It’s time to clean house. Time to get rid of old stuff and make room for new. My closets and garage are the least of it. Here is what I really need to say goodbye to.

I need to say goodbye to old, outgrown, inappropriate conceptions of myself, selves that were true at one time (maybe), but no longer have any use. Goodbye scared child sniveling under the blanket. Goodbye thumb-sucker, approval junkie, good daughter, straight-A student, prom queen, cheerleader, employee of the week.

Goodbye also to clothes that don’t fit or never did, confining uniforms of all sorts: catholic schoolgirl uniforms, waitress uniforms, corporate executive uniforms, teacher uniforms, mommy uniforms. Goodbye knees socks, aprons, pumps, pantyhose, bronzer, eyeliner, two coats of mascara. Goodbye “Hello My Name Is _____” stickers.

Goodbye to boring people, mean people, inconsiderate people, arrogant people, people who don’t use their turn signal, people who don’t play fair. May you be happy, may you be peaceful, may you be free, but may you play your own game in your own playground.

Goodbye to “should.” Should is a cramped cage with iron bars. If you kept your dog in one you’d be fined for cruelty. Goodbye To-Do Lists and deadlines and things I agreed to because I thought I “should” but never wanted to in the first place. Goodbye to people pleasing and insincerity and inauthenticity of all kinds. Goodbye to nods of understanding when I haven’t the slightest idea what you are feeling or experiencing.

Goodbye to time: clock time, calendar time, deadlines, automatic updates. Goodbye to bedtime, time to wake up, time to do the laundry, the dishes, the taxes.

Goodbye to leashes and collars and belts and neckties and zippers and laces and buttons. Goodbye to all ties that bind.

Goodbye to coats and gloves and socks and long underwear. Goodbye to heated rooms and humidifiers and cough drops and Tylenol. Goodbye to wool (smart and dumb).

Goodbye to fear: fear of success, fear of failure, fear of scarcity, fear of abundance, fear of death and injury and cancer and black ice and drunk drivers and food additives and snakes.

Goodbye to all that.

Hello to big, vast, unlimited Self. Self with a capital “S.” Hello to that vast sea of elastic time where my unlimited Self can do whatever it wants, whenever it wants. Hello to the divine wisdom that guides that big Self from inside. Hello to trusting the internal GPS. A big hello to that.

Hello to the “Things I WANT to Do Today” List. Hello to doing it. Hello to the philosophy of, “If it’s not fun, it’s not done.”

. Hello to brave self, brash self, sassy self, courageous self, bad self, C-student, class clown, queen of detention.

Hello to socks that don’t match, soft clothes, wild shoes, painted toenails, and loud ties. Hello to bare feet in inappropriate places. Hello to gratitude and thank you notes and smiles for no reason. Hello to calling in “well.”

Hello to sincere, real people. People who laugh too loud and cry in public and glitter when they walk. Hello to people who are unafraid to show exactly who they are without excuses.

Hello to playing this life as a wondrous, magical game where the big vast unlimited Self makes the rules and decides how to play. Hello to all and everyone who plays: people of faith, people of no faith, lovers of the grand paradox, writers, meditators, bartenders, teachers, yogis, readers, dreamers, nature lovers, the soft and the silent, the loud and the bold, the free and the fearless.

Hello to Game of Life players everywhere who are playing Kindness Games and Generosity Games and Learning Games and Peaceful Games and Laughter Games in this timeless and wacky playground.

Hello to all that.

Hello to spring.