Before you think it for another second, this isn’t a Marie Kondo spin-off. The spring cleaning I invite you to imagine here is internal. I think you know I believe in the power of story, and when framed properly, I believe we can use it to transform our lives for the better. If you’ve read what I’ve been writing lately, you also know eulogies have been on my mind. Eulogies contain stories.
Now imagine writing your own eulogy. (Wait. Don’t stop reading). This is intended to lift you up. I’m a bit fixated on how contemplating our own eulogy can help us to live our best lives while we still have plenty of living to do.
Is it not a secret curiosity we’ve all considered at least once: “What will people say at my funeral?”
Take it a step further and you might ask: “What would I want them to say?”
And one step beyond that: “Am I living congruently so that who I want to be is who I actually am?”
One way for us to get clarity on who we are and whether we’re living congruently is to take a good look inside.
Looking inside means noticing where there’s clutter, noticing if you’ve let your cherished personal qualities gather dust and noticing the futility of worn out thinking.
Most of us are trained to keep our wins on the quiet side, and I do think boasting and self-aggrandizement are boring. As is false humility. But taking time for ourselves to look at what we’ve done right and well, and how we’re not only enough but even special, will give each one of us a fresh, polished, long overdue spring shine.
We don’t need to share our findings with others. The point of this spring cleaning is to do it for yourself. So you may relax in internal surroundings that bring you some peace, some direction, some fresh energy and some spark. (Hi, Marie).
I wrote my eulogy recently. I left a lot of blanks. Who knows where I’ll be, when and at what age when I depart. But what I could know and what I could hold tangible were the questions, and the sometimes surprising answers about what has mattered, who has mattered, where I did right and where my wrongs presented lessons. Also, what I still want to do and who I still want to become.
Do you see the potential value in this kind of seasonal self-assessment?
This is something all of us can do ourselves, at home, quietly, without telling a soul. When we do, we have to prepare for what we might find and understand nothing is off limits.
When we do an internal spring cleaning, we might find hard old times, but you know what? We’ll also find some gems, some treasured long-forgotten memories, and we’ll even have opportunities to dust off dreams.
When you go there, and when you decide to discard the worn placeholders that you don’t like, don’t want and don’t need, you’ll create space for air to move through. You’ll discover energy will be reorganized in harmony with your truest, best self. And if you allow it, the result could be life-changing.
Your health, professional goals, wealth, capacity to love and be loved, your mindset, your relationships with others and with yourself could all benefit.
Will you do an internal spring cleaning? If you could have help or guidance doing it, would you?
I want you to shine.