IN THE COASTAL islands of the eastern United States there are pockets of people who still speak the Gullah language. It's a blend of African languages, with a Caribbean influence, mixed with English. The language is very beautiful and incredibly descriptive. For example, either a manatee or walrus would be called a "fish cow." That certainly paints a very accurate picture.

One of the phrases that I particularly love is dayclean. This phrase is used to indicate the dawn (see Virginia Hamilton, The People Could Fly [New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985], p. 42). Dayclean is a word that is used in our household to indicate a fresh start—wiping the slate clean, so to speak. What a wonderful feeling not to bring yesterday's baggage to today!

At one time, when our son was in first or second grade, he'd had a particularly difficult day. He'd been in trouble for one thing after another both at school and at home. Finally, he sat back, sighed, and said, "I wish it was time to go to bed. Then I could go to sleep, and when I woke up, it would be dayclean."

I was grateful that he understood that this behavior did not need to drag on to another day. And this was also a good opportunity to explain that dayclean can begin immediately. I encouragingly told him that he didn't need to go to sleep to have dayclean. Right now was just as good a time as any to wake up—wake up to a fresh view of the day, and clean the slate. He got the idea, and we had a wonderful evening together.

A fresh start does not require time or rest. The only thing required is to recognize the need for, and to have the willingness to accept, a new view. This change of outlook opens the door to more inspired approaches to the day and our circumstance. We can adopt this view now, and allow our lives to be corrected accordingly. There's a statement in the Bible that has proved very helpful to me when I take it to heart: "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ" (Rev. 12:10). We don't need to wait for a future good. Good is present now, because God, good, is always present and is the source of who we are. As we accept this new view as actually true, we find our attitude, and subsequent experience, transformed.

The word salvation implies freedom. For me, the freedom referred to in the Bible is not the freedom to do whatever one pleases, but rather the liberation from thinking of ourselves as weary, stressed, defensive mortals. I find that the knowledge that God made me always brings a release from the tentacles of anger, resentment, and self-will. It allows me to live a life based on who I really am as the very expression of good.

Divine Spirit has given each of us a spiritual nature that is in fact peaceful, joyful, loving, and lovable. We have the right to claim this nature as our own and to live it. And we don't need to wait for a future transformation. We can claim our spirituality now and immediately change course in that direction. Sometimes we need to stop mid-sentence and simply apologize. Other times, we can let our changed actions speak for us.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote a book that further outlines our freedom to think Godlike thoughts. In this book, Science and Health, she shared this declaration of spiritual emancipation: "'Now,' cried the apostle, 'is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,'—meaning, not that now men must prepare for a future-world salvation, or safety, but that now is the time in which to experience that salvation in spirit and in life" (p. 39).

Over the years since I first came across the word dayclean, I have applied this spiritual idea of an immediate fresh start many times. The willingness to accept that any moment can be the beginning of a new day has helped me retrieve my poise in stressful situations, find creative solutions to stubborn circumstances, feel immediate forgiveness in the heat of anger, and even refocus on a tennis game that wasn't going well. Just thinking about the word dayclean, and what it implies, puts a smile on my face!

God's thoughts are good, blessing thoughts. His words are gentle, kind, and uplifting. His actions are peaceable and productive. That's a standard for what we can expect in ourselves. So if our thoughts, words, or actions do not live up to this standard of quality, we have the right to let them drop to the ground, right now, and to leave them there.

No one is a slave, chained to destructive thoughts, words, or actions. They are not a part of us, and we do not need to feel that we have to defend them. We are spiritual, and we can joyfully accept this fact, drop any point that tells us otherwise, and move on with a fresh attitude and experience. Finding your innate spirituality brings refreshment and a new sense of purpose to life, and it can happen anytime, anywhere. In fact, this very moment is dayclean!

This article is reprinted from www.spirituality.com.