- Olga Viloria
Make time for an 'inner spring clean'
Updated: Aug 10, 2023
I am a practising holistic counsellor, until now quietly ‘doing my own thing’, developing my skills and building my business. Viewing every session as a new opportunity to refine my strategies for navigating and resolving complex issues that disrupt my clients' lives. It’s been a period of growth and learning, as essential to my evolution as a practitioner, as any natural cycle. While I have been quietly developing my practice until now, I have recently felt a desire to speak more openly about this rewarding vocation.
At the end of the last year I started to develop an End of Year Review. An exercise for clients to reflect about the past year and do some planning for the year ahead; but also a therapeutic tool to share on my website and social platforms. However, during those cold, dark winter days, I struggled to find the energy to put my thoughts into motion..
An experience with an old client came to mind. We’d been working together for a few months and her life was taking a positive turn. Her relationship had improved, her spirits felt uplifted and she was eager to re-visit a personal project she’d been keeping in ‘cold storage’. Again, it was shortly after Christmas, Covid was still a lingering presence in all our lives, but she was frustrated by her inability to make meaningful progress on her project.
I asked her: “Why are you being so hard on yourself? Is it any wonder you can’t move forward? Perhaps now is not the time to start. Look around you, look at nature, the trees, the flowers, all resting and recharging, waiting for the spring to arrive and reawaken with life.” On reflection, I realised I should be heeding my own advice.
The long rest of winter is vital to allow new dreams and hopes to kindle inside us, but often it’s not until in spring that they begin to bloom. Spring has always been intrinsically linked to renewal. Populations throughout Asia and the Middle East have celebrated the advent of the most revitalising and productive season for over 3,000 years. Up until the 18th century, many parts of Europe considered the Spring Equinox to be the start of the new year, bringing with it the chance for people to rid themselves, and their homes, of ‘old’ energy. It’s the primal force of nature giving us permission to come bursting back to life with new plans and fresh perspectives.
This year I’m celebrating spring with the launch of the Tree of Light, Seasonal Review.
I hope people can use this simple downloadable exercise to reflect on a chapter that’s closing. It’s a chance to let go of things that no longer serve you, and absorb valuable lessons learned from the passed year. It’s a process that helps turn any adversity into opportunity.
My approach to counselling is rooted in the conviction that life’s challenges can be transformed into opportunities for growth. Making self-reflection and inner contact a regular practice, and staying this path, is what builds life resilience.
So, as nature flourishes in the world outside, set aside a little quiet time to treat yourself to a ‘inner spring clean’, so that then you can consciously plant the seeds for the new ideas and intentions that you want to bring to life.
Download here