BY TONY WANLESS

When spring arrives, bringing with it better weather and renewed spirits, many of us find our moods lifting. We feel more cheerful, energetic and friendly.

We notice that spending so much time in our houses or apartments during the rainy and cold winter has left us thinking they look a bit worn, shabby or dirty.

So we decide a good scrubbing will help renew the place.

We also start thinking that maybe our lives could also use a good cleaning of a sort.

We believe we should spend more time enjoying and less complaining. Maybe we should get out there and have a little fun. Maybe we should be better human beings.

We think these thoughts because spring is a time of renewal.

In spring, birds that disappeared during the colder months suddenly sing again outside our windows. Thoughts that were gloomy are now more positive and joyful.

For most of us, spring signals a time to start a new life, or change an old one.

So we sort through our closets or lockers for our warmer weather clothes. Sometimes we find them old and inappropriate and decide to buy new ones to celebrate the new feeling.

We also start sorting through our mental closets because we believe that, maybe, our minds also need awakening after dark and cold months.

Signals that winter is over and brighter times are beginning to appear leave us with more bounce in our steps, our heads held a little higher, and a belief that this is the way it will be from now on.

This mental and physical spring cleaning can also revive old plans and desires – for different ways of living or the renewal of plans that had been tucked away in our minds because they seemed too difficult.

Now they seem more possible.

Similarly, we start thinking about reviving relationships with other people that may have withered during the long period of solitude.

Like the flowers, we also look forward to renewing.

Definitions

mood: a temporary state of mind or feeling
shabby: in poor condition through long or hard use or lack of care
sort: to put in a certain place or rank according to kind, class or nature
wither: to lose vitality, force or freshness
renew: to make like new; restore to freshness, vigour or perfection

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