Tag: spring

Social Media Cleanse

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The rain has stopped outside my window and it seems to have dripped green paint onto the weeping willow tree outside. There are suddenly millions of yellow green buds waiting to bloom. Being fully present to witness this moment feels like a gift and one that I have chosen for myself. I like to feel that I am choosing to do whatever activity I am engaged in, particularly social media. This week I wanted to share a little about a social media cleanse I tried. 

Level one is general media hygiene. Regularly clear your follows and determine what accounts are bringing joy and which accounts are simply bringing you down. Anything that leads you to feel inadequate by comparison has to go – we don’t need that negativity in our lives. I’ve written more on general media hygiene practices here.

Level two – back to the cleanse – because just organizing follows is not our only new practice. I’m talking about a full week of conscious and deliberate social media avoidance. The purpose of this exercise is to clear your head and make space for creative ideas to break through. It is an opportunity to reflect and recognize how much time there is in the day when we are not scrolling. 

I scheduled a week to be social media free because as an Artists Way exercise I have found it to be particularly powerful. Cameron calls her abstention a reading cleanse. No reading for pleasure or knowledge beyond what one must do for work or as necessity. That can be different things for different people. The overall purpose is to clear your head of everyone else’s stories so that you can really dig deep into your own creativity. It’s also a quick way to recognize how much time we fill by immersing ourselves in media.

I love the dopamine burst of reels on Instagram, or of finding something beautiful to pin on Pinterest. But when I am loosing too much time or feel like I can’t log off even when it is time to do so, that’s a good cue to spark a cleanse. This time my cleanse was not cold-turkey. I still watched the reels or notes that people sent. I simply logged on, replied to messages and got off. My logic here is that this an opportunity to connect with a real person. It is a moment of relationship building and that is more than simply watching what everyone else is up to and liking or posting a few emojis. 

When we aren’t scrolling or lost in the virtual world of our phones it’s amazing how much we can create. The space gives us room to do something new, unique, and fresh. We want to make space for our true and raw selves to grow and be nurtured. Much like the rain outside painting the weeping willow with spring greens, I want to have room and water to grow and blossom in spring time. We can’t do that if we are constantly being pruned by everyone else’s ideas, endeavors, and news. So even if your break is a day, an hour, or an evening, I hope you are able to create something that’s never been in the world before. I hope you’ll take the time to invest in yourself. 

Let me know how your social media cleanse goes and what new priorities you welcome! And just so you know all was not perfect over here! I was very much tempted to look at my phone more than I care to admit. Instead I cleaned the bathrooms, washed windows, wrote pages in my journal, painted, and spent quality time with my kiddos. Every second of it was worth it because I felt present, engaged, and more alive than I have in a while. I might just take this cleanse for another week’s run and see what happens! 

Spring Cleaning

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Like new school supplies in the fall, a clean start in spring clears the air and makes space for fresh ideas. Whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed I shift my environment and see if that doesn’t shift my mood. A little spring cleaning as self-care.

Rather than forcing myself to complete a task that I am resisting, I pivot. I do something completely different. I vacuum, dust, organize. And that one small activity creates momentum that carries me to the next step. Even if I don’t start my task, I feel productive and am rewarded with the space to begin. I may even have a new perspective on the task and work through some of my hesitation while focusing on something else.

I may be wiping down counters but in the back of my mind I’m laying out a painting or remembering to send that email. Getting outside to weed the garden, or shake out the rug brightens my mood because I’m outside. Clearing physical clutter frees our mental headspace too. 

When we give ourselves time and space, instead of guilt and anger, we feel better. And when we feel better we do better work. As Julia Cameron tells us, “treating ourselves like a precious object makes us stronger.” We learn early that we are spoiling a child if we give in to their demands. But this perspective does not mesh with what we all know of ourselves as human beings. When have you ever done something you didn’t want to do and felt good about it? 

When you don’t want to complete a task chances are you’re not ready to do it. Be patient with yourself and take your time. When we are kind to ourselves we feel loved, accepted, free to be authentic and creative. Performing at our highest level includes operating at our highest ability. We do that when we nourish ourselves, reward our progress, and gently correct our mistakes. 

To get ahead we do not need to punish ourselves. We need only to be more gentle and see what blooms. This spring start small and do what brings you joy first. Maybe you tidy a room or maybe you take a nap. See how being kind to yourself impacts your day and your life. 

Release Responsibility + Control

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Spring is in bloom here in Ohio and I am experiencing a creative reawakening. It is a conscious remembering that what we ask for the universe provides. We are showing up in new ways, refreshed and transformed. Making space for those activities that bring me joy and that inspire me. I am no longer available for those activities that drain my energy or leave me feeling unfulfilled. There is a natural resurgence of energy as if spring demands a release of responsibility and control.

To show up authentically we release all of those things we do not need. We are born naked, what can we take off? What do we no longer need to bear the burden of carrying? I have found in life that it is incredibly easy to take on things that are not my own. We collect obligations, tasks, work, and labor. I have held onto many things out of a false sense of responsibility. A desire to fix what is not mine to repair.

I once received a powerful bit of advice from a stranger in passing. She said, “Love is not meant to be held or given, it is meant to flow through us.” In this way all energy and emotion should pass through our lives. The goal is to be porous like sponges, able to absorb only that which is intended for us and release the rest. This allows everything not meant for us to pass quickly without lingering. Another way to think of this message, “those mountains you are carrying, you were only meant to climb.” 

Author Anne Lamott asks, “What is help if not the sunny side of control?” Releasing control is the greatest gift we can offer to ourselves and others. To release control we remember that our value is not tied to our productivity or performance. We all have intrinsic value. When we purge all of the things that are no longer ours we make space for the relationships, experiences, and gifts that we are intended to receive. We trust that that which is meant for us will come to us. We need not be responsible for more than our fair share of work or duty. Our value is not tied to our labor or our misplaced obligations to fix, repair, or care for others. 

We are here to create and give the best of ourselves to the world. As we create our own paths, let use put down the mountains we have carried. Let us climb them instead and leave all of the extra weight that rightfully belongs to other people for them to manage. This spring we are no longer bearing the burden of someone else’s mistakes or issues. Each of us is free to manifest our own destiny, no longer encumbered by the burden of false responsibility or control. We are free. 

Doesn’t the relief feel incredible? 

Spring Appreciation

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Today I am deep in appreciation, that firm life sustaining roundedness that yes, makes me grateful, but also makes me present here in this moment. Spring is just filling me with hope and promise that is satisfying and uplifting on a very real and primal level. Right now we are all lotus blossoms that have waited patiently, for hundreds of years. Not to say that there still aren’t challenges, or to belittle the collective loss, suffering, isolation, and angst – those feelings are still valid and real. Yet, now, the sun is shining. Birds are singing. Frogs making their guttural croaks that vibrate their very bodies. 

There is a breeze and it is gentle and cool. There are flowers by my bedside and crocuses in the yard. There is just this deep, affirming sensation of wellness and promise that in the coming days more of us will be well. 

The past year has been so hard and if we’re being honest the three years that led up to it as well, but here we are in this moment. This may be the other side and I am intensely, passionately grateful to be here. I did not know how this journey would go, if we would really make it. And I am filled with love.

I feel peaceful and present and bold. My mere survival to this point an act of defiance and delight. There are many who cannot say the same. And in that knowledge I just want to rest. That awareness and gentle gratitude for all we have learned, the sacrifices made, the hope we hold in our hearts for the future. 

The shape of what is to come is still undefined, we only know that it will look little like our past. What it will contain is the multitude of blessings we have found meaningful in this time of social distancing and conscientious isolation. For me it means quality time with family, it means more time alone, more herbal tea, meditation, and long walks. You’ll have to tell me what it means to you. 


Whatever shape your future takes I hope you join me in a collective sigh of relief. We’ve made it this far. We made it to today, this was not guaranteed and so let us savor it now that it is ours. We are all so fortunate to be here. What light. What love. What joy.