I’m buying flowers.

I made a hair appointment.

I might even attend to those beastly appendages that once used to get pedicures.

Okay, so this is partly because I’m leaving in a couple of weeks to go visit Japan for the first time since the earthquake.

But mostly it’s just that my spirit is dancing with joy at the undeniable fact that spring, while not exactly here yet, is COMING.  NOTHING CAN STOP IT.  And just to make sure, I’m bringing home bits of purple white coral silver beauty.

This might seem frivolous.

Five years ago, I would certainly have judged YOU for being frivolous.  (Famines! War! Starving Children! Budget Cuts!)

Except I know something I didn’t know five years ago.  Five years ago I had the same deep passion for justice and peace and harmony in the world that I have now.  I had the same ferocious desire to see children grow up free from fear or want.  I also had a one-year-old, an insane work schedule, and an endless list of To-Dos.

One thing I didn’t have was delight.

It wasn’t that my life was terrible; oh no, in fact there was much about it that I treasured.  My sweet girl, my interesting & satisfying work– but I was exhausted.  Overwhelmed.  Spinning.  The mere thought of buying flowers might have made me cry.

And then judge myself for being so frivolous.

A lot of things have changed since then, and I now know that a woman’s delight is a powerful energy.  It is right up there with anger, and outrage, and hard work.  Truly, it can get done just as much, maybe more.  And it feels SO MUCH BETTER.

I still work hard.  Sometimes I work long hours.  (As an entrepreneur and a mother, my day isn’t really ever done.  I know a lot of you can relate to that.)

But I have learned to feed my spirit the nectar that makes it strong. 

Thus well-nourished, I can see that in order to be more productive today, the very next thing I need to do is clear off that festering eyesore of a desk, with its oozing piles of moldy paper and dubious tissues and first-grade inventions.

Really?  More productive than catching up on email?

Really.

Now of course you can’t spend all your time straightening things up.  There is a time for flurries of action, for doing the bare minimum, for plowing through.  But if there ever was a time of year that called for us to pause, take stock, and clear the decks before moving on, it is early spring.

My great-grandmothers knew it, with their red-knuckled scrub brush spring cleans.  I know it too, but I am not content with order or even stream-lined efficiency.

No, I want beauty.

Great big frivolous drenches of beauty.  Bunches of gorgeousness!  Scads of delight!  Twirls of whimsy!  Reams of loveliness!

So next Friday I’m teaching a free class by phone to help you jumpstart your own Great Spring Clean of 2013.  (Say it out loud.  You’ll feel zippy.)

You can sign up right here , if you haven’t yet.  This totally free call is based on The Queen Sweep, my annual (and awesome, if I do say so myself) spring program, and here’s the thing.  After watching more than 150 women go through The Queen Sweep, I now have hard evidence– not just a theory– that cleaning up your physical world will make you happier, make you more clear and proactive, and help you get WAY more done over the next few months.

So sign up for the free call, but more importantly, go do something that delights you.

Right now.  It can be simple, it can be elaborate, it can take thirty seconds or an hour, but DO SOMETHING for your own loyal self, your sweet human body.

Here’s what I did today.