Believe it or not, spring begins this month. For some that may seem like a frozen dream, hopelessly remote. For others, it means flowers will be a-bloom in a couple weeks.

This is the time of year to clean out the cobwebs and detritus that accumulated over the past year. Especially consider the symbolism of particularly cluttered areas of your home. Is your desk messy? Reflect on how organized and purposeful your thinking is these days. What about your kitchen? Are you cooking less often due to an overrun of devices you never use? Or maybe your cookbooks need to be dusted off so you can play again with food. Or the bathroom? Perhaps you’d spend more pampering time in there if it were clean. Are you avoiding yourself? Oh, and let’s not overlook the closets or garage. These are big, and there’s no need to do it all. Pick one closet or a corner of the garage; look at what’s there. What do you need? What haven’t you used in months or years, so that you forgot it was even there? Maybe it’s time to donate some stuff. How about the junk drawer? Almost everyone has at least one drawer in their kitchen, office or bedroom where they stuff miscellaneous doodads. Have you looked there in awhile? Go explore what’s inside.

Some of what you discover might surprise you. There may be memories attached. It could have been a gift, or a souvenir. Or something broken you never got around to fixing. It could be an item of clothing that no longer fits, but that you hold on to for sentimental reasons, or in hope to fit into it again, or whatnot. Could you recycle it into a project?

This is an excavation. Rediscover yourself. As you do this, also consider the season — a process of reawakening. What part of you needs resurrection, recycling, regeneration?