Spring Cleaning by Betty Mahaliks from living a five star life

Spring Clean Your Spirit

Spring is the time when many people deep clean their homes, unload unwanted junk, pull out the lawn furniture and spruce up the landscaping. It's also a great time to do a spring-cleaning of your spirit, especially pulling the weeds of unforgivingness. I'm often amazed at the kind of garbage we humans choose to willingly drag around with us in the form of grudges, painful memories, and other types of mental and spiritual debris from the past that we refuse to release. We won't forgive the ex-spouse who treated us shabbily. Already read this book? Review it here.

We refuse to let go of the slights and unfairness of a situation at work, church or some other group we're a part of. We continue to beat ourselves up for past mistakes. The costs of our unwillingness to let go are huge. On a metaphysical level what we focus on tends to expand. So if you have something from the past that you've refused to let go of, you've probably recreated a similar experience for yourself if you've focused on it intently. When you continue to "lick the wound" you bring more misery upon yourself. On a more rational level, why let someone from your past (whoever it is) continue to hurt you and potentially rob you of an extraordinary present and future? Remember, that which you hold onto (your hurt, resentment, grudge, unforgivingness, pain) is actually holding onto you...keeping you stuck. From a health standpoint, need I remind you that there have been studies—enough to fill volumes—on the health risks of unforgivingness: ulcers, heart problems, eating disorders and more...virtually any physical ailment has the potential of being rooted in an unforgiving spirit. I invite you to do a thorough inventory of your spirit. Much like you go through your closet at the beginning of a new season, weed out that which no longer fits. Ask yourself the following questions: • How am I benefiting by holding onto the past? (Remember there's always a "pay–off" to your behavior.) • How would I benefit by letting go of the experience and practicing forgivingness? • Who is really paying for my unwillingness to forgive? • What is the lesson for me here