Spring-Clean Your Mind

The first flower buds and warm days of spring always bring a sense of optimism and renewal. Although the season of fresh beginnings is traditionally the time to spring-clean your house—out, out, old VCR tapes and stonewashed jeans of yesteryear—we can also use this time as an opportunity to spring-clean our minds as well.

“Nature is the perfect model for starting afresh and blossoming in beautiful ways,” says Carla Marie Manly, Ph.D., a psychologist in Santa Rosa, California, and author of Joy from Fear. “By letting nature inspire us to embrace a positive, growth-oriented mindset, spring can be a wonderful time to reassess wellness and mental health habits.”

Here are five ways to spring-clean your mind and step into the season with a new outlook.