Balanced Life | The Clean Sweep | Pt. 1: Environment

cleansweep happy

I have recently dived back into health coaching head first and am participating in the IIN immersion program for the 3rd time. While today marks the official start of the program we were provided with a few tasks last week to help us in preparing for immersion. One of the tasks is called The Clean Sweep which was developed by Thomas Leonard. 

So what is the clean sweep? 

Basically the thought is that when you feel balanced/perfect alignment in the four major parts of our lives, environment, well-being, money, and relationships, that we can be more natural energy.  “The Clean Sweep Program, created by Thomas Leonard, consists of 100 items which, when completed, give you the vitality and strength that you want.” You are to answer each of the 100 questions, 25 per category, as truthfully as possible and only answer YES if the statement is virtually always true. The end goal being that you will confidently answer YES to each answer. 

I started this Clean Sweep process years ago but sort of forgot all about it until recently. As I went through the questions this past weekend I thought it would be interesting to actually share my answers with you and to follow up every three-to-six months on how things are going. I guess you could say that these are a bunch of mini goals I have for myself for the next few years. 

So we’ll start of with Environment and i’ll preface this with saying I am not surprised by how many NO’s are in this category. 

  1. My personal files, papers and receipts are neatly filled away. NO. This seems to be a constant struggle at our house and I really want to figure out away to get it under control. 
  2. My car is in excellent condition. NO. I had to laugh when I read this one. Seriously? Who with a toddler and a baby has a perfectly clean car? 
  3. My home is neat and clean. NO. Hangs head in shame. 
  4. My appliances, machinery and equipment work well. YES.
  5. My clothes are all pressed, clean and make me look great. NO. This is another struggle I have had for years, or rather since getting pregnant with Edith. I am working on restocking my wardrobe with clothes that fit and make me feel great. As for laundry – 2 adults + 2 kids + cloth diapering = non-stop laundry. So maybe I’ll be able to answer YES to this when the kids move out? 
  6. My plants and animals are healthy. N/A. One must have plants and animals to properly answer this question. 
  7. My bed/bedroom lets me have the best sleep possible. NO.This is one of those grey area statements so I decided to go with NO. Our sleeping is less than ideal but we have two young children. 
  8. I live in a home that I love. (Big Fat) NO.
  9. I surround myself with beautiful things. NO. I am so sad to say no to this answer and I really wish we had more beautiful things or at least things that I think are beautiful. 
  10. I live in the geographic area of my choice. NO. Yes and no. I love living in the PNW and Portland area but the keyword right now is area. We need to move (back) to the neighborhood we love or somewhere near it #2016. 
  11. There is ample and healthy lighting around me. NO.
  12. I consistently have adequate time, space and freedom in my life. HAHAHAHAHA. NO.
  13. I am not damaged by my environment. NO. So I said no to this one because not loving our home, neighborhood and just feeling blah makes me feel a bit damaged. 
  14. I am not tolerating anything about my home or work environment. NO. ALL I AM DOING IS TOLERATING.  
  15. My work environment is productive and inspiring. NO. We have failed at really putting our office area together #GOALS and right now it’s hard to be productive with babies hanging on you but instead of getting frustrated 90% of the time I embrace the time with them and try not to stress. 
  16. I recycle. YES.
  17. I use non-ozone depleting products. YES.
  18. My hair is the way I want it. YES. This took me years to actually say YES to but I finally am getting my hair done every six weeks! 
  19. I surround myself with music which makes my life more enjoyable. YES.This was one of my mini goals for March and whoot whoot I am succeeding. P.S. you can follow my March playlist over on Spotify
  20. My bed is made daily. NO. Umm….
  21. I don’t injure myself, fall or bump into things. NO. I found this statement strange but I guess I have to go with NO. 
  22. People feel comfortable in my home. NO. Ummm? I guess I would say NO just because I don’t always feel comfortable here? Would someone actually tell you? 
  23. I drink purified water. YES.
  24. I have nothing around the house or in storage that I do not need. NO. This is a huge goal of ours for 2015 – declutter and not just declutter but minimize our things. 
  25. I am consistently early or easily on time.  NO. I miss being able to answer YES to this statement. 

Total: 18 NO.YES. 1 N/A.

This section of The Clean Sweep is pretty soul crushing actually. After completing it I was like so much to do to turn these NO’s into YES’ and I really would like to have 80% of them be YES’ by the end of the year. I would say there will be a few big and little goals for April that stem out of these results. 

Have you/are you participating in The Clean Sweep? What are your results to this first category? Any surprises? 

Leave a Reply