Wednesday, February 02, 2011
CNY Spring Cleaning
When I was a kid, CNY was mostly about the food, new clothes (which I usually hated cos my mom insisted on buying me mad sissy lacy polyester dresses) and $$$!
The other stuff like house-cleaning and visiting were kinda like chores.
But as I grew older, I'm appreciating at least 1 facet of the CNY traditions and the wisdom behind them.
The chief amongst all is the spring cleaning. Imagine you are from the olden times, in a farming family where from day break to night fall, you are taking care of your farm and animals. It is extremely easy to let things fall by the wayside when your main concern is survival, especially in winter when every darn thing is just too cold. I know, I was in Lijiang in early winter and I hated that everything I touched was cold and needed my body warmth to heat it up. ()#&$)(&!
So Spring Cleaning acts as an imperative to bring change, to clean up and to get rid of the broken and old (and ugly), on the literal sense, the physical things. But significantly, a time for reflection and bring that spring cleaning to oneself, either physically, mentally or spiritually.
It still holds true today, especially now when there is wide availability of any and everything. So much abundance of all that you've ever wanted, and lots of what you've never needed or will ever use.
I've taken the opportunity to tackle areas that I had neglected. The clothes that the kids had outgrown, books that I'll never read again, the old stuff that I still have from eons ago holding memories.
All going and going to:
Books --> public library donation box at entrance, donation to 3rd world country schools
Electronic, Children Toys, Clothes --> SgFreeCycle
All others --> Garang Guni men
the Balance --> Recycle bins/ Trash
It will be a year of self-reflection and hopefully lightness as all the clutter and junk are cleared away little by little.
The other stuff like house-cleaning and visiting were kinda like chores.
But as I grew older, I'm appreciating at least 1 facet of the CNY traditions and the wisdom behind them.
The chief amongst all is the spring cleaning. Imagine you are from the olden times, in a farming family where from day break to night fall, you are taking care of your farm and animals. It is extremely easy to let things fall by the wayside when your main concern is survival, especially in winter when every darn thing is just too cold. I know, I was in Lijiang in early winter and I hated that everything I touched was cold and needed my body warmth to heat it up. ()#&$)(&!
So Spring Cleaning acts as an imperative to bring change, to clean up and to get rid of the broken and old (and ugly), on the literal sense, the physical things. But significantly, a time for reflection and bring that spring cleaning to oneself, either physically, mentally or spiritually.
It still holds true today, especially now when there is wide availability of any and everything. So much abundance of all that you've ever wanted, and lots of what you've never needed or will ever use.
I've taken the opportunity to tackle areas that I had neglected. The clothes that the kids had outgrown, books that I'll never read again, the old stuff that I still have from eons ago holding memories.
All going and going to:
Books --> public library donation box at entrance, donation to 3rd world country schools
Electronic, Children Toys, Clothes --> SgFreeCycle
All others --> Garang Guni men
the Balance --> Recycle bins/ Trash
It will be a year of self-reflection and hopefully lightness as all the clutter and junk are cleared away little by little.
Labels: to be Thankful
