Spruce Your Environment, Spruce Your Spirit

By Patricia Twitchell aka The Teddy Bear Lady of Myrtle Creek

After a long winter, this is the time of year to spruce up your environment with a good Spring Cleaning. For some of my bear loving friends it could be autumn, but this can still work for you. It’s amazing what a good cleaning and clearing can do for one’s state of mind.

Not only does a good cleaning seem to lift our spirits, it has actually been proven to preserve our home and office environment.

Although the inclination is to want to be outside as soon as the great weather begins, by doing a good spring cleaning you are actually creating the feeling of spring inside your home. It is also a great way to get the entire family involved in doing something together. To do this though, it has to be viewed as a fun experience rather than drudgery.

To make it enjoyable your attitude will set the tone. If you view the experience as fun, those around you are more likely to do the same. Something that is sure to help is to start from a place of gratitude. Yes, gratitude.

Look around your home and realize you have a home to clean. What a gift this is. It doesn’t matter the size of your home. What matters is what your home gives you. It gives you a place to enjoy time with family and friends. It gives you shelter from the elements. It gives you a space to relax in. That is of course if you have created it to offer these things.

Before you begin, find some good music you can enjoy while you clean. It’s amazing what lively music can do for the spirit.

You will be most effective if you have all your cleaning materials available before you begin. Gather what you need ahead of time so that you don’t have to stop midstream to run to the store for a bottle of window cleaner or furniture polish. Also make sure you have plenty of garbage bags, storage boxes and anything else that will make your job easier.

Give yourself a break from the phones, especially if you are making this a family experience.

As you clean each room, organizing what you have, be willing to let go of what you no longer need. There are plenty of people who would find incredible use from something you haven’t touched in years.

You can either give the items to a family you know, a charity or you can have a garage sale. When you release what you no longer need or want you create the space for something new in its place.

You may want to focus on one room at a time cleaning and rearranging from top to bottom. One of the most exciting parts of spring cleaning is the joy you feel as you remember how special items came into your life.

I often hear stories from people who have gotten a teddy bear from my shop and relived the original feeling they had when they first got the item. I have been told what an incredible feeling they get when they spring clean and carefully rearrange their bear collection. They have a renewed feeling of pride over their collection because of the care they are taking in preserving the precious gifts.

In each room it is recommended to begin from the top and work down. This is true for cabinets, dusting, and washing.

When you are done, enjoy what you have just accomplished. Sit back and look around, take in the fresh fragrances and appreciate a job well done. Reward yourself with a good meal and quiet time. Acknowledge the gift of a fresh, inviting home you are blessed to enjoy. You will be glad you did.

Patricia Twitchell aka The Teddy Bear Lady of Myrtle Creek is the proprietor of Just Bears and Stuff Gift Shop in Myrtle Creek Oregon. She also has an eBay Store with one of the largest selections of specialty teddy bears, gifts, figurines, and more. Visit http://stores.ebay.com/bearwatch-aka-Just-Bears-and-Stuff