I awoke today thinking about how appropriate the movie Groundhog’s Day is to the patterns I experience this time of year. My new year’s resolutions have begun to wear off, just when I was noticing some success. My mind is a little more peaceful, my body is a little lighter, and then I get a “Change Back Attack” sending me back into the same old loops of thinking and eating and living that inspired the resolutions in the first place.
Today I’m deciding to REALLY wake myself up from the movie. So I’m going to the ancient wisdom of the Celtic religions. Today is also known as Bridget’s Day or Imbolc, because it’s exactly between the shortest day of the year (Solstice) and the Spring Equinox, when days and nights are equally balanced.
A forerunner of our “Spring Cleaning,” it ‘s a time for clearing and cleaning the old out of the way. I do intend to get around to sloughing off the old clutter and stuff in my home, but I’m drawn to a deeper cleaning treatment today. I made a list of all the beliefs that keep me stuck in the same old loops.
Thoughts like: It happens to me. Thoughts like: this is too hard. Thoughts like If I haven’t been successful before, why would anything be any different now?
These are the thoughts that would drag me right back into the same old loop. As I check them out, I see them more clearly: instead of greasy stains, they’re more often like the spider webs in the corner or the dust bunnies under the bed. By looking at them straight on, I find out where I’m getting hooked and find something a little truer and a lot kinder. This is the deepest kind of spring cleaning. This wakes me up from the movie and shows me a new way.
