Autumn Cleaning, Clearing

After the blisteringly hot summer, cooler fall weather is a blessing. It’s as though Earth is shuttering its house, closing the windows and doors, curling up before the fireplace, drinking pumpkin spice lattes or hot apple cider, holing up, going dormant. In Greek mythology, this is the time of year Persephone is getting ready to descend into the underworld. As the myth goes, for part of the year [spring and summer] Persephone hangs out with her mother, Demeter, who tends to the earth and keeps it fertile. During the other part of the year [autumn and winter] Persephone goes to the underworld to be with her husband, Hades, and her despondent mother forsakes tending the earth. Plants wither; animals go into hibernation, and the cold air bites. Of course, this signifies the change in our seasons.

We’ve all heard of ‘spring cleaning’; I wonder why we don’t also have ‘fall cleaning.’ Autumn is as potent a time for sweeping out what is no longer needed or desired as spring is. Cleaning and renewal rituals are common in various cultures.

Here are a few: “On the eve of Thailand’s Songkran festival, a three-day New Year celebration, homes are cleaned and unwanted junk burned to create a clean slate. [For the Chinese New Year] When we throw open a window, declutter our closets and take a sudsy mop to the floor, we are turning over a new leaf. In the lead-up to Chinese Lunar New Year, people perform a preparatory cleaning of their space, sweeping away the dust and debris of the past 12 months to symbolically make room for good fortune to come. The Persian holiday of Nowruz, observed in Iran (as well as many other countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey and Kazakhstan), is a New Year’s celebration that’s preceded by a huge spring cleaning. The Iranian calendar is a solar calendar that honors the seasons. Nowruz falls on the spring equinox in March and translates, fittingly, as ‘new day.’ To mark this moment of renewal, belongings are sifted and sorted, floors are scrubbed, and dusty rugs are hung outside and beaten. This sometimes begins weeks before the equinox to ensure enough time is dedicated to this process of shedding the old and welcoming in the new” (Esme Benjamin, https://theculturetrip.com/asia/articles/cleaning-and-renewal-rituals-from-around-the-world).

Typically, we may think of fall cleaning as raking the fallen leaves, shutting off and covering the outside water faucets, making certain the home heating units work, coiling up and storing the water hoses, putting away the outdoor furniture, insulating the doors and windows, trimming back the summer-overgrown plants and weeds. Yet, there can be so much more inside to clean out: inside your home, inside your closets, inside you attic, inside your basement, inside your garage, inside your car, inside your brain and the thoughts you think.

The Autumnal Equinox has already come for 2023, so we are into the fall season. If you want to join me in Autumn Cleaning this year, we can agree to accomplish what we will allow to fall away by the next full moon and Lunar Eclipse: 28 October 2023. That way, you will be ready for the season of gift-giving and gift-receiving upcoming. Consider how much more pleasant the holidays will be without too much weighing you down. Incidentally, your children and grandchildren don’t want your stuff. The only things they likely want as an inheritance are cash and other positive financials. With that hard reality stated, are you ready to clean out, to minimize?

I started the fall cleaning when I changed out my closet and drawers from warm weather clothes to cool climate attire. I’ve let go of things that don’t fit, that I don’t like, and that don’t like me. I’ve let go of filling each moment with more and more to reduce calendar clutter. And, I’m sweeping out lower vibrational thoughts. What will you let go of this fall? What will fall away from you? What will you add by letting go?

If you’re having difficulty getting started or getting serious about autumn cleaning, here are some tools that may support your allowing things, what no longer brings you joy to fall away:

• The 30-Day Minimalism Game: https://www.theminimalists.com/game/

• The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: https://www.thespruce.com/swedish-death-cleaning-4801461

• For wardrobe reduction, I suggest Project 333: https://bemorewithless.com/project-333.

You may be thinking, “I’ll get more organizers for my stuff to keep it contained”; yet, buying more and more organizers, Rubbermaid tubs, storage boxes is likely using “organizing as a practice of procrastination” (Joshua Fields Milburn from The Minimalists podcast). One of my exes was an extreme hoarder. He constantly bought organizers and never organized anything and never got rid of anything. While I don’t understand the psychology of the procrastination — hoarding cycle, I’ve witnessed it first hand and saw that it doesn’t get better by wishing away this cycle; it takes a counselor trained in working with hoarders. If you are a hoarder, please get professional help so that you can live a happy, flourishing life with less burden.

One final thought on what to keep and what to get rid of: know the difference between your ‘just in case’ and ‘just for when’ items. ‘Just in case’ things are likely not things you must have or will use soon: tiny bits of string, lots of plastic cups, an assortment of empty sour cream containers, items associated with a hobby you no longer have an interest in anymore, broken down vehicles on your property, notes from college classes from ten or more years ago, etc. On the other hand, ‘just for when’ things are likely things you will use soon: suitcases, out of season clothes, more than one or two plates and set of flatware, a set of useful tools, etc.

There is no “right way” to clean out your stuff. As Nike says, “Just Do It.” Here’s to a happy autumn with less stuff.

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