Declutter only my Cupboard? Why not my Mind?

I was arranging my cupboards a few days ago and clearing all those unwanted things.  Suddenly, I got a flashing thought in my mind: I am making good efforts to tidy up my physical space like clearing my cupboards, kitchen space, etc as a routine, doing this once in a while. But, am I making efforts to clear my mental space? Like the old clothes in my  cupboard and unwanted items almost everywhere at home, my mind is also messy with all the negative thoughts, unnecessary stress, guilt, etc. Too much clutter in my mind and they can have a severe impact on my wellbeing. Is it not essential to make the necessary efforts for decluttering it? 

We can’t expect our minds to stay in the present moment to enjoy our lives or serve us with sharp memory, and good decision-making skills if we keep dumping all kinds of stuff in our minds. Like our closets, our minds need decluttering too.

One of my friends says “I intentionally declutter my mind almost every day. I meditate for 20 minutes and then I journal, i.e., I write three pages of whatever is on my mind.” Interesting, right? We had the habit of writing diaries. I doubt whether the younger generations still have that habit now.  We even are moving away from pen and paper! Writing down is simply for the process of transferring all those thoughts up in my head onto paper. This is one way of mind decluttering which will give us space for creativity and clarity throughout each day.

From my experience and my readings, I found certain simple things can help us to declutter our minds:

• Meditation: Do not be scared of this word Meditation! Every one of us might have been introduced to one or two meditation techniques. Well and good if you are continuing it.  Or, you might have discontinued due to some reason or the other: found it difficult to practice or forgot the technique or not taken it seriously! If you can revive the meditation technique you were practicing, that would be great. If nothing works out, I’ll tell you a commonly practiced very simple yet effective method: Sit in a comfortable position, preferably in a quiet and calm place. Start with two or three deep breaths(not more than that!), breathe in through your nose, and let out through your mouth. Then just focus on your breathing. Observe each and every breath that is coming in and going out. Do not try to regulate your breath in a particular way. Just observe your natural breath. 

Do not feel bad when your mind wanders and you are taken away by your thoughts. It happens to everyone. When you notice your mind has drifted away, gently bring back your attention to your breath. Do not be harsh on yourself!

• Walking:  Take a walk in a nearby park or just get outside and do some kind of physical activity. This will help to get the clutter out of your mind. You may please refer to the post on mindful walking – 

Getting outside and engaging yourself in some physical activity like walking, gardening, or working out will be a great way to declutter your mind and feel light!

• Writing down: You can see this in two ways, one is just writing down the ‘to-do’ list and your ideas. This will help you put everything into your head and remember them. Instead of having a bunch of things on your mind you can just put it on the paper and your mind will be with less load of things! 

The second one is journaling. Write in detail, a minimum of two pages, whatever comes to your mind while you are writing. Our mind is always full of old hurts and traumas. We re-live the moments, particularly the unpleasant moments! It is suggested to do this in the early morning,  you may wake up a little early and do this.

I came across a technique called “Morning Pages”, which is a daily journaling practice created by Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way.  She designed this to facilitate the artists to enhance their creativity. But, this journaling practice goes beyond creativity and helps everyone to focus, manage work stress, and have clarity in mind.

• Get rid of the unwanted things: First, identify the most important things, essential in our life and that is most important to focus. Then eliminate those that are not on this list of essential things.

I have identified certain things as essential in my life: Relationships with my dear ones, my writings, my health, my peace of mind, and gaining knowledge by reading books.  Now, I can easily understand what is truly important to me and what is not!

Yesterday, I was caught up with some random thoughts, something happened a long time ago, and started thinking: I should have done like this, I should have told in this way …. Suddenly I could observe that and gently brought back my focus to the present. Those thoughts have nothing to do with any of my life’s essential things! By eliminating as many of such things as possible we can get rid of a good amount of junk from our mind, what do you say?

To add to the list, reducing the time watching TV or other social media will work on the source itself, right? A few days back, when I was scrolling Instagram I got captured(!) by a Korean Series: A lady being mistreated by her daughter-in-law and her parents as she is poor…. For the next two to three days that lady was in my mind disturbing me a lot!

If we reduce the screen time, letting the junk in itself will be controlled, isn’t it?

There are a few more things we can follow to clear our mind like spending some time with nature, developing the ‘Let Go’ attitude, slowing down meaning not rushing through life, 

 and finally having a good friend on whom we can unload our thoughts! Doing less and avoiding multitasking also might help to declutter our minds.

Try those that are comfortable for you and declutter all the pessimistic thoughts, grudges, resentments, fears of being judged, awful past, unrealistic expectations, over thinking, over planning etc.,  so that you live a peaceful life with less load on your mind!