Spring is fast approaching, bringing with it the promise of renewed energy. As the sun begins to warm our days and break the cabin fever, we find ourselves not only eager to organize our homes for the warmer weather but also motivated to reignite efforts that might have slowed down during the colder months. After spending so much time indoors, the practice of spring cleaning offers us a way to shed everything we no longer need and create space for lighter, brighter days ahead.
But have you ever considered that spring cleaning is not just for your home, but also for your mind? Reflecting on this practice, I have connected it with a type of mental cleansing I have been learning about through Logosophy. Unlike tidying up our physical spaces, this inner cleaning involves making our minds lighter, more organized, and more aligned with our purposes and current reality.
When we think about a clean room where everything is in its right place, we can quickly find what we need to put our projects into motion. Conversely, a cluttered room can drain our energy, making it difficult to find what we need—if we even have it—and potentially derailing our initial goals. This clutter can lead to postponing any action we intend to accomplish.
Reflecting on my own mind, this is exactly how I feel when I cannot find the thoughts, stimuli, or elements I need to put a project or plan into motion. The mind then becomes tired and lacks the energy to continue. How useful it would be to have an organized mental space with plenty of “supplies” to focus on the purpose, rather than being bogged down by the means which should be readily available when I need them.
To clean and organize, I need to first identify what is superfluous, what I no longer need, what is taking up space, what is causing disturbance and dragging me down. Just as I tend to accumulate material things that later prove to be purposeless or no longer fit my life, my mind can also accumulate many elements—useless thoughts, old concepts, outdated ideas, prejudices, beliefs, and more. Most of us have probably opened a drawer one day only to find something we had been searching for, exclaiming, “Aha! Here it is… How could I have forgotten where this was?” This has happened to me more than once, and for me, it is a clear sign of unconsciousness. If I do not even remember what I have, how can I use it when I need it or even let it go to make space for something better?
Logosophy has been teaching me to perform this “mental cleaning” on a constant basis. It begins with identifying the contents of my own mind and taking an inventory of them. This involves continuously opening all the inner drawers and cabinets of my mind, checking every corner and space to see what they contain, and evaluating what purpose they serve in my life. Are they still useful or needed, and what benefits do I gain from keeping them or letting them go?
For example, how many thoughts can devour my time daily, time that I could certainly use for more productive activities? Can I spot these thoughts hiding in the corners of my mind? How about deciding to let them go? It is not as easy as throwing out some old papers, but it is definitely worth my best effort when considering the benefits I could gain.
To accomplish this, I need to fine-tune my inner senses—my ability to “see” what I have inside, my ability to observe, understand, analyze, discern, classify, and select. It is an interesting and progressive journey of self-discovery, knowing my inner resources, and applying them to perform a type of cleaning that will make my life lighter and happier.
This process also allows me to identify what I truly want to have available in this inner home—the concepts, values, and virtues that I want to cultivate to support my projects and plans. These resources will make this inner home more aligned with the place I want to live in or, better yet, with the individual I aspire to be. By having these “supplies” in place and knowing where to find and how to use them, they will be readily available when I need them.
The daily exercise of registering what I observe in my mind helps me identify the thoughts that have a major influence on me—those that drive my words and actions, or the lack thereof. This practice enables me to recognize patterns. However, to fine-tune this identification and introduce any changes, I need knowledge. This is where Logosophy comes in with its teachings and method, providing clear guidance throughout the process.
For instance, while studying impatience—a thought responsible for many difficulties I have faced and sometimes still encounter—I came across the following excerpt:
“The person who suffers from impatience lives under the constant pressure of thoughts that urge them to hasten whatever one thinks or does – as if peremptory deadlines existed for them in all their endeavors – and that maintain one in acute anxiety during the time in which they are awaiting something, a piece of news, an important answer, a solution, etc.” (González Pecotche, Deficiencies and Propensities of the Human Being, p. 96)
When I first read this, I could clearly identify with this reality. I then asked myself about the thoughts supporting impatience within my mind. What were they telling me, and what reasons were they presenting for their actions? Were these reasons aligned with my goals and the person I wanted to be? Were they based on reality?
By following the logosophical method to identify these thoughts, analyze their reasons, and understand how and when they acted, I could start the process of cleaning them out. I have started replacing them with thoughts more aligned with my goals of being patient and using my time with intelligence and higher purpose. This does not mean I am completely patient now; I continue working on impatience, but I can already see and benefit from some positive results of my efforts.
As you can see, this is not a work for just one season. It is, and has been, a lifelong endeavor. I observe that in some seasons, the level of activity slows down—these are the winters of my life. During these times, I focus on taking inventory, re-evaluating my purposes, and assessing how useful my current resources are, gathering energy to sprout and bloom during the spring times. It is a natural process. The key is to try to use all seasons of life with a positive purpose, understanding their meaning, and not allowing life’s ups and downs, or colder and stormy days, to divert me from my path of inner improvement. This is easier said than done, but with the guidance of Logosophy and the collaboration of fellow Logosophy students, it has been an effort that brings me joy and fulfillment throughout the years.
The technique and method that Logosophy offers have allowed me to gradually improve myself in this practice, understanding where I currently am and recognizing that I possess inner resources to navigate all seasons of life. By maintaining my purpose and improving with each pass, I move in a spiral rather than a cyclical motion that always brings one back to the same place. In this way, I become conscious of the steps I have taken, value them, and continue slowly but surely improving and polishing myself, so I can fully enjoy and share the flowers and fruits when spring comes again.
“In order for youth not to abandon oneself, one must know how to unite their spring times, always seeking the warmth of wisdom in the lofty regions of the spirit where the intelligence makes contact with the universal life which animates and renews everything. This achievement is possible; but to do so it will be necessary to exalt the conscience to higher levels so that it will not suffer the coldness of ignorance, the rigors of a moral winter, similar to the physical one, but with the difference that in the first case one is not allowed to benefit within oneself from the renewal produced in Nature, such as when the season arrives and the trees stretch out their buds and become laden with flowers and fruit.” (González Pecotche, An Introduction to the Logosophical Cognition, p. 19)
