Don’t just spring clean your house: Clean your love life, too

Spring has long been dubbed the time to clean the house from top to bottom, scouring the tiniest of grime and tackling the biggest projects. But to really achieve a sense of contentment, it might be time to consider your love life as the biggest project of all.

The National Healthy Marriage Resource Center has suggested that spring cleaning your love life can follow the same basic pattern that house cleaning does, starting with realizing where work is needed.  is could mean intimacy issues, annoying habits or communication barriers.

The Center calls this the "assess the mess" step. To confront a problem, it must first be recognized, so take a minute to realize if your relationship is an "emotional dump, condemned, or just in need of a little routine housekeeping."

The "mold, bacteria, and viruses" of your relationship are going to keep interrupting your happiness until they are fully resolved. Identify the wounds being nursed and how they got there.

This will take you to the next step, building the courage to face the enormous, out of sight "dust bunnies" of your relationship.

The routinely-avoided issues that weigh down a relationship will eventually start poking out, and allowing them to exist unattended puts your happiness in jeopardy. The metaphorical dust bunnies are frightening to face, but the damaging clutter must be dealt with.

"Taking out the trash," as the Resource Center calls it, is the cleansing stage of your relationship spring cleaning. The Website reminds, "Bitterness reeks." Their recommended cleansing agent is forgiveness. Without forgiveness the pain of past words and actions lingers. For best results, apply generously.

If the relationship is still feeling dirty, it may be time to say goodbye to something – or someone – that can't be fixed.Throughout your cleaning it is important to avoid an attack position. Be sensitive to how your efforts are being received by your partner. The better the cooperation, the better the results. Finally, it is time for a new coat of paint. Focus on the good things about your relationship, and build upon them. Find new activities to share, or new ways to communicate. In the spirit of spring, capture the opportunity for renewal. Now is also a good time to reassure your partner that despite the cleaning, you still appreciate the relationship and embrace the inevitable imperfection.