Already we’re a few weeks into Spring, and the long Easter weekend is upon us. It’s the busiest weekend of the year for DIY and Garden centres, as people find the time and energy to start working on their homes and gardens; some making little improvements, others planning more challenging projects.

You can guarantee that your neighbourhoods will soon be awash with the sounds of lawn mowers and people generally busying themselves around their homes, windows open for all to hear.

But spring cleaning your living environment isn’t only good for your home and garden, it can have a positive effect on your emotional wellbeing too. It’s difficult to free your mind from chaos when you are surrounded by chaos in your house, garden or bedroom.

Tidying, cleaning and moving things around is a daunting task, but once you get going and start noticing the improvements, it will be easier to keep going. Make a list of all those little jobs you’ve been meaning to get around to, and tick them off one by one. It can help to play some upbeat music as you work and promise yourself a reward once you’ve finished.

Sort out your clothes! So many people have mountains of clothes they never wear, preferring to stick to the same few items and leaving the rest to grow old and tired in the back of a cupboard. If you haven’t worn something in the last year, chances are you won’t wear it again, so take it to a charity shop, sell it on an auction site, or if you are feeling creative pile all your old stuff together and see what new creations you can design from them.

It doesn’t all have to be about your living space, but your life in general. It’s so easy to get into a rut and do the same things day after day, but if you are unhappy with your life you have two choices: either change it, or find the positives and accept it.

If you hate your job, either look for a new one (not easy in the current climate) or accept that your work puts food on the table and a roof over your head, and be grateful you have one. It’s a cliché, but it’s true that there’s always someone worse off, and it can serve us well to remember that at times. It’s all too easy to lose sight of what we have when we allow ourselves to focus on the negatives.

If you find yourself sitting around in the evenings, becoming bored eating the same food and watching the same old programmes, try doing something different for a change – there are endless possibilities and you never know what you might discover about yourself or who you might meet.

Changing your life may well seem impossible, but changing how you think is not. Think about what you have instead of what you don’t have. Consider what you can do, rather than what you can’t. Nobody should accept a life that makes them miserable; but sometimes the misery comes from within, tainting everything around it and forming a vicious circle of unhappiness. A change in attitude, although difficult and requiring great inner strength, can help enormously. After all, do we not feel what we think, and become what we feel?

Think about your friends, family, loved ones and how balanced those relationships are. If your relationships are unbalanced, it will more difficult to balance your own mind. Do you find you are always saying yes to people when you wish you could say no? Do people rely on you for support or favours when you could really do with a little more help yourself?

Or maybe you’re the one who relies too heavily on others and expects a little too much from other people at times? Ultimately, the only person who can really help you is yourself. Others can offer support and encouragement, but change has to come from within, and we are all empowered to help and change ourselves.

So, think about what works for you, and what doesn’t, and set about making some positive changes and spring cleaning all areas of your life.

Whatever you’re doing this weekend, take some time for yourself, give a little to others, and have a great Easter.