Many of us go through the ritual of spring cleaning. We toss garbage, drop off clothes we no longer wear at Goodwill, sweep out the garage and take the trash to the curb. We polish and shine, mop and scrub.

We sort through books, and decide which we can part with. We may decide we don’t need so many knick-knacks, that our kids have outgrown certain toys. We know we don’t need seven soup ladles. (How did we get seven soup ladles??)

And after a hard weekend of work, we look around our tidy, decluttered, shiny home and sigh. We are satisfied.

We need to do the same with our souls, with our interior life. Just as we slowly accumulated stuff in our homes without even realizing it, we often do the same with our souls. Old concerns drag us down. A busted relationship is still a source of pain. Maybe we carry wounds from our childhood that we’ve never really dealt with. Instead of carrying our cross, we are carrying around all the things that clutter our soul.

Here are three ways to declutter. Just so you know, it’s a lot of work, just like spring cleaning!

1. Go to confession. Before you go, make a sincere Examination of Conscience. What is dragging you down? What resentments have you allowed to ferment and linger? If a relationship in your life is strained or damaged, do you bear any responsibility? Have you committed a grave, mortal sin? As painful and difficult such a confession will be, God’s grace is always more!
2. Sometimes, we just can’t figure out what needs to be done. We are stuck: spiritually, emotionally, psychologically. When we’ve been dealing with a problem and it just never seems to get better, it might be time to talk to a professional. Many people shy away from psychological help – they think they don’t need it, or it makes them seem weak. However, a psychologist’s job is really to help us find new ways to deal with old issues. There are places to find good Catholic and Christian psychologists. However, if you can’t find one, at least make sure the person you are working with respects your faith.
3. Our clutter may not be psychological; it’s spiritual. Maybe you’re really longing to enter into a deeper relationship with God, but you aren’t sure how. Perhaps you want to find new spiritual paths. Sometimes we want to lead a holier, more spiritually mature life but we just aren’t sure how to get there. A spiritual director can be the key. Many priests offer this type of work. However, there are also religious (think religious sisters or brothers) and lay people who are spiritual directors. The one sure way to know if a spiritual director is good is if they themselves are leading a holy life. A good spiritual director will not be there to make you feel good about yourself, but will challenge you to make that move to a holier way of living.

Do you need a bit of “soul spring cleaning?” Perhaps it is time to clear the cobwebs, go to confession, and make the move to some spiritual decluttering.