When I woke up this morning I felt bad.
It’s usually something that’s often taken away by a good cup of espresso made with my new coffee machine.
But it’s much more than that.
It’s the problem that comes the night before: not being able to fall asleep. Something that I have been struggling with for many years now.
It’s because my mind is full of things that don’t belong there right before sleep.
This article is about the Art of Decluttering Your Mind, Feelings & Thoughts.
Getting Started With Mindfulness
The first step in decluttering anything is becoming mindful.
Here are some exercises that you can do to start:
- Read about mindfulness
- Practice meditation and do it twice a day
- Read Marcus Aurelius to learn about Stoicism
- Conscious breathing
When I first got to know meditation it didn’t really work out for me; I got bored and quit.
But that’s because I didn’t find a way for myself to do it.
I thought that meditation was all about emptying your mind by forcing yourself to not think about anything. But that’s just not the way for me.
I like conscious breathing.
This way of breathing is much healthier and it makes you calmer, just like traditional meditation does.
By acknowledging the power of breathing, you’ll be much more grateful for every breath you take.
You can download my free meditation guide here.
Starting to Declutter Yourself
There are many ways to “declutter”.
Often used in the context of cleaning up your room or house. But we can also use it to clean our minds, and give ourselves a little more space for thinking and living.
Practicing mindfulness (and meditation) helps in that “decluttering process”.
- You empty your mind while you breathe.
- During every breath you take you’re realizing your existence and that you’re alive. Do this very lightly; you don’t want yourself questioning your existence after a session of meditation.
- Try to visualize your breath; imagine you see the stream of air coming from your nose and give it a color. I often use the color blue or purple. This helps to relax.
- When you do this for a minute or 5/10, you’ll notice that your body is feeling relaxed, and your mind is decluttered.
Once you repeat this process a couple of times a week or day even, your brain is slowly decluttering. You’ll have more space to think about the important and fun things in your life.
Instead of stress, there’s now inspiration.
You’ll Need an Inspiring Workspace
Once you think it’s time for the next step, we’ll move on to start decluttering our house and workspace.
An important part of the process.
When our surroundings are messy, our minds and thoughts will be as chaotic. I’m quite chaotic myself and when there’s a lot of stuff going on around me, I’m easily distracted.
That caused clutter.
- Make sure to have a clean desk
- Put your phone away
- Get a glass of fresh cold water or a cup of relaxing tea
- Put on relaxing music to calm you down (preferably instrumental)
If you know what works for you, stick to it and keep your environment clean and inspiring.
I’d rather sit in a library than in a restaurant.
Use Stoic Beliefs to Declutter Your Thoughts
Marcus Aurelius once said: “You have power over your mind — not outside events.”
You might wonder what this has to do with “decluttering”.
Everything.
It’s all about being able to stop caring about events outside your control, one of the pillars of Stoicism is exactly that.
You should:
- Focus on things you can control; everything else is useless and a waste of energy
- Accept that not everything is going the way you want
- Put everything in perspective and don’t judge too quickly
- Try to always speak the truth and have faith in every human
If you approach the world positively, you have done your best to stay as happy and Stoic as possible. You have now a clear conscious and you don’t have anything left to clutter.
Wrapping Up
You still won’t fully be able to declutter yourself. At least not for the full 100%. If you want to learn more you can sign up for “The Daily Needle” and learn more to rewire your brain.
I’m covering topics such as Stoicism, personal development, and many more topics that can help us to grow.
For now, thanks for reading this article.