Once again, it's time for a little spring cleaning. It's time to wash the windows, clear the gutters and clean out the attic. And while you're at it, you may want to take a few minutes to do some mental spring cleaning as well.

Winter isn't just a season on the calendar; it's also a season of life. We experience a winter whenever we have a period when things don't go well. We experience winters in business when sales fall and our productivity decreases. We experience winters in our relationships when the passion fades and arguments ensue over even the smallest things. We experience winters in our health when we get hurt or sick. During the course of your dash, you'll experience many winters but the good news is that they will all eventually turn into spring.

And when spring finally rolls around, it's important to clean up after its effects. For instance, in a geological winter, your house is pelted with rain, sleet and snow so that by the time spring rolls around, your windows are covered in crud. It becomes difficult to even see out of them. Well, the same is true when you've been through a personal winter. You've been pelted with rejection, hostility, loneliness, pain, etc. By the end of your winter, it's difficult to see all the beautiful and positive things in your life. That's why you must wipe your mental windows clean.

But how do you do this? Amazingly, the process is remarkably similar to washing dirt off your windows or any other surface for that matter. The key thing you're trying to accomplish is to detach the dirt from the object. If the dirt has been recently applied, then you simply need to wipe it off. However, if the dirt has become caked onto the object, then you may need to scrub, spray or peel it off. The same thing applies to cleaning the dirt that becomes caked into your mind. You may have to put a little "elbow grease" into your efforts by reading a good self-help book, watching an inspiring movie, hearing a stirring sermon or using positive affirmations. The important thing is to keep scrubbing until you can clearly see all the beauty in your dash.

Another thing you must clean out is the clogged storm drains or gutters. It's amazing how much stuff can get clogged up in there. Before long, the drain is completely blocked. Well, the storm drains of your mind can become just as blocked up. During your personal winter, the leaves of discontent may have been blown into your mental drains so often that you've become stuck. As a result, you know longer believe that you have the ability to maintain a healthy relationship, effectively parent your children, responsibly handle money, or what have you.

Obviously, none of these things are true. However, they'll be your reality so long as you believe them. Remember, as Henry Ford once said, "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." Therefore, you must get rid of this mental refuse and there are two ways to do it. One way is to reach inside ourselves and pull out the hurt, rejection and feelings of failure a little bit at a time until our drains our clear again. The only problem with that is that sometimes the tube is too narrow or too long to reach all the way inside. Therefore, the better way may be to clear your mental gutters with a blower. You simply blow in enough thoughts of love, power, strength and courage that the mental garbage gets thrown out the other side.

Another big part of spring cleaning is cleaning out the attic or the garage. It's simply amazing how much junk we can accumulate between Thanksgiving and Easter. Well, the same is true during your personal winter. You can accumulate bad habits, troublesome friends, time- wasting hobbies, etc. All of these things clutter up your life and take time and space away from the things that can help you to make the most of your dash. For this reason, an essential part of mental spring cleaning is throwing away some of these old habits, activities and relationships.

Of course, I understand that this is a difficult thing to do. After all, it's hard enough to throw away clothes sometimes for fear that they might come back in style. It's even harder to throw away old habits and familiar past times. And it's especially difficult to give up personal relationships, even when they are toxic or negative. Yet, it all of these things are necessary to make room for new habits, new hobbies and new relationships.

As your personal winter breaks and the sun begins to shine on your life again, take a few hours to do some mental spring cleaning. The spring, summer and fall of your dash have many blessing to offer you but these blessings can't reach you behind cloudy windows, clogged drains and cluttered entry ways.