating a lightness of being.

While you are at it, don’t forget to spring clean your heart. Throw away the negative thoughts and habits you have been holding on to just because it’s what you know. Be curious…are these habits and beliefs serving a purpose for you? A clean, open heart will allow you to receive all the good that awaits you each and every day. Just like your closet, a cluttered heart and mind have no room for the new gifts and surprises life will offer.

By the way, I saved the letters to the tooth fairy!